If you view your airline as your business partner, equate ducks with insurance, and expect a transformative shower experience from your shampoo, then Robin Koval has done her job. A marketing strategist and new product expert for 25-plus years, Koval (MBA ’83) was president of the Kaplan Thaler Group, the New York City ad agency she co-founded in 1997, responsible for such iconic campaigns as Continental’s “Work Hard. Fly Right”; the Aflac duck; and Herbal Essence’s “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
Now CEO of Publicis Kaplan Thaler—the outcome of Kaplan Thaler’s 2012 merger with Publicis New York and the city’s fifth-largest advertising agency—Koval notes that the medium may be evolving, but the goal remains the same: to create concepts that resonate in our culture. Case in point: the firm recently partnered with Citi on a multimedia campaign to promote the financial services giant’s sponsorship of Citi Bike, the largest public bike share program in the U.S. The high-visibility program launched in June 2013 and has garnered extensive public and media attention.
Grateful for Baruch’s role in her career (she earned an MBA in marketing while working at her first agency), Koval is an enthusiastic supporter of the College’s Executives on Campus program. “This kind of involvement plays a critical role in making sure we continue to attract great people into the communication fields,” says the alumna.
Koval’s advertising catchphrase for her own life: Be Nice. “I really do believe it’s the nice guys and gals who come out on top, especially now that we live in this unbelievably transparent world . . . After all, there’s no delete in cyberspace.” —Sally Fay
Note: At press time, Koval accepted the new post of president and CEO of Legacy, a national public health foundation dedicated to research and outreach about the dangers of tobacco use.
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Muffin Ventured, Muffin Gained: Robin Koval on Taking Risks, Hanging Tough, and Playing Nice