Tara Ford Appointed Chief Creative Officer of Accenture Song Growth Markets

Tara Ford has taken on the role of chief creative officer of Accenture Song for Growth Markets, effective immediately. Retaining her position as chief creative officer of The Monkeys Sydney, Ford is now also responsible for overseeing all creative output from the Asia-Pacific and Latin America regions (the ‘Growth Markets’).

The regional role will see Ford work closely with Accenture Song global chief creative officer Neil Heymann.

Says Ford: “I am thrilled to be working with Neil, heading up the creative offering of Song’s formidable regional team. Leading our diverse creative talent across Song in Growth Markets is going to be super interesting. I look forward to helping our people and clients shine through the combination of creativity, innovation and technology.”

Says Heymann: “Tara is the kind of creative leader shaping the direction of our industry. She’s a champion of creativity and creative people and has proven herself consistently on the global stage. As importantly, she’s ambitious, business-minded and tech-fluent in a way that positions her perfectly to drive work that is unique to Song’s capabilities. Tara having more widespread influence, especially across some of our most exciting markets, is great news for all of us.”

Adds Mark Green, Accenture Song ANZ president and The Monkeys co-founder and chief executive officer: “Tara is a world class talent, and it is with great pleasure we get to see her ply her talents on a bigger stage. We are in a fortunate position to have three incredible leaders in Tara, Ant [Keogh] and Damon [Stapleton] in ANZ and the wider opportunities will come thick and fast.”

A board member of the Advertising Council of Australia and the D&AD Advisory Board, Ford was named ‘Creative Captain 2022’ in the Women Leading Change Awards by Campaign Asia Pacific. She was also named ‘Global Creative Leader of the Year 2021’ by Creativepool and ‘Creative Person of the Year’ (Australia/New Zealand) by Campaign Asia.

Throughout her career Ford’s work has been consistently recognised at the highest level of every major international award show across an expansive range of clients and disciplines. This includes most recently the coveted Dan Wieden Titanium Grand Prix at Cannes with the ‘The First Digital Nation’ for the Government of Tuvalu.

Under Ford’s creative stewardship, The Monkeys has taken out Campaign Brief Agency of the Year 2021 and AWARD Creative Agency of the Year 2022. In 2023, the agency was crowned Spikes Australian Agency of the Year, Cannes, D&AD and One Show Agency of the Year Australia, along with Effies Effective Agency of the Year, Australia.

Ford has judged and chaired at every major global award show. Her work as a board member of the Advertising Council of Australia, the AWARD Council, and the D&AD Advisory Board, allows her to help guide the future direction of the industry.