Jeff Blackman, managing director of Barbarian, sat down with executive director of growth and marketing Danielle Parkes and growth and marketing manager Alara Yildizlar to discuss what keeps a 120-plus-person New York agency sharp after more than two decades. Barbarian has been inventing the next thing since 2001—starting with the agency’s creation of the interactive digital experience behind the Subservient Chicken for Burger King, the CP+B-conceived campaign that defined what was possible in web-native brand engagement. That inventive DNA hasn’t changed.
Today, the agency operates across social and content, customer experience design and technology engineering—infusing AI throughout. “We’re always striving to be better,” Alara says. The holding company model gets layers. Barbarian gets speed.
The Invention Machine
The story of Barbarian starts with a moment. In 2004, CP+B dreamed up the Subservient Chicken concept for Burger King—and Barbarian built the technology that made it real. Nearly 400 million hits later, it became shorthand for what brands could do online. That inventive ability to take a creative idea and engineer it into something people couldn’t stop interacting with has carried through every era since. From innovation awards to cutting-edge client work, Barbarian has never stopped pushing. Jeff describes it as a through line: the inventive use of technologies, the cultural fluency and how brands can exist and engage audiences in the modern context.
Inventing What Comes Next
What Barbarian is known for today looks different than it did in 2005—but the instinct is identical. They’re exploring AI-powered generative user interfaces, building enterprise systems that solve real business problems and moving at the speed of culture across social platforms. Innovation means something different every year, and that’s the point. The agency’s ability to stay ahead of what’s next—not chase it—is what keeps clients coming back. Creative problem solving in the service of cracking business problems remains the north star.
Three Pillars, Not Three Silos
Jeff breaks the agency’s expertise into three verticals that don’t behave like silos. First: social media and content—outpacing cultural change, understanding how brands speak to younger audiences, creating content at rapid pace. Second: customer experience—design thinking across every touchpoint, driven by ideas rather than just functionality. Third: technology and engineering—understanding enterprise systems, building AI capabilities and helping brands exist across massive tech stacks. Strategy, design, creative and tech talent collaborate across all three. Clients get a partner who thinks across disciplines rather than within them.
Independence Changes Everything
For an agency that talks about being creatively led and inventive, independence is operational advantage—not just philosophy. Without layers of corporate decision-making, Barbarian can pursue and uncover the next thing that’s never been done before. Speed matters when culture moves fast. Danielle puts it simply: closer client relationships and functioning as true partners without layers between idea and execution. “Being independent gives us a lot of advantage in being able to adapt and respond to those opportunities on behalf of our clients,” Jeff says.
Why Clients Choose Barbarian
Clients don’t work with Barbarian for sheer scale alone. They come because the agency crafts hard problems with courage, recommends solutions other partners wouldn’t touch and delivers a personal relationship where everybody gets the A-team. The track record matters most. As Jeff explains, it’s easy to be a one-hit wonder—it’s harder to help clients outpace change time and again. Danielle adds that in a moment where adapting to shifts in culture, tech and customer demands has never been more important, Barbarian has 20-plus years of proof.
Talent Knows the Difference
Why do talented people choose Barbarian? Because the agency’s reputation becomes a promise about the kind of work they’ll do. Retention is high because people want to be there. The vibe is startup-family: mutual respect across departments, real investment in learning and development, a culture where raising your hand is rewarded. Danielle highlights the environment—from an agency basketball team to AI swap sessions. “Half your life is spent at work,” she says. “It may as well be fun.” Jeff’s north star: if people look back on Barbarian as the most rewarding chapter of their career, the executives have done their jobs.
It’s in the Name
All three leaders identify as weirdos, misfits and underdogs—and they’re not picking just one. Jeff sees underdog energy as essential: if you don’t feel like you’re always needing to level up, it could be a dangerous place for an agency to be. The weirdo ethos means being true to yourself and putting that openness out there. And misfits? “It’s in the name,” Alara says. “Barbarian—challenge convention.” The agency celebrates being different and applauds people who dare to show up as themselves.
Tim Ellis, the Liberty and Duolingo Walk Into a Bar
Every leader has their north stars. Jeff lights up talking about Tim Ellis, CMO of the NFL—hometown Bills pride running deep during football season. Danielle follows the New York Liberty and their WNBA marketing brilliance, noting Barbarian’s own study on next-generation fandom in women’s sports. Alara admires the Duolingo marketing team: “They truly know how to curate a personality.” These aren’t random picks. Each choice reflects how Barbarian thinks: understanding audience, building brand personality and staying culturally fluent.
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Jeff Blackman LinkedIn
Danielle Parkes LinkedIn
Alara Yildizlar LinkedIn
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