AND THEN THERE WERE THREE: DROGA5 AUSTRALIA’S NEW MANAGEMENT LINE-UP

Following months of speculation, Droga5 Australia, the first overseas office of Droga5 New York, finally confirms its arrival with the announcement of a new management team.

David ‘Nobby’ Nobay, takes up the helm as Creative Chairman of Droga5 Australia alongside partners Sudeep Gohil, who joins as Planning Director and Marianne Bess, who will be Managing Director.

Before resigning in October, Nobay was Executive Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney. Under his watch, the agency was named  CB Australian Agency of the Year an unprecedented three times in as many years. In 2007 he was also ranked No1 most awarded Creative Director in the Australasia region in the CB Creative Rankings.

Meanwhile, Gohil has gained his formidable reputation abroad. Previously he was Worldwide Planning Director of Weiden & Kennedy, Portland, responsible for global strategy for Nike and P&G. Prior to his role there, he was Planning Director on the European Levis account through Bartle Bogle Hegarty in London. He also was part of the launch team for BBH Japan.

Marianne Bess comes with a client business pedigree second to none. Living in LA, she was responsible for leading the Toyota business for North America (the automotive leader’s largest market outside Japan) at Saatchi & Saatchi. In 2003, she moved to Sydney to work alongside Nobay and, then, CEO Jim O’Mahony. For the last 4 months she has been working as Strategic Consultant within Toyota Australia.

All three partners will hold equity in the new venture, alongside Worldwide Creative Chairman and Founder, David Droga and his New York-based company. In addition, Nobay will become a board member of Droga5 in the US.

David Droga is perhaps Australia’s most successful advertising exports. With over 50 Cannes Lions to his name, he is the single most awarded Creative Director in the world.

Before founding Droga5 in New York last year, he had been the first Worldwide Chief Creative Officer for the Publicis Network, as well as Executive Creative Director of Saatchi London and Regional Creative Director for Saatchi Asia. Before leaving Australia 11 years ago, he was a partner and Creative Director of OMON.

Although it has only been 20 months since Droga5 opened its doors in the US, it is already considered one of the hottest advertising and communications companies in the world. Its clients include, Microsoft, ESPN, Ecko, Diageo, UNICEF, Maxjet, Tracfone and Rhapsody.

And while Droga5 is a 100% independently owned company, last year it created a joint venture with the giant French communications company, The Publicis Groupe.  Together they launched a groundbreaking broadband  retail and entertainment  channel, HoneyShed. After a year in development, HoneyShed.com launched its beta site three weeks ago.

David Droga (at left with Nobby at a CB Lunch last year) says the idea of a Sydney-based office to extend his brand was always on the cards: “As a fiercely proud Aussie, it was always my intention to launch an office back home. While the idea of ‘a start-up doing a start-up’ sounds somewhat unusual, I  have always believed you have to build around talent. Nobby was always my first and only choice.  Like me, he’s as passionate about the clients’ business as he is in the idea’s ultimate execution.  And when you include the talents of  Sudeep and Marianne in the mix, well, I feel like the stars have aligned for us in Sydney.”

According to Droga, the time has never been better for his style of creative company: “Our business is at a crossroad. And like never before, it needs  creative leaders who value business and business leaders with a genuine passion for relevant creativity. We are not just in the business of creativity  but rather creative ideas that create positive momentum for brands.”

According to Nobay, the agency is already busy talking to potential clients and adding staff to its numbers: “Frankly, our biggest concern isn’t growth for the sake of it, it is being able to partner with clients with shared ambitions and the capacity to live up to our collective potentials. For that, we were willing to wait, but I’m already amazed at the response we’ve had, especially as we haven’t officially publicised our intentions. The work over the next six months is what will define us, not agency rhetoric, so I’ll say no more for now, other than, for all the pressure we’re now under, it was self inflicted and more fun than even I had predicted.”

Only this week, Droga5 Australia added the first creative team to its ranks by securing the talents of Ben Smith and Neil McGuirk (pictured left), one of Lowe Hunt Sydney’s hottest teams and winners of the Global Yahoo ThinkTank Project. The agency will secure a permanent address in January, and announce additional senior hires.