How Zulu Alpha Kilo Is ‘Fighting Sameness’ in the Big Apple and Beyond
From left to right: Stephanie Yung - chief design officer; Emily Garvey, head of strategy; Tim Gordon, chief creative officer and partner; and Meghan Mullen, managing director
Expanding into the US market was always a dream of Zulu Alpha Kilo founder, Zak Mroueh. And in 2022, the Toronto-based agency was finally able to make that dream a reality. After many years of careful consideration and planning, the Canadian creative shop launched an office in Brooklyn, New York.
To ensure a strong entry and signal their commitment to the US market, finding the right senior leader was crucial. Exploring all potential avenues, Zak searched high and low for a potential partner with befitting creative credentials and strong leadership capabilities. It was important for the NY team to feel holistically aligned with the ethos and operational excellence of the 16-year-old Toronto shop, while offering the fresh perspective of a boutique start-up. After a year-long search, Tim Gordon was deemed the best man for the job of partner and CCO of Z.A.K. NY, having demonstrated invaluable leadership skills during his 14 year tenure at Droga5.
Tim was in good company, as a lean senior team of world-class talent joined him to open up shop: Stephanie Yung was appointed chief design officer; Emily Garvey as head of strategy; and Meghan Mullen as managing director. Two years on, LBB catches up with the four of them, to learn more about how their commitment to “fighting sameness” is applied to their work within New York, as well as the wider US market.
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Straddling two trendy Brooklyn neighbourhoods, the Zulu Alpha Kilo New York office sits on the cusp of Williamsburg and Greenpoint. The company’s decision to settle in this area - between two constantly evolving neighbourhoods - feels apt. The epicentre of culture, this is a place constantly changing and reinventing itself, encouraging the team to avoid complacency and doubling down on the agency’s trademark commitment to “fighting sameness”.
Dialling in from their NY headquarters, Tim, Meghan, Stephanie and Emily appear energised about engaging in an exercise in self reflection. The entire team maintains an infectious enthusiasm for the work, effectively functioning as a boutique start-up with big brand thinking.
“We have an underdog spirit that lets us take big swings, and we are hungry to keep proving we can compete with the very best shops,” Tim tells me. “In New York, our lean senior team handles most work, but we also have a solid bench of talent in Canada to tap into when we need different perspectives or expertise.”
This collaboration across the Z.A.K. organisation has resulted in a slew of client successes. Since 2022, the team has consistently created work that has proven capable of cutting through the noise in memorable and disruptive ways.
“To state the obvious, a lot has changed in the US industry landscape over the past few years,” Emily says. “It seems new independents crop up onto the scene weekly, fighting for the fleeting industry headline of the week. We see too much time, effort and money being wasted on work that's not tied to a big idea that really makes a brand special. So we strive for creative impact that goes further, and lasts longer. We build unapologetic brands that punch above their weight. Because let’s be honest – sameness is also bad for the bottom line.”
Z.A.K. NY’s bold declaration of war against “sameness”' is applied to every project the team takes on. And, this commitment to fighting sameness is exemplified in its recent show-stopping collaboration with Booking.com.
Reflecting on the ongoing partnership, Tim describes how Z.A.K. has flipped the script on cliché travel advertising by bringing joy and humour back to the category.
“Over the past decade, travel had become overly serious: full of perfection pressure that led to lofty, saccharin work in the online travel sites category. We carved out a very different personality for the brand, working with comedians like Melissa McCarthy and Tina Fey to bring a uniquely relatable perspective to travel booking in the US and globally.”
With their 2023 work acting as the first major campaign from the New York outpost, the team was determined to go bigger and bolder for this year’s work – ambition which paid off. The Tina Fey spot became the number one most-watched Super Bowl ad on YouTube in 2024.
“It starts by really understanding what our clients need,” Meghan adds. “With Booking.com, it was important for our Amsterdam-based clients that our 2023 Super Bowl work with Melissa McCarthy struck a nerve with American culture, while making the most of investment. So creative leadership sat in New York with Tim, hero assets with high entertainment value were produced in LA, and supporting teams brought things to life efficiently out of Toronto and Vancouver.”
Understanding that oversaturation in the industry demands unique approaches, punctuating everything Z.A.K. NY turns their hand to as they strive for lasting creative impact that truly sets brands apart.
Emily touches on another prime example that personifies Z.A.K. 's antidote to sameness, its public service campaign for non-profit organisation, Gas Leaks Project. “Public health campaigns often feel like doomsday lectures, so we leaned into the most ridiculous tropes of reality TV, transforming a message about the harms of natural gas into a long-term platform our audience would choose to watch on Netflix.”
“We took a page out of reality TV’s marketing playbook with a teaser trailer, billboard campaign in LA, TikTok recaps, and reaction gifs. We plan to continue to lean into ‘toxic’ entertainment as a lasting big idea with creative potential.”
Weighing in on their output from a design perspective, Stephanie is keen to also highlight their work with local NYC initiative, Splash Spots. “Our approach to design is about elevating the overall experience: thinking about all of the touchpoints along the consumer journey and the needs that design can solve, in order to make the greatest impact. Our work on the Splash Spots initiative with Street Lab was all about bringing play and whimsy to the children of NYC during the dog days of summer.”
In just two short years, Z.A.K. NY has made a mark on the industry, gaining recognition as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies and AdAge’s 2024 A-List. Without question, the unique skills and perspectives of each senior lead has played a major part.
The foursome’s unstoppable dynamic is a result of combining diverse unique skills with career-defining perspectives. “Each of us has spent time at established, creatively-driven agencies in the New York market before coming together to launch Z.A.K. NY,” Meghan notes. “That said, we approach things slightly differently, having grown up at different shops, with different perspectives on the world.
“Tim has incredible instincts at the helm, not only creatively but around what brands really need to win too. Emily thinks differently about strategy, seeing it as an art not just a science, and always bringing imagination to it. Steph has the rare ability to bridge brand thinking with design craft in totally unexpected ways. And, as managing director, I keep the team thinking two steps ahead for our clients’ business. At the end of the day, we all see ourselves as creatives, which helps us find creative solutions to any problem.”
Adamant on finding the right creative leaders first, and building a business around their expertise, Zak Mroueh’s vision appears to have paid off. In the very capable hands of these four creative powerhouses, Zulu Alpha Kilo’s future in the US market is set to be on the up and up.
As the agency continues to challenge industry norms and expands its footprint, Z.A.K. NY remains committed to crafting impactful, enduring creative solutions that redefine brand narratives. This creative team refuses to view constraints as the enemy and, instead, perceives them as creative fuel. Whether it be a budget, channel or business issue, Zulu Alpha Kilo NY says “bring it on”.
