David Droga

If you look at Accenture as an example, Accenture is a consulting firm at its foundation, an intelligence firm at its foundation, and then it introduced a dec- more than a decade ago Accenture Interactive to move into the media buying space, heavily focused on digital.

And then it added and built Accenture Song by bringing in creative agencies, Droga5 being the most prominent, David Droga then taking over the Accenture Song model.

So if you look at Accenture as the role model, it's increasingly, it's a almost a $20 billion business today.

It's taking money from the holding companies.

It was just, it was on the execution divorced from strategy.

It was, it's, it, it's the worst part of, I think, you know, the perception of marketing amongst so many Fortune 500 companies, and it's, it's something that David Droga said to me, which is, you know, a perception, it's jazz hands.

Mm-hmm.

You know, it's the pretty pictures.

[upbeat music] On today's episode, we have an interview with Chime Chief Marketing Officer, Vineet Mehra, who I met up with at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity back in late June.

And then I've got an interview with Accenture Song's former CEO and current chair, David Droga, about a recent study from the agency and why most companies can generate creative ideas, but very few can turn them into growth.

[upbeat music] Maybe I'm being a bit presumptive here, but chances are when you're thinking of great brands, your mind doesn't immediately scream, "Banks." Of course, there are major banks with very strong brands, but certainly not in the same way we think about brands in fashion, beauty, or sports.

And look, there's a very good reason for that.

[upbeat music] Fast Company has collaborated with Accenture Song for this Creativity at Work series to explore the agency's research on the theme of applied creativity.

You can read more about the series on fastcompany.com and explore the research in more depth at Accenture Song's website.

I sat down with former CEO and current chair, David Droga, to talk about the study, why its overall goal is to get more creatives into the C-suite and on company boards, and more.

Thanks for being here, and, uh, I'm excited to talk to you about this, uh, this idea, b- both the report, but the idea around applied creativity because I know it's something, though not in report form, something you've been talking about in various ways, shapes, and forms for, for a number of years.