CB Exclusive: Melbourne-based creative agency Accelerator re-born bigger and better as DPR&Co

CB Exclusive: Melbourne-based creative agency Accelerator has today announced a new trading name and associated brand, prompted by the completion of a series of strategic, personnel and structural changes.

From today, the eight year-old agency is to be known as DPR&Co – a name that reflects a reconstituted executive directorship for the company.

Agency principal Phil Huzzard – who has been associated with the Accelerator brand since its inception – said the re-brand had been some months in the making, and came about from Accelerator’s acquisition of Richard Ralphsmith’s Ralphsmith Communications in February.

Says Huzzard: “As a business we wanted to build on our position as a strategically focussed quiet achiever to become, to use our parlance, a highly-creative extrovert.

“We began with a search for additional creative talent that would help us achieve that vision, which culminated with our coming together with notable creative consultancy Ralphsmith Communications, earlier this year.”

Under the terms of the acquisition, Ralphsmith joins the board as an executive director of the newly named business, along with Phil Huzzard and Domenic Brasacchio. Neville Jones (chairman) and Simon Reynolds will continue their roles as non-executive directors on the board.

The DPR&Co name is a variation on the convention of naming agencies based on the initials of the principal’s first names.

Says Ralphsmith, who takes on the role of executive creative director: “We wanted to highlight the importance of our re-positioning with a very powerful and visible symbol of change.

“The shift in emphasis will build on the extraordinary strategic capability of this firm to give it a highly developed creative edge.”

The rebranding, effective immediately, also coincides with a change of address for the firm to a new location in Richmond.

DPR&Co executive director and MD Domenic Brasacchio said a number of highly-creative campaigns were in the works for new and established clients, including jobs for Ambulance Victoria, Honda and Sabco.

Says Brasacchio: “The new output is of a quality we’re all really proud of. We want to build a reputation as one of the region’s most creative firms, but always focused on the business outcomes we drive for our clients.”

(Pictured L-R: Dom Brasacchio, Richard Ralphsmith, Phil Huzzard)