Dive Brief:

• Accenture is rebranding its Interactive marketing services division to Accenture Song, according to a company announcement.
• The change encompasses the 40-plus agencies, design shops and other businesses the group has acquired over the past decade, with the exception of Droga5, which will continue to operate under its own name. Accenture Interactive acquired Droga5 in 2019, its largest acquisition to date.
• Accenture said the move reflects its post-pandemic approach to marketing, particularly the faster pace of change clients are adjusting to across sales, commerce and marketing and business innovation. Accenture has recently tried to expand its offerings through experimental bets like a new services practice focused on the metaverse.

Dive Insight:

Accenture is bringing greater unity to a sprawling marketing network that has grown to be one of the most formidable in the business. The Song moniker is meant to invoke a "universal form of human craft" as well as inspiration, technical prowess and experience, per the announcement.

“Accenture Song symbolizes the post pandemic growth journey we’re on with our clients,” David Droga, CEO and creative chairman of Accenture Song, said in a statement.

Accenture Interactive has given Madison Avenue agencies a run for their money over the past decade as brands have increasingly sought services in technological transformation. The expansion has been fueled by an aggressive M&A strategy that has seen the group snap up dozens of disparate shops around the globe that will now all operate under one banner, save for creative crown jewel Droga5.

The Accenture Song rebranding is one of the most significant moves the unit has made since Droga took the helm in September. Droga came over part of the acquisition of his namesake agency three years ago, a pricey deal that signaled Accenture Interactive’s desire for greater creative know-how after years focused on the tech end of marketing.

Insider previously reported on Droga’s plans to enact an organizational change aimed at simplifying Interactive’s structure. The thinking behind the switch-up is to better distinguish Acccenture’s marketing capabilities from its core consulting services and pitch a streamlined brand to clients, Insider’s sources indicated.

Accenture Song projects it will generate $14 billion in revenue in 2022 and touted a client list that features “future-facing” brands such as Coinbase, General Mills’ Blue Buffalo and Shiseido. The group was behind a buzzy-but-controversial Super Bowl ad for Coinbase, the crypto company’s first appearance at the big game. The announcement also revealed that Accenture Song is partnering with Capri Holdings, the luxury group that owns Versace, Jimmy Choo and Michael Kors, to “translate its rich in-store luxury shopping experience to a digital experience.”

Demand for services in e-commerce, data and analytics and performance media have continued to bolster the agency category throughout the pandemic and inform deal-making among the traditional ad-holding groups, which have less historic expertise in some of those areas.

Accenture Interactive landed as the fourth-largest agency company in 2021 in Ad Age’s annual rankings, with $12.5 billion in revenue. WPP led the pack with $17.6 billion, while Omnicom Group was No. 2 ($14.3 billion) and Publicis Groupe No. 3 ($13.9 billion).

While consultancies like Accenture have long been positioned as disrupters to old-school agencies, many ad holding groups have started to close the gap on the tech end and win back client favor. Accenture Interactive vied for the account of The Coca-Cola Company after the beverage giant enacted a massive agency review late in 2020, but was eliminated from the running early on, per Ad Age. WPP ended up winning the business, partially due to its established global scale.