Droga5 Melbourne promotes Hugh Gurney and Joe Sibley to executive creative director roles

Droga5 Melbourne, part of Accenture Song has announced the promotions of 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 first joined the agency as a senior creative team over seven years ago and were promoted to joint creative directors in late 2020.

Together, Gurney and Sibley 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 part of the continued move 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.

Says Ford: “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.”

Says Michael: “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,” said Gurney and Sibley in perfect unison.

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.

The Monkeys became Droga5 at the start of this month, with the aim of delivering outsized impact through outsized ambition and provocative thinking.

Pictured above: Hugh Hurney (left) and Joe Sibley (right) with CCO Tara Ford and ECD Barbara Humphries