How a Guy Building Snapchat Lenses For Fun Ended Up With a 12-Person Studio, And Why He Had To Learn Outbound The Hard Way
Behind the Agency Podcast with Bram Van de Ven, Founder & Managing Director of Arfected
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Prefer the highlights? Key takeaways and summary below.
TL;DR – Key Takeaways
Bram didn’t plan to start an agency. He was deep in augmented reality internships and started experimenting when Snap/Meta opened up creator platforms for lenses/filters.
His work started getting massive reach with almost no promotion—publish → snowball → millions of views.
The “agency” happened because:
he ran out of hours
he needed skills he didn’t have (3D design, creative dev, 2D design)
First client came from a Reddit post → someone DM’d → googled him → reached out on LinkedIn → turned into a 2+ year partnership.
For the first 3–4 years, inbound was the engine: people found the work and came to them.
2023 changed everything (especially in NL): budgets dried up, and “experimental innovation” gets cut first.
Bram had to shift from inbound to deliberate outbound—he’s literally in Dubai for a month doing coffee chats and building relationships to grow in the UAE.
Another big shift: they widened services so much that the value got blurry, so they tightened positioning around a clear promise:
Gen Z ignores intrusive ads
“playable / engaging” ads earn attention and organic reach
Partnerships have been a growth shortcut: in early years, building one agency relationship could unlock 5–10 client projects. Split evolved from 75/25 (agency/brand) to 50/50.
Their internal AR “experiments” are a marketing asset:
one Snapchat lens hit 500M views
across platforms, internal projects totaled 8B views (yep, wild)
They also benefit from ecosystem credibility: Meta and Snap list them on partner pages, which acts like instant trust.
He’s thinking ahead about productizing parts of what they’ve built for stability—spin-off products with separate support teams, while the core team stays focused on experimentation.
Meet the Guest
Bram Van de Ven runs Arfected, an AR-focused studio/agency. He’s the kind of founder who didn’t say, “I’m going to build an agency.”
He said:
“I’m going to build cool stuff… and if it works, I’ll figure out how to keep doing it.”
That sounds casual, but it’s basically the origin story of a lot of modern creative studios.
Episode Summary
1) The origin story (AR internships → creator tools → accidental agency)
Bram’s last internships were in augmented reality, right when platforms started letting creators build lenses/filters:
Snapchat lenses
Meta (Facebook/Instagram) AR tools
He started tinkering, publishing, and watching the work “take a life of its own.” The reach created an obvious opportunity.
But then reality hit:
he didn’t have enough hours in the day
he couldn’t execute the full vision alone
So he hired for the missing pieces: 3D designer, creative developer, 2D support—then grew into a 12-person team.
It’s like trying to play a full band show when you’re the drummer and the singer. Eventually you either recruit bandmates… or you stop taking gigs.
2) How he got the first client (Reddit is undefeated)
His first client found him because he posted links to AR experiments on Reddit.
Someone from an agency saw it, DM’d him, then found him on LinkedIn—boom, first client.
That turned into a 2+ year relationship.
This is one of those underrated lessons: the first “marketing channel” is often just proof in public.
3) Fast forward: the latest client came from outbound + being physically present
For years, inbound carried them:
“Someone saw our work and reached out.”
Then 2023 hit. Budgets tightened, and the first thing to die is the “cool experimental part” of campaigns.
Brands retreat to the safe stuff:
basic Facebook / Instagram ads
predictable ROI
less innovation
So Bram changed how they hunted:
He got proactive—outbound, meetings, relationship-building.
He’s currently in Dubai for a month, doing business development in person (coffee chats, conversations, partnerships), and it’s been working.
There’s a misconception that “inbound is the only good way” and outbound is somehow inferior.
Real talk: inbound is amazing when budgets are loose.
Outbound is what keeps you alive when the market gets scared.
4) The hidden problem he caught: “We added services… and lost the value”
This part was sneaky and important.
They expanded from:
Snapchat lenses + Facebook filters
to a wider menu:
Instagram / TikTok
web-based AR
virtual stores
photo booths
But the value started to get muddy.
So after 2023, they worked hard on positioning that translated the real benefit:
Gen Z doesn’t respond to intrusive ads.
They respond to ads that are fun, playable, and shareable.
Bram’s point is simple:
Interrupting people is expensive and annoying.
Letting them participate creates organic reach.
He gave an example:
an Oatly filter that turned you into a “campaign hero”
karaoke-style interactive element
people could create their own story with it
Instead of passive consumption, it’s user-generated storytelling.
5) Partnerships: the “shortcut” that actually works
Bram said partnerships with other agencies were huge early on.
Reason:
build one agency relationship
that agency pitches your capability to 5–10 clients
you get multiple projects off one relationship
That’s leverage.
Their business mix evolved:
started around 75/25 agency-to-brand
now closer to 50/50
He still values agency partnerships (volume + velocity), but he sees brand relationships as more durable long-term.
6) Where clients come from: inbound + referrals + partner ecosystems
Three “organic discovery” engines stood out:
Internal AR experiments (their own accounts)
one lens got 500M views
total internal reach across platforms: 8B views
Referrals
the usual, but still real
Meta + Snap partner listings
being listed acts like credibility on day one
“If Meta says they’re legit, that means something.”
That’s basically a trust transfer.
7) Looking ahead: productizing AR IP for stability
Bram talked about the founder anxiety that keeps you up at night:
Busy months → quiet months → repeat.
He wants something more stable, so he’s compiling ideas they’ve stumbled into that could become:
a product
a scalable service
its own “spin-off”
He’s imagining a model where:
core team stays focused on experimentation/building/iterating
spin-off product eventually gets its own support team
new entity scales without dragging the creative studio into customer support work
This is the “studio + product lab” move.
And it makes sense in a world where platforms change every five minutes and you need the team experimenting constantly just to stay current.
8) Bonus: internal experiments are now getting monetized
This was a fun little twist:
TikTok and Snapchat are starting to pay creators for filter usage:
payouts based on volume of videos created with the filter
He said it won’t change their agency revenue dramatically, but it creates a new layer of value:
case study
marketing asset
skill development
and now… some direct payout
That’s like getting paid to practice your sport.
Notable Quotes
“2023 was an eye-opener… it was time to stop waiting for requests and actively look for people to work with.”
“The first thing that drops off is the innovative tech part of a campaign.”
“One popular Snapchat lens got 500 million views.”
“Across platforms, we’ve tapped into eight billion views… which is nuts.”
“Gen Z—intrusive ads don’t work. Fun, engaging ads do.”
Learn More / Follow Bram
Bram said the best places to keep up:
LinkedIn (to follow him personally)
Arfected website + newsletter
He said they send updates only when there’s something worth sharing (not spammy, more like occasional/quarterly-ish).
