Spikes Asia: Droga spurs delegates on where to next

In his president’s address to Spikes delegates, entitled “Where to next?”, David Droga spoke openly about the things he’s learnt in driving Droga5 and advised on where advertising agencies should be heading to next.

After describing how he came into advertising and starting his own agency, Droga went on to address that though advertising is going through tough times, he believes this is just the time for re-invention and for agencies to break out of the mould.

He reminded the delegates not to lose sight of what a privilege it is as an industry to be paid for “using our imagination”.

“All bets are off,” said Droga. “We were an industry that was ruled by assumptions. The onus is now on us to bank on our imagination again.” Droga also touched on getting back to basics of striving to have “more interesting conversations” with clients.

He advised agencies to get rid of “self-imposed boundaries” to build teams of people with no imposed solutions, and to start prescribing what is right for the client, rather than simply presenting what they think is right or hijacking people into advertising.

Droga then presented examples of work he’s done to illustrate his point of prescribing what was right for clients. From Sarah Silverman gunning for Obama in “The Great Schlep” to a mobile-based Million project for the NYC Department of Education to a video promoting Guitar Hero, Droga maintained that there was still a “diversity of opportunities” for agencies all round.

“People from all walks of life, from all sorts of industries need our services. We have the opportunity to do amazing things, to contribute to things. I wish you guys have as much as fun as I did during my time here in Asia because it’s a brilliant industry and I look forward to where it’s going,” concluded Droga.