One of Australia's best adman David Droga, founder and creative chairman of Droga5, will be honoured by the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity with the Lion of St. Mark.
The honor is given each year to someone who has made outstanding contributions to the creative community.
“[Droga’s] drive, passion and unbounded creative skill has led him to deliver continual award-winning results. He’s set the global standard,” Cannes Lion MD Jose Papa says.
Droga has amassed more than 70 gold Lions and 15 Grand Prix/Titanium Lions. Just last year, Droga and his agency won a Grand Prix in Film Craft for the agency’s work on the Under Armour “Rule Yourself: Michael Phelps” campaign. Droga won his first Lion at age 19.
At 22, David Droga became a partner and ECD of OMON Sydney and in 1996, he moved to Singapore to become ECD of Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore and Regional Creative Director of Saatchi Asia.
At age 29, Droga was promoted to ECD of Saatchi & Saatchi London, and under his charge, they were awarded, for the first time, Agency of the Year at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 1996.
In 2003 Droga became the first-ever worldwide chief creative officer of the Publicis Network in New York. In less than two years, Publicis enjoyed a very public creative and new business renaissance around the world. Restless to launch his own agency, David founded Droga5 in New York City in 2006.
In just over ten years, Droga5 has seen unprecedented success, despite closing its offices in Australia, and become one of the most influential agencies , including back-to-back accolades as Cannes Lions Independent Agency of the Year in 2015 and 2016.
“I have worked with more talented people and had more opportunities than one creative person deserves. The Lion of St. Mark honor is beyond my wildest ambitions. It’s incredible to be recognized with this, when you still feel you have so much more to do and prove. But I will soak it up with pride and humility," Droga says.
Past recipients of the Lion of St. Mark have included R/GA’s Bob Greenberg in 2015 and Marcello Serpa, a former partner at AlmapBBDO in 2016. Droga is the seventh ad industry veteran to receive the honor.
Droga will receive his award during this year’s Cannes Lions festival, during the awards ceremony on June 24. He will also be speaking earlier at the festival, taking the stage on June 23.
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