Ad Woman Behind Ford’s Mustang Defies Gender Bias Before Cannes

Karin Onsager-Birch’s reputation in the ad world is such that when Ford Motor Co. was looking for someone to revive its brand and bring its all-American Mustang sports car to Europe, she was the natural choice.

Yet Onsager-Birch, who recently joined Interpublic Group of Cos’s FCB agency in California, is one of a select group of women to become a creative director. About 11 percent of her peers in the industry’s highest-profile job are women. While that’s better than the 3 percent in 2008, Onsager-Birch says there’s a long way to go to leave behind the 1960s “Mad Men” stereotypes.