It’s hello, not goodbye: A retrospective look at The Monkeys and welcome to Droga5

Ushering in a new era with the return of award-winning Droga5 to the Australian and New Zealand markets on December 1^st 2024, The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song, reflects on some of the lauded and much-loved agency’s favourite highlights, including the key people who shaped it, the work that attracted the world’s attention and the cultural moments that helped drive the advertising industry forward.

History & Key People

Back in 2006, three advertising entrepreneurs came together with a view that connecting clients to customers didn’t always require a traditional advertising campaign. Instead, you could look at a problem, consider the resources you have available to solve it, and work out how to make the biggest dent in the universe. Working around a trestle table, they began to convince big name brands to trust their new provocative way of thinking, working in non-traditional media spaces with creative ideas that infused advertising, entertainment and technology in an unprecedented way.

Labelled an ad agency, a collective, a branded content company, the business model of the future and a ‘bunch of bloody dreamers’, the truth is, The Monkeys is a bit of each. Built on the premise of creating ideas worth talking about and giving its people the room to think (and sometimes fail) bravely, The Monkeys took advice from Benjamin Franklin and stuck to the mantra of, ‘Well done is better than well said’. And it paid off. In spades.

Says Mark Green, The Monkeys Co-Founder & now Droga5 Global CEO: “This is a big moment and a very exciting opportunity for the team. We have always wanted to make sure that our people feel like they can make the best work of their careers at The Monkeys. And this has been the case for many years. Now with the transition to Droga5 they can also have the confidence that their best work is also ahead of them. And I am excited to lead the team into this new era.”

Adds Matt Michael (below), CEO of Droga5 A/NZ: “The evolution of The Monkeys over the past 18 years from trestle table to industry-shaper makes it the perfect springboard for Droga5 in A/NZ. The natural kinship between the two brands only serves to strengthen what we can bring to our clients and team, driven by a healthy ambition to make as big an impact as possible.”

Fast forward to today, and The Monkeys, now part of Accenture Song, is one of the most respected agencies in Australia and New Zealand, working with the country’s biggest brands, including Tourism Australia, Australia Post, NRMA Insurance and the Sydney Opera House. The agency has been named Australia’s most effective advertising agency three years in a row and AWARD Agency of the Year, among countless other accolades. Last year, the agency won the prestigious Cannes Lions Dan Wieden Titanium Grand Prix, and this year, it took home Australia’s only Cannes Lions Grand Prix for its work with the Sydney Opera House. But more on that later…

Says Tara Ford (below), CCO of Droga5 & CCO of Accenture Song APAC: “We are nothing without our talented people and amazing clients and the work is testament to that. I’m proud of how the team and the work has developed and evolved. Looking forward to the next chapter.”

Standout Work

(2024) NRMA Insurance – A Help Company. For almost 100 years, NRMA Insurance has provided “HELP” to Australians, becoming our most trusted insurer. But high prices amid cost-of-living pressures saw retention and market share decline. As the brand looked towards the next century, we led a business transformation that saw the brand redefine their commitment to Australians not just as a leading insurer, but as A Help Company. Internally, this unlocked numerous initiatives, from a refreshed digital experience to a national disaster preparedness program and new drone-based roof safety service. After the launch in June, 46% of customers joining NRMA Insurance in the past year cited the new platform and communications as part of the reason for joining.

(2023) Sydney Opera House — Play It Safe. The Sydney Opera House released a special musical tribute to mark 50 years of bravery, creativity, and wonder at the world’s most celebrated cultural landmark. Play It Safe was written and composed by Australian singer Tim Minchin as an ironic salute to the bold, visionary experiment that became the Opera House. The song is a musical homage to a building that tested the limits of engineering and design, forever changing the face of Sydney. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Kim Gehrig and produced by Revolver, the epic music video featured Australian artists and arts companies who share an enduring connection with the Opera House.

(2023) Telstra – This Is Footy Country. Footy lives in the country. It’s where the sport is purest, the players are toughest, and entire towns are built around the field. Along with Telstra, a 20-year sponsor of the NRL and AFL, The Monkeys decided it was about time someone celebrated that special relationship. The film launched during the 2023 footy finals and people loved it. In post-campaign brand tracking, over 55% of respondents said it ‘was the best ad they had ever seen’.

(2023) ASB – Benee Bagels. As part of ASB’s commitment to supporting more young people with their mental wellbeing, The Monkeys created a song that is scientifically designed to help when you feel anxious. The agency paired pop star BENEE with neuroscientists from Auckland University of Technology to produce the track using musical elements such as key, tempo and chord structure that are scientifically proven to relieve anxiety. The music video also incorporated anxiety-relieving principles like Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EDMR), a powerful therapeutic tool used in the treatment of trauma.

(2023) Macpac – Weather Anything. The campaign thrust a small New Zealand outfitter on to the globe stage, winning a Cannes Lion, Four Gold Pencils at AWARD, and a host of other accolades in the process. The work draws on classic advertising product demonstration techniques and moulds them flawlessly with modern, understated Kiwi humour to create something both effortless and effective.

(2022) Government of Tuvalu – First Digital Nation.We helped low-lying Pacific nation Tuvalu respond to the threat of rising sea levels with a radical solution that allows them to remain a country – even when their land disappears under the waves. The First Digital Nation recreates the country’s physical land digitally and moves the nation into the metaverse. It’s a bold, provocative appeal for sovereignty and global action on climate, announced during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) by Tuvalu minister Simon Kofe. By combining creative thinking with technology to communicate Tuvalu’s message to 2.1 billion people, we didn’t just revolutionise the metaverse as a tool to preserve island nations’ history and culture; a historic Loss and Damages Fund was also approved during COP27.

(2022) UN Women Australia – Equality: Our Final Frontier. Global gender equality is still 132 years away. Which means humans will walk on Mars, have brain enhancements, elevators to space, and a colony on the Moon all before women are equal on Earth. The Monkeys questioned the world’s priorities by contrasting real projections of scientific and technological advancements with the projected date of global gender equality. The agency’s eerie animated film follows a young woman as she leaves a protest in 2022, and travels through a future that progresses in every area except equality. Provocative sci-fi inspired OOH contrasted single milestones against equality. And on TikTok, The Monkeys hijacked an international quizmaster’s TikTok to outrage his followers with a quiz about their future.

(2022) Qantas – I Still Call Australia Home. To celebrate Qantas’ return to international travel and Australia reuniting with the world, this three-minute film revisited the iconic anthem “I still call Australia home”, showcasing Australian and international destinations as well as famous Australians Kylie Minogue, Adam Goodes, Hugh Jackman, Troye Sivan, Bronte Campbell and Ellie Cole, alongside the children’s choir, Bangarra dance group and Qantas staff. The story also paid tribute to Qantas’ 100-year journey as the Spirit of Australia. Out of a testing time for the airline post lockdown, the film celebrated the resilience of the Australian spirit and the joy in finally being “Together once more”.

(2021) Telstra – Australia Is Why. Australians love to complain about Telstra, our national telco. So much so, that it unfairly drowns out all the good Telstra does for the country. And there’s a lot. So, The Monkeys set out to tell the story of what they do, and just as importantly, why they do it. The new brand platform kicked off with film and outdoor, followed by the generous act of turning Telstra’s 14,000 payphones across the country into free phones.

(2018) Berlei – Boob Balls. Berlei launched its Spring Summer 18′ Sport collection with a provocative campaign via The Monkeys, demonstrating the impact different sports have on women’s breasts when they are not wearing a supportive sports bra. It’s been reported that an astounding 43% of women are unaware that not wearing the right bra while exercising can contribute to breast tissue damage that can cause breast sagging later in life. The campaign, ‘Stop Your Boobs Playing Their Own Game’, spoke to women of all ages, with a range of different breast sizes who play all kinds of sport. It aimed to empower women to care for and invest in themselves by choosing the right sports bra for their chosen sport or favourite type of exercise.

(2017) Meat & Livestock Australia – Celebrate Australia. MLA and The Monkeys launched a Lamb campaign with an epic lamb barbecue celebrating the diverse mob who’ve come together here to make Australia the best place on earth.

(2015) Meat & Livestock Australia – Richie’s BBQ. This spot featured legendary Australian cricketer and commentator Richie Benaud, enlisting the help of a pantheon of national icons, to encourage Aussies to get together over lamb on Australia Day, because as everybody knows – you never lamb alone.

(2014) IKEA & Airbnb — Sleeping in the IKEA store. In what was the first Airbnb collaboration in the world, The Monkeys helped IKEA turn the spotlight on its bedrooms and bathrooms by allowing Aussie families to spend the night in the furniture chain’s Sydney store at Tempe. The work picked-up global attention across Time Magazine, Daily Mail and Huffington Post among others.

(2014) NRL – Straight In Your Eyes. With the NRL season set to kick off Telstra launched a new ad campaign for its NRL Digital Pass featuring current players and legends “hamming it up” to on original song ‘Straight in Your Eyes’. The ad, created in the style of a glam rock music video, was created by The Monkeys and directed by Owen Trevor at Rabbit Content.

(2014) Intel – Intelligent Sounds. The Monkeys collaborated with Flume and Finch to create this experimental piece for Intel – a sound and light installation performed by a robot they built and a band of Intel-powered tablets. The original composition was created by Flume and released on his deluxe edition album.

(2011) Sydney Opera House — The Ship Song. The Monkeys pulled together a stellar line-up of talent to celebrate Australia’s most iconic building. The ad took 10 months to produce and included such luminaries as Neil Finn, Kev Carmody, Sarah Blasko, Angus and Julia Stone, Paul Kelly, Temper Trap, Martha Wainwright, Katie Noonan and Daniel Johns all performing the Nick Cave classic The Ship Song.

(2010) OAK – Kill Hungry Thirsty Dead. Parmalat’s Oak milk drink launched its first ad campaign from Three Drunk Monkeys, featuring an aggressive front man explaining the concept of “Hungrythirsty”.

More of The Monkeys’ Greatest Hits

Key Agency Milestones

In 2011, The Monkeys rebranded from the slightly less classic and client-friendly ‘Three Drunk Monkeys’. During the early years, the independent agency worked with clients including Foxtel, Parmalat and Blackmores, and created TV shows such as SBS’s My Family Feast (2009) and satirical adland series 30-Seconds (2009) for The Comedy Channel. Scott even coined the term ‘EOFYS’, which many brands still use today.

In 2013, design agency Maud joined The Monkeys tribe, led by chief creative officer David Park. The design team worked on high profile campaigns for the likes of David Jones, The University of Sydney and UBank.

In 2015, The Monkeys and Maud moved into an upgraded new Surry Hill office on South Dowling Street. Providing an innovative two-level workplace design, the brighter and better-equipped agency digs merged Surry Hills’ industrial past with a cutting-edge creative future, a more fitting home to expand and build upon The Monkeys’ ambitions.

The Monkeys was crowned 2015 Campaign Brief Australian Agency of the Year, the first of four CB AOY titles over the next nine years.

Fast forward to 2017 when the founders hatched a plan to join forces with the world’s largest tech-powered creative firm, Accenture Interactive (now Accenture Song), giving The Monkeys access to some of the smartest minds in technology. The acquisition bolstered Accenture Song’s full suite of digital customer transformation services and dramatically enhanced The Monkeys’ ability to connect brand strategy and creative all the way through to customer experience.

That same year, The Monkeys expanded to Melbourne, nabbing Holden SUV as its first creative account. Only six months in, the agency also won Asahi Premium Beverages, working as key creative agency on its beer portfolio including Asahi Super Dry, Cricketers Arms and Mountain Goat. Leveraging its unique brand of creativity, The Monkeys Melbourne announced a succession of client wins including CrownBet and Australia Post – before even opening an office! The agency hired one of Australia’s most celebrated chief creatives, Ant Keogh, supported by CEO Paul McMillan and planning director Michael Derepas.

The Monkeys was crowned 2017 Campaign Brief Australian Agency of the Year.

In 2019, The Monkeys was crowned B&T Magazine’s Agency of the Decade. In an article penned by this masthead, the award judges commented: “Three Drunk Monkeys have a more grown-up name, and their CEO even has a more grown-up job these days, however, that same irreverent and challenging attitude means they have been the agency to follow above all others these past 10 years.”

In 2021, and despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency decided to hoist its sails with sights set on the land of the long white cloud. A New Zealand office was established, led by industry trailblazer Damon Stapleton, CCO, and Justin Mowday, CEO. Securing foundation client ABS, The Monkeys Aotearoa went from strength to strength, attracting top tier talent such as Chief Business Officer Storm Day, (now appointed CEO of Droga5 New Zealand) and producing purpose-led work for clients including ASB/Youthline, Meridian Energy and Asahi New Zealand.

Also during 2021, globally awarded creative leader Tara Ford joined The Monkeys as Chief Creative Officer. Along with creating powerful Grand Prix winning Cannes work, she hired head of innovation Beth O’Brien in 2021, and promoted award-winning creative director Barbara Humphries to executive creative director in 2022, forming a formidable creative leadership team.

The Monkeys was crowned 2021 Campaign Brief Australian Agency of the Year.

In 2022, The Monkeys was crowned The Australian Effie Awards Effective Agency of the Year for the third year running (2020, 2021 and 2022).

In 2023, The Monkeys chief strategy officer and partner, Fabio Buresti, was appointed Design & Digital Products lead for ANZ at Accenture Song. Fabio’s new role continued to see him bring Song’s customer growth narrative to life, ensuring purpose is the driving force across all aspects of design.

The Monkeys was crowned 2023 Campaign Brief Australian Agency of the Year.

That year The Monkeys also won the Cannes Lions Dan Wieden Titanium Grand Prix for its work with the Government of Tuvalu on project, ‘The First Digital Nation’. A year later, the agency was once again up on the global stage, picking up a Cannes Lions Film Grand Prix for its Sydney Opera House ‘Play It Safe’ campaign, directed by Revolver’s Kim Gehrig and starring Australian celebrity Tim Minchin.

Welcome to Droga5: They’ve Never Been Far Apart

Since becoming part of Accenture Song, The Monkeys has already collaborated with sister creative agency Droga5 on several successful client pitches and campaign work. As two globally successful agencies, Droga5 and The Monkeys share the same DNA, driving them both to deliver impact through ambition for the brands and businesses they work on and for the culture and people they influence.

Both agencies have always pushed the boundaries of what defines ‘an advertising agency’ to inspire and transform the marketing industry.

The Monkeys’ legacy of provocative thinking has achieved global recognition, and the agency’s success over the past 18 years provides a strong platform for Droga5 to build from in the future. Additionally, Droga5 A/NZ will work closely and benefit from Droga5’s global network, sharing best practices, collaborating on projects, and leveraging the collective expertise of the entire Droga5 family.

In 2024, Droga5 and The Monkeys teamed up to win NRMA Insurance, with the Australian creative team working closely with Accenture Song CEO David Droga, Accenture Song Global Chief Creative Officer Neil Heymann and Accenture Song Creative Chairperson Nick Law. This year, the alliance also won Accenture Song the highly sought after Tourism Australia global account, with the first piece of work launching in November and more to come.

This year Droga5 also established a new global leadership team, with The Monkeys co-founder and Group CEO Mark Green stepping up to take on the role of Droga5 Global CEO. Pelle Sjoenell was named Global Chief Creative Officer and Emma Montgomery Global Chief Strategy Officer. Matt Michael was also announced new CEO of Droga5 A/NZ and Storm Day the new CEO of Droga5 Aotearoa.

Droga5 in A/NZ will provide even greater capabilities to apply world-leading creative thinking to business problems, delivering outsized impact through outsized creative ambition like never before.

Says The Monkeys Co-Founder Justin Drape: “Some folks close to us argued that naming the agency Three Drunk Monkeys was an act of nihilistic lunacy… but we couldn’t expect clients to be brave and trust their instincts if we weren’t willing to trust our own.”

Adds The Monkeys Co-Founder Scott Nowell: “I’m immensely proud of what The Monkeys have achieved and came to represent, but it was never the name that defined the place, it was the people. Those incredible people will now define what the next chapter looks like too.”