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brand side means less creativity, usually. more investment in building the brand and business, tho.
it’s a balance, but most creatives get antsy and want to expand what they work on beyond a single brand. at some point, we get over that and want stability and more money.
Pro
More opportunity to do more exciting things. More variety. More career growth possibilities.
Pro
Just seems like the positions are fairly standardized in agencies. Junior to mid to senior to ACD to CD to GCD to ECD to CCO. You can go from one agency to another easily as you hop on up the ladder and the job is the same at each once.
Client side, I may be a great copywriter on that one brand, but it seems less clear how you progress through different companies along that route. How do you grow? I dunno.
Agencies have more opportunity in the way of account diversity. Going in house means that your portfolio is likely all one brand.
I would say starting out gaining experience across multiple brands and seeing where your successes are is an important step before going in house.
What do you mean brand side? Client side? Or branding design shops? If it’s the latter, it’s definitely less pay. I actually think client side is also less pay once you’re senior level.
Exactly, at certain companies once you reach a high vp level, you can be eligible for a bonus that’s up to 50% of your salary
Chief
Everything above plus agencies tend to be in NYC, LA, SF, Portland etc while clients tend to be in Cincinnati or Dallas or Charlotte or something like that. 🤷🏼♂️
Unless you are inhouse in entertainment then there's a lot of diversity there.
Definitely not always true that brand side means more pay and less hours. Most of my clients are under intense pressure and work crazy hours with no real vacations or time off. After all, often it’s the client’s way of working that drives the way an agency team works. Plus, at least at an agency there’s variety of accounts and hope for something better/different. If you’re the client, your only option to change your circumstances is to find another job.
In-house tends to be more boring type of work. Not always, but mostly. Agency work can be much more interesting and fun, as well as the workplace itself. I’m generalizing of course.
Brand side is often less interesting and more of a "real job", with all the shenanigans and politics that come with that.
Agencies are more fun. The work is harder, the pay is often worse, but it's more you're freer to do things you might actually be interested in.
How many people who have responded here have both brand side and agency side experience? 🤔
Chief
👋
Selling products is their passion
it also levels off. you reach a certain level and it’s competitive but not for very senior roles. then you go into issues with title and comp combined.
No one will hire me brand side but agencies love me.
Same sometimes I think they look at my book and assume I’ll be bored. They’re probably not wrong.