Bronwyn van der Merwe and Matt Michael hold the keys to one of the most successful marketing and advertising businesses in all of Australia. But, rather than offering more of the same, the pair are planning to make it their own.
Yesterday evening, van der Merwe and Michael were announced as the new Accenture Song lead and CEO of Droga5, respectively. B&T caught the pair moments after their accession to the helm of the businesses was unveiled to the Accenture Song and The Monkeys—soon to be Droga5— was announced to the rest of their team.
“We’re really lucky to be inheriting a really successful business,” van der Merwe told B&T.
“We certainly don’t want to rip [the rulebook] up. We’ve got incredible people, incredible capabilities and incredible clients. Of course, there are always opportunities to do things better, to stitch together our end-to-end proposition to drive purpose-led growth for our clients more effectively, to bring brand and experience together to help our clients achieve their goals.”
Van der Merwe has boomeranged back to Accenture Song. She spent about eight years at design agency Fjord, which was acquired by what was then Accenture Interactive (now Song). After being employee number one for Fjord in Australia, she rose to become its APAC GM before transitioning to become the design lead for Song APAC.
She then departed in May 2022 to become the VP of design for employee experience platform Culture Amp. In August last year, she returned to Song as its functions lead, four months later, she became the service practice lead.
Michael, meanwhile, has been a stalwart of The Monkeys. He joined the agency founded by Mark Green, Justin Drape and Scott Nowell in 2011. With Green departing earlier this year to run Droga5 globally, he was a natural fit to helm the agency as it transitions to become Droga5.
“The Monkeys’ philosophy has been the same since the beginning: to create and make provocative ideas happen. That isn’t going to change. As we become Droga[5], that same mentality and DNA will remain in what we’re doing,” he said.
“We’re certainly not ripping it up. I said earlier that we’re at the height of our powers with The Monkeys and it’s an opportune time to switch over to Droga and join that team with the global opportunities it gives us with the best thinking from around the world and syncing the team around the globe is really what’s exciting for us.
“Not ripping up the rulebook, not changing things dramatically but we’re definitely looking to put our own stamp on it together and take it to new heights.”
‘The new stamp’
That new stamp, according to van der Merwe, is all about deepening the connecting Accenture Song’s CX and design smarts—her background—with the firm’s AI and tech capabilities and The Monkeys’ experience with creative and brand marketing.
“We make a formidable team,” she said.
That approach should pay off, too. Van der Merwe said that “a lot” of its clients were struggling to find the same revenues they had once experienced.
“There’s a lot of downward pressure on margins,” she continued, “and everyone is having to do more with less. At the same time, they are finding it increasingly challenging to find customer relevance because customer needs are changing so fast. We’ve got incredibly diverse populations, their pathways and the choices that they’re making are less predictable.
“Our job, when we’re talking about purpose-led growth, is to help our customers find growth and customer relevance but to do that by being really clear on what their brand promise is—that’s where our marketing capability comes in—but also deliver on that promise every day through the customer experience. That’s where our capabilities around customer insight, commerce, design, digital products and service come together. That’s what we mean by purpose-led growth.”
When Accenture Song and The Monkeys won the NRMA Insurance creative/CX account earlier this year the combination of that creative edge with deep specialisms in CX and design was discussed at length by all parties. Michelle Klein, chief customer and marketing officer of NRMA Insurance (and parent company IAG) had earlier told B&T that her focus was “100 per cent on the customer experience”.
“Our brands are showing up through the line but I think there’s a huge opportunity around the digital transformation we’re trying to drive. That’s not unique to our company it’s just broadly in Australia, has been an observation of mine,” she added.
The win marked a big departure for NRMA Insurance, given its previous creative agency was hot shop Bear Meets Eagle on Fire, which now serves as the creative brain behind Telstra’s +61 agency model.
For Michael, Klein’s experience is not unique. In fact, the end-to-end experience is becoming increasingly a point of concern for marketers—and beyond.
“Bringing promise and experience closer together to drive that growth is part of our central strategy,” he explained.
“We’re seeing clients from CMOs and chief customer officers and increasingly on the CEO’s agenda take on board that philosophy, infusing all of that creativity is the advantage we have. Certainly with NRMA where we’re helping to set up that promise of ‘A Help Company’ and then delivering on that with them, and helping them live up to that promise is critical. Clients are looking for that. They’re looking for substance underneath the promises.”
Accenture Song’s recent acquisition of The Lumery and Fiftyfive5 also help in this stitching together services. While The Monkeys (or Droga5) handle the top end of the funnel, these acquisitions are helping Accenture Song close the mid-to-lower end of the funnel.
“That whole end-to-end proposition really works in harmony. Add to that the ‘chops’ we have in data and AI, we’re starting to pull together a very modern take on marketing. For a client to have that end-to-end proposition and do it under one roof, we think is really compelling,” Michael said.
The new set up hasn’t started just yet, though. Michael will officially take the helm on 1 December, though van der Merwe has started today. Even though it is early days, it seems there is plenty to look forward to already.
