Droga5, part of Accenture Song, has bolstered its leadership ranks with the appointment of global chief transformation and operations officer Julia Albu, executive director of global accounts Lauren Tomlinson, and global chief production officer Ruben Mercadal.
They will report to global CEO Mark Green and be based at Droga5’s New York headquarters. Droga5 has offices in New York, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Dublin, London, Sao Paulo and Tokyo.
These hires will work to ensure that global Droga5 offices are connected to bring solutions to clients at scale, utilising the tools of the broader Song network.
“At Droga5, creativity has always been our superpower, and with Accenture Song, we have technology and data on our side to propel our ideas further to solve our clients’ most pressing problems. This puts us in a unique position to be the modern agency partner that marketers need. We now have a full global leadership team in place to make the most of this unique opportunity,” Mark Green, global CEO, Droga5 said.
Albu takes on her new post after serving since 2021 as chief of staff to Droga5 founder and Accenture Song CEO David Droga, who became the vice chair of Accenture on 1 September. Albu had first joined Droga5 as an account director when the agency opened its doors in 2006, working on projects including the ‘Tap Project’ for UNICEF, the launch of the New Museum, and Harvard EdLabs’ the Million Project.
She went on to account leadership roles at BBH, working on Google Chrome and at Anomaly, where she led work for Diageo’s Captain Morgan and Johnnie Walker. In 2015, Albu returned to Droga5 NY to lead accounts including Harley-Davidson, Mailchimp, Georgia-Pacific and Johnsonville before taking over the agency’s creative operations in 2019.
Tomlinson steps up after serving as Droga5 NY head of new business for the last three years, during which she brought home wins for Bosch, HBO Max, Xbox, Dove and Tourism Australia. She steadily worked her way up after joining the agency in 2016 as account director, leading campaigns for IHOP (‘IHOB’), Christie’s and Prudential, among others. Prior to Droga5, she was an account leader at creative agencies including Adam&Eve DDB.
Mercadal has expanded his remit to oversee production across all offices, after serving as New York co-head of production since 2022. Mercadal joined the agency in 2016 and went on to steer highly celebrated campaigns including the double Cannes Lions Grand Prix- and D&AD Black Pencil-winning campaign for The New York Times, ‘The Truth Is Worth It,’ and more recent efforts for Riyadh Season, Accenture, Coors, Xbox and Hennessy.
The news follows last month’s appointment of former McCann exec and Ad Age creativity editor Ann-Christine Diaz as global head of reputation and creative excellence. 2024 saw the global leadership ranks begin to form with the appointment of Worldwide CCO Pelle Sjoenell, former CCO at Activision Blizzard and global CCO of BBH; global CEO Mark Green, co-founder and CEO of The Monkeys (now Droga5) and lead for Accenture Song Australia and New Zealand; and global chief strategy officer Emma Montgomery, who has held top leadership posts at DDB, TBWA and Leo Burnett.
“Julia is a true go-getter, and her unique insight into both the worlds of Droga5 and Accenture Song will be key to unlocking our full potential leveraging the tools and talents across the organization. Lauren has a track record of building longstanding and fruitful client partnerships. And Ruben brings unmatched creative passion and prowess for solving the trickiest of production problems. We now have a full bench of leaders who have the vision, expertise and drive to take Droga5 into its next chapter,” Green added.
