Global CCO appointment may signal expansionary era for Droga5 under Accenture

Droga5 has a global CCO for the first time in Neil Heymann (below), suggesting that its expected global expansion under new owner Accenture Interactive is about get under way.

Accenture paid an estimated $475m for D5 back in April, a hefty price for an agency that was still performing well but whose revenue had fallen and was rocked by the shock departure of CCO Ted Royer. Heymann took his NYC role.

At the moment D5 has a biggish agency in New York and a much smaller one in London which, after a number of false starts, seems to be taking off – creatively at least. It’s now one of the bare handful of London agencies who regularly pitch for prize accounts.

But if D5 is going to be a bigger agency brand under Accenture it needs more scale, which may mean a West Coast outpost, something in Asia and also continental Europe. It’s unlikely to return to Australia where an earlier effort foundered as Accenture has The Monkeys there.

Such moves by D5 would also pose questions about the other creative agencies Accenture has acquired along the way: notably Karmarama also in London and Rothco in Ireland. It also has a big investment in Germany although that’s primarily digital.

Does D5 become its over-arching creative brand? There must be the temptation although Accenture might be wise to keep its brands separate. Clever restauranteurs (not that different to running an agency in some respects) do this rather than packing them into a homogenised chain.