Mark Green, the co-founder and CEO of The Monkeys and current lead of Accenture Song ANZ after its $63m acquisition of the creative agency, is heading to New York to run Droga5, Accenture Song’s global creative brand founded by Green’s former colleague at Saatchi & Saatchi, David Droga. Today’s announcement of Green’s move coincides with The Monkey’s brand being mothballed for the global creative unit, Droga5, and comes days before Green’s hire of top Initiative media execs start at Accenture Song to build a media buying and planning operation.
Green, who currently leads Accenture Song's Australia and New Zealand operations and holds the CEO title at The Monkeys, will relocate to New York to take the helm. He replaces Sarah Thompson.
Green will work alongside recently appointed global chief creative officer, Pelle Sjoenell, to oversee all Droga5 creative offices around the world, including in Dublin, London, New York, São Paulo and Tokyo.
In a shakeup, Accenture Song’s creative arm, The Monkeys, will move under the Droga5 umbrella. The Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney offices will join Droga5 from December 1, 2024. According to Droga5, the integration of The Monkeys with the larger company will provide greater tech, design and data capabilities access to local clients.
The expansion of the Droga5 brand into the Australian market will see The Monkeys' Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland offices transition to the Droga5 name as of 1 December this year. It comes of the back of a successful year for the Droga5 brand, which worked alongside The Monkeys to take out the highly coveted global Tourism Australia creative and digital accounts for Accenture Song in a drawn out pitch against Publicis Groupe and Clemenger Group. Droga5's roster also includes the likes of JPMorgan and Chase and Molson Coors.
Droga5, founded by Accenture Song CEO David Droga in 2006, becomes the sole creative offshoot of Accenture's marketing services business. Droga sold his agency to Accenture Song in 2019, two years after the consulting group paid Green and his business partners $63 million to acquire The Monkeys. By 2022, the two were the sole survivors of a mass-culling of acquired brands to make way for the consolidated Accenture Song offering.
Both Green and Sjoenell have been charged with leading Droga5 into a creative-tech-infused era while upholding Accenture Song’s promise to clients to drive business growth and relevance.
“We’ve done it very well in Australia,” Green said. “Both for reaching high creative standards but also thinking about how creativity influences business more broadly. That would be the combination of things I would think we’re looking to build and make sure that every office that has the name delivers.
Green said the process had started for his replacement but Matt Michael would take charge of The Monkeys-Droga5 business in ANZ.
After running the broader Accenture Song unit here with CX, tech, design and creative services, Green’s move to run a renowned creative shop globally could be seen as back to the future for the advertising agency veteran.
“I don't look at it like that,” Green said. “It's probably more a case of how have we managed to use creativity as a weapon to drive growth for our customers. That's less about just doing advertising and communications - more about ideas that influence more broadly. Droga 5 is part of Accenture Song and that's the remit - to try and use it as a beachhead to discover that sort of magic for brands and for customers.So I feel like the it's more expansive, but using the creative agency as the catalyst for that growth story.”
Green confirmed Initiative's Mel Fein, Sam Greer and Chris Coulter started next week. Their remit will initially be APAC but Accenture Song has made some media exex appointments in London and New York and will ultimately compete for global accounts.
The Monkeys, founded by Justin Drape, Scott Nowell and Green in 2006, became one of the most celebrated (and awarded) agencies in the world, let alone Australia. Drape left The Monkeys in 2021 and Nowell departed late last year, leaving Green as the only remaining co-founder.
Recently, an Accenture Song consortium, including The Monkeys and Droga5, won the prestigious Tourism Australia advertising account.
At last year’s B&T Awards, The Monkeys won the NSW Agency of the Year title and Best PR campaign for its “England Bitter” work for England Bitter. How the agency will fare this year remains to be seen — tickets are available to buy now, should you want to find out.
At Cannes Lions this year, The Monkeys was the only Australian or Kiwi agency to win a Grand Prix. Its epic “Play It Safe” for the Sydney Opera House picked up the top prize in the film category. In 2023, The Monkeys took home the Dan Wieden Titanium Lion for its “First Digital Nation” campaign for the tiny Pacific island of Tuvalu.
Its work for Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) has also been widely celebrated. Its most recent lamb ad skewered some of the issues dividing Australia by roasting millennials, boomers, Gen Xers and zoomers in one fell swoop and showing the power that a good barbecue can have on national unity.
In October last year, The Monkeys’ “Footy Country” work for Telstra was crowned B&T’s Campaign of the Month.
“I’m a firm believer creativity can influence business and people in big and impactful ways,” said Green who succeeds Sarah Thompson.
“We have proven that our combination of creative firepower and tech transformation is a winning formula in the current market. It’s a privilege to take on this role at Droga5 to steer it into its next chapter, and I’m particularly thrilled to have the incredibly talented team at The Monkeys on board with me for the journey.
