The 2024 roundup: These were the biggest creative movements of the year
Mumbrella's Lauren McNamara recaps some of the biggest creative agency talent movements and moments of 2024.
2024 was a huge year for creative agencies. Mergers and acquisitions, the continuation of the indie revolution, and a number of huge talent changes.
It’s time to recap just a few of the biggest moments…
Farewelling The Monkeys
The start of December marked the official return of Droga5 to the ANZ market, and the end to The Monkeys brand.
Launched in 2006 as Three Drunk Monkeys, the agency helmed by Mark Green, Justin Drape, and Scott Nowell quickly picked up speed. The agency was built of the premise of “creating ideas worth talking about”, with a view that connecting clients to customers didn’t always require traditional advertising.
In 2011, it rebranded to The Monkeys, before being acquired in 2017 by Accenture Interactive (now Accenture Song). In 2021, The Monkeys expanded into New Zealand, and now, in 2024, it has merged with sister agency Droga5.
Mark Green has been made the new global CEO of Droga5, while Bronwyn van der Merwe and Matt Michael have been appointed to replace him as Australian CEOs of Accenture Song and Droga5, respectively.
Green described the new era as a “big moment” and a “very exciting opportunity for the team”.
“We have always wanted to make sure that our people feel like they can make the best work of their careers at The Monkeys,” he said. “And this has been the case for many years. Now with the transition to Droga5 they can also have the confidence that their best work is also ahead of them. And, I am excited to lead the team into this new era.”
Omnicom Advertising Group
In August, it was announced that Omnicom will bring its creative agency networks BBDO, DDB, TBWA, and the Advertising Collective under one umbrella – Omnicom Advertising Group.
Similarly to Omnicom Media Group, which houses PHD, OMD, and Hearts & Science, the consolidation hopes to provide the best-in-class talent, innovation, and seamless delivery of creative services around the globe, while allowing agency cultures to remain strong.
John Wren, chairman and CEO of Omnicom said: “With Troy [Ruhanen – global CEO] at the helm of this new division, I’m confident our creative agencies and all our incredibly talented minds will continue to set the bar for the industry.”
The change is effective January 1, 2025.
Thinkerbell acquires Hardhat
In October, Thinkerbell’s acquisition of one of Australia’s leading CX agencies, Hardhat, was confirmed. Founded in 2005 by Dan Monheit, Hardhat has been at the forefront of customer experience, helping Australian brands and businesses go digital, and leading creative platforms for a number of clients.
Monheit has become a partner in Thinkerbell, taking on the role of chief CX thinker.
(L-R): Adam Ferrier, Dan Monheit, Margie Reid
“When the opportunity came knocking to do something bigger with Thinkerbell, it was just too compelling to ignore,” he said of the acquisition.
“The scale of Thinkerbell allows us to take our CX offering and apply it to bigger brand opportunities. Further, Thinkerbell’s ‘Measured Magic’ philosophy, or marketing sciences meets hard core creativity resonates to our core. Our skill set will further build on the Thinkerbell offering and we look forward to seeing what our combined forces can do.”
Campaign Brief backlash
It would be remiss not to mention the moment that swept the creative industry off its feet.
The industry erupted following Campaign Brief’s The Work 2024 and what it showed about the issue of lacking diversity in the creative world. The double-page spread did not feature any women, and the recent BestAds ranking lists of Top Creatives, ECDs and CDs featured just one, showcasing the enormous issue of the lack of diversity in creative leadership.
Pressure is continuing to mount on Campaign Brief and the wider trade publication landscape – including Mumbrella – to better represent the industry it reports on, it continues to mount on agencies to improve their gender balances and diversity in decision makers, and it continues to mount on industry bodies to speak up more and ensure diversity is being championed across the board.
Clemenger Group – whose advertising agencies include Clemenger BBDO, CHEP Network, and Colenso BBDO, among others – was the first major agency to announce it would be disengaging with the trade forum, and slowly, more agencies including Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi Australia, and Special Australia began terminating their relationships.
Howatson+Company acquires Akkomplice
In April, Howaton+Company announced its acquisition of fellow indie Akkomplice.
Originally founded in 2014 by Kenny Hill, Akkomplice has worked with leading brands including Kellogg’s, Sorbent, Slater & Gordon, Mercedes-Benz, Darrell Lea and more.
Kenny Hill
At the time, Chris Howatson, founder and CEO of Howatson+Company told Mumbrella the Akkomplice brand will “shortly not exist” as it will be fully merged into Howatson+Company’s existing offerings.
“I have admired Kenny as an agency leader, and his unwavering commitment to his clients,” he said.
“We’ve supported each other over recent years and when the opportunity came to merge our businesses and welcome Kenny and his team, it was a natural fit.”
The rest of the Akkomplice team have joined Howatson+Company’s Melbourne office, with clients including Totally Workwear, Sorbent and Slater & Gordon already onboarded.
The rise of AI
AI has absolutely had its moment in 2024. Whether you like it or not, it’s here to stay.
And some advertising executives have been more welcoming than others, including Sunday Gravy’s Jack White, who launched an AI-driven ad agency, Cuttable. Beginning as a prototype within the creative confines of Sunday Gravy, Cuttable is already collaborating with some of Australia’s leading brands to make the ad creation process quicker and more seamless, in just a few clicks.
Cuttable’s founders
Howatson+Company is also among those welcoming the technology, with the launch of Plus Also Studios, an AI-enabled creative tech company. Described to pioneer quality brand asset creation, personalisation, and automated orchestration via AI, all with complete performance attribution, the agency exists independently of Howatson+Co, and will be led by managing director Jessica Coulson, and creative director Effie Athanassiou. The agency launched with Endeavour Group as its foundation client.
The indie revolution
Much like its media agency peers, the creative industry’s indie revolution has continued in 2024.
Former M&C Saatchi chief creative and chief strategy officers, Cam Blackley and Emily Taylor, launched the Bureau of Everything in May. Described as having a more progressive creative model and business than a typical creative agency, the Bureau of Everything is a creative ‘office’ designed to deliver bespoke problem solving in a more complex world.
Cam Blackley and Emily Taylor
Similarly, in October, the chief executive, chief creative, and chief strategy officers of Accenture Song’s The Monkeys Melbourne announced their departures from the agency after seven years, also to launch their own indie shop.
Industry leaders Steve Back and John Driscoll also set up an indie agency this year, Monster Sauce. The Perth-based agency brings together the pair’s decades of experience across the creative and marketing sectors, and has been set up to deliver big ideas with global reach. Their wealth of experience working with a range of clients and brands has been described as one of the strongest features of the new agency.
Chief creative movements
Finally, 2024 saw a number of chief creative officer movements. Here’s just a few.
Innocean’s Wes Hawes has joined 72andSunny as CCO, while Brendan WIllenberg will replace him as Innocean ECD.
Howatson+Company promoted senior creative and member of the agency’s founding team, Gavin Chimes, to CCO, and Richard Shaw to deputy.
(L-R): Howatson+Co’s Gavin Chimes, Renee Hyde (MD), and Chris Howatson (CEO)
Clemenger BBDO hired a new CCO this year in Adrián Flores, who returned to Australia after three years at New York-based brand consultancy Robot.
DDB’s Stephen de Wolf departed the agency in July, and shortly announced his move to BMF Australia as its new CCO – replacing Alex Derwin who left in April.
DDB named Matt Chandler as its Sydney CCO, and Psembi Kinstan as Melbourne CCO, replacing the vacancy left by de Wolf.
Finally, M&C Saatchi named Steve Coll as its new group CCO for ANZ, replacing Cam Blackley.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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topics
2024
ai
Campaign Brief
creative
creative agency
Droga5
Hardhat
Howatson+Company
Independent
indies
OAG
Omnicom Advertising Group
The Monkeys
Thinkerbell
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