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Depends if your agency makes profit.
in almost 20 years I’ve never seen a creative department get a bonus.
Accounts however…
I was at an agency that lost business like it was their job. Poor management, overly-top heavy department, understaffed in key areas. They laid off 85% of the entire company, affecting every area except (drum roll) Accounts and New Business. The 2 dudes in charge of those departments kept their jobs and got bonuses.
Why don’t creatives get bonuses?? Because the ones losing your business and jeopardizing your job are too busy giving bonuses to themselves.
At a holding co agency, I would get $10k a year as a cd and gcd. At another, I didn’t get anything until ecd. At that level, it became a combo of cash and shares that don’t vest for several years. The goal was to share in the profits (a bit) and so feel connected to the profitability of the agency. And the shares are to keep stability at that level.
As others have said, it used to be more prevalent for less senior people to get… something (one year it was a gift card for the Warner Brothers store).
One of the other things you should know is that the finances of our industry have become tougher because growth is becoming so hard to find. Between clients taking some work in-house, going to a project basis, free lancers, constantly negotiating tighter compensation, AI, etc., it’s just a lot hard to consistently grow either the top line and/or the bottom line. This has been especially true in the more traditional creative/linear media parts of marketing services. This continually challenging environment is what has been behind so much of the consolidation in our industry over the past 30 years - including the latest takeover of IPG by Omnicom. IPG was finding growth to be somewhere between difficult and more than difficult…
Rising Star
Senior folks often do, as part of their overall compensation package. At junior levels you aren’t directly impacting increases in client revenue, which is what triggers a bonus. You get bonuses for growing the company by increasing revenue from organic growth, decreasing expenses, and driving net new revenue. Some companies do give small bonuses to junior staff when the company exceeds profit goals for the year. But the company has to meet its financial obligations first (typically to shareholders.)
Serious answer. Bonuses used to be more common, and went deeper in the org. In today’s agency business, it depends on the agency, and varies between independent and holding company agencies. Meaningful bonuses sometimes begin at the department head level, or in other places they are distributed to the equity holders of the agency.
I’d say SVP+ tends to get a bonus.
Main reason for a lack of bonus is how thin margins are at agencies vs margins at business that give bonuses.
I’ve received many merit based bonus over the years working at network, and independent agency structures. 5-10k has been the standard, one year I got 25k for some huge awards wins that put the agency on the map. I’ve also seen people get pretty good bonuses for bringing in new business ops as well.
Pro
Because holdcos said no anymore. There isn’t as much money in this industry as there used to be
VP and above usually have bonuses written into their contracts, but they vary a lot and lately we're only talking $5-10k per year. Im sure they get more real once you're in the c suite, or at least EVP/director level.
I can speak for hold co agencies. VP and higher usually receive bonuses. Sorry to break it to you, but Creative agencies are the least profitable now.
Get a job at an independent agency that cares about their staff. If bonuses are in your contract, don't expect any. All the money rises to the top of the pyramid. Networks would rather make redundancies than not pay their fat cats a bonus every year.
Lots of agency partners get bonuses. Many are at more senior levels, but they are a thing. Do you work for a small or large shop? When I was on the agency side I worked for one of the largest global agencies and bonuses weren’t mind blowing, but you felt appreciated.
Ive gotten performance bonuses. Depends on surplus funds specific agency gets from holding co
Rising Star
I randomly got a summer bonus once. Not exactly sure how that worked.
Very few get them these days. High ranking bd producing creatives, and some key executives. Been working over thirty years and got them every year until Covid. Only one since then and it wasn’t year end. It was for performance.
I received an EOY bonus once and it was written in my offer letter