Pros
The people. The people. The people. Did I mention the people? Dagger has hired well over the past 5 years and it shows. Very few weak links. It hasn't always been like that, but over the past couple of years, it's become a lean, mean, advertising machine. People genuinely enjoy the work and enjoy working with each other. Every agency has a client or two that can be challenging, and Dagger is no exception, but for the most part, Dags find a way to make the experience positive in the end.
Senior leadership has ambitious goals for the future, and the talent is absolutely in place to achieve them.
Cons
There has been significant upheaval in senior leadership over the past few years. The new president is smart, experienced, and brings a large NY agency perspective to an independent shop, for better and for worse.
Some of those changes have been positive. More focus on healthy scopes. More focus on new business. A renewed focus on creating good work.
But there have also been tradeoffs. Less focus on individual career development. Annual reviews are nearly non-existent. Less emphasis on work-life balance. And while it seems great that time sheets aren't scrutinized, as a result, burnout can go unnoticed.
Perhaps the biggest shift has been cultural. The agency once prided itself on transparency. Maybe too transparent to be fair. But more recently, agency decisions, big and small, can feel like they're made behind closed doors and communicated after the fact, creating unnecessary uncertainty and speculation.
Direct communication and "courage over comfort" were longstanding cultural principles at Dagger. Employees were encouraged to have difficult conversations, no matter their title, as long as the goal was improving relationships, strengthening the work, or making the agency better. For years, that openness was part of what made the culture special. Unfortunately, that philosophy feels diminished today. There is a growing perception that speaking candidly comes with risk, particularly when those opinions challenge leadership decisions or the prevailing narrative. As a result, people are more likely to stay quiet, avoid difficult conversations, and tell leadership what they think leadership wants to hear.
That dynamic may be common in larger agencies, but it feels out of place at a 40-person independent shop where transparency, trust, and direct communication were once defining strengths.