Jane Austin: lessons from David Droga on becoming an ad legend

It’s the end of an era in advertising, and not just because AI is potentially putting the entire industry out of business. David Droga is stepping down as CEO of Accenture Song after 37 years in advertising. In Cannes this week, Droga has been doing a lot of reminiscing about his celebrated career.

Could creatives entering the industry today hope achieve Droga-level industry fame? As the cult status once bestowed upon ECDs is swiftly becoming a thing of the past, it’s unlikely. But if you’d like to have a go at becoming a legend anyway, here are some lessons from Droga himself.

Make great ads

An obvious one, I know. But if want to emulate Droga you’ll either have to be talented enough to make multi-award winners yourself or employ people who can. For inspo, some of Droga’s top ad hits include The New York Times “The Truth Is Worth It” ad; “The Great Schlep” for the Obama campaign; and the Coinbase Super Bowl QR code spot. Speaking about the Coinbase ad at Cannes this week, he said: “(It) was voted the best and worst commercial. Twenty 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.”

Let your name be your brand

Coming up with a name for your ad agency was a lot easier in the days when the industry took the same approach to branding as law firms and undertakers. And what better way to build fame than by naming your company after yourself?

When Droga first launched his startup, he took his cue from his old employers, Saatchi & Saatchi, and put his name on the door. He then took the self-referencing to the next level by adding on the ‘5’ to represent Droga being the fifth of six children in his family.

It’s also worth noting that, in the early years, Droga was known as Dave. Then when he started to go global, everyone had to call him David. This was likely part of his strategy for getting the business world to take him more seriously, and clearly it worked.

Channel Mr Darcy

Sex sells and Droga knew this all too well, as evidenced by the photo of him on the cover of Creativity magazine in 2006 standing in the sea in a sopping wet shirt, a la Colin Firth as Mr Darcy.

Be flexible and agile

We’re not just talking about agency models here. Droga’s nickname back in the day was ‘Dave Yoga’ because he did yoga three times a week. Back in 2003, he was described by Ad Age as having a “wiry frame, slightly more than a goatee beard and dress-down everyday attire”. The lesson here is: flexibility is all very well, but when you find a look that works for you, stick to it for life.

And finally, don’t compromise

At Cannes this week, Droga had this parting shot for the industry: “Most advertising, most marketing, most journalism, most music, most architecture – it’s pedestrian and garbage anyway. And it’s written by something worse – scarier than AI. It’s written by compromise and research.”

Jane Austin is the founder and owner of Persuasion. Communications.