Brooks was a founding partner of BFCS, an influential British film production company, and one of the founders of Design and Art Direction (D&AD).
He soon realized that this was not his life’s work and he competed for and was awarded a scholarship at Cooper Union School of Art, which was known for its Bauhaus design tradition.
In 1955, Brooks started Cooper Union night classes and was simultaneously hired by Ogilvy and Mather to work in the art department as the matte boy.
[4][5] Going against the photographic trends of the time, Brooks hired the famous illustrator Norman Rockwell to draw a series of children holding up a dental report stating, "Look Mom, No Cavities!"
In the late 1950s, Brooks decided that he wanted to live and work in Europe, and he was sent to the London office of Benton & Bowles as the head of the art department.
The most exciting work coming out of London advertising in the early 1960s was being produced by the newly formed Collett Dickenson & Pierce Agency, where Colin Millward was beginning to make creative waves.
Ultimately the two groups merged their efforts and Design and Art Direction (D&AD) was founded in 1962 with 30 members; it held its first awards exhibition the following year.
In 1964, Brooks decided to leave Benton & Bowles and opened his own photographic studio, specializing in food and advertising still life photography.