Cannes Lions honours Australia’s David Droga with the Lion of St. Mark, the award for outstanding contribution to the creative industry

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity tonight presented Aussie expat David Droga, founder & creative chairman of Droga5, with the Lion of St. Mark award, arguably the highest honour in world creative advertising.

New York-based Aussie expat Droga is one of the most awarded creatives at Cannes Lions, and is the youngest recipient ~ by far ~ of the Lion of St. Mark award. He won his first Lion aged 19 at Sydney hotshop OMON and has achieved more than 70 Gold and 15 Grand Prix / Titanium Lions in his career to date.

“The Lion of St. Mark recognises an individual who has made a significant and outstanding contribution to creativity in our industry,” said Jose Papa, managing director of Cannes Lions. “His drive, passion and unbounded creative skill has led him to deliver continual award-winning results. He’s set the global standard.”

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Says Droga: “I have worked with more talented people and had more opportunities than one creative person deserves. The Lion of St. Mark honour is beyond my wildest ambitions. It’s incredible to be recognised with this, when you still feel you have so much more to do and prove. But I will soak it up with pride and humility.”

At 22, David Droga became a partner and executive creative director of OMON Sydney (which won Campaign Brief Agency of the Year in 1989 and 1993). In 1996 he moved to Singapore to become executive creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore and regional creative director of Saatchi Asia. At age 29, Droga was promoted to executive creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi London, and under his charge, they were awarded, for the first time, Agency of the Year at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2002.

In 2003 Droga became the first-ever worldwide chief creative officer of the Publicis Network in New York. In less than two years, Publicis enjoyed a very public creative and new business renaissance around the world. Restless to launch his own agency, David founded Droga5 in New York City in 2006. In just over ten years, Droga5 has seen unprecedented success and become one of the most revered and influential agencies on the planet, including back-to-back accolades as Cannes Lions Independent Agency of the Year in 2015 and 2016.

Previous Lion of St. Mark Winners:

2016: Marcello Serpa, former Partner, AlmapBBDO

2011: Sir John Hegarty, Worldwide Creative Director, Founder, BBH