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Bain & Company Hi all, I am interested in making the move to the Middle East, however starting from august/September. What do you think are the prospects for the future in the region? Do you envisage a hiring freeze or are companies still going strong? Thanks!McKinsey & Company Boston Consulting Group Kearney Bain & Company
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Any promising ad agencies in Nashville?
Layoffs at Omnicom shops today?
anyone at the OMMAs??
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I MISS OBAMA.
Black Lives Matter.
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There are pros and cons just like any agency. It also largely depends on the group you’re in and how talented you’re seen by upper management (meaning if you can solve their problems, you get more problems to solve).
It’s a bit disorganized currently. After last year’s merger of the agencies in the Dentsu network, we’re all swimming a little more loosely. There is no real mcgarrybowen any more. Silos have been knocked down between us, 360i, MKTG, Isobar, and various dribs and drabs that come through the network. And even across regions (San Fran, Chicago, NY). There are more opportunities. But the deadlines and meetings and time zones start to crash into each other and you’re expected to figure it out. You will eventually touch assignments across the network which is good for growth, but awful for work life balance. New business pitches are disheartening because we rarely win.
As much as people want to shit on the work we do here, just know that we do work hard. There are talented people who put a lot of effort into the work. And if it’s not up to the standards of Wieden or Droga or whoever is snidely going to reply to my post thinks is so friggin hot right now, so be it. No one should be flattering themselves in this industry. None of the work is that impressive. And…everyone in advertising is a sell out to a certain extent.
But the truth of it is that we are at the mercy of our clients who tend to be conservative and controlling.
And there in lies the real rub. The Dentsu agencies are built around client services. So if the client says you’re making bad work, you’re making bad work. If they brief you on a Friday and want to see work on Monday, your weekend is gone in a flash. Agency tries to give you 6 days off for Labor Day and the client says no, well, your 6 days are gone and there’s no recompense from the agency. No one stands up to the clients or even tries to guide them. We’re somewhat gutless when it comes to that.
Back to the work. Oreo seems to have fun (though I have no idea how that Vault won any awards or got any recognition). If you look at the history of Subway work, you’ll see a real difference in the 4 years they’ve been with the agency. AmEx does some fine work. Chicago’s Clorox brands aren’t terrible. There’s a lot of hub bub around 7-Eleven. But it’s all flash and no substance. Seems to be the new CCOs MO (along with patronizing mass emails about how we should be approaching craft at least twice weekly). It’s become a lot easier for the writers who don’t have to stay up until 3 in the morning trying to make the perfect comp or craft a cinematic deck. We also sell big oil and stealth bombers and Olive Garden, so that’s cool and all.
Anyways. That’s pretty much it. Oh, we have some wacky ECDs who don’t understand the concept of reality which is always fun.
Should you come work here? Up to you. Is it really better anywhere else? Naaaht really. Unless you’re one of those unicorns everyone likes to pet and shower with golden trophies.
It’s a paycheck. So if you do come over here, ask for as much as you can get.
Couldn’t agree with you more, CW2. It truly is a disservice. But then again, some of these clients deserve the awful work they get from all their strong arming.
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Mcgarry Bowen has always been an account-led agency, so I wouldnt expect that to change even with Menno slowly taking over a lot of creative duties across Dentsu.
If you’re a creative looking to push their portfolio, it’s not the right place to go. I have heard the hours aren’t too terrible, so if you’re just looking for a place to chill for a bit, maybe not a bad option.
The other thing to consider is how chaotic the Dentsu merger has been. There are so many question marks that I’d assume whatever MB is like today, will be drastically different 6 months from now. No one really knows what the exact structure of Dentsu North America will be once it’s all over.
I think all of dentsu is remote for the foreseeable future and flex forever, but I could be wrong? I am freelancing right now and that’s what the onboarding docs said. But to sort of answer your question, I’m freelancing at mcgarrybowen and so far the work life balance is way better than other agencies, the timelines are more than reasonable, and the people are very talented. I am not sure why they have a bad rep, except things are a bit disorganized for freelancers.
Oh, we’re still working from home. Doubt anyone wants to go back physically. And I think they’re a little scared to attempt to force us. But there is no boundary between home and office now. Oh hang on, I’ve got an incoming call on Teams. Must be that Friday night brief again…
I was only joking about that being tonight. But it has happened more than once. Which is one too many times for it to happen.
It’s really not that bad. But it’s also not that good. Maybe I’m disillusioned and tired. This week was only 21 days long so I’m thankful for that.