About Us
Two people. Almost sixty years. Zero account managers.
We built the agency we always wanted to work at.
We spent decades inside LA's biggest agencies. We launched Honda on the web in and on social in . We built campaigns for Discovery Channel, VH-1, ampm. We won Cannes Lions, Clios, One Show pencils, and Webbys along the way.
But we watched the model break. Clients paying for layers of people who never touch the work. Junior teams running senior accounts. Decks that take longer to build than the campaigns themselves.
So in , we started Cast Iron LA out of Woodland Hills. Two experienced creatives working directly with clients, with AI handling the production grunt work and an on-demand bench of specialists for everything else. A Los Angeles marketing agency with big-agency quality and none of the big-agency tax.
The Founders
An art director and a copywriter. That's the whole agency.
J. Barbush
Co-Founder / Copywriter
Copywriter who spent 22 years at RPA, where he built the agency's social media creative team from the ground up. His work for Honda and VH-1 has earned recognition at Cannes Lions, the One Show, and the Clios. He's taught advertising at Art Center and written for industry publications.
Read more →
Luis Ramirez
Co-Founder / Art Director
Experienced art director who's led visual campaigns at RPA for brands like Honda, Discovery Channel, and VH-1. Now building the AI production systems that let a two-person agency outproduce teams ten times its size.
Read more →How We Work
The model is simple. The work is anything but.
01
Direct to Creative
You talk to the people making your campaign. Not a project manager. Not an account exec. The actual creatives doing the work.
02
AI-Powered Workflows
We use AI to handle research, production, and iteration at a speed that used to require a full department. The creative thinking stays human.
03
On-Demand Specialists
When a project needs specific expertise, we bring in experienced freelancers from our vetted network. You get exactly the talent the job requires, nothing more.
Work directly with the people who do the work.
Have questions first? Check out our FAQ, browse our portfolio, read the journal, or explore our services.
Local? See our pages for Los Angeles, Woodland Hills, and the San Fernando Valley.