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Do you ever regret leaving agency life?
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Coach
There’s an adorable belief that persists in agency world and it is this: “We create culture.” That’s annoying.
We no longer have a media sphere on lock: “Prime time” no longer exists. Saturday morning cartoons aren’t aired. No one listens to terrestrial radio for baseball games. Network TV hinges on people caring about the bachelor and paying for live sports. At the biggest event of the year, audiences look at their phones rather than see the commercials. So much so that we need to run Super Bowl teasers in USA Today so audiences “look out for the ad.”
We’re never going back to the 1990’s. We don’t create culture. We make ads.
This is such a great point. The idea of creating culture has always felt a bit ridiculous and you d perfectly captured why.
I hate, hate, hate that the ad world cares so much about getting on a stage or getting quoted in something. It prioritizes people with a high sense of worth versus those who do the work. I dont want to “sell myself” to get a pay raise / get noticed. I want my hard work to matter.
The layoffs, instability, mostly terrible managers, inflated egos, and lack of longer term planning combined with the very preventable spin/last min churn burnout as a result of not having a said plan.
The problem with agencies, for me, is, ironically, the lack of agency. Unless you are the owner, you have no say over clients, strategies and markets to work in. You toe the agency line or you are labeled a troublemaker or not a team player. I may be low on the totem pole as a freelancer, but at least it’s a very short totem pole.
Senior leadership saying yes to everything the client wants, but can’t deliver and the team gets dinged for it.
Toxic managers.
Yeah, the cut throat attention seeking, and power tripping is a LOT and there are some truly scary people out there - that agencies either attract or breed. BUT, generally to me it is a slightly more pleasant way to make a living rather than say, customer service, data entry or digging ditches, nevertheless it is still just a job; my time for your money. Advertising is not a vocation, not a higher calling. Getting people to buy sh*t does not make you a machiavellian puppet master, a god. In the end I don't really care what any marketing guru of any stripe has to say - navel examination is a big bore. I was not willing to attend pep rallies in high school, why would I start as an adult? Do your work as best you can, try to have a laugh, note if someone is struggling and try to lift them up - do not identify them as prey ffs, and go home. I am certain my final thoughts on earth will have nothing to do with advertising.
I have always, in the back of my mind, taken issue with the way the work is glorified and celebrated. Cheering on the latest Carl's Jr ad like the moon landing. We think the storytelling is the product. We never really think about what we are doing. Manipulating people into buying crappy beer, most unhealthy fast food, or worse, pharma. All we do is help some of the worst corporations and people on the planet get richer and more powerful, selling things we don't believe in. Which, in turn, they use against us—and we complain about it. And we do it like we've deluded ourselves into thinking we are changing the world because of how clever we are. Like it matters.
But agreed the pretentiousness of some folks is pretty hard to stomach as well.
It’s boring. Late night and putting in extra hours was something that was feasible, at least once in a while, when something interesting was happening or you were genuinely excited about the work. I have not felt that in a long time now. I’m sure there are people out there on interesting things, but not me.
I second the pay is awful when you work for an agency. It’s also weirdly competitive yet no one ever goes anywhere or climbs the ranks. Just a very weird environment to work in stifles creativity I don’t know. Avoid agencies now.
I am right there with you on the office politics. I feel like you have to kiss the ring of the right people and be in their little clique to get what you need and want around here and if you don't then you pretty much don't go anywhere. I hate it.
Spent 14 years agency side before I was able to move brand side. The years without a raise. Getting looked over time and again for promotions only to see others who basically slept to the top get ahead. My advice to all agency folks, try to go brand side as soon as you can
Please help