Accenture Interactive again bets on agency heavyweights to boost creative expertise

Dive Brief:

Accenture Interactive appointed Nick Law as its global lead for design and creative tech and promoted Sarah Thompson, who is now the global lead for communications and content, per details emailed to Marketing Dive.
Law, formerly of Apple, Publicis and R/GA, will be responsible for Accenture Interactive's service and experience design capabilities, while Thompson, formerly global CEO of Droga5, will work to unify and grow its creative agency capabilities around the world.
The appointments come as CEO and creative chairman David Droga continues to reshape Accenture Interactive's leadership since taking the reins in September 2021. The marketing services division of the consultancy in December named another Droga5 veteran, Neil Heymann, as its first global chief creative officer.

Dive Insight:

Accenture Interactive continues to beef up its leadership team with notable ad industry executives as it works to better wed its technical and creative capabilities at the same time that it is betting on international expansion. A stronger marriage could help it drive growth for clients looking to meet the changing needs of consumers as the company continues to position itself as a disruptor to large ad holding groups that have been buoyed by the rebound of digital advertising.

Law recently left Apple after serving as its vice president of marcom integration for more than two years. Prior to that, he had a stint at Publicis Groupe after more than 17 years at R/GA, where he was eventually global chief creative officer. Law, praised in a press statement for his "future-facing" mindset, will be tasked with overseeing and modernizing Interactive's service and experience design capabilities.

"Creating great products, experiences and outcomes for clients starts with the craft and clarity of brilliant design. Design shapes how we interact with the world - and how we change it for the better," Law said in a statement.

Law's remarks alluded to Droga's appointment as CEO as a statement about Interactive's "oversized creative ambitions." Since joining the company last year, the former chairman of Droga5 — which Accenture acquired in 2019, making a major bet on creative — has put a focus on those ambitions with other appointments, like with Heymann as global chief creative officer (Accenture Interactive also appointed former DDB chief data officer Jatinder Singh as global lead of data and analytics).

As with Heymann, Thompson worked with Droga at Droga5, and the executive will now work to unify and grow the company's creative agency capabilities around the world by connecting teams across capabilities. Leadership in this area could be key as Accenture Interactive has continued its parent's acquisitive streak, snapping up shops around the globe; Droga5 has also expanded its global footprint.

Connecting these capabilities could help Accenture Interactive be a "growth acceleration partner" needed by businesses worldwide, Thompson said in a statement. Interactive's lack of international reach was reportedly why the company was eliminated last year from Coca-Cola's agency review, with WPP eventually named global marketing network partner for the CPG giant.