In today’s fast-paced advertising world, where big agencies often dominate the spotlight, boutique creative shops are proving they can be just as disruptive, and sometimes even more impactful. One such example is the journey of Yarden Brikman, a Los Angeles based Creative Director at BRIKMAN, who transformed an unexpected career challenge into the foundation of his own agency. What began as a chance client request soon evolved into a growing creative powerhouse, known for daring campaigns, cultural insights, and a philosophy built on freedom, experimentation, and authenticity.
Brikman’s story is one of resilience, instinct, and redefining what it means to build a modern creative agency. From turning a $4,000 billboard campaign for Hummus Republic into a globally recognised success, to pioneering new approaches like AI Engine Optimisation (AEO), he continues to push boundaries in an industry where adaptability is key. Grounded in pop culture, collaboration, and bold creative risks, Brikman’s vision highlights how smaller agencies can thrive in today’s unstable yet opportunity-rich landscape.
How was your company born and where are you based?
Los Angeles, the company was born out of a coincidence and was never really planned. I moved from Europe to Los Angeles to be next to my family, and prior to my experience as a creative director in big agencies, I was sure that landing a job with my portfolio would be a piece of cake. As it turned out, companies in the US, don’t really take your experience in other continent as much as in other places, for the first time in my life, I found myself in a need for a job, then - my first client approached, learned about my experience, and asked me to be his agency, neither him or I know what being an agency really means (besides doing amazing creative.) and I just played it as it went. Fake it till you make it.
What was the biggest challenge to the growth of your company?
Definitely clients acquisition, the talents are there, the creative is on point, but the lack of my own personal connection near me, or even the understanding how it works. As a creative director in other agencies, I was so arrogantly sure that the creative department is the most important one, and account managers are… less. I found out in the hard way how the things are turned, how every aspect of an agency is a key part in sustaining this business called advertising agency
Which was the first huge success that you can remember?
For me, the first huge success was getting the first PR on a campaign we’ve done. We didn’t pay anyone, didn’t buy an article, nothing. And The Drum recognised our billboard we did for Hummus Republic as the top creative of that week, next to Sainsbury’s commercial and M&S Christmas commercial, when we are the opening of the article. A campaign, with a budget of $4000, and 3 billboards we secured for free for our clients, was next to these billion-dollar commercials, which was the day I knew we can do anything.
What’s the biggest opportunity for you and your company in the next year?
The creative space is changing so fast in this crazy unstable world we live in, and I think its this kind of time of making it or breaking it. Huge agencies are going after smaller clients, bigger clients considers small agencies for projects, the retainer structure is fading away, and AI starts to feel more and more like a threat. In this chaos, boutique smaller agencies can rise on top.
For instance we opened an AEO department, and I think it will be one of our biggest wins in the coming year, AEO for anyone who is not familiar is AI Engine Optimization, making brands more visible in ChatGPT (or any other AI Engine) and as boring and not creative as it sounds - it is! We get so many consumer insights just from tracking trends with ChatGPT, and learning about industries and our clients. We thought it will be just another service to make ourselves different, but we found out that we can do a better strategy with that tool, and actually make a difference for our clients.
Can you explain your team’s creative process? What makes it unique?
Let’s be honest. Creative agencies businesses are commoditized businesses. We are all like farmers who sell tomatoes, the uniqueness? The people, and this is what we put our investment in - Our mission is to be the place where people and brands do their best work of their career, and to achieve that, we give full freedom and a landscape of making mistakes. Every one in the team is a creator, today a copywriter can make imagery and references with ChatGPT and an Art Director writes text like he could’ve never before, and we encourage that - if you came to do your 9-5, drop you pen and go home, you just won’t be a fit, and if a client wants the same boring ads the other agency did for him, he will just be disappointed - We are here to really, no cliche, break grounds, try new things, adapt technologies - no matter what is your budget or resources you have.
How does your team remain inspired and motivated?
We breath, eat and live pop culture. This is a crucial standpoint of each member of the team, each in what interest him more, It can be in sports, music, movies, apps, celebrities, but this is the most crucial part of doing great creative, and more however - getting your clients audience. The next best insight for a retail client, can come from a superhero movie with a scene in a retail store, and that sparks the idea - this is what creative is about, finding great insight that are culturally driven, that people can resonate with. The best practice I give my team is - do you know this stand-up comedians start a joke with - You know when… this is how you find a great insight, that is culturally working right now, and people can relate to.
How has COVID-19 affected your company?
We did not exist during COVID.
Which agencies do you gain inspiration from? Do you have any heroes in the industry?
There is one agency I look up into as an agency that does that the way I love things been done, and I look up to, and they are definitely my compass of - what I want my agency to be like, and taking inspiration form their creatives - 72andSunny.
What is one tip that you would give to other agencies looking to grow?
Focus on doing amazing work, the rest will follow.
How do you go about finding new clients/business? (Pitching, work with retainers, etc.)
That’s the 1 Million dollar question for me. Ask be about creative, how do you get ideas, what will blow the market, etc etc I feel the confidence to answer that.
We are a very creative driven agency and not business driven agency, and as one - our strategy, is followed by the last question - we do the best work we can, no compromises, and the rest is followed.
What’s your one big hope for the future of the industry?
That agencies and clients will understand that the audience is actually very smart. He’s is not obsessed with influencers' coupon codes or that he identifies your very not organic UGC as a commercial and he dislikes it. He prioritises great creativity, and he lives in the real world and not just on social media.
Can you share a defining moment in your company's journey that shaped its identity or direction?
We were in a rough cash-flow situation, and just put a huge campaign for a client named Tayloani out there. We believed the campaign from our hearts, and our strategy was very long term for their Thermocap - a product to help rebuild hair, but the client was stressed that he didn’t see results in the short-term. We bended our values, and our believes in to satisfy the client, something that as service providers we should, but there are times to be an executioner of your clients will, and times that you understand that he pays you for your experience, knowledge, and guidance - we stood on our back feet after realizing what is the solutions, and he dropped us soon enough.
Personally, I did not slept at night for weeks during the campaign, understanding I’m pouring so much money out of their pockets and they are not happy. A couple of months after, they called to get us back, because our long strategy, which they stuck to, paid off above and beyond everyone's expectations, including ours. Advertising and creative is a gut feeling business backed by mass data and research, but it's an instinct, one you have or not, and even the client objections, or dislikes are his own gut feelings. We still listen to our clients, and we do the best we all agree on, but we’ve been chosen for a reason compared to other agencies, and that’s for our unique take on things - and that is what we need to deliver every single time.
How do you foster a culture of innovation and experimentation within your team?
This is my biggest challenge as a creative director, period. I’m only agood as my team are. And I think I’m perfecting that with personal example, If you, personally, experiments, try things, innovate, do mistakes and admit them - the rest follows. I encourage all my team to print everything they are doing, everything - even if it feels dumb or irrelevant and stick it to the walls, so everyone in the office can see and learn - it might be a bad idea, but one that inspire other, this is the most basic activity students do in art schools, the critics, but it works!
What measures do you take to ensure diversity and inclusion are prioritised within your company?
Me personally, on the outside, look like a white privileged men. Am I one? LGBTQ, grew up in a war (literally 7 years old me going to the shelters), and I didn’t even talked about the economic situation I grew into - diversity is crucial for creative and advertising, and sometimes its your skin color, other times its how much money your parents had when you grew up, or even your political stand-point - It can be all of that combined! In my agency you get (as much as a human being can) the most equal opportunity you could have, and I think this is what attracts young brilliant diverse minds - they don’t get shortcuts because of their background, they being challenged even more.
Can you describe a project that challenged your team creatively and how you overcame any obstacles?
One of our clients, Cannamood is selling THC gummy bears. This is this kind of times where regulations restrict you from advertising anything you want, if sometimes the budgets are the restrain, in this case budget was not the problem. The first step was to tell the client, with full honesty - we don’t have experience in this industry, or knows the regulations good enough. We will do our best, learn, adapt, and evolve - but you should be aware that creatives are going to be removed, and platforms going to block us, and most of all - we need to move fast.
This kind of honesty between agency and client was the key for success, and when regulations don’t allow, the real creativity come through, we needed to find ways and solutions on what to advertise and how to advertise, we made hundreds of ads daily sometimes, as they were blocked one after the other - but we didn’t gave up quality. We build an efficient client approval system, and internal creative making to keep that machine moving, and most of all went to channels you don’t think of - like partnering with creators on Onlyfans do be our influencers and offer a coupon code.
How do you balance maintaining your company's unique creative voice while meeting the diverse needs of clients?
This is a constant battle within a creative person leading an agency, and there is a reason why a creative person normally don’t run a creative agency. I feel like wearing two hats, each one is the “enemy” of the other - the CEO who wants to expand and make the business bigger, and the creative director who don’t think its in the agency personality to do lead generation for a lawyer. I think I’ve learned that some lawyer stuff can be really cool, and if you find a great partner that want to be different, you can get a killer creative! It’s all about communication, and expectations, we are brutal honest with our clients, sometimes too honest, and will do our due diligence to see if a client fit us, not just for our own fun, but for his success too.
What strategies do you employ to adapt to changes and trends in the industry while staying true to your company's values?
Its a great follow up question to my previous answer, As a value, we are first to adapt, like I mentioned with the AI Visibility department we opened, but at the same time, its our responsibility to be carful before submitting ourselves to any trend. We build here brands for the long run, and doing a one time trendy trick will be our company failure. I think we doing it very instinctively, by being very attached to the brands we’re dealing with, I always say to the clients that we act like a partner with a seat on the board who don’t own any shares - this is how attached we are, and as one, adapting to trends is important, but not any trend, because its a double edged sword.
Can you share a memorable client success story that exemplifies your company's approach and impact?
The first thing coming to my mind is Hummus Republic Fresh Habits campaign - no one ever hired us for a full rebranding, or redesign everything (E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G) but we saw a great partner, a great opportunity and we believed in what he is doing. Back then, the shops, logo, branding, imagery - all looked like a great Mom-n-Pop’s shop, I don’t think even they perceived themselves in a different way, but we thought they are the next Cava, or Chipotle - that they are a clear choice in the quick service restaurant options, we insisted in rebranding everything, change the logo, colors, way of speaking, film everything as of new, develop a strategy, and even develop core values - they just had patch on patch on patch, and we wanted them to be the great thing we think they can.
We believed that when a customer goes to a shopping area, and there is Chipotle, McDonalds, Cava, Dairy Queen, and Hummus Republic - so no matter your size, they are your direct competitors, and you need to be able to take them down. We developed a full strategic plan and new visual identity in 48 hours to be in time for their investors meeting, overtime is a small word next to what we put into it, and willingly! And the success was extraordinary, they are now with 50 locations across the US (compared to 14 before we started), the amount of new customers, the average ticket per customer and every metric possible skyrocketed.
In what ways do you invest in the professional development and growth of your team members?
Team-wise, I think its most important to rotate clients. I don’t care a specific art director knows a client head to toe, I want to expend another art director portfolio, and give the client a new perspective as well. In my first ever job as a junior art director in an agency that been bought by Grey, I was the 21 years old young art director, and next to me a mom art director - My creative director back then printed briefs on paper, putting one on my table, and another on hers. I was given a brief for Huggies - a commercial for diapers, and she got a local Seven Eleven type of brand.
I walked to his office to understand what’s up? We should switch, it makes so much more sense, I’m the audience of the other and she is audience of my brief, and he replayed: “Amazing art director knows how to do both”. Ever since, this is my personal and team development mantra.
How do you approach sustainability and ethical practices within your company's operations and projects?
Little 18 years old me, turn the engine of this career with volunteering in the LGBTQ Task Force, later becoming Digital Department leader, all 100% voluntarily. This work led me to organize the biggest LGBTQ demonstration in the middle east ever, and to a career - so giving back, as an ethical practice is my guidance, and still today we do (a lot of) pro-bono to anything that aligns to our values. In this moment I would like use this platform to invite any non-profit looking for Pro-bono work to personally email me.
Can you discuss a time when your company had to pivot or innovate in response to unforeseen challenges, and what lessons did you learn from that experience?
We live in what I see as one of the craziest unstable times ever. Covid, Wars, Inflation, AI revolution - this is just the tip of the iceberg. Does anyone even remember when NFT was a thing just a few years ago? I’m in the realization that I don’t know everything, or control everything, unfortunately. All I can do is the best work ever done, push myself, my team and my clients as much as possible, and adapt quickly as possible when things go in a different direction.
Do you have any websites, books or resources that you would recommend?
I’m the most cynical person and I don’t like new age books usually, I get my ideas and revolutionary thoughts not from a person “Generated 50M+ for 5 startups” but from makers, people who master a craft, and as one - I want to recommend a novel - Blindness by José Saramago and after that read Seeing by him as well.