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Make sure you trust the leadership. Sometimes with indies the creative leadership is people who couldn't cut it at the bigger shops so they start their own to give themselves the promotion. Make sure they have a history of work you actually like and not just cause they got written up a few times. Exp: been at two indie shops and both were the worst places I've worked.
Started my career at a big network agency (~600 employees). Now at a small indie agency (~50). Here are some thoughts:
Love:
- Leadership can truly make creatively-driven business decisions. That doesn’t mean they always do so, but there is a clear edict that creativity will always be the priority.
- Opportunity is everywhere. The creative department is relatively flat; everyone gets a crack at everything.
- So much work gets made. I’ve quickly added multiple book-worthy pieces in less than a year, which is especially notable since many creatives haven’t made much during the pandemic.
Don’t love:
- Every day is chaotic. Lacks a lot of the support structure found at large agencies. This means I am often tasked with doing things that wouldn’t fall under my responsibilities at big agencies. It takes away from my ability to focus on creativity.
- High stress environment. Insanely quick turnarounds and balancing 6-8 projects at any given time. It’s frenetic and mentally draining.
- Feels like I’m set up for failure a lot of the time. Inadequate communication between account/creative, inability of account to push back on insane client expectations, etc.
- So. Much. Proactive. 99.5% of it all goes to waste, but that doesn’t stop our creative leadership from pushing everyone to our limits to deliver out-of-scope ideas for clients who are lukewarm to them at best. The pandemic is not an excuse for failing to deliver. It’s psychopathic.
***
It really depends on the indie agency, because other less awards-obsessed agencies wouldn’t be so stressful. But I’ve also made a lot of work in short time, and it’s done wonders for my portfolio.
Is this GUT?
Look for:
Well-defined process that looks familiar to you.
Leadership/owners who have worked in other agency environments.
All key roles are in place and their responsibilities make sense.
VP titles are ridiculous at small agencies. Make sure they don’t have a gaggle of people with vanity titles.
Leadership with backgrounds that lead to their current position. Did they freelance for 20 years and are now suddenly a senior partner? Run. They will not have leadership skills or understanding of the agency machinery.
Are you there to develop strength in a certain area of media? Do they have any experience in that media? If no, outline very clear boundaries for what your success looks like there.
My biggest takeaway is that there is now little to almost no attention / budget allocated to craft.
I went from a large network and global brand to a small agency with a global brand a couple national ones.
A lot of what others have said ring true. I do feel that creatively I’ve been able to pitch and sell ideas and art directions that mostly likely would have died early on at a big agency, and leadership definitely puts more trust in you.
On the downside, as someone stated, the support isn’t always there. You might have to take on some roles or parts of the process you hadn’t before, but it usually hasn’t been terrible.
I do miss the sweatshop vibe sometimes, but maybe I’m just a glutton for punishment!
I have. There’s definitely pluses and minuses.
You produce a lot of work and it’s usually better work.
You work on everything. From comping social posts to big brand work. No matter what “level” you are.
If you work with people you like it can feel like family. That’s a negative too. Feel guilty when it’s your time to go.
There’s no hiding. When you’re in a big shop it’s easier to take extra vacation days. Come in late some days. Etc. especially when you’re a CD. It’s a lot harder to do that in a small shop. You will be missed.
There are no resources. You find your own, which could be a good and bad thing.
Smaller places tend to have less money. I took a salary cut but got a better schedule & stock options, which is worth more to me.
Hi. Yes.