Droga5 has moved to Londontown…or at least two of its creative directors have.
Rick Dodds and Steve Howell recently left the shop’s New York office after four years to serve as co-ECDs in the land of fish and chips.
The two have worked together as art director and copywriter, respectively, for more than a dozen years since going to school together in London. They started their careers at Saatchi & Saatchi in the U.K., spending seven years there and winning various awards for their work for such clients as T-Mobile, Visa and Weight Watchers.
They moved to Droga5 in 2012 and got promoted to CDs the following year.
According to the press release, their recent London residency was supposed to be a temporary thing–but they liked it so much they decided to stay after working on Vita Coca and several other brands we’ve never heard of by virtue of not being British.
Dodds and Howell will both report to chief creative officer David Kolbusz, who you may recall left W+K New York last October to lead Droga’s London operations. This news appears to be the latest move in Droga’s ongoing efforts to build up its international operations after closing its Sydney office last September; Kolbusz’s hire followed that of former Grey London manager Bill Scott, who was brought on to “turn around Droga5 London” according to The Drum.
The office has already made several notable hires under Kolbusz: in January it poached creative directors Charlene Chandrasekaran and Dan Morris from BBH (where they had worked under him before he went to W+K), and in February it named Dylan Williams of Publicis as its chief strategist.
Kolbusz has a pretty good quote about the pair:
“Rick and Steve’s Droga5 London adventure has been a modern day version of Gilligan’s Island. They came for a short stay and now there’s no escape. We all feel blessed that they’ve decided to uproot their lives and come with us on this journey.”
Regarding the new arrangement, Howell said, “we know how lucky we are,” and Dodds added, “If there’s one thing we’d like to emulate about Droga5 in London, it’s how we grow with ambitious clients, brave work and a lovely team of people.”
Hint hint.
Since joining Droga5 New York in 2012, the duo had credits on campaigns for NRG, Strongbow Cider and Under Armour, among others.