My take on David Droga’s Accenture Interactive renaming to “Accenture Song”

david droga
Accenture
Of all the efforts businesses make to improve themselves, the corporate makeover is almost always among the most baffling. This is evident from the current series of rebranding announcements over the past few weeks and the many announcements that preceded them. It should be obvious by now that the one thing a rebrand absolutely guarantees is that the money will be spent, often in big chunks.
Advertising agencies are particularly fond of rebranding, no more so than WPP, which recently rebranded all of its creative and digital stores, and now its media agencies. In a confusing move, his latest name change is to change the name of one of his media agencies, MediaCom, to Mediacom, by downgrading the ‘C’ to lowercase ‘c’.
This week, giant management consultants, Accenture, rebranded its advertising agency subsidiary Accenture Interactive, as “Accenture Song” (Ironically, Accenture itself was renamed after its split from Arthur Andersen ago decades). The advertising agency is the largest in the world – last year it generated more revenue than Ogilvy, BBDO and McCann – combined. Accenture Interactive has more than 40 creative agencies around the world, such as Karmarama in the UK, The Monkeys in Australia, Fjord in Scandinavia and Rothco in Ireland, as well as Droga5. All but Droga5 will be brought together under one name, Accenture Song, one P&L and one operating platform.
As I pointed out in this space after David Droga’s promotion to CEO and Creative President of Accenture Interactive nine months ago, that consolidation was in sight. Accenture Interactive had become too heavy and turned into an advertising holding company with all the complexity and inefficiency encountered by WPP or Publicis Groupe. The holding company structure robs these companies of adopting unified standards of excellence and ambition, and the ability to attract top talent.
David Droga seemed confident the roll-up could go off without a hitch, in an interview he gave to trade publication Ad Age. I’m more skeptical. It may take years, even a decade, to transform separate agencies with their own culture into a cohesive unit. Egos, internal politics and customer losses are not easy to predict, but will happen for sure. Managing a transition is a demanding skill. It’s one thing to helm a speed boat like Droga5 and another to steer an aircraft carrier like Accenture Interactive.
Most people might just want to know if I think this rebranding is good. I think it is. Droga shared with Ad Age that he thought “Interactive” was too functional and generic a term. Instead, he was looking for a name that should represent the culture of the agency. The song incorporates authenticity, optimism, happiness and it has emotional value. Above all, it stands out in a commoditized industry with generic brand names that convey virtually no message.
There are, of course, a few agencies that have been there before Accenture. Anomaly, which from day one set out to operate differently from other agencies, or 72andSunny, which adopted a value-based moniker drawn from the cheerful locality of their Southern California turf. Gut, has made his belief in judgment as well as data known, and many UK agencies, like adam&eve, have signaled their differentiation through their brand name.
However, what interests me beyond this rebranding is where Droga is going with the rebranding in the longer term. As much as the “Interactive” tag can be a handicap, isn’t the “Accenture” tag one too? Yes, customers know that. But it’s being a subsidiary of a company that is not in the business of communication, but in management consulting, technology or business strategy. What synergy is there between the consultancy and the advertising agency, and is there a lot of cross-selling? In other words, I’m curious if this rebranding is the final destination or an intermediate step.
The ideal position for any agency is to compete in a market of one, not only as large, but also one exclusive. I think that’s where Droga would like to position Accenture Song as the next generation creative hub, not just an agency, getting involved in CX and technology, but also in movies, content, music, events. Interactive will be part of what they do, but creativity in any form will replace it as the beacon.
David Droga is proud to create his own future. Who says the future doesn’t plan to drop “Accenture” at some point, or an IPO of Song? This is speculation, of course, however, I would say that, if you ever wanted to go in that direction, the rebranding is a very smart first step.