Timeline: The Bold Work That Made Droga5 an Iconic Independent Agency

In one of the more dramatic pieces of agency acquisition news in recent years, Droga5 today announced it will be acquired by Accenture Interactive. The 13-year-old creative agency founded and led by David Droga has been one of the most notable independent players in the agency world throughout its run, and Droga5's work has often generated global attention and avalanches of awards. As the agency's independence comes to its end, we're looking back at the campaigns, client wins, transitions and personalities that defined Droga5's evolution. Here's a brief timeline of how the agency came to be, came into its own and came to dominate discussions of advertising for more than a decade. 2002 — David Droga, Rising Global Star Adweek names Saatchi & Saatchi its Global Agency of the Year, crediting much of the network's success to U.K. executive creative director David Droga, whom Adweek described as "one of the hottest creative directors in the world." 2003 — David Droga Moves to NYC David Droga, an Australian native who'd been working at Saatchi in London since 1999, moves to New York City to become the first worldwide creative chief for agency holding company Publicis. 2006 — Droga5's Founding, Ecko's 'Still Free' David Droga founds Droga5, naming the agency after the tag his mother would sew into his clothes to help identify what belonged to David (the fifth of six children). Named as CEO was Andrew Essex, who would eventually take on the role of vice chairman before exiting in 2015 and authoring "The End of Advertising." Shortly after its founding, Droga5 was approached by fashion designer Mark Ecko for help reinforcing the connection between his brand, Ecko Unlimited, and graffiti art. The resulting project, "Still Free," used grainy, handheld camera footage to show a team of vandals breaking into Air Force One's storage facility at Andrews Air Force Base and tagging the president's airplane with the brand motto "Still Free." Widely reported by news media as real, the cleverly doctored clip led the Pentagon to issue a statement denying any graffiti had been painted on Air Force One—and the video became an instant icon of viral, guerrilla marketing. [kickout id="1"] The Ecko project would net Droga5 its first Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions—not bad for the first year of the agency's existence. 2007 — The Unicef Tap Project, Royer Joins Ted Royer, a U.S. creative who'd worked alongside Droga at Publicis, joins as one of the earliest employees and would eventually rise to the role of chief creative officer. Challenged by Esquire editor David Granger to come up with a world-changing idea that could fit on one magazine page, David Droga was inspired to create what would become the Unicef Tap Project. The campaign launched by asking NYC restaurant goers to pay $1 for tap water that usually came free of charge, with all proceeds going to families in drought-stricken nations around the world. Esquire donated not one but three pages to kick off the project, and the magazine also brought in celebs like Sarah Jessica Parker. The first World Water Day raised $5.5 million, and the charity effort has continued and grown since. 2008 — The Great Schlep To help ensure Democratic candidate Barack Obama won the tossup state of Florida, Droga5 and the Jewish Council for Education and Research launched "The Great Schlep," featuring comedian Sarah Silverman calling for young Jews to visit their grandparents in Florida and convince them to vote for Obama. Florida ended up going to Obama with a scant 170,000-vote majority, and Droga5 says Obama won the largest support among elderly Jewish residents in 30 years. [kickout id="2"] 2010 — Decode Jay-Z for Bing Edgy and experimental work for Mark Ecko is one thing. But could Droga5 bring streetsmarts and a pop culture edge to a sleepier brand like Microsoft's Bing? The Decode Jay-Z campaign helped show how the young agency could do just that, in this case by taking pages from Jay-Z's upcoming autobiography, Decoded, and sprinkling entries throughout the world, placing them at locations where key moments in the rapper's life occurred. [kickout id="4"] 2011 — Prudential's Day 1, Puma Social, Celebrity Tap For Prudential, an early blue-chip client in Droga5's roster, the agency sought to dismantle the cliches around retirement-related marketing and show real people embarking on their real retirements. [kickout id="16"] Droga5 also works with underdog shoe brand Puma to change the conversation around athletics—from combat to simple enjoyment. [kickout id="18"] Continuing to build on its Unicef Tap Project launched in 2007, Droga5 ramps up the celebrity aspect of the campaign by partnering with Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Robin Williams and more to literally bottle tap water from the celebs' homes and sell it in collector packs. [kickout id="3"] 2012 — First Win as Adweek's U.S. Agency of the Year Droga5 is named Adweek's U.S. Agency of the Year after a massive streak of client wins including Coke Zero, Smartwater, Mondelez's Honey Maid, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Newcastle Brown Ale. The agency's U.S. revenue increased 43% year over year to $41 million. David Droga is also inducted into the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame. 2013 — Minority Stake Sold, London Office Opens Talent agency William Morris Endeavor buys 49% of Droga5, reportedly netting $115 million for the creative agency. Also in 2013, Droga5 opens its London office. 2014 — A Banner Year for Droga5 Creative In one of advertising's best meta campaigns of all time, Droga5 and Newcastle Brown Ale generated a swath of hilarious content under the heading "If We Made It." The campaign imagined what the brand and agency would have done if they'd made a Super Bowl ad, which they did not—much to the supposed annoyance of star Anna Kendrick. [kickout id="5"] Adweek names the Newcastle campaign the No. 1 ad of 2014, and Droga5 is again named Adweek's U.S. Agency of the Year. Also launched in 2014 is Honey Maid's This Is Wholesome campaign, putting the brand ahead of the coming trend of major marketers embracing long marginalized or overlooked groups like gay parents, people with disabilities and mixed families. [kickout id="6"] For Under Armour, Droga5 creates a stirring set of empowering ads under the tagline "I Will What I Want," featuring supermodel Gisele Bündchen and rapidly rising ballet star Misty Copeland. [kickout id="13"] [kickout id="12"] 2015 — Australia Office Closes In a tough blow for Australian-born David Droga, the agency makes the difficult choice to close its Sydney office. Describing the office's challenges, Droga said, "Some of it was self-inflicted, some of it bad luck and some of it just the befuddling local advertising market." 2016 — Michael Phelps for Under Armour, Another Agency of the Year Droga5 creates one of advertising's most powerful pieces with "Rule Yourself" featuring Michael Phelps, the world-famous swimmer whose career seemed to be at a precarious crossroads. At 31—widely considered past the peak age for swimmers—Phelps would head to Rio for the Summer Olympics after the campaign launched and win an incredible five golds and a silver. [kickout id="7"] Adweek names the spot the best ad of the year, and Droga5 is, for the third time, named Adweek's U.S. Agency of the Year. Also in 2016, Droga5 launches its campaign of Johnsonville ads dreamed up by the sausage maker's own employees. [kickout id="9"] 2017 — First Work for The NYT, Lion of St. Mark Droga5 launches its first campaign for The New York Times, "The Truth Is Hard," with an Oscars ad. President Trump, a frequent critic of the newspaper and target of its investigative reporting, tweets that the commercial is "a bad one." [kickout id="8"] David Droga also becomes the youngest honoree to receive the Cannes Lions lifetime achievement award, the Lion of St. Mark. 2018 — IHOb, Dundee Rebooted, Royer Fired In a roller coaster of a year, Droga5 fires longtime creative chief Ted Royer over unspecified breaches, saying only the move was made to preserve the agency's "safe and inclusive environment." (Droga5 veteran Neil Heymann is named as the new CCO in May.) In another blow soon after, Droga5 loses client Pizza Hut and endures several rounds of layoffs over the year. The rest of 2018 goes better for the agency, with its mysterious rebranding of IHOP as "IHOb" sparking widespread speculation (International House of Bacon? Of Breakfast? Of Beyonce?) before being revealed as "International House of Burgers." Generating massive news coverage and online debate, the campaign proves one of the most attention-grabbing of the year. [kickout id="10"] Also in 2018, Droga5 pulls a Super Bowl head fake with a campaign for Australian tourism that masqueraded as a star-studded Crocodile Dundee reboot called "Dundee: The Son of a Legend Returns Home." [kickout id="14"] 2019 — More for NYT, Super Bowl Surprise, Acquisition by Accenture Interactive In its newest work for The New York Times, Droga5 helps the newspaper tell the stories behind some of its most exhaustive investigations. [kickout id="15"] At the Super Bowl, Droga5 pulls off one of the most surprising and audacious ads in recent memory by having Game of Thrones invade Bud Light's ongoing Dilly Dilly campaign. Adweek names the collaboration between Bud Light (repped by agency Wieden + Kennedy) and HBO (with Droga5 as agency) the best ad of the Super Bowl. [kickout id="17"] On April 3, Droga5 announces it has agreed to an acquisition offer by Accenture Interactive, the marketing division of global consultancy Accenture. The deal includes buying out the minority stake owned since 2013 by William Morris Endeavor. Industry leaders and observers wait to see how the change in ownership might affect the agency and its longstanding reputation for creative quality.