Having always harboured a penchant for the extraordinary, a young Tim Gordon had his heart set on working at an ad agency that was doing things differently. After landing his dream gig with Droga5, climbing from intern to CCO, he got the itch to do things differently again - but on his own terms - and he found that in the shared values of Zulu Alpha Kilo as they opened the New York office.
In his current role as the chief creative officer and partner at Zulu Alpha Kilo (Z.A.K.) New York, Tim continues to prioritise the importance of the collective ideas, inspiration and support of talented people around him.
Now leading Z.A.K.’s New York office, Tim compares his role to that of a gardener—nurturing a creative environment where ideas can flourish. He’s all about balancing creative freedom with the responsibility of guiding the team toward great work. With inspiration coming from all directions, Tim credits much of his current creativity to the diverse voices and perspectives of the people around him, whether it’s his colleagues or his two young kids. In a world where content is king, especially on social media, Tim remains focused on creating work that is fresh, engaging, and always pushes the limits of what advertising can be.
LBB> Hi Tim! I’d like to start by talking a bit about Droga5, where you first started earning your stripes. You rose through the ranks there, going from intern to CCO – what do you credit your success to? What was the driving force behind your ambition back then?
Tim> I think the ambition of the agency matched my own ambition. You're very lucky if you find a place once or twice in your career where you feel you've found a home that is reflective of the type of work you want to do. For me, this was a combination of the right time, the right place and a lot of inspiring work.
LBB> Surrounding yourself with the right people is conducive to success in any industry but particularly advertising where you gain diverse perspectives, constructive feedback and opportunities to collaborate. Who do you think was the most influential or important person early on in your career?
Tim> It would be hard to boil it down to one person – I am lucky to have had so many amazing, talented, selfless, warm people around me. Whether we realise it or not, different people influence you in so many different ways. It would almost be doing a disservice to the place to say there was only one person there that pushed me forward, it is always a collective feeling.
LBB> What about where you are now in your career – who do you go to bounce ideas around with or get advice from?
Tim> Well now it's super different, because I find myself in a position where it's a little lonelier, and I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean it in the sense of needing to trust my own gut. When I was coming up in the industry, I was looking for constructive feedback to help build something. It is really important for me to surround myself with people who would tell me when something was a bad idea. The leadership crew here - Meghan and Emily - are the best sounding boards I could ask for. Then, outside of the agency, my wife is someone I will always bounce around ideas with. But ultimately it does come down to trusting your own gut about what will break through to people - especially as an independent agency.
LBB> Given that you've been working in the advertising industry since 2008, you've likely witnessed a tremendous amount of change over the years, with your creative inspiration continuously evolving along the way. What’s currently inspiring you right now?
Tim> That’s a really good question. My inspiration comes from a real buffet of sources, some of them are sought out and others are just injected into my life. For example, I have two kids, so weird and wonderful things always come from hanging out with them. But I also feel inspired by the people surrounding me at the agency. We’re only two years old so I’m constantly learning about and from my team.
I’ve always thought of people as the most inspiring creative source. Anyone can point you to a book or a website or a movie, but what’s most interesting, or where I glean the most inspiration from, is talking to people. Because then all that other stuff comes up but it’s not as black and white as “read these three books,” or “watch this documentary” – I don't subscribe to that as a method for how to be creative. To me, creativity is a constant osmosis of everything: from the way that your two year old pronounces something, to a discussion about the latest movie.
LBB> Very true, I like that a lot. So, thinking back, what would you say was your first creative milestone in the industry?
Tim> Probably, when I was young, the most memorable day was being hired at Droga. You know, I was quite single-minded about wanting to work for an agency that was approaching things in the industry differently, and at the time, David Droga was the person doing that. They were delivering so many interesting projects that pushed the industry in different ways, and that was something I wanted to be a part of. So, for me, being hired there feels like the first huge milestone.
LBB> You’ve said you got into advertising because you were motivated to create ads that felt different, that didn’t necessarily feel like an ad, which is exactly what Z.A.K. is all about: Fighting Sameness. What recent ads have stood out to you for this reason?
Tim> I’m going to do a shameless plug first and cite the
Destination BC work we just delivered, as it was a really great piece of work. And I’m not saying that because it was recent, it just feels inherently very different, and flips the script on what advertising can be.
Elsewhere, there has been lots of inspiring storytelling recently, all of which has been really unexpected in different ways. Nike’s campaign this summer,
“Winning Isn’t for Everyone”, comes to mind. It felt like a return to the brand’s roots, which in itself was unexpected.
In a totally different vein, I remember a stunt by VML where they bought a salacious
Polish magazine which totally objectified women and represented a bygone era. Instead of doing a campaign about equality, they simply bought the magazine - which wasn’t doing well - and published a special final issue all about empowerment. That, to me, perfectly encapsulates doing things differently.
I also really liked the documentary about
The Last Barf Bag which was just the right amount of stupid taken seriously.
Each of these are such different types of creative but they demonstrate that creative is more about needing to be interesting than about the medium or presentation. A strong idea, executed well, is what inspires me.
LBB> It also reiterates what you said about taking inspiration from a buffet of sources! Stellar creativity really comes in all shapes and sizes. So, I wonder, how do you see the role of CCO in connection to creativity? How does what you do support exciting creative ideas?
Tim> The role of a CCO feels a bit like being a gardner. Your job is to tend to everything, create the right environment, in order to allow things to flourish. It’s about the alchemy of the environment and that is something you have to constantly work on. You don’t just set it and forget it. It is a really hard thing to do because you have to be both wildly responsible and irresponsible at the exact same time. You have to live in both worlds to keep people on course while maintaining blue sky thinking.
LBB> The advertising landscape has changed a great deal since you started out and now it’s all about social content. What do you consider to be the secret sauce to crafting content that stops the scroll?
Tim> Thumb-stopping or whatever they say? Well, I’d say, regardless of the medium, the intention for work to feel fresh, different and, frankly, engaging is always paramount. If you are going to interrupt someone, or borrow their time while they wait for something to watch, you should at least make it interesting. The difference with the way content is delivered on social media is that you can’t force people to watch in the same way as traditional media. It requires us to be more interesting than ever before. And I honestly think that's a great challenge because we can't buy our way through it.
LBB> And finally, what is your goal for this year? What do you hope to have achieved by the end of 2025?
Tim> I’m sitting here now surrounded by exceptional people, so in a year’s time I would like to be able to have even more amazing people here– the more, the merrier! And I want those people to be a source of influence, not just on me but on the agency and the industry at large. If I can achieve that, and our proverbial table is larger every year, then I think all of the other things will also be true. We will deliver phenomenal work that pushes things forward because we will have incredible, different opinions and thoughts on the work. Being surrounded by talented people is one of the joys of this job.