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Impact on your career? Having hot shops on a resume can help for sure, but also not a guarantee. Career longevity can be achieved at a nice lesser-known agency too.
Personally, I don’t care about the names/reputation, I’m on the opposite side of spectrum where I don’t even like identifying myself as a job title, I’m not a marketer, I just do marketing, if it makes sense. I’m (enter first name), and that’s enough, lol.
I understand this. I actually came from the big shops. I worked at 5 of them before I realized I wasn't having fun anymore. It was great on my resume, but now-none of that matters. If you are paid well, enjoy the shop and the work you're doing-be grateful. Trust me. The grass isn't greener and that grass isn't sustainable.
As someone who has spent most of their career at well-known agencies (outside the US)...
In the short-term, big impact. In the long-term, over the course of an entire career? Probably a lot less, reputation and consistency really start to compound.
There's a ton of talent circulation among the hot shops. Yes they make room for exceptional people from non-traditional paths and lesser known agencies. But it improves the odds that you're getting on hiring manager's radar.
Trades also are also more likely to include you on those top creative lists if you carry a brand name agency. Know a bunch of people who got recruited off of those (including a few who jumped too soon).
It also matters for leadership roles. You can 'arbitrage' a senior position at a top agency to a C-Suite position at a mid-tier. Look at press releases for leadership hires and you'll often seen "so and so spent time at Mother / W+K / Droga/ etc."
Ego is definitely a HUGE factor, especially when you're young and have over-invested your sense of self in your job. But I've found it gives you confidence in negotiations.
However the competition, pressure and status games are intense. Very little sense of security, it feels like you have to work hard just to stay in place.
Great places to build a career, but not sustainable for most. There's very low odds I'll be at a 'hot' agency 10 years from now (and the choice will probably boil down to whether I make that transition on my own terms or not).
Long answer! Just one person's perspective.
Tbh, they help. They open doors. You get more interviews and the benefit of the doubt bc you were at a name place. But it doesn’t guarantee anything. It just greases the wheels bc it’s a shorthand for people thinking you must be good at your job to have gotten hired there.
It’s just like having awards in your book.
For myself as a creative, I care more about the client since that’s what people will see first in my portfolio website. Also, I much prefer working at a small agency.
I appreciate all the answers. That's very helpful. Thank you!
I generally won’t hire anyone into roles director and above anymore without some big agency experience. Working with a large enterprise matrix’ed client is hard; if you don’t have that experience by director level it is strong chance you won’t be able to do so easily. I have hired two people in last 2 years that didn’t; both quit within 90days. The jump is just that hard- and even more so if also working in ad tech.
I’ve worked at big holding cos and small indies and in all cases worked on massive enterprise brands.
You need to value yourself outside of your job
Zero, absolutely zero. I’ve worked at many big names (5 companies, half were in MadMen) . It’s all self-inflated promotion to stay relevant, and they all run like a broken clock. It’s the people in it that keep it running, not the name.
Literally every 5 years they all shift all their policies and make it worse to work for. They rarely hire or elevate from within. They stretch you so thin while taking things that are useful away and replacing them with superficial programs or offerings that are poorly organized, and demand you get more and more done with less and less.
Good leaders, good work, good pay and benefits. That’s ALL that matters. Names are BS
Sounds exactly like my world 🤣
Hot shops on your resume will help get you through the layers of dummies (recruiters).