Accenture Song: Strength in Breadth

Accenture Song made its first big play of the year in April this year with the acquisition of the customer engagement group Unlimited. The move from Dame Annette King, global lead, marketing practice, Accenture Song to acquire the group accelerated Accenture's ambitions to develop its CRM, data analytics and B2B offerings in the UK.

This was followed by big hires across the year. In October, it appointed ex-Google exec Kevin Mathers as its managing director and head of go-to-market for the UK, Ireland and Africa (UKIA). And most recently it hired Rebecca Bezzina as marketing practice lead for UKIA. Bezzina joins from R/GA, where she spent 10 years in three separate stints, most recently as chief executive of EMEA.

We caught up with Accenture Song UK's chief strategy officer and creative agency chief Will Hodge to delve into the agency's year.

Will Hodge on Accenture Song’s 2024

What have been the major highlights for your business in 2024?

We've had a really strong year and the highlights have been the ways in which we've strengthened and grown our existing relationships with our clients; grown in terms of the remit, grown in terms of commercial, grown in terms of creative appetite, and I think, grown in terms of confidence. That confidence thing is something that we have strengthened in ourselves over this last year, and it's what I will look back on as my highlight; the confidence that we've got with our clients in how we faced some of the unforeseen and unexpected changes and challenges.

We've got incredibly strong work coming out of Honda, Plusnet and Lidl, with the Lidl jacket and the Liam Gallagher response stuff. And with the British Army, where we've had more pressure on delivering applications this year but we've delivered a campaign that's been as effective, as creatively and culturally interesting as it's ever been. And we've got a global relationship with Arla Foods that's going from strength to strength. We've got good, strong, confident relationships with our clients.

This year we have started to broaden our capabilities; and established a brand design function that is doing global brand work for some of our existing clients. We've set up an Accenture Song social team that is brilliant in terms of its new business performance and how we're building in new clients whilst producing great stuff from Accenture across commerce and e-commerce in data and intelligence. So, we've got some social work that is creatively fizzy and interesting and sparkly.

One of the other things that we’re really excited about looking back on 2024 is the acquisition of UNLIMITED. Knowing that we’ve got such an amazing agency under the Accenture Song banner who we’re already working and pitching with, winning with and culturally they are such a great fit.

What is your proudest achievement from the last 12 months?

It’s a day actually. It was a Wednesday and I was down at Lidl’s headquarters in Tolworth having a meeting as we do on a regular basis with our senior clients, talking about our relationship, checking in. It was a really positive meeting, talking about the great strength of the relationship. And after that meeting, we sat in the canteen, and I will not take any personal claim to the LIDL jacket idea, but the thing I'm most proud of was in the room, being there and watching our creative directors, Luke Ramm and Joe Holt develop the idea, work with the in house creative lead at Lidl and with our great partners in the media agency [OMD] and social media agency [Coolr] get that idea made within 48 hours, and to see it off from the inside. I remember at the time feeling an immense sense of wonder and pride, because the thing that made that idea so brilliant was the relationship. It's obviously brilliant creative thinking, but often in our industry we can forget that what sits behind great ideas like that, especially ideas that are responsive and relative to culture are really strong relationships that can make things happen when there’s an opportunity. Seeing all of the different parts of that great client and agency team work together so quickly to get such a great thing done, and then see it light up the internet is definitely my highlight.

What are you most looking forward to next year?

I might regret saying this; pitching. There's going to be a lot of pitching in 2025 as CMOs and senior marketers are thinking that there will be new opportunities for them to seek new partners. I personally get really excited by that because it is both a chance to show more of the skills we have at Accenture Song but also because with so much moving and changing in marketing departments across categories, I’m excited about the fact we have the broad talent and skills that’ll mean we’ll bring something different - how we can work to the new agendas and structures of marketing without compromising on high calibre creativity and razor-sharp strategic skills, all within a partnership that’s shaped around the clients’ needs. 

What do you feel have been the greatest industry challenges for agencies this year and why?

I do think the survival mode that we found ourselves in and I say that as ‘the UK’ before we even think about our industry. Understandably, as our industry is rightly set up to be close to the economy, because that's where our creativity should be focused - if the economy falters or loses confidence, then we can experience the same feelings and this whole notion of ‘Survive to 25’ is that classic psychological effect that puts us into fight or flight mode. And it means that we can't see beyond the end of a day or a week. And it means that the shorter economic and financial and commercial cycles that we find ourselves in ultimately work against our ability and ambition.

I think that's the biggest challenge the industry has had. It’s ultimately about commitment and confidence. We should draw on our ability to commit to strategies and ideas that can be exciting, even if they need to change. We mustn’t be frozen by the fear that when so much is changing the safest thing to do is what’s worked before or worse, nothing at all. 

 When the floorboards beneath your feet are creaking and floundering a bit, it's very difficult for you to have the same kind of killer ingredient that our industry thrives on, which is belief. And that belief has leaked out of the industry a little bit. The self-belief that we've had where we can face big problems and find great solutions for them - that's what we need to get back to.

Has the addition of any AI solution made the profound impact on your business that was expected? If so – what?

Over the last year, we have really cycled a lot faster than anybody else. By that, I mean the great promise of gen AI specifically, in terms of where it can drive far greater efficiencies across all aspects of marketing has been something that's a big narrative that's been out in the world for a long time and has been permeating the year. We've got such deep relationships with amazing AI partners [NVIDIA, Nuance, Okta, etc…] and it's meant that we've been able to use and get access to different tools and technologies and apply them to client challenges to see where the true benefits lie.

The truth is, it's not always the most amazing tool to drive efficiency, and actually, what we know at Accenture Song is that it is a brilliant tool when it's in the hands of humans. We've made sure that we've developed an amazing suite of tools that can be used and applied across different aspects of the marketing process and ecosystem.

Gen AI has allowed us to create more space, more time for thinking, discussion, and debate, and that's something that everyone should and will benefit from, I'm sure.

The headline number that's been discussed before from Accenture at a global level, is our $3 billion investment. One of the things we're looking at is developing different workbenches that use different types of digital agents that we develop in partnership with people like Nvidia that means that it's the processes that change and get access to digital agents that allow us to do our work better. So that $3 billion investment runs through from training, which has been a really big focus of ours over this last year, but also in terms of the nature of those partnerships and how we are a leader in the ecosystem around gen AI. A lot of people in our industry have a lot of partnerships with the same types of technology companies, but the quality of our relationships we feel is stronger and deeper given the fact that we can draw on the relationships that already exist within Accenture.

What one change would you most like to see happen in the ad industry next year?

So one thing that surprised us over this last year is how little engagement is given to great, young creatives in the industry. There are so few creative placement/program opportunities out there, and we've just been blown away by the young, creative minds that we've had through Accenture Song this last 12 months.

And it's something that I feel is important for the industry to get back on board with because it seems to have fallen by the wayside in this crunched economic time that we live in. But it's got to be the future of the industry, and if we fail, or miss out on whole swathes of young people coming into the industry who think differently, think brilliantly, who offer something fresh in terms of a cultural perspective and an energy, to every conversation that we have – if we're turning off that tap as an industry, I worry that we will become increasingly irrelevant. That is one thing I would love to see more of.

Creative Salon on Accenture Song’s 2024

Accenture Song has continued to mature and evolve in 2024, with significant developments in its team structure, a strategic acquisition, and impactful campaigns that highlight its growing presence in the creative sector.

Arguably the most significant development this year was Accenture Song’s acquisition of UK agency group UNLIMITED Group, which includes TMW Unlimited, Walnut, Health Unlimited, and Nelson Bostock. The move aims to strengthen the agency’s capabilities in the UK’s B2B market, particularly in CRM, data, and analytics. This acquisition marks a major step in Accenture Song’s expansion, offering further experience and tech to understand consumer behaviour while delivering creative excellence.

Meanwhile, Kevin Mathers, formerly with Google, joined as UK managing director, where he will focus on refining the agency’s go-to-market strategy. There were also departures from the agency, with co-chief Zoe Eagle stepping into the role of CEO at Iris’s London office.

The arrival of Rebecca Bezzina as marketing practice lead for the UK, Ireland and Africa makes the agency an even more exciting offer. She brings with her an experience that is steeped in customer experience, creativity and digital transformation. At Accenture Song, she will be responsible for overseeing the marketing practice – integrating brand, creative, marketing advisory, production, tech and data and AI capabilities. Bezzina will also be charged with bringing her expertise to financial services clients across the region. She will report to Sohel Aziz, managing director of the UK, Ireland and Africa at Accenture Song.

Meanwhile, in a move to further engage with young talent and provide insight into the creative industry, Accenture Song joined the Day of Work platform. The platform shares “day-in-the-life” videos from underrepresented talent across six agencies, aiming to give young people a clearer understanding of career opportunities within the industry.

Accenture Song continued its brilliant work with Capita on the British Army’s “You Belong Here” recruitment campaign. This year, the campaign expanded to focus on the personal and professional benefits of joining the British Army, aimed at attracting younger recruits with an increased recruitment target set this year due to ongoing world issues.

On the international front, Accenture Song worked with Droga5 to launch “Play Life,” a global brand platform for Qiddiya, the upcoming entertainment city in Riyadh. The campaign positions Qiddiya as the world’s first "city of play," bringing attention to the vast potential of the destination. Additionally, Accenture Song produced a new creative campaign for Harley-Davidson, titled “Answer The Call,” inviting audiences to embrace the brand’s iconic connection to freedom and adventure.

In terms of its workplace culture, Accenture Song signed the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising’s People First Promise during Mental Health Awareness Week. This commitment emphasises the agency’s ongoing efforts to prioritise the mental health and well-being of its employees.

Creative Salon Says: In 2025, all eyes will be on the hugely talented leadership team - Sohel Aziz, Rebecca Bezzina and Will Hodge. A heavy-weight bench best placed to shape the future of marketing by uniting creativity and technology at scale.The omens are good.