David Droga: A young lion's natural sense of wonder
Along with talent, the drive and optimism of youth have also played a part in David Droga’s career. But another quality, possessed by his hero, naturalist David Attenborough, has inspired him: the sense of wonder that every creative needs.
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Many in the industry name David Droga as one of their most revered heroes. After all, since the Aussie launched Droga5 in New York City in 2006, the company has been named Agency of the Year by a variety of global award shows, 13 times.
In 2013 and 2017 it was named in Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative Companies, and Droga, whose artistic vision and business acumen have propelled the company to the top of the food chain, is, to date, the single most-awarded creative at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Last year he was the youngest person ever to receive their Lion of St. Mark award for creative excellence.
He’s also the youngest person ever inducted into the New York Art Directors Club Hall of Fame and one of the youngest members of the American Advertising Federation’s Hall of Achievement. He has been inducted into the Australian Writers’ and Art Directors’ Hall of Fame and awarded one of the ANDY Awards’ inaugural Bravery Awards.
Above: David Droga receives the Lion of St Mark from Cannes Lions' CEO Philip Thomas
So who wins the admiration of this much admired man? “One of the privileges of being an Australian, beyond the charm and the accent,” he twinkles, “is growing up equally influenced by the UK and the US, so my heroes are spread across continents.” He cites Dave Trott and his former agency, Gold Greenlees Trott (“their work was so bold and brave and out of the ordinary”) and Howell Henry Chaldecott Lury – “their irreverence and provocative, smart approach really inspired me. When I moved to London I got to know Steve Henry. He was a remarkable person.”
He also mentions Wieden+Kennedy’s “spectacular work… I carefully analysed every single thing they did, and was so impressed by the way they could do really emotional storytelling.” Lee Clow was also “a huge influence throughout my career, like all of these guys, and like the first time I saw MTV and all their interstitials. They were so innovative and massively influential for me.
…our industry’s changing a lot, and there’s far more science to it now, but the future heroes will understand that and use it and not let it cancel out imagination and inspiration.
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Beyond the realms of advertising, his “all-time favourite hero” is his daughter, fittingly named Hero. Like many, he cites David Attenborough as another: “He’s had this spectacular career. It’s influenced my creative storytelling and has changed the way we all look at the world now – not just through the camera lens, but with his humanity, sense of wonder and deep sense of connection with nature and the animal world.” Ask Droga about his own heroic deeds and he laughs, remembering his drive to get into advertising as soon as possible. “My four older brothers all went to college, and my parents expected me to follow suit, but instead I pursued writing and started off in the mail room at Grey in Sydney.”
At 22, he became a partner and executive creative director of OMON Sydney. Over the next five years, OMON won Australian Agency of the Year twice and Ad of the Year four times. In 1996, he moved to Singapore to become ECD of Saatchi & Saatchi Singaporeand regional CD of Saatchi Asia; his next promotion was to ECD of Saatchi & Saatchi London.
We’re an industry that’s under duress from all sides, and there are times when I feel we’re undercutting one another and not being supportive.
In 2003, he headed to New York as the first ever worldwide CCO of the Publicis Network, before founding his own company. “I don’t know if any of that’s heroic,” he says, “but hopefully I haven’t changed my outlook on life, and I’ve always tried to remain optimistic about what we do and about life in general.” That attitude informs his take on the creative heroes of the future: “They’re the ones who still believe that creativity can’t be engineered. Our industry’s changing a lot, and there’s far more science to it now, but the future heroes will understand that and use it and not let it cancel out imagination and inspiration. They’ll be the ones that parlay a sense of magic and wonder in their work.”
As for adland’s anti-heroes, he notes that “there are many of those – but I don’t think they are actively sinister or out to ruin the business. It’s more that they’ve embraced and engineered mediocrity. We’re an industry that’s under duress from all sides, and there are times when I feel we’re undercutting one another and not being supportive, on top of what we’re facing from the outside.” “I’m not anti-traditional advertising,” he stresses, “but I feel that creativity should manifest itself more naturally and organically, and I’m hopeful about the future of our industry. There’s no question it’s hard and so competitive, but also rewarding if you get it right. As I like to say, logical, linear people make the world go round, but it’s the creative people who make the world worth living in.”
