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Think twice. If you're client side with a brand that's got a decent rep, maybe tough it out. Agencies still have the slick veneer on the outside, but 8 out of 10 are struggling to either stay relevant or with their own margins. And a lot of the work you will do agency side is churn. (You haven't lived until you're on round 7 of creative edits on banner ads). Don't get me wrong, it can still be a lot of fun and so many great people, but the industry is in major flux. When Droga sells out, take it as a major sign of where things are headed.
I feel that. I’m struggling; I can’t see the point in staying somewhere that I’m not growing at all. There’s literally zero opportunity to move up here, my boss would have to quit for it to happen, and I’m miserable trying to navigate the bullshit. On the other hand - what are the 2/10 agencies who aren’t struggling? Anyone still doing well I should look at?
Hey - I’m client side. Spent my last 5 years trying to go agency side. Just scored an awesome job at a huge global in-house agency. Is the work as exciting as agency side?... nah. But I’m doing stuff i enjoy and get out most days at a decent hour. I used to hate hearing this but.. based off what people tell me, agency life ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Hell, i spent the last 6 months kissing ass to Droga people and know what? They just got acquired and a bunch of people may be out of jobs in the coming months. Gimme the in-house agency and more time with my family every. Damn. Day.
Switch places with me.
Me too!
The grass is always greener
Maybe cause you’re more of a generalist than a specialist.
It sounds like your stuff might be too vague and wishy washy to be looked at as an ad book. You say "content" and "hands on" and "strategy" (even your title here is just "Specialist") but that doesnt sound like work to me. You can tell from the responses here that lots of agency people wish they could go client side--and here you are on the client side obviously hating it and wondering what an agency needs to see. You should take that as the grass not being much greener.
You should look at some Creatives web sites and see the kind of stuff they have in their books. If your stuff isnt like that---at all---then thats why youre having trouble. Try doing some spec work. Maybe take a class if youre in a good city. You might have to go a few notches down to go to an agency. And then once you get there, EVERYBODY will want to know how you could ever leave the client side, you were soooo lucky 😃
I really would like to echo BBDO here in that you may not be articulating why you want to switch in the clearest way. Saying that you're miserable is not a compelling reason. You need to come up with an answer around why it is you want to switch over to the agency that doesn't set these bullshit triggers off (and as you can tell from these responses on this thread, there are many). You also need to communicate what it is that you can bring to an agency that no other agency veteran can bring.
Practice your pitch. Do lots of networking. Honestly, do your research on why people are telling you to not switch and address them head on. Listen for feedback on whether your pitch has credibility.
Don’t go agency side. Stay where you are...., agencies are not adapting fast enough.
Totally agree, switch to another in-house role. I left agency life in NYC and relocated to Miami in-house. If you are looking to innovate there’s a lot more freedom in-house.
Quick summary of this chain:
OP- Not happy client side, looking to switch.
Agency peeps- Why/Nooooo!
For what it's worth, I love my career in the agency world. Look for agencies that are well adapted with a good culture. The rest will figure itself out.
have you thought about looking elsewhere client-side ?
I have, but finding it’s not as interesting as what I want to do. My company basically has an internal agency doing a lot of hands-on creative stuff (aka me), and all the other client side stuff I’ve been looking at is super dry
Not sure about what anyone else agency side has heard, but from my what I see working on a large auto account the in house clients get paid substantially more and work betters hours.
I saw this at a company I worked at as well. Client side is the place to be
keep your chin up - switching over to agency side is hard right now because of where the industry is at, but it can totally be done
ive switched client side to agency side multiple times, i just had to move cities to do it - looking for freelance / consulting jobs is a good way to start.
and dont listen to some of these haters - a bad client environment is not better than what the majority of this industry is like ✌️
Thank you! That’s exactly the approach I’m taking - this thread was helpful, after getting over all the “you’re an idiot” comments. It’s such a classic “my situation is always better than yours” where people can’t see how my very bad situation could POSSIBLY be worse than what they’re dealing with. Client side can be equally as nightmarish. I love all the folks saying my work-life balance is enviable client side - I’m literally on call 24/7 and feel like a rat in a cage here 😂
Let's put it this way, outside of "toxic environment" which is location specific, why go to the agency side vs another client?
As bad as your client is to its own people think about how they must treat their agencies.
It's not all foosball tables and long lunches on this side.
Is your book good? Regardless of your career path, your portfolio has to be competitive. And if you have all the same brand in it , it will be tricky to show how you can work on different clients and an agency will have to take a leap of faith to hire you.
SCW2 - totally nailing PR. Generalists welcome
Dont do it. Big big mistake. You will be selling your soul to the devil
I’m in just the opposite, I was in agency life for ever and now I’ve gone client side. It’s way less stressful. That, and I actually get to see the sun now.
Stay where you are
Have you considered publisher side? Publishers these days are moving toward agency-style work in terms of strategy consulting, creative production for brands. It’s a harsh time for the industry, but if you’re good it can help build a large volume of work in a short time
Oh that’s an interesting thought - will look into it. Thanks!
Change the name of your title on your resume/LinkedIn to be more relevant to an agency. Maybe instead of the vague “Specialist” try the also vague but agency-ese “Strategist"
Stay client side! So many of us are trying to get out of agency side.
From what I understood from OP's further explanations, I'd say copywriting not strategy is what you should be after for an agency role. You should definitely work on mimicking your book to an ad agency creative portfolio and you should have a very clear strategy/pitch/personal brand/clear story on who you are and what you do and what you bring. Right now my guess based on a vibe and intuition is that you're all over the place from a career switch/job search perspective and nobody is biting because they're unclear about you. Also when looking to take a turn or pivot job wise, it's not really going to happen by filling out online applications. This stuff requires networking methodically and it's a long game.
(For real "content strategist" jobs I'd look at publishers or another in-house position at a large product or service provider with large audience and many engagements, not an ad agency. My best friend is a content strategist for uber eats and it's fascinating work that is lock step with product development and nothing to do with advertising per se like what we do at ad agencies.)