Fingerpaint has been on a buying spree over the last year-and-a-half, adding a half-dozen companies since taking on equity partner Knox Lane in December 2020. 

Its latest pick up, Parsons Medical Communications, was announced just last week. Fingerpaint’s 2021 revenue rose to $135 million from $85 million in 2020, according to the 2022 MM+M Agency 100.

The recent growth spurt necessitated an impresario to tie it all together. Enter Leo Tarkovsky, the network veteran who came on board last month in a new role as chief commercial officer, the indie agency announced Wednesday.

Tarkovsky is reporting to Bill McEllen, global president of Fingerpaint Group, an operational structure created to house Fingerpaint’s burgeoning stable. 

“It goes along with expansion of the group,” said McEllen of the need for adding a commercial chief. “We’ve had 200% growth in the last three years alone. It was a natural part of our evolution as an organization.”

As far as hiring Tarkovsky per se, McEllen said he has a “proven track record as an entrepreneur and being able to build and scale large organizations.”

Tarkovsky, for his part, said he’d been watching Fingerpaint “from the sidelines” and was impressed with its expanding commercialization portfolio. 

“For me, this was an opportunity to join this dynamic team and bring my skills and expertise to the table so we can scale it to the next level,” he said. “I just couldn’t pass up a chance to build and scale something extraordinary.”

Then there was the prospect of reuniting with his former colleague. He and McEllen both served as execs at Interpublic Group’s McCann Health in the 2010s. For Tarkovsky, it was part of a seven-year stint that culminated in serving as president of what was then one of IPG’s two big health networks. Meanwhile, McEllen’s decade-plus rotation wrapped up with the presidency of McCann Torre Lazur Group. 

“We’ve worked together, have tremendous respect for each other, have shared in successes in the past and our approaches and business philosophies are very much alike,” Tarkosvky explained.

Interestingly, with the addition of Tarkovsky, the independent agency is getting an executive who has spent the bulk of his career within large holding companies. This includes time spent at WPP’s Grey in the 1990s to Publicis in the early aughts and then back to WPP shop J. Walter Thompson before arriving at McCann. He most recently served as EVP of global growth/healthcare at WPP, a role he held for just under a year. There, he oversaw all growth efforts in healthcare across the network’s operating companies and disciplines worldwide. 

Considering where Fingerpaint is in its evolution, that pedigree seems like an ideal fit. Additionally, Tarkovsky’s goals do not sound like a significant departure from those of a typical holding company exec:

“I’m focused on building on this tremendous foundation that Bill and the team has already developed, and asking, ‘What do we need to take us to the next level? We’ve got this best-in-class package of commercialization services. How can we integrate those more effectively on behalf of our clients? How do we expand our solutions to fuel growth and capitalize on opportunities?’”

He also cited Fingerpaint’s “people-first approach” to client engagement as a key driver of growth. “Clients are yearning for that,” he said. “Fingerpaint Group does this incredibly well and that’s important to me.” 

With reps making their way back into doctors’ offices over the past year or so and digital media spending continuing to accelerate, does the hybrid marketing style that’s emerged post-pandemic require a different level of client hand-holding? 

Clients are blending personal and non-personal promotion in a more synergistic way. But while the channels have advanced, the basics haven’t necessarily changed, said Tarkovsky. Still, there’s a renewed push in pharma toward omnichannel marketing.

“Personal selling is back and the approach to non-personal promotion has evolved. We see tremendous growth and opportunity to enhance the approach and execution of omnichannel,” he explained. 

“Especially when I consider innovation through the lens of specialty pharma, unique therapies and scientifically advanced therapeutic R&D pipelines that are dominating today,” he continued, “Clients are looking for partners to bring a new level of sophistication and skill, not just around translating the science but on optimizing channels, engagement and experience.”

Along with many of its peers in the healthcare marketing space, Fingerpaint allows for a hybrid work style, a level of flexibility which has also contributed to the agency’s trajectory, per McEllen.

“The staff appreciates the flexibility and support that we’ve provided to be able to do the work,” he said. “We haven’t given a firm mandate of returning to the office. We’ve treated our staff as they want to be treated.”

Tarkovsky added: “What I like about Fingerpaint is that we treat people as adults and as

humans. We all can make solid decisions about the best schedules to get the job done. Discussions about the future of the workforce will continue, including how we can better use our offices as hubs for collaboration and creativity.”