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Just days after the closure of indie agency Madwell, which followed a messy breakup of its cofounders, and a spate of financial woes, one of the founders, David Eisenman, is back with a solo venture, launching an AI-first ad agency with no clients, no partners, and no staffers—just serious conviction.
On Monday, Eisenman launched Cosmic Charlie, which bills itself as an AI-focused, full-service agency.
The shop opens its doors with no signed clients, though Eisenman said he is in talks with a range of potential clients, from “pre-IPO companies that have been around for a couple of years” to “Fortune 500 folks.” In a year, Eisenman aims to have a roster of around five to seven active clients.
There might not ever be a truly fail-safe time to launch an agency, but with today’s uncertain economic outlook, tariff uncertainty squeezing supply chains, and CMOs’ marketing budgets remaining flat, Cosmic Charlie will face its share of broader challenges.
Eisenman believes his agency differentiates because of his experience in the industry and the future staffers he plans to onboard.
“I am an experienced agency founder,” he said. “I’m bringing on people [soon], and the folks I’m talking with have a lot of experience in helping brands grow significantly from where they are in a way that outpaces a lot of their competitors.”
Asked why he’s launching the firm without any initial partners, he told ADWEEK: “I wanted to put my shingle up, get going, and launch this thing first—and then continue my conversations with them and hopefully bring them on as soon as possible.”
Cosmic Charlie plans to offer a full range of creative, media, and branding services—with “AI baked into everything,” according to Eisenman.
In an era in which agencies are loudly touting their ability to integrate AI, Cosmic Charlie plans to also use tools ranging from ChatGPT to Perplexity and Adobe to facilitate research and campaign planning, optimize media buying and creative delivery in real time, and automate and scale production.
Eisenman acknowledges that other agencies are adopting an AI-first framework, but, again, it’s the people who will set Cosmic Charlie apart.
“It’s about the people behind those [AI] tools that are the most important,” he said.
Eisenman is the agency’s sole owner and backer. Though he declined to share how much of his own money he poured into launching the business, and insists that start-up costs are low.
Electing to open the shop on his own, Eisenman suggested, was a strategic decision informed by the drama he faced with Madwell cofounder Chris Sojka, which culminated in a legal dispute that was settled last October. “I learned my lesson on partners, so I’m doing it solo this time,” he joked.
Eisenman’s overarching goal is to break from outdated agency models and create a nimble, future-focused business that delivers both strategic creativity and production at scale, without the baggage of legacy systems.
The industry’s holding companies—giants like Publicis, Omnicom, IPG, and WPP—aren’t nimble enough to adapt to the pace of change, Eisenman contends. Nor, he said, are many smaller agencies.
“The economic model isn’t what it was two months ago—we’re not even talking about years ago,” he said. “We’re done with the days of agencies telling clients that it’s going to be $40,000 in two weeks to make 150 banner ads for the campaign they just created.”
The name Cosmic Charlie is an homage to the Grateful Dead song by the same name. Eisenman told ADWEEK that he has always been inspired by the band’s “good vibes,” but also that a specific lyric in Cosmic Charlie—“I just wonder if you shouldn’t feel less concerned about the deep unreal”—speaks to him as “a message of embracing AI and embracing the unknown.”
