Droga5 Taps Ann-Christine Diaz as Global Head of Reputation and Creative Excellence
Photo Credit: Ted Sun
Droga5, part of Accenture Song, has named Ann Christine Diaz global head of reputation and creative excellence, a newly created role that reflects the agency’s expanded global vision. She moves from McCann Worldgroup, where she served as global head of creative content and reputation and before that, as global director of creative excellence. Ann-Christine also made a name for herself as one of the most respected authorities on advertising and marketing creativity, having covered agency and brand creative at Ad Age, where she spent more than a decade as its creativity editor, among other roles.
Ann Christine will report to Droga5 Worldwide CCO Pelle Sjoenell and global CEO Mark Green. She will be responsible for steering Droga5’s vision for creative excellence and the marketing and communications strategy to support the agency and its clients’ overall creative and business objectives. She will be based In the U.S.
Ann Christine is the latest to join Droga5’s new global team charged with leading the agency’s next chapter, powered by its creative and strategic talent around the world and the tech expertise of the broader Song business. The agency’s founder and former creative chairman David Droga will become vice chair of Accenture after it was announced that he is to step down from his post as Accenture Song’s CEO.
“When David decided to open the doors of Droga5, the first person he trusted to tell that story was Ann-Christine,” said Mark. “She knows where we started and what we are built on. She has our ambition as well as the ideas and insight to help us live up to that ambition.”
“Ann-Christine is beloved by the industry for putting creativity and the people behind it first,” added Pelle. “She’s a connector, she knows talent, she’s endlessly curious, asks the right kind of questions and interrogates the work. We couldn’t think of a better person to help us carry the agency forward.”
“As a journalist, I spent a disproportionate amount of time writing about Droga5 because it always made an outsize impact,” Ann Christine said. “After so many years of chronicling the agency’s achievements–from the deep dives into the work, Agency of the Year stories and profiles of its exceptional talents, including David himself, it’s like a homecoming of sorts. But this time, I’m stepping all the way inside and I feel a huge sense of responsibility to make sure that the agency’s creative legacy endures. As part of Accenture Song, Droga5 has an embarrassment of riches in terms of talent and tools to fulfil its clients’ biggest ambitions. It’s just starting to leverage all of that in tremendous ways and we need to properly tell that story.”
Ann Christine arrives as the agency continues to build out its new global leadership team, which includes worldwide CCO Pelle Sjoenell, who previously served as the first ever CCO at Activision Blizzard and was global CCO of BBH; global CEO Mark Green, who co founded and was, until last year, CEO of The Monkeys (now Droga5) and lead for Accenture Song Australia and New Zealand; and global chief strategy officer Emma Montgomery, who has held top leadership posts at DDB, TBWA and Leo Burnett.
