Following a stellar 2022, DDB had a somewhat quieter season but put on a solid show against a tough economic backdrop.

After winning the Coles pitch in 2022 with its Omnicom stablemates, and creating the Smith Street bespoke agency, DDB added an extra 45 staff, growing its revenue by 9 per cent and EBIT by 8 per cent. 

In 2023, the agency picked up six pieces of new business — including full-service advertising accounts for AgriFutures, the Suburban Rail Loop Authority and Vodka Cruiser. The agency also picked up project work for Movember, V8 Supercars and Synergy WA. It lost the local area marketing work for Telstra in December 2023. 

At the end of the year, DDB’s client list stood at a very healthy 60, including its longstanding relationship with McDonald’s, Volkswagen Group and Westpac relationships. 

Notable work included a McDonald’s campaign to launch the McCrispy burger that starred Kid Laroi. DDB’s Creative Index, which tracks the economic value of creativity across Australia’s largest companies not only picked up silverware at several shows, but helped the industry illustrate its value.

DDB Group also brought Omnicom’s precision marketing agency RAPP to Australia.

DDB prides itself on impressively long (and industry trend-bucking) staff tenures. In fact, DDB has 23 staff who have spent more than a decade with the agency. One has even spent 33 years at DDB. The agency brought in Adrian Jung from Leo Burnett as head of delivery and joined to head up DDB’s Experience. Creatives Dan Bolton, Simon Koay and Stephen Hey also joined the DDB roster, while managing partner Kate Firth left late in the year.

In 2023, DDB launched its Gender Affirmation toolkit and added a superannuation bonus to DDB’s paid gender-neutral parental leave policy. It also ran the Project iV leadership program for female and non-binary staff and launched the Inspire Series, delivering sessions themed on mentorship, visibility and creativity.

However, it wasn’t all perfect. The agency’s churn rate was above the industry norm. And, despite 58 per cent of its 286 staff being women and 52 per cent of its leadership team also being women, the agency’s median gender pay gap increased from 10.9 per cent in 2022 to 14.8 per cent in 2023.