Paintgun

Paintgun is a full-service ad creative agency founded in 2017 by Elco Ian. The company produces UGC, authentic performance videos, professional film production and TikTok trend content for advertisers, and treats creative strategy rather than media buying as the principal lever for performance. Its stated creative philosophy favours work that feels authentic rather than overtly promotional.

Alongside production, Paintgun builds a Creative Data Platform for performance marketers. The platform applies proprietary data models and large language models to label and analyse ad creatives, and integrates with Meta, TikTok, Google and LinkedIn to return actionable insights to advertisers.

The company reports that its production model yields 10x faster iteration on creative concepts and three times as many creatives shipped with shorter turnaround times, while its data work lowers customer acquisition costs by 20% within six weeks. It serves clients across fintech, consumer apps, e-commerce and marketplaces, and consumer electronics.

Paintgun originated in London and is headquartered in Berlin. The company describes itself as mission-driven and directs 7% of revenue to giving-back initiatives.