Tara Ford Moves to London, Barbara Humphries and Damon Stapleton Named AUNZ CCOs
Droga5 Australia and New Zealand chief creative officer Tara Ford is heading overseas to become chief creative officer of Droga5 London.
In her new role, Tara will be based in the UK capital, working closely with Droga5 London CEO Bill Scott and chief strategy officer Will Hodge as they head up a strengthened Droga5 London -- Accenture Song has rolled its creative capabilities into the agency. Droga5 London's previous CCO was Shelley Smoler, who took the job in 2022 and left last year.
In the AUNZ market, Tara’s move has led to the promotions of AUNZ executive creative director Barbara Humphries and Droga5 Aotearoa chief creative officer Damon Stapleton, who become co-chief creative officers across Australia and New Zealand.
The duo will work alongside Matt Michael, the recently-appointed CEO of Droga5 ANZ.
The rejigged line up is part of a creative restructure to “reinvent Droga5’s worldwide offering and reposition the expanding global network for its new phase of growth” under recently-installed Droga5 global CEO, Mark Green, who succeeded Sarah Thompson in August.
“It is always great to see people you have worked with closely for many years take on new challenges," Mark said.
"With Tara moving to London, we didn’t hesitate to elevate Barb and Damon, and it felt like the perfect opportunity for everyone to advance their careers and bolster the creative pedigree of Droga5 globally."
Under Tara’s creative leadership, Droga5 AUNZ has been recognised at all major international award shows, resulting in Agency of the Year awards for both creativity and effectiveness, along with number one global rankings at Cannes, D&AD and One Show. Ranked #1 CCO in APAC by One Show, Tara is AWARD’s ‘Creative Leader of the Year 2023/24’ and Campaign Asia’s 2023 ‘Creative Leader of the Year.’
“I’ve had an amazing time at The Monkeys, now Droga5 ANZ, working with some exceptional talent but the opportunity to take on my next big challenge of Droga5 London was just too alluring,” said Tara.
“Droga5 ANZ is in great hands with Barb and Damon at the helm and I have no doubt the agency will flourish under their leadership.”
As ECD, Barbara worked closely with Tara on projects including the Cannes Lions Dan Wieden Titanium Grand Prix-winning ‘The First Digital Nation’ for the Tuvaluan Government and the Cannes Lions Film Grand Prix-winning, and Immortal Award recipient, ‘Play It Safe’ for The Sydney Opera House.
“I’m really proud of the recent momentum as part of The Monkeys, Song and now Droga5, and learning from a creative force like Tara over the past few years has been invaluable," Barbara said.
"Now, with the opportunity to bring together more of our talented people across three offices, partnering with the brilliant Damon Stapleton and long-time collaborator Matt, I’m super excited about the opportunities ahead of us.”
Damon has been named one of the top 20 CCOs globally by D&AD and collected over 500 international awards, including 54 D&AD Pencils -- and two D&AD Black Pencils -- 70 Cannes Lions, 11 One Show Gold Pencils, Three Grand Clios, an ADC Black Cube, and eight Grand Prix at Spikes Asia.
He left DDB in 2021 with Justin Mowday to launch The Monkeys in New Zealand.
He added, “Droga5 has always been a bastion of world-class creativity, and it makes me proud to be able to work with all the great and talented people of Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne to add to Droga5’s story.
"Having the larger playing field of Australia and New Zealand with so many more Lego pieces to push creativity forward is always going to be fun. On top of that, I get to partner with somebody as massively talented as Barb which makes that journey even more special. I look forward to great ideas and making great stuff.”
The Monkeys was rebadged to Droga5 last year, with The Monkeys’ offices in Auckland, Melbourne, and Sydney being renamed in December.
