After nearly two decades leading creative organisations and one of the nation’s largest agencies, former MullenLowe US CEO & CCO Frank Cartagena has launched independent agency, OK Future. The new shop will debut its first campaign for founding client, goodwipes, in the coming week.
OK Future is among the first examples of creative agencies incubated and launched with one person and the help of AI. Not only was the technology usedto develop the business itself, from the business plan all the way through to the website, but using a suite of technologies, Cartagena and a small team have been able to research, ideate and concept campaigns that goodwipes and other clients have liked enough to take to market.
While the insights and ideas generated are human-made, AI helped them do the work of a much larger team.
“Our launch is a case study for any advertising professional considering going out on their own. You don’t need private equity or holding company backing. You can do this,” Cartagena stated. “We moved past the ‘one person and a laptop’ incubation period that got us off the ground pretty quickly, because there’s a big difference between pitching work and actually making it. So we’re hiring. But I see a bright future where the barriers to entry are lowered, and creative thinking is elevated.”
OK Future’s senior strategic thinking, creative leadership, and modern technology help companies build brands, launch products, develop campaigns, and solve business problems faster and with fewer layers than traditional agencies. The agency currently has four full-time employees including Cartagena.
Throughout his career, Cartagena has held leadership positions across some of the industry’s most respected agencies, ultimately serving as CEO of MullenLowe US after leading creative as a chief creative officer. His resumé includes time at the community, 360i, KBS, Deutsch and DDB. His experience spans brands including Netflix, Amazon, BMW, General Motors, Dunkin’, OREO, Diageo, Absolut, KFC, Kroger and Bath & Body Works.
“For a hundred years, agencies scaled by adding people,” Cartagena commented. “Technology has fundamentally changed that equation. Today, incredibly talented people can accomplish what once required entire departments. We built OK Future around that reality, combining human thinking and technology in a way that creates better work, faster.”
Agency growth has traditionally followed a familiar formula – more clients required more people, more management, and more process. While that model made sense when execution depended on large teams, advances in AI and creative technology have dramatically increased what experienced individuals can accomplish.
OK Future believes agencies should evolve alongside those changes.
Rather than organising around departments and handoffs, the company is built around senior operators with deep experience across strategy, creativity, business, and technology. OK Future partners directly with these founders. As technology blurs the lines between disciplines, Cartagena empowers his teams to do just that – strategists ideating creative ideas, creatives researching insights, account specialists building minimally viable products, and so on. The result is fewer meetings, fewer layers between ideas and execution, and work that reaches the market without losing its original intent.
While AI has accelerated what’s possible, OK Future believes technology is only as valuable as the judgment behind it. The ultimate focus is on making the best creative product possible, at or above the level of the industry’s best work.
The agency was founded on the conviction that experience has become more important in an era where almost anyone can generate ideas. The real competitive advantage is understanding which ideas deserve to exist, how they connect to business objectives, and how to bring them into the world in ways that create lasting value.
