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Thoughts on Sensis agency? Work/life balance?
We must end the radicalization of our youth.
Additional Posts in Over 40 in Advertising
Ageism laid bare. This is the sad reality of the business. Agency leaders who linger into their 60s, who have completely dismissed the value of their contemporaries to keep themselves afloat. Shame on you Mark Read.
https://www-forbes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.forbes.com/sites/avidan/2020/09/08/ageism-is-not-just-a-disease--it-is-the-new-business-model-for-top-ad-agencies/amp/
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Absolutely not! If you WANT to stay in the biz at your advanced age, you CAN! I’m pushing 58 and turning down work. Truth be told, if you’re a creative, you’re most likely looking at freelance, but that’s a good thing. No politics. Higher pay. Your time is yours. Oddly enough, imho, more stability. You have to change your mindset a bit, that’s all. Good luck!
What do people think about mental well being and stress in the business? Most agencies have abdicated HR duty of care, to finance people.
I’m in my 50s too and still working—freelancing but that’s what I always did. Started at Wieden, and if you have that on your resume, it’ll carry you a long way freelancing. Also if you look around and a little outside the traditional ad centers you’ll find agencies with older people on staff who are good, fast, and mature who seem to lead nice lives
Keep pushing but get out with enough time to live your life.
i was too young...too young...then suddenly too old. It’s fucked up.
In 62 and still working at a big NYC agency. But I’ve been waiting to get booted out of the industry for a decade now.
It’s like anywhere else. They just have an excellent PR team and know how to create a story that fuels a brand, including their own.
I’ve had a 35 year run and then said enough on my terms. Don’t give up. Don’t believe the myth. Talent is talent no matter what age.
I always assumed that WK would be above that sort of thing. Do you feel like people are actively shutting you out of things ?
I think that was a different time when Dan and David were in charge. I think it was really about the ideas not where they came from that mattered. And, like I said, it is not every CD or department that this happens in. This is just my experience.
If you’re at WK, you will be treated like a celebrity at smaller independent shops, probably regardless of your age. That being said, I’m 46 and while I still like some aspects of the agency game and haven’t felt totally aged out quite yet, I can totally see the writing on the wall. I will probably jump to in-house in the next year or two.
ACD2 don’t be so sure going client side is that easy. It’s ageist on that side too. Especially with more digital and social coming in-house—young inexperienced “makers” are the new it-kid talent and are valued because of that.
Better start filling your book with gif videos.
I have never had an issue with my contributions being viewed differently because of my age but there was always a target on my back because the more senior your are ($) the more likely they will lay you off during any hiccup in revenue. Once you are out, it does get harder to get back in somewhere else. I had a MD cut candidates because they were too old and as senior management, we had to fight to keep them in consideration because we all knew that these candidates could be us sooner of later.
Client side
At WK you are in a great position to push this bias into the light both within those walls but also the larger ad community bc that place is such a beacon.
If I really was do you think I’d be saying it here? W+K is not a beacon. It is a place where a lot of great people work but things are still messed up. Trust me. I’ve seen every BS thing happen there that exists everywhere.