The adman for the times
By Julian Lee | theage.com.au | 01 February
Two of the nation's largest advertisers, the Federal Government and Telstra, are showing keen interest in the street-savvy marketing campaigns that bring about social change created by Australian adman David Droga in New York.
Droga is in Australia this week presenting his ideas to the telco's executives and, at the invitation of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, is giving a talk about The Million Project in New York, which awards free mobile phone credits to motivate children to perform at school.
The New York-based Droga has also given the clearest indication of what Telstra expects from his agency, Droga5, since it was appointed to Telstra's roster in July.
Asked if he or Telstra wants to develop a program similar to The Million, Droga said: "I would love them to do something like Million in Australia. The stars are aligned and we've had some very healthy conversations. There are certain things in the pipeline that could have that effect, or more.
"Telstra has not brought us in to be another one of their agencies. They've brought us in to do the type of work we are good at."
While nothing was concrete, he said: "They can use more than their marketing for good, they can use their technology."
Amanda Johnston-Pell, Telstra's executive director of brands and marketing communications, appears to confirm the direction, saying Droga5 was appointed because it brought in other companies, individuals and partners "far outside the scope of 'conventional advertising' to collaborate in solving our challenges".
She said the agency was working on "communications to raise awareness of the many ways Telstra contributes to local communities".
Droga5's first project was undertaking the design work for the company's most recent corporate responsibility report.
Since leaving Publicis as its worldwide chief creative officer four years ago to set up his own agency, Droga has emerged as the "go to" man of companies that want to do marketing that has a positive affect on society.
He says that after last year, when agencies and clients were on the back foot, more Fortune 500 companies are coming forward to discuss ideas.
His New York agency is about to launch a "green" laundry detergent for Method, and is working on a campaign for the world's largest supplier of wind turbines, the Danish company Vestas, which he hopes will change the way people think about the energy they use, ideas that he says "have momentum" rather than begin and end with a print or a TV ad campaign.
Other US clients include Puma and gaming company Activision.
He says his ambition is to make Droga5, which grew 40 per cent last year, the "most influential" agency in the world.
"We want to work with brands that have a conscience and are not taking at all costs. Is [the work] going to be disposable or will it bring about change?
"The influence of advertising is far greater than we give it credit for. The backbone [of what we do] is still commerce and the capital side, but it can still do good at the same time."
How does he square that philosophy with the fact that the Australian office's biggest client is Victoria Bitter.
"VB is a quintessential part of Australia. That's not saying they should turn a blind eye to binge drinking, they can do stuff about that and they did around Anzac Day," he says, in reference to its Raise a Glass campaign, which raised $1 million for the RSL and Legacy from the sale of specially marked cases of beer. "Not every client is going to be a UNICEF."
The idea to get New Yorkers to pay a $US1 for tap water in restaurants to help UNICEF provide clean drinking water for children in developing nations is being introduced in other US cities.
And it is campaigns like the Tap Project that have brought him to the attention of larger corporations that he says are ripe for change. "You have that influence and scale when you are talking to big companies."
He says we must not read too much into the the Federal Government's invitation for him to speak at its social-inclusion conference in Melbourne.
"It might be food for thought [for Mr Rudd], they might dismiss it outright or take it to further conversations," he says.
First published by TheAge.com.au on February 01 2010
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