About Umbrella
We have been removing
this handoff together
for ten years.
Nikola Zubak and Ozren Buvač met inside a mobile ad network called Adfrap, and stayed through both of its reinventions, as toff.ee and then as Manijak. They worked together again at Envy Croatia. They spent a stretch at separate companies and kept ending up on the same projects anyway. Umbrella is the version where they stop doing it in other people’s buildings.
- Founded by
- Nikola Zubak
Ozren Buvač - Together since
- Adfrap, and through toff.ee and Manijak
- Between them
- Philips · Samsung · Ultra Europe · Universal Pictures · Under Armour · Vodafone · McAfee · E*TRADE · Rosetta Stone
- Based in
- Zagreb, Croatia
How it happened
They have been doing this together
since it was called Adfrap.
Running underneath all of it
Nikola · since 2009
Zubak Creative
His own practice, and a network of people he brings in. Clients in the US, EU and AU. Never paused for an employer.
Ozren · since 2016
Aspire
His own digital growth consultancy. Real estate, SaaS and entertainment clients, run alongside everything else.
Both have run their own thing the entire time, whatever the job title said. Umbrella is where the two practices finally became one company.
-
Adfrap → toff.ee → Manijak One company, three names
One of the first ten global mobile ad networks, and the first in Europe to build an audience management platform. It became a data and media business as toff.ee, then an influencer platform as Manijak.
Nikola
Arrived as a designer and left running creative, on Universal Pictures, Under Armour and Vodafone. Creative Director on the decision-making team by the Manijak years.
Ozren
Audience and media buying, programmatic and RTB, attribution and analytics. Then brand partnerships and influencer strategy.
Which is where the split in this company comes from. One of them was making the work. The other was accountable for what it returned. Same building, same accounts, opposite ends.
-
Envy Croatia Together again
Nikola
Art Director and Creative Lead, on Philips, Samsung and Ultra Europe.
Ozren
Digital Marketing Manager, on Ultra Europe and World Club Dome.
The same festivals, from opposite ends of them.
-
Apart Different companies, same projects
Nikola
Creative direction inside agencies, on client work at the scale that needs a team behind it.
Ozren
Growth for app and platform businesses: McAfee, E*TRADE, Rosetta Stone and AthenaHealth.
They kept ending up on the same projects anyway, from different companies, which is a slow way of learning that the work is better when nobody has to hand anything over.
-
Umbrella Now, and both of it
Nikola
Everything before the click. Positioning, identity, message and the site.
Ozren
Everything after it. Acquisition, creative testing, conversion and measurement.
One company, two co-founders, no third party in the middle. Both own the whole business.
Ten years is the argument.
What follows is detail on who does what, and you do not need it to start. Tell us where the handoff is breaking in your business, and we will tell you whether that is a brand problem or a growth problem before you brief anyone.
Nikola Zubak
Co-founder
What he runs
Everything before the click. Positioning, naming, identity, the design system, the message and the site itself. Inside Merch he owns the brands Umbrella builds with its own money.
Seventeen years as an art director and designer, and a decade of that spent inside businesses whose revenue depended on whether the creative performed, not on whether it won anything.
Where it came from
- NowUmbrella Co.Co-founder
- Since 2009Zubak CreativeHis own practice, US, EU and AU markets. Still running
- PriorEnvy CroatiaArt Director and Creative Lead
- PriorManijakCreative Director, on the decision-making team
- Priortoff.eeCreative Director
- PriorAdfrapCreative lead, from graphic designer
Brands worked on, in prior roles
Philips · Samsung · Ultra Europe · Universal Pictures · Under Armour · Vodafone
Disciplines
Ozren Buvač
Co-founder
What he runs
Everything after the click. Channel strategy, paid acquisition, measurement, conversion and the testing loop that decides where the next euro goes.
Fifteen years in commercial roles, the last nine of them in growth and performance for app and platform businesses, where the metric was installs, cost per install and retention rather than impressions.
Where it came from
- NowUmbrella Co.Co-founder
- Since 2016AspireFounder and Head of Digital. Still running
- PriorFive / EndavaSenior Growth Specialist
- 2019Envy CroatiaDigital Marketing Manager
- 2018–19ManijakBrand Partnership and Influencer Manager
- 2016–17Httpool by AlephKey Account Manager
- 2014–15Contractus ProCo-founder and General Sales Manager
- 2011–13Meritus Plus, M+ GroupDeputy Project Manager, 45 to 50 staff across seven offices
Brands worked on, in prior roles
McAfee · E*TRADE · Rosetta Stone · AthenaHealth · Phoenix Suns · Ultra Europe · World Club Dome · Hrvatski Telekom · Iskon
Disciplines
What ten years of that
actually teaches you.
That the failure is almost never the brand work or the media work. Both are usually competent. The failure is in the seam.
The brand team ships something the media team cannot buy against. Or the media team optimises toward a number the brand was never built to move. Each side reports a good quarter. The business does not have one, and nobody in either room is accountable for the gap, because the gap belongs to neither of them.
Watching that from the creative side and from the performance side, on the same accounts, is a specific education. It is why Umbrella is one company rather than two people with a referral arrangement, and it is why Origin and Scale are divisions of the same business with the same plan, not partners who hand things over.
Every brand and role named on this page was worked on by the founders in previous agency, consultancy and in-house positions. These organisations are not Umbrella clients, and this work was not done by Umbrella. It is listed because it is the standard we hold our own work to. For work done by Umbrella, see the case studies.
Each side reports a good quarter.
The business does not have one.
The gap belongs to neither of them, so nobody fixes it.
You would be working
with both of us.
Not a team you meet once at the pitch and never see again. Tell us where the business is today and what has to happen next.
Or skip the form
You will be talking to one of the two people on this page, not an account manager. We reply within two business days.