In a career spanning 20-years, Ted Royer has won enough metal to sink a small ship.
 

Droga5’s Chief Creative Officer joined ADFEST in March this year as Grand Jury President, where he participated in a fabulous interview with ADFESTbuzz reporter Anika Ali.
 

In the interview, he explains Droga5’s unique creative method: “We start very early on thinking as big as we can about the brand, and get very deeply strategic. Then afterwards we try to make our work as unique as we can. We like brands that have a point of view – the last thing we want to do is invent something out of thin air that doesn’t feel relevant. That seems cheap. We like brands that have a point of view on the world.”
 

He also said some of what he learned while working at O&M and Publicis was what not to do: “A lot of big networks operate under certain principles that we might not strive for here at Droga5. Real creative drive comes from the top. If the top doesn’t believe in being creative, the rest of the organisation is going to feel that. We’re lucky to be run by David Droga, who is very talented and ambitious and wants to do something new. And because that comes from the top, that’s the drive of the company. Other companies don’t have the luxury of being run by a creative who feels that way.”
 

Bigger agencies can be driven by a fear of losing clients or revenue, which makes them too conservative.
 

“We never want to make any decision based on fear, and I think a lot of companies I’ve seen want to hold on to what they have or have a defensive posture, and we’ve never really been like that. We are always trying to look to go into new territory. You can tell when a company makes decisions that’s trying to cling on to what they have.”
 

He concluded by encouraging agencies and brands to be a lot less “desperate”.
 

“I think advertising is very desperate. It wants attention. It pleads and offers deals by shouting at you. I think brands could be cooler. I think we should learn a bit how actual attraction works, and create brands that are more confident and not begging for your business with free stuff and deals. It would make for a lot more interesting work in the world.”
 

Watch the interview on ADFEST’s official YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-SnYhR5juM 
 


www.droga5.com