Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has appointed creative icon David Droga, founder and chairman of Droga5, as Accenture Interactive’s new CEO and creative chairman, effective September 1, 2021.
Brian Whipple, who has led Accenture Interactive for the last 10 years, has announced his retirement from Accenture. Under Whipple’s leadership, in fiscal year 2020 (ended Aug. 31, 2020), Accenture Interactive grew to $10.6 billion in revenue.
In his new global role, Droga will drive creative excellence, customer experience and business innovation–which leverages the unique capabilities of interactive, including the power of the depth and breadth of Accenture–to accelerate results that sustain business growth. As global enterprises adapt to new customer needs, expectations and opportunities across industries, Accenture is helping set a new standard for customer connection, sales and marketing — with capabilities from brand to data and artificial intelligence, to the latest technology, to marketing operations.
“At a time when our clients are led by purpose, brand and the transformation of experience, David’s global perspective and unmatched creative track record allows us to help clients unlock business and human outcomes in unprecedented ways,” said Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture.
“I would like to thank and recognize Brian Whipple for his foundational role in building Accenture Interactive’s strong business, driving its rapid growth and for pioneering a disruptive business model that will continue redefining the industry,” said Sweet.
Droga is best known as the founder of the celebrated advertising firm Droga5. Prior to founding Droga5, Droga was the first-ever worldwide chief creative officer of the Publicis Network and held key creative leadership roles across agencies in the U.K., Asia and Australia. To date, he is the most awarded creative at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and the youngest person ever inducted into the New York Art Directors Club Hall of Fame and awarded with the Cannes Lions Lifetime Achievement Award, the Lion of St. Mark. Droga will report to Sweet and join the company’s Global Management Committee.
“Accenture Interactive has rapidly become the leading digital powerhouse at the intersection of data, creativity and technology,” said Droga. “As the world seeks to build back better, Interactive will continue to play a critical role in creating 360° value for our clients. I look forward to putting further emphasis on our creative excellence, coupling it with our world-class ingenuity and proven expertise in Interactive and experiences.”
The demand for experience-led transformation continues to accelerate and is top-of-mind for CEOs as businesses reimagine the need for B-to-B transformations using B-to-C experiences amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A large majority (77%) of CEOs said they will fundamentally change how their companies interact with customers as a priority to drive business growth, Accenture Research found.
Droga5 has been part of Accenture since being acquired in 2019. Together, Droga5 and Accenture Interactive have created transformative brand experiences for many of the world’s leading brands, including Accenture, Kimberly Clark, Amazon and lululemon.
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More