Friends Moscow

What Friends Moscow does

Friends Moscow is an independent creative advertising agency headquartered in Moscow, Russia, founded in 2011 and positioning itself as a "brand keeper" that helps brands preserve identity while enabling growth. The agency provides three core service lines: Creative (integrated campaigns, special projects, video production, graphic design, animation, documentary filming), Strategy (research, brand insights, messaging), and Design (visual identity, brand packaging, full touchpoint systems). It serves a mix of multinational and Russian enterprise brands across IT (Google, 7-year main creative partner), mobile telecommunications (Yota, 5-year key partner with 15+ campaigns), FMCG (Epica, Borjomi, Baltika), airlines (Utair), fashion (Adidas), and non-profit clients (Fond Nochlezhka).

The business model is professional services on a project-based and retainer basis, with no products, software, or proprietary technology platform disclosed. Revenue is generated through direct client engagement, with new business sourced via pitches, referrals, and the agency's award portfolio. The agency has accumulated over 300 industry awards including 6 Cannes Lions, 50 Red Apple, 28 E+ Awards, and 44 ADCR, and was named Effie Most Effective Independent Agency in 2016 and 2018 and Red Apple Agency of the Year in 2018. Operating geographies are limited to Moscow, with no disclosed foreign offices, subsidiaries, external investors, or M&A activity. The leadership team is anchored by co-founders Alexander Zavatskiy (Creative Director) and Maxim Ponomarev (Head of Creative Department), with CEO Kseniya Tychinskaya and a full-stack management team covering Client Service, Strategy, Production, Account, HR, and Legal functions.

Name

Friends Moscow

Legal name

Friends Moscow

Website

https://friends.moscow

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Friends Moscow is an independent creative advertising agency founded in 2011 in Moscow, Russia, offering brand strategy, creative campaigns, and design services to enterprise and consumer clients including Google, Yota, Utair, Epica, Adidas, and Baltika.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Moscow

HQ country

Russia

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Creative Agency Services: Friends Moscow generates revenue through professional creative services including campaign development, brand strategy, design, and creative production for enterprise clients. Revenue is project-based or retainer-based, working with major brands on long-term partnerships.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Friends Moscow is a creative advertising agency that develops brand strategies, integrated advertising campaigns, visual identities, video productions, and design deliverables for enterprise clients. The agency positions itself as 'brand keepers,' helping brands preserve their identity through creative, strategy, and design services delivered on a project or retainer basis.

Product overview

Friends Moscow is a creative advertising agency (brand keepers) providing brand identity preservation, creative campaigns, strategy, and design services. The agency works with major Russian and international brands including Google, Utair, Yota, Epica, Adidas, and Borjomi. Services include Creative (integrated campaigns, special projects, video production, graphic design, animation, documentary filming), Strategy (research, brand insights, messaging), and Design (visual identity, brand packaging, all touchpoints). The agency has won over 300 awards at creative festivals including Cannes Lions, Red Apple, E+ Awards, and ADCR. This is a service-based agency model rather than a software product platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Creative Services Integrated advertising campaigns, special projects, video production, graphic design, animation, and documentary filming for enterprise brands across industries including FMCG, IT, aviation, fashion, and non-profit sectors.
• Strategy Services Research, brand insights, and messaging development to help brands find new cultural and semantic territories and communicate effectively with target audiences.
• Design Services Visual identity design, brand packaging, and design across all brand touchpoints to preserve and evolve brand identity for enterprise clients.

Quantifiable outcome

• 250+ million video views for Google campaigns on YouTube alone
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Design DepartmentminorOthersListed as 'Our Friends' - a partner organization in the design ecosystem
• Mads CoursesminorOthersListed as 'Our Friends' - educational platform for advertising professionals
• SberbankcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint partnership with Google and Sberbank for the 'Business Class' online entrepreneurship education program. Friends Moscow developed creative campaigns for this initiative to promote Google's free online business school in collaboration with Sberbank.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Wieden+Kennedy: Globally recognized independent creative agency benchmark for award-winning brand work; not a direct Russia competitor but the standard creative agency peers in the independent agency space are measured against.

Direct peers

• Publicis Russia: Global network agency's Moscow presence offering integrated advertising, digital, and brand strategy services competing for the same multinational and Russian enterprise accounts.
• Dentsu Creative Russia: Dentsu's creative arm in Russia, offering brand strategy and integrated campaigns to enterprise clients, with comparable full-service capabilities to Friends Moscow.
• BBDO Russia: Major global network agency's Russian operations, providing full-service creative, strategy, and digital capabilities to enterprise clients in the same Moscow market.
• Leo Burnett Moscow: Publicis Groupe network agency's Moscow office, operating as a full-service creative agency for large brand clients with similar service scope and target accounts.
• Possible Moscow: Russian digital and creative agency competing for technology, FMCG, and consumer brand clients in Moscow with a digital-first offering that overlaps with Friends Moscow's digital marketing work.
• Ogilvy Russia: WPP-owned network agency's Russian operations providing brand strategy, advertising, and creative services to similar enterprise and FMCG clients in the Russian market.
• Saatchi & Saatchi Russia: Publicis network agency's Russian branch delivering creative campaigns and brand strategy for enterprise clients, directly comparable in service mix and customer profile.
• TutkovBudkov: Independent Russian creative agency of similar scale and profile to Friends Moscow, also recognized at major creative festivals and serving enterprise brand clients in the Russian market.
• Instinct: Independent Moscow-based creative agency competing for the same enterprise brand budgets and festival recognition as Friends Moscow.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCa4pMWfWesPxj5d-vuVt_6g
• Instagraminstagram.com/friends_moscow

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Friends Moscow