The new Droga5 Melbourne, part of Accenture Song and formerly The Monkeys, has promoted Hugh Gurney and Joe Sibley to executive creative director roles. The announcement follows the recent departure of chief creative officer Ant Keogh, who is set to launch a new agency with former CEO, Paul McMillan, and CSO, Michael Derepas, next year.

Gurney and Sibley joined the agency as a senior creative team over seven years ago and were promoted to joint creative directors in late 2020.

Together, they have helped create some of Australia’s best known and awarded work including Weather Anything for Macpac, Enter Asahi for Asahi Super Dry, The Greatest  for Aussie Beef, You’re Good for ahm,  England Bitter for VB,  Camp Pain and EOFY WFH $ALE for BCF, and Deals you didn’t see coming and Hello Christmas for Telstra.

As Droga5 moves towards a more national approach, Gurney and Sibley will report into Tara Ford as CCO Droga5 Australia and will work closely with Milla McPhee, chief strategy officer Droga5 Australia, and Matt Michael, CEO Droga5 ANZ.

Ford stated, “Hugh and Joe are tremendous creatives and wonderful leaders of talent, who we’re sure will continue to help create world class work from Droga5 in Melbourne.”

Michael added, “Hugh and Joe were our first team in Melbourne and as long-term members of our creative team, we’ve had the chance to see them grow, so it’s a pleasure to have them take roles as executive creative director in Melbourne as we transition into the future as Droga5.”

“Droga5 make some of the best work in the world, so we jumped at the opportunity,” commented Gurney and Sibley.

Over the last seven years as part of the team in Melbourne their work has been awarded at Cannes, D&AD, One Show, Spikes, Clio, New York Festivals, AWARD and MADC.

Cover image: standing l-r: Tara Ford, Barbara Humphries; seated l-r: Hugh Gurney, Joe Sibley