Why adman David Droga bought ‘the best piece of land in Australia’
When David Droga was 18, he sometimes used to sleep on the couch of his brothers’ share house in Tamarama, the beachside suburb in Sydney’s east. He would walk past the 1100-square-metre Lang Syne property, overlooking the ocean.
“I always remember thinking, ‘that’s got to be the best piece of land in Australia’. I was so obsessed with it growing up,” Droga tells The Australian Financial Review. “Not that I’ve thought about it every year since then.”
David Droga used to walk the Bondi to Bronte track past Lang Syne as a teenager. Louie Douvis
Then, last year, it came on the market. New York-based Droga is now at the peak of the global creative advertising industry, leading digital and creative agency Accenture Song, part of global consulting firm Accenture. Song reported $US18 billion ($28 billion) in revenue last calendar year.
He has won more Cannes Lions, the world’s most prestigious advertising award, than any other creative person. He has worked on ad campaigns including Barack Obama’s The Great Schlep, Tourism Australia’s fake Dundee trailer, and Levi’s The Greatest Story Ever Worn.
“I was sort of looking – I’m Australian, right? I’m very fortunate to have some places I love in America, in the city and the farm. But it’s weird to be Australian and have to rent every time I come here, for Christmas with my family,” he says.
“We usually rented in Watsons Bay. And I said to my wife, like, ‘I’m Australian. No matter where I live, I still want to spend time here, and I want my kids to have a connection to here’.”
So the 55-year-old bought the block, paying $45 million, resetting the Australia’s coastal record in the process.
He emerged as the buyer within hours, despite trying to go through the process quietly. “My wife is still mad about that,” he says, jokingly. “Not that I bought the house – the fact that everyone in Australia knows.”
The brick California bungalow on the site has been there since the 1920s, and Droga is undecided on what to do. It’ll likely be a knock down and rebuild, but that’s a long way away.
“The house is so out of context to the plot. We haven’t made any decisions,” he says. “It just makes me feel grateful that I have a chance to have something that is special. I hope it’s generational. Whatever we do with it, I hope it’ll be done with restraint and taste and respect for where it is.”
The property occupies a 1100-square-metre headland block.
Droga, who started in the mailroom at former advertising agency Grey, became executive creative director of OMON at just 22.
In 2006, he founded his own agency, Droga5, which was acquired in 2019 by Accenture in a deal valued at $US475 million. He has been CEO and creative chairman of Accenture Song, formerly Accenture Interactive, ever since.
The man described as the “world’s top creative director” is quick to say he’s not planning on moving back to Australia any time soon.
“I didn’t buy it to move back. I bought it to have a place in Australia that’ll be hopefully for generations. And when I do finally retire, I will definitely spend months here every year. Definitely. I know that, because of who I am,” he says.
“But is there a better piece of land than on the Sydney coast? No. And the chance to have something that’s so embedded and surrounded by views and nature. I mean, I’m very lucky.”
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