Justin Drape, who announced his departure from The Monkeys in January, the agency he co-founded, has announced his next move, launching Exceptional Alien, alongside former M&C Saatchi Australia ECD, Michael Canning.
Exceptional Alien will see the creation of a global community of creatives sharing their stories, Drape adding that “we want to inspire people to see the world through diverse perspectives”.
Justin Drape
Speaking to Mumbrella, Drape said: “We’ll be announcing some notable investors, partners and talent features in August”, when the full site will be released.
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Announced initially via his LinkedIn page, Drape said that the new venture combined “two things that I love – creativity and travel”, describing Exceptional Alien as a “borderless global creative community”.
Until this year, Drape was group chief creative officer at the agency he co-founded in 2006, alongside Scott Nowell and Mark Green.
Michael Canning departed M&C Saatchi in 2018.
Co-founder, and CEO of Exceptional Alien, Michael Canning, left his role as executive creative director at M&C Saatchi in 2018, in order to pursue a personal venture. Since then, Canning has taken on consultancy roles at Johannes Leonardo in New York and Me&u.
There is already some editorial content on the website, in addition to a podcast series, a travel series and some tech to come “that ties it all together, all in various stages of development”, Drape also said on his LinkedIn.
Exceptional Alien will be a global venture, not limited to a single location, however currently only a Sydney studio is in development.
Drape departed The Monkeys four years after the agency was purchased by Accenture Interactive, reportedly for $63 million.