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Does anyone have any info on Cossette Montreal?
Industry-wide layoffs tomorrow or nah?
Top 5/Bottom 5 creative agencies in the US?
Any tips on how to get along with a coworker?
Anomaly, are you trippling in size?
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Rising Star
Because we put pressure on ourselves to “make it great,” and that has become shorthand for “show your CD you can have ideas that are 20 times better than what the client is asking for.”
It has become bad form to say “this tiny banner can just be crappy.” So everybody kills themselves proving they COULD do much better work. Its insane, especially when clients never (ever) buy or produce the “extra thinking.”
Oh my god. Yes. I’ve seen this happen over and over but never realized it was literally a “thing”. We lost a project a few months ago to another of the client’s agencies because that agency gave them exactly what they asked for and we went way above and beyond. I think we would have presented differently if we knew we were in competition, but still.
Pro
Practice typing this in a text edit doc until you feel ready to put it in an actual email:
"Hey guys - sorry but I have some personal stuff this weekend and won't be available."
If you get fired because of this, consider it a blessing in disguise. But I can all but guarantee you that after a few rounds of "but we really need you" and "we're a team" and "can you just work Sunday" and "but we told the client" you'll end up getting a "okay see you monday".
Establish your boundaries and stick to them. Make it someone else's problem.
This is good advice. I’ve quickly realized that everyone is quick to complain and blame others for being overworked but few are willing to put their foot down. Nothing is going to change unless you set your own boundaries. I’ve been trying to be strict with not responding to emails after 6 or on weekends. If something comes up I’ll ask for solutions that don’t involve weekend work. The more I’ve voiced this concern with my teams the more we all have worked together to manage boundaries. No one likes working insane hours.
Because it’s more profitable to understaff and force your workers to work overtime. It’s built into the business model.
It is known
Pro
Because profiteering capitalists run agencies and don’t give a ffffuuuuuucccckkkk about us.
There are so many dumb things that agencies do. It’s hard to keep track anymore.
Imagine what would happen if we...unionized.....🤔
What’s the bowl??
I agree. Like weekend work is literally built in as part of the schedule on projects. Why.
This. Weekends should just be off limits. Think of it like scheduling something on Rotaday. You can’t, because Rotaday doesn’t exist. Same needs to be true for Saturdays and Sundays when building out work schedules.
Because agencies keep hiring Account people just because they have big brands on their resume. So they’re great shmoozers but don’t know how to manage projects, clients and teams.
@AD nailed it. I ALWAYS try to push back on my clients to avoid nights and weekends and usually am told from above I need to make it work for the client, then have the hard conversations with PM and creative.
Read 'Madison Avenue Manslaughter' by Michael Farmer. It lays out the reasons why very plainly. It also makes you see the absolute bs & chaos in how ad agencies are run.
I’m a VP, and I won’t let people on my teams with lower titles work on the weekends. I get paid more so I think I should be the one to do it first.
My boss is this way, as well, and I appreciate it so much!
Because people will do it.
If you say no and stick up for yourself, you won’t exactly be getting raises and opportunities. So it really has to be an ethical standard starting at the top. Why do we all care about doing good (Cannes) until it comes to money? It’s actually a gross industry in that way.
Because agencies are service-based companies. Less service, fewer clients, less money.
Better ingredients, better pizza, Papa John’s.
I would say because it became a business instead of a craft.
Once upon a time, creatives ran their shops and understood- and sold- the value of creativity. As people realized that this was a viable business model, corporations got involved. They maximized profits and expanded. At the same time, media models shifted. And it all became about selling strategic approaches because we stopped selling the magical, hard to quantify part. So the people who don’t really undertake or value the perfect, clever execution started making decisions. And that means assuaging clients became more important that giving them what they needed. So shorter timelines, lower budgets, etc.
Because holding companies.
Here’s a perspective I feel missing from this thread. I worked ‘in-house creative’ for one of the biggest and a situation arose where on Friday afternoon the VP and I were discussing the agency deliverables and they insisted I call, and I quote; “...put your foot on their throat...” and have new work/revisions done for Monday ASAP. I refused (pushing back upwards like that is fatal to one’s career btw) feeling that it was more a ‘have my grapes peeled’ moment versus a thought-through internalizing of the work BEFORE responding with constructive feedback to actually get us to a better place with the work. All I had to do was lift the phone and a flurry of people would have had to work that w/end and I guarantee that the agency account person wouldn’t dare push back on a 1mil. a/c client.
The 2 key realities that pressure agencies, and thereby waterfall onto the teams:
1/ Client initiated (“MY boss wants to see it now, so move mountains as this is a hierarchical org. and if you want to get ahead...”
2/ HoldCo initiated. Constant pressure for revenue (imagine before every 90 day cycle ends, getting the call “Are you hitting your numbers??!” “We’re going to miss; The Street will crucify us!! YOU need to find 400k!)
And there you have it, so tell everybody I’ll see them early tomorrow+Sun, and let’s send out for sushi tonight — will you send the menu around, OK? Great!
A solution: quit, start/work for a small, values led independent agency, and yes it’s a slog, and you will earn a lot less money, but maybe you’ll see your kids for a bedtime story.
I had a boss one time years ago who always worked as late as I did, and would be there on weekends too. One time work was so crazy he came over to my cube almost in tears saying how sorry he was for how busy we were. It was stressful work, but it did feel better knowing my boss was working just as hard as I was. Sometimes a clients demands are just way under scoped and you have to learn from it, and get through it. As long as you don’t feel you’re the only one getting dumped on, it makes a big difference.
Because it's free work?
Because clients. Also in some cases poor project management, crunched production timelines, low budgets, over promising things by Accounts or not managing clients expectations.
i worked at KBP and the CDs would tell the creatives to do 20 minutes on this or that...and would present it. I loved Quick fresh ideas that weren’t belabored. Sold as many campaigns.
The last place I freelanced at actually tried pretty hard to not work weekends. We would have pencils down Friday’s around 10 for everyone to look at the work and make comments and let us make our updates before the end of the day. Most weeks it really worked. Maybe two or three weekends got kind of nuts and they were super apologetic, but as freelance I was happy to work it since I get paid for those days. There were staff teams working too so it wasn’t just about trying to avoid paying us.
We really try not to. Not going to say it never happens, but it’s not frequent. I’m often getting caught up on weekends but aside from the occasional quick question for a CD, I try to leave the teams alone. I want my weekend too.