Page 44 - Internationalist Magazine 2015 75

Barry Wacksman, EVP, Global Chief Karina Wilsher, Partner, CEO — Anomaly

Strategy Of cer — R/GA New York

Barry Wacksman was named Karina Wilsher admits that

this summer as the Executive she is motivated by “doing

Vice President and Global exceptional stuff with excep-
Chief Strategy Of cer of R/ tional people.” Perhaps that is

GA. In this important new also the best way to describe

role, he will assume global re- Anomaly, an agency that lives

sponsibility for all three of R/ up to the very de nition of

GA’s strategic functions: Plan- being different.
ning, Analytics and Business
Since its launch in 2004,

Transformation, while continuing to lead the global Business Anomaly has combined mar-

Development team. Based in the company’s New York head- keting services with business development and IP as it strives

quarters, he continues to report to R/GA’s founder, CEO and to create true brand solutions. Yes, it works to develop intel-

chairman Bob Greenberg.
lectual property for both itself and for its clients, and it may

indeed represent the future of agency-client partnerships. R/GA is, of course, well known for its role in helping
However, Karina Wilsher was drawn to Anomaly as both
longtime client Nike develop its Nike+ FuelBand tness

the business model and people were “wickedly smart and tracker. Barry Wacksman has long been advocating “func-

ambitious” as the company structured for innovation and tional integration” as a foundation for new business models.

multidisciplinary problem solving.
Certainly the growing interconnection of brands and data, as

well as what he calls “connected ecosystems of value” are Five years ago, Karina Wilsher became CEO and Partner
changing the relationships between products and consumers, at Anomaly New York and has been part of the shop’s extraor-

as well as the roles between clients and agencies.
dinary growth and success. And she still feels that they’ve only

Barry is a key architect of R/GA’s vision of “The Con- just begun!

nected Age,” which focuses on growing brands through a Prior to Anomaly, Karina was the Managing Director of

connected ecosystem of products, services and communi- Fallon London, having joined Fallon’s Founding Partners in
cations. This vision seamlessly combines digital platforms 1999, and successfully grew the agency from creative startup

that consumers use on an ongoing basis with the episodic, to a Top Ten agency. Under her leadership the agency dou-

storytelling content of campaigns to help brands achieve bled its revenue, and was awarded Campaign’s UK Agency

differentiation in an otherwise commoditized marketplace for of the Year in 2006 and 2007. Fallon went on to become the

consumer goods. Barry is also the co-author of Connected by most creatively awarded agency in the world (Gunn Report
Design (2014, Jossey-Bass/Wiley) and his articles have been 2008), with creative highlights including a Cannes Grand Prix,

published in a wide variety of industry publications. He has a rare D&AD Black Pencil for Cadbury “Gorilla”, and interna-

presented on topics pertaining to the digital age at confer- tional recognition for the agency’s Sony Bravia campaign.

ences and events around the world.
Over ten years at Fallon, Karina ran a broad portfolio of

the agency’s business, from Sony to the BBC. During her time Since joining R/GA in 1999, the company has grown

as Head of Client Services, she built one of the strongest Ac- organically from an agency of under 50 employees to one
count Management departments in London and went on to employing over 1,500 staff in 15 of ces globally. Barry led the

develop an agency-wide talent pool with highly diverse skills charge to acquire many of the world-class brands that make

to position Fallon as a pioneering, front-of-market company.
up R/GA’s client roster, from Nike to Samsung to L’Oreal to

Unilever.
In London, Karina played a key role in the UK industry,

including being part of the Training and Development Exec Barry serves as Chairperson of the board of Miami Ad
for Women in Advertising and Communications London School and also serves on the board of directors of the Amer-

(WACL) and being a member of the industry body’s Client ican Advertising Federation, the Advertising Educational

Services Committee at the Institute of Practitioners of Adver- Foundation and Pilobolus Dance Theatre. He graduated from

tising (IPA).
Ohio State University with a B.A. in philosophy and was a

Ph.D. candidate in philosophy at Syracuse University.

42 the internationalist