Droga5 hires Pelle Sjoenell as worldwide chief creative officer

Droga5 has hired Pelle Sjoenell as its new worldwide chief creative officer. Accenture Song CEO David Droga said he had admired Sjoenell’s work for years but couldn’t successfully recruit him to the agency until now. Sjoenell became Activision Blizzard’s first-ever chief creative officer in 2019 and left that role in September 2023. During his time there, he led marketing and creativity efforts for gaming franchises such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, and Candy Crush. See all of Ad Age’s 2024 Creativity Award winners here Notable work launched during Sjoenell’s tenure at Activision Blizzard included Call of Duty’s “Veteruns” campaign, Heinz’s “Hidden Spots” effort in collaboration with Call of Duty and “Scratch Boards” for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2. Before Activision, he served as worldwide CCO at BBH, where he oversaw the agency’s creative efforts across offices in Mumbai, India; Shanghai, Singapore, Los Angeles, New York, London and Stockholm, and worked on clients including Google, Nike, Samsung, Audi, E! and T-Mobile. Under Sjoenell’s leadership, BBH secured more than 30 Cannes Lions including two Grand Prix Lions and a Titanium Lion, which Droga handed to him, for BBH’s “Excite” campaign for Axe in 2009. Sjoenell also spearheaded the agency’s branded entertainment venture with talent mogul Scooter Braun in 2014. “As you admire someone the best thing to do is wait for the right opportunity,” Droga said. “Because it’s easy to get great people, it’s hard to keep great people, particularly in a creative role. So it had to be a role that was worthy of his talents. I also love the fact that he left the industry and went to Activision because it’s right on the cusp of technology, culture, storytelling, and influence.” Droga said now that his own role encompasses all of Accenture Song, he needed someone for the Droga5 post who could oversee all of its offices in New York, Brazil, Dublin and Tokyo. Neil Heymann was Droga5’s last global CCO before he took on the same title at Accenture Song in 2021. The need became clearer as several executives, such as Heymann and former Droga5 global CEO Sarah Thompson, moved from roles at Droga5 to roles at Song, Droga added. (Thompson has since left the company.) “While each office has fantastic CCOs, I really needed to have someone who helps bring them all together and makes sure there’s a united push there and has the privilege of not being held hostage by one of the environments, even though they’re all crucial,” Droga said. “There’s a nuanced difference between what’s going on in Tokyo versus New York and Brazil.” Sjoenell said he was attracted to the idea of working with both Droga5 and the larger Accenture Song and said it connects with his experience marketing different brands under the Activision ecosystem. “The only agency model of the future is one that can change,” said Sjoenell. “That’s what I always was excited about.” Droga5’s role within Song Droga5 has around 500 employees and works with companies such as The New York Times, Chase, Meta, Molson Coors and Levi’s. Both Droga and Sjoenell are looking toward what they say is the next version of the agency. “Our brief to him is not to rekindle anything from the past,” Droga said. “I just want us to be a massively contributing part of where this industry goes. And my desire for us to be the most influential creative company in the world hasn’t changed since day one of Droga5, and to be influential, you have to evolve.” This evolution includes further incorporating how Droga5 works within the larger Song ecosystem of shops, such as having the agency collaborate with Work&Co, which Song bought earlier this year. Droga said he plans to open more Droga5 offices and will look to hire a global CEO once he finds the right person. He also said that how he measures Droga5’s growth since the Accenture acquisition differs from when the agency was independent, and revenue and headcount were measures of success. “There’s this sort of interplay between some of the services we have in Song,” Droga said of the current structure. “And the revenue—we don’t actually count it, we weigh it—because sometimes there’s stuff that Droga5 does that opens the doors for something that’s five times larger within broader Accenture.” He added: “Still, selfishly as a creative, I’m always going to judge it by the impact we have on our clients and on society.” Ad Age Creativity Bookmark our section covering the best in brand creativity every day Read more here

Droga5 hires a worldwide chief creative officer—David Droga on the choice

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