Ikon Arts Foundation

Recognized for their clever advertising campaigns and effective design, Bruketa&Žini? OM is one of the leading advertising agencies in Southeastern Europe.

Founded by Davor Bruketa and Nikola Žini? in 1995, the Zagreb-based agency has steadily grown and continues to count its successes. To date, Bruketa&Žini? OM has won over 400 international awards and has opened three offices outside Croatia.

Here, Bruketa and Žini? talk about their creative values, how they started out, and where they’re going next.

You founded your agency together, in 1995. What brought you together? Why work as partners?

Davor Bruketa: We met during college while we worked together in the Doroghy design studio. Soon we figured out we think alike and decided to work together in our own studio. We function well as a duo because each one of us has a different point of view, but we agree upon basics about how communication must be done generally.

Nikola Žini?: It’s easier to work as partners because you have someone to share all the success with, but also to share failures!

Are there differences in your design aesthetic or values?

Davor Bruketa: Not really. We believe in efficient communication, aesthetics is just the tools how to reach that goal.

Stina – Wine for Inspiration

How has your agency evolved since then?

Žini?: First we did as much work as we could in order to gain experience. Mainly we created designs for Zagreb’s art and music scene. Then we started knocking on doors with our portfolio and started doing creative work for other advertising agencies like BBDO. After a few years we realized we are not interested in design specifically, but in communication in general and we developed into a full-service advertising agency.

Bruketa: Today we are a group of agencies employing 80 people working in offices in Zagreb, Baku (Azerbaijan), Belgrade and Vienna, and we specialize in branding, strategic planning, all forms of online and offline marketing communication and shop concepts. Part of our group are a specialized branding consultancy Brandoctor, digital agency Brlog, and Brigada – a studio specialized in retail store communication, with architects, product designers and communication experts working together.

We were pronounced the most efficient independent advertising agency globally by the Effie Index; but we are especially proud of the fact that there are people from all over the world who want to come to our agency to do an internship.

Žini?: We also founded our own brand of clothing Brokula&Ž – it’s a brand of underwear made from organically grown materials.

What international projects are you working on? Do you have any plans for further expansion?

Davor Bruketa: Besides Croatian clients, we work for clients in Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Austria, Azerbaijan, Ukraine etc. For example we work for UniCredit group, GRAWE insurance, AVON Cosmetics, PepsiCo, Adris group, Tele2 Croatia, Jaffa Crvenka, Serbian National Lottery, Pasha Bank, Azertelecom etc. This year we founded an agency in Vienna together with the Austrian digital agency Netural, and we plan to expand our business for Austrian and German clients.

You’re particularly known for your creativity. What is the relationship between creativity and advertising? Must an advertising campaign be creative to be effective?

Žini?: Each creative agency has a serious attitude towards creativity. Personally, I feel this is one of the most important keys to success. Quality advertising has to be creative in order to have results, in order for someone to even notice it. But creativity cannot be for creativity’s sake only, it has to be smart and based upon a strategy, it has to have a reason why. Our job is to solve problems and our work has to have results, otherwise there’s no point.

What is important to your creative process?

Žini?: When we start a project it’s always important to do a lot of research in coordination with our clients. The better the research and analysis, the better the foundation for a creative strategy or insight. Then we do the creative work that’s based upon these previous steps. Through our experience, creative work can be efficient on the market only if there’s a smart insight behind it.

What’s one thing you can’t do without while at work?

Bruketa: Carrots!
Žini?: Computer games.

Two members of the Bruketa&Žini? OM team will be judging this year’s New York Festivals International Advertising Awards. Creative director Ivan ?adež is on the print advertising jury, and Brlog creative director Tin Kadoi? will judge the digital category. The NYF International Advertising Awards is the most diverse advertising competition in the world, bringing together entries and jury members from over 70 countries.

Podravka – annual report design

Written by Elaine Ritchel (@elaineritchel)

Portrait of Bruketa & Žini? by Dražen Pajtlar