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One that won’t lay me off.
Pro
So, in effect, no agencies.
None of them. Ad agency’s suck now.
The one that’s actually creating jobs instead of killing them. Bit of a unicorn.
W+K circa 1995
I no longer believe in the aspirational agency. For 98% of the work being done in any given agency, it’s all the same.
Publicis.
My own.
W+K
Portland though, right? I heard NY was going through layoffs
Mischief
Curious why?
If you’re going to work at a holding company, you probably want to be in the Leo “constellation” at Publicis, but you’re living with certainty that if any role can be replaced by AI it will be.
If you like advertising, you probably want to work at an indie that has a few large stable clients. Note: when I say “indie” I don’t mean “owned by a smaller holding company” I mean “a place where you regularly see or interact with the top decision makers, because they actually work there”. AFAIK that’s the only way for leadership to have an incentive to push for a healthy or sustainable culture.
This… The most powerful drive to keep a place moving forward in a consistent & sustainable way comes when the owners are present and accounted for. If there is a “exit” event, and after they depart, the momentum can be sustained for a while, but as successive generations take the lead, the focus and standards usually start to waver, future adaptations & innovations are not quite as successful, and slow decline begins. Then the roll ups (mergers with other units) begin, etc. In almost every industry, once leading institutions eventually decline (GM, IBM, Capitol Records, legacy TV networks, etc.) and sometimes die, so that new ones can be born and thrive. There are always a few exceptions, but this is generally how it goes. The trick is to find yourself at a hot place during the time it is hot. If you have been at Apple or Amazon over the past 25 years, you’ve had an incredible ride. If you were at IBM or Sears, not so much.
The holding companies own all of us unless you’re with an independent
If I had to stay in agency land, somewhere small and local. Very niche, under 50 people. Maybe 2 or 3 tent pole clients.
Uncommon Seychelles
Preacher, Mischief, Goodby. Always Goodby.
None
Wolff Olins
Publicis is winning all the pitches
With the highest employee turnover rates tho
Rethink
GroupM
Accidentally writes GroupM from the GroupM setting 👌🥴
It’s good to see everyone is over the agency business. The illusion has peaked and everyone sees it for what it is. My dream agency is DDB, 1976 and the Ball Partnership, 1988.
Highdive
I feel the same but I must know why you do too