Anomaly London picks Droga5 chief as first data boss

Anomaly London is aiming to put data at the heart of the agency’s offering with the appointment of a new head of data, who has been briefed to build and lead the data team, selecting talent from both inside and outside the industry.

Anthony Khaykin joins from Droga5 New York where he has been group data strategy director for the past four and a half years.

Founded in 2004, as well as London, the group has offices in Amsterdam, Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Berlin and Shanghai. Anomaly has achieved dramatic growth in London over the past two years, winning new assignments and brands from Diageo, Google, Expedia Group and LVMH.

Khaykin will be responsible for the growth of the data team, discovering established talent and working with Anomaly’s team to identify and train young talent.

The agency maintains the data team will touch every decision, infusing each step of Anomaly’s system with data, increasing effectiveness across the whole of its culture.

Khaykin and the team will be tasked with delivering insight as much as measuring impact, ensuring every solution has a feedback loop built into its core.

Anomaly London partner and chief strategy officer Stuart Smith said: “Doing the right thing for our clients’ business is at the very core of the Anomaly model. So, it’s imperative that we have high level data thinking to add insight to, and measure the impact of, what we do.

“This new appointment will treat data as both signal and proof point. From scrutinising and optimising client business strategy to capitalising on opportunities across the entire consumer ecosystem, the role of data will be to create actionable and meaningful intervention points between internal teams, agency partners and clients alike.

“Beyond delivering business results, doing so will help Anomaly further deliver on its promise to be change agents for client organisations.”

Khaykin, who began his career as an analyst at MRY before joining Droga5 as a senior data strategist in 2015, said: “Even though marketers have more and more access to data, it too often serves as a barrier rather than catalyst for decision-making.

“My goal is to partner with clients and to use the different datapoints at our disposal to triangulate simple human truths – about their consumers, their businesses and the most effective ways to bring the two closer together.”

Anomaly has recently further expanded its London-based strategy team, hiring Tim Whately, former head of strategic planning at Goodstuff Communications, and Caitlin Pinner, previously Go-To-Market manager at Twitch.

Last week, it promoted Max Ward to head of partnerships, following on the appointment of Chris Neff, global head of emerging experience and technology, and the launch of its media studio in New York.