David Droga, who is soon stepping down from his CEO position at Accenture Song, spoke about the importance of creativity on the penultimate day of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. 

In conversation with Tim Nudd, creativity editor, Adweek, Droga stated how creativity is the oxygen of the festival, but yet as it gets bigger, more people abstain from being part of the main talks in the Palais.

Talking about his early years, Droga said, “From the day I was hired to be part of advertising as a creative, I was so blown away that I was paid to use my imagination. It was like a gift and I held on to that.”

“But at the same time, I didn’t want to be called ‘an advertising person’. I wanted to use my imagination and solve problems. I was trying to push boundaries and break plans which were laid out. I was pretty good at working with great people and threw myself into challenges,” he said.

The first challenge he revealed was moving to South East Asia (from Australia) at a young age, a market which back then was perceived to be a place where creatives retired. 

“I moved there when I was young and proved my worth. And then I moved to London. I’m restless like every great creative is. The only way to show appreciation of something is to do something more with it,” he said.

In 2006, Droga launched Droga5 in New York. He was moving from being worldwide chief creative officer, Publicis.

“I thought I don’t have to be for everybody and just created work for what I loved,” he said about the move. 

After showcasing the agency’s second piece of work, done for Ecko Unltd, he stated how this piece of work changed the way the Lions were entered.

“It was just three or four of us that worked on it. We collaborated and made great stuff. It was the first case study that ever entered into Cannes. All those who now have to work on case studies to enter Cannes, you can hate me as I was the one who started it. I needed five minutes to explain what we did. So, we created a case study to explain it to people. I apologise a little bit,” he revealed.

He added, “Being creative isn’t about proving how creative one is. It’s about supporting a belief. When one gets a brief, start with what the end reaction should be as that gives one an idea of what is needed to be created. People’s participation in your idea is part of your idea. We won a Grand Prix. It gave us as an agency the courage to make stuff that could break the internet.”

Tap project

Talking about the Tap Project created for UNICEF, he said, “A lot of companies have responsible people who told me not to do it. I call them responsibly wrong. What they do is stop uniqueness and originality. Every creative person should feel the same way. We were called the viral agency – I just wanted to be called a smart agency. With the ‘Tap Project’, we wanted to try and change the way people look at charity. We tapped into tap water which was free and solved for things that people needed. It was my mother’s favourite piece of work I created. It raised USD 10 million from a standing start.”

Decode Jay Z

Discussing this campaign, Droga said, “It was one of those things. The starting point was not to follow any templates. Most of the winners (at Cannes) are simple but have genius thinking in place. We launched a few things for Jay Z before this campaign and had a relationship. Microsoft Bing wanted us to do something. We thought they’d benefit by being part of each other. Creativity opens new connections. I’ve got people to collaborate on things that are not traditional or obvious. Like we called Gucci to add a page on the jacket and one thing is for sure that brands and people want to participate in cool things.”

He added, “It was so amazing because there was such excitement within the agency. If we believed in something, we went for it. I have never been afraid to try something new.” 

It’s that belief that led to Droga5 entering a partnership with Accenture.

“When I made the deal with Accenture, people thought it would be the death of creativity. No, it wasn’t. I told people at Droga5 that we bought Accenture rather than the other way round.”

ISIS Defector – New York Times

Droga counted himself lucky to work with great creatives and strategists. 

“Everyone joined Droga5 for creative but stayed for production and account managers,” he said.

“The work for the New York Times was a great example. Nothing that we produced was more impactful than what NYT produced. We had to create a vehicle to tell their story. We used videos and pictures from their archives for this film,” he said. 

“I’m a sucker for great films and that’s the most powerful tool ever. It could be six seconds or two minutes. I love making things that connect with people and have depth in it,” he added.

Coinbase Super Bowl 

“We have always tried to do things differently,” said Droga after showcasing a piece of work for Coinbase during the Super Bowl.

“We as an industry are against apathy, mediocrity and formulae. This was the first piece of work we did at Song. Super Bowl is all about celebrities and multimillion-dollar production budgets. The above was voted the best and worst commercial. But pieces of work don’t need to be for everybody. 20 million people took a picture of this stupid QR code and linked it to Coinbase. But 80 million were upset. Our job is to not satisfy everybody,” he explained. 

He ended his talk by explaining once more why he sold to Accenture.

“The industry has been propelled by technology which is why I sold to Accenture. We had to do things that we could never do. I love making films but I want to create products, events and more with the same audacity and care. We can’t sit on the sidelines; we have to embrace it. We are the people who will give it meaning and yes, the model will change, but that’s what I’m excited about,” said Droga.