Václav Růžička, Idea Maker

01Selected the big ones

Vilgain · US launch

Double Trouble goes to America

447k impressions · 185k reached · 22.7% hook rate

How do you sell a Czech protein bar to Americans?

You turn it into a Bonnie and Clyde summer road trip. To an American, Europe is the ultimate exotic escape: vintage cars, laundry lines in the sun and fields that go on forever. So we took the most iconic American flavour, peanut butter & jelly, and gave it the taste of a Bohemian road trip. Two outlaws, two new flavours, and a launch that felt less like a supplement ad and more like a summer short film.

Format Instagram · Shopify · Amazon · PR · web · PPC-ready

Me Idea, pre‑production, production

Vilgain · OC Flora

A new store at Flora

308k views

The whole communication around its opening, from teaser to aftermovie.

Before the doors opened, we had to build the hype. On opening day, we had to fill the floor. And afterwards, we needed to make everyone else wish they'd been there.

So we didn't just make a launch video, we built a multi‑stage story: a teaser to spike curiosity, a creator integration to pull a crowd on day one, and an aftermovie to showcase the energy. The store had a fanbase before it even had customers.

Me Idea, script, influencers, production

Aktin → Vilgain

It took a moment to load

131k views

We migrated Aktin to Vilgain. The press release covered the facts. Instagram needed something people would actually watch.

Rebrands are risky: regulars naturally hate it when their favourite brand changes. So instead of pretending the shift was seamless, we embraced the glitch as the joke and built the punchline around reassurance.

A single video carried the weight of an entire FAQ: new name, same loved products. Aktin was the origin story, Vilgain is the next chapter.

Me Idea, script, production

Vilgain × Decathlon

Six sports in 31 seconds

111k views

A collab with Decathlon needed to say two things fast: they gear up every sport, we fuel every sport.

So instead of explaining it, we showed it. We walked into Decathlon, changed outfits for every sport on the floor and matched each one with the right product, from boxing gloves with protein to bike helmets with Greens. A fast, high‑energy visual loop built for short attention spans and instant rewinds.

Me Idea, script, styling, direction

Vilgain · Hostina on Jiřák

Dinner for the whole street

The long table on Jiřák before the guests arrive, with the Vilgain store behind the trees

Vilgain tacos menu, printed for the table

Table-corner print: vilgain, JzP, hostina

110k views · 1 very long table

A street feast on Jiřák: one long table, tacos for everyone, and the whole neighbourhood invited.

I created the entire concept: a single continuous table stretching across Jiřího z Poděbrad, a custom taco menu built with chef influencers Adam Rundus and Lukáš Švec, and Vilgain positioned as the actual host rather than just a logo on a backdrop. The energy of the night generated its own content, right down to the thank-you video.

Me Idea, production, content, styling

02More it adds up

198k views

The player who doesn't talk

Vilgain × Kuba Flek

Kuba Flek (hockey player, HC Kometa Brno) is famous for not giving interviews. So we made a video where he doesn't have to.

Idea: Instead of fighting his personality, we sold it, and let the subtitles carry the joke. Fans got exactly the Kuba they know.
Me: Idea, script

119k views

Kus koláče

Vilgain × Kus koláče

A collab koláč, judged by the street.

Idea: Vilgain and the Kus koláče bakery baked a koláč together. Instead of announcing it, we let the first bites outside the bakery do the talking.
Me: Idea, script

81k views

The word nobody owns

Vilgain

Why almost any chilli sauce can call itself sriracha.

by the way, I love sriracha. I put it on everything.

Idea: The founder of the most famous sriracha never trademarked the word. So anyone can make one, including us.
Me: Script

Instagram ↗

113k views · top video

Garage-kept, one owner

Cebia

Every seller says it. We measured it.

Idea: The lines every used-car ad repeats, checked against the car's real history, with the CEO as the judge.
Me: Idea, script, production

TikTok ↗

132k views · top video

100% before your coffee

Xiaomi

Fast charging, sold on the panic of 3%.

Idea: Nobody cares about 100 W charging. Everybody knows 3% and running late.
Me: Idea, script, production

TikTok ↗

POV: a Tech Execs event

Tech Execs

A B2B lunch that feels like FOMO.

Idea: Networking lunches aren't sexy, so we shot one entirely first-person.
Me: Idea, script, production

LinkedIn ↗

Your love life, in bathroom items

Cordogy

The product is the punchline, not the ad.

Idea: A street vox-pop. Real confusion, real laughs.
Me: Idea, script, production

Instagram ↗

03OOH & copy out of home

Copy is just listening, written down.

Before I write a word I want the insight: who's reading, what they already believe, and the words they'd use themselves. Someone behind the wheel gets three seconds with a billboard. Someone walking past a citylight gets a few steps. Someone scrolling gets one beat of a caption or on‑screen text. So every line has to feel like it was written for one person, in that place, at that moment.

Me Idea and copy on all of these

Vilgain mini fast food menu: fresh daily

VilgainFresh dailyA menu you read in the queue: big photos, short names, nothing to decode at the grab & go counter.

Cinema poster: a Vilgain shopping basket on the big screen, IMAX rozlišení, vilgain složení

Vilgain · Cinema City FloraIMAX resolution, Vilgain ingredientsA poster for the cinema in the same mall as the new store. People who pay extra for the picture care about what they put in, so the basket got the big screen.

Vilgain store signage in the lift and the metro

Vilgain · on the wayWe're openThe lift doors and a metro screen, pointing people straight to the new store.

Vilgain table wrap: eat your veggies, eat like you care, clean food clear mind

VilgainRead it while you eatThe table itself as the last ad before the first bite: four short lines, one for each side you might sit on.

04PR where it started

Four years of PR came first, at Kašpar PR and then EMC Public Relations & Madison Public Affairs: communication strategies, campaigns built on data, press releases, copywriting and media relations from the first pitch to the deep-dive analysis. Plus journalists who actually call back. It taught me that a story has to be worth retelling before anyone retells it.

Words I wrote for clients ran in:

Václav presenting a LinkedIn training for TD SYNNEX in a teal meeting room

Forbes
PLAYBOY
Seznam Zprávy
Hospodářské
noviny
iDNES.cz
Blesk
CHIP
ChannelWorld
and more…

05On camera the other side

Agents Model Management, since 2005

I've been on set since I was a kid. Ads for Česká spořitelna (twice), T-Mobile, O2, Vodafone, McDonald's, Pepsi, Xbox, Renault, Karma, Diesel, Granko, Bohemia Chips, Betano and Budvar, films like O život, Wilsonov, Ve stínu and O rodičích a dětech. So I know what a script feels like from the other side of the camera.

Model book ↗

T-Mobile

Actor

Budvar

Actor

Betano

Actor

Česká spořitelna

Actor

06About me, briefly

Making things has come naturally for as long as I can remember: stories, visuals, style, music. While my friends were planning their next bit of trouble (not that I skipped mine), I already knew I wanted to make things with a soul, a style and a punch. I started in PR, where I learned how brands think and how to make people feel something, fast. Then I realised I'd rather make the story than pitch it.

Now I write, come up with concepts and hunt for the point that stays in your head. The dream is leading creative projects at a film studio. Until then: a good team, a brief worth losing sleep over, and something people actually remember.

Václav in a denim jacket and tie, throwing a peace sign in a mirror selfie

How I work start to finish

The ideaFinding the f*cking spark.
The scriptWords first, then the blueprint: shot list, schedule, call sheet and crew.
The copyThe line on your cereal box, the billboard you notice on your commute, the caption you don't skip. You feel it.
The lookVisualising the direction and briefing the designer, so the pitch lands exactly as imagined and looks good doing it.
Faces, places and propsCasting, scouting and styling. Finding the faces, spaces and details that make the story real.
The setDirecting on set: standing between the monitor and the camera to bring the vision home.
The final cutGuiding post‑production. Sitting in the edit until every frame hits, right up to release.

Toolkit

CapCut · Frame.io · Logic Pro · Figma · Canva · ClickUp · Notion · Slack · Sprinklr · Mediaboard · AI tools

07Off the clock things I love

I'm all about culture and beautiful things, and I take them in large doses. I love Tame Impala (that's Kevin Parker below, captured by me), I'm always up for a good techno set, I love horror movies, and I'm pretty sure Seth Rogen made The Studio specifically for me. I look for whatever nobody else stopped to see.