Pros
There are a lot of great people doing the hard work on a daily, and often nightly, basis. Account team is positive, energetic, and collaborative. The creative directors, art directors, and designers are some of the best people you will ever know, although greatly under appreciated there.
Cons
The creative department is toxic and abusive. The toxicity and abuse comes from the top. The main managers are in over their heads and it is very apparent to the rest of the agency. They mask their incompetence by being divisive, making those underneath them their scapegoat, and continuing to play toxic political games with their department and other departments. The key to succeeding in the creative department isn't by doing great work, it is by making sure you say yes to everything the department heads say, even if it’s a very bad idea. It is making sure you are their ‘friend’, laughing at all their long boring stories, and liking their facebook posts. Management does not believe or value the concept of team. Rather, everyone is treated as a cog. Standout skills and talents are not encouraged, celebrated, or rewarded. Rather, they treat the designers and art directors as interchangeable parts. This causes most projects to suffer. The team is never a team, as people are placed randomly on a project one day and then taken off the next. There is no pride in work, or ownership and why would there be? To add on top of that, credit for a job well done is stolen by department leads, and blame for a job poorly done is given to anyone but who is really to blame—leadership. Micromanaging is commonplace. The more leadership micromanages the worse a project goes. The worse a project goes the more heads that will roll. Lay-offs are common. Its usually easy to spot who gets the axe, it’s usually when a pitch or project that the department heads were directly leading and micromanaging goes poorly—which is a lot. To cover their mistakes they throw good, hard working, and talented people who aren’t politically savvy, under the bus, place the blame on them, and then recommend them for the next round of lay-offs. This toxic and abusive behavior over shadows others who shine day in and day out by doing their best while never getting real support from the department leads. Many creatives are also severely underpaid and over worked. While those that do a great job at brown nosing are allowed to take as much time off as they want, come in late, leave early, and generally do the bare minimum. The work life balance is “encouraged” however, unless you are the management’s friends list, making your personal life a priority when the need arises is frowned upon. Compensation is not competitive and it shows. The office space is beyond cramped. They literally place work stations for creatives in hallways and walk ways. It is filthy and noisy. There is absolutely no private space for anyone to be able to conduct private phone calls, concept, have small meetings, or to take a break. Basically, everything you find in an agency that improves on the quality of life for creatives will not be found here.