Why is the advertising industry so gatekeepy
Related Posts
Bowl Leader
How to overcome a breakup. I'm heartbroken 😭
Welcome media friends!
Best (non-agency) company to work at in Boston??
Additional Posts in Advertising
Anomaly, good move or no?
What agency is doing the new Twizzler ads?
Will it ever not be a boy's club?
Creative at MediaCom NYC. Thoughts?
Rising Star
How much should a contract ACD charge hourly?
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Wouldn’t you like to know.
Because there’s not enough of anything to go around. So nobody wants to share.
Yet we all work around the clock, what if we let other people help and trusted each other, maybe we wouldn’t have to work all the time
Fear and loathing. Paranoia and angst.
The agency is a fragile egosystem in which the rise of the few requires the fall of the many.
You’re gatekeeping context
Same thing happens on the media planning side, its endlessly frustrating
Cronyism. Scarce opportunities and resources, so when someone does manage to get their foot in the door, they bring in those closest and most trusted before risking sharing any of those slivers with a stranger.
It’s just sad.
It’s a secret
Maybe there are no jobs left to gatekeep
With no objective way to measure success in this field, it’s easy to make the case for hiring people we know and like.
I’m not saying who we hire, it’s more so inside the walls of the agencies
Starting out I was always told, make yourself valuable so people want to include you. I understand that better now than ever, people who don’t bring value are usually doing the opposite.
Yes I was just agreeing with them, interesting that you assumed it was a women though
In what capacity?
Gatekeeping opportunities, who’s in the room, information
Pro
Because inside we hold the secret to all human happiness
Maybe if we did not create this scarcity mindset it would be different
Ego
And yet everyone with an ego goes “this is not a place for egos”
Rising Star
Name one white collar industry that isn’t so I can get a job there
Well…… they asked you to name them. So name them.
Pro
Because everything about it is so cutthroat competitive.
It’s also only this cutthroat cause we make it feel that way
Compared to what?
The industry is hard enough to break into and it doesn’t get easier to get onto projects or in the rooms once in it.
Not sure if this fits but back in the day I trained my colleague so well before I went on maternity leave that when I came back they let me go because he was able to do some of what I do for way cheaper…maybe that’s the worst fear of people in the industry?
Unfortunately l men don’t go through that and a lot of time they’re the gatekeepers
Private school kids dominate in agencies. It's gatekeepy because many agencies look at school ties and reek of nepotism. As someone who dodn't come from a city private school background (or one at all) I had to slog it hard just to get where these kids are. I've been in the industry for 12 years now - it's the same cycle.