Comments on: Don’t Call It A Family

By: Kathy

Kathy — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:56:02 +0000

Boy this sure hits home for so many of us, and it certainly does for me as I have spent the last week packing a house for my trip back to the US, having given a company 8 years of my life. It is, unfortunately, not just advertising that this happens in and thank you for pointing out what should by now be clearly obvious to all of us.

By: M

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 15:45:50 +0000

“Funny thing about this debate is that there can be no winner. Either you throw yourself headlong into the family-mission-team-culture dynamic and risk meeting your maker come layoff time, or, you punch a clock with no real higher purpose.”

No, there’s a third option: do good work in another industry (software, for example), one that neither demands you pretend that work is your family, or becomes an exercise in clock-punching. Advertising is RIDICULOUS, folks. It’s a tiny little self-referential bubble of an industry that regards itself as the beginning and end of all things creative. It is not. Wake up and get the hell out.

By: Giddy Up

Giddy Up — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:09:29 +0000

You just have to brush off all the BS speeches of family and “togertherness”, nod your head and go back to your desk or team and do the best you can. It’s not like we’re invading Normandy here that these “family” and “culture” references mean anything at the end of the day.It makes the board and executives feel good about themselves so, let them have it.

It has become so cliche and mundane. If it was family then the HR director would not have said to me at MY EXIT INTERVIEW “it’s so nice to finally meet you” after 7 dedicated years at the agency. (imagine a sibling or cousin saying that to you in a family setting).

Lastly, I totally agree with ADMIN (8) about cutting costs where you can. Does submitting an entry (with all its costs) mean more then the people who got you there in the first place? So say, you won the award and half the people who worked on that campaign got laid off a few months later. How strange is that?

By: S.

S. — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:22:48 +0000

It isn’t about the work. It isn’t about the people. It isn’t about the culture. It’s about the bottom line. Once you understand, there’s a certain liberation in that knowledge. Work for yourself, your family, your book, your future. Nothing else. Be ethical, pleasant, polite, but do not care. Don’t have passion for anything other than your book and your career. Do the right thing, help others, but help yourself first. Do not care. Do not get emotionally involved. No agency is unique. No agency has a “culture” that’s any better or worse than any other agency. There are good agencies and bad agencies, there are no moral agencies. They are not evil, they are bloodless. Do not care. You and your family and your book are all that matters.

By: Mark Trueblood

Mark Trueblood — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:35:55 +0000

Many industries including advertising have been becoming “free agent” cultures and this current crisis is going to create even more of that. We also have exceptional tools for networking and production, among other tech, that we did not have in years past. If good inexpensive healthcare becomes available for the self-employed, I know that tons of people are going to go/stay freelance once clients start spending again. a whole lot of companies are going to wish they hadn’t put the thumbscrews so severely on their best people.

By: admin

admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:30:06 +0000

Funny thing about this debate is that there can be no winner. Either you throw yourself headlong into the family-mission-team-culture dynamic and risk meeting your maker come layoff time, or, you punch a clock with no real higher purpose.

I always wanted to believe (and still want to) that there are a few agencies out there that have a clear purpose, and manage their growth around that purpose. But when shareholders decide the times to hire and fire, culture becomes a myth because the only higher purpose is quarterly profitability.

Which, again, is cool with me. But instead of the family conversation, or saying that “our people are our #1 asset,” tell it like it is. Just tell us that the culture is about profitability…not about “the work” or “the people” or “a movement.” It would make the departure so much easier to swallow.

By: Ben Bloom

Ben Bloom — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:45:53 +0000

Broken promises hurt, even if the promise shouldn’t have been made or believed in the first place.

That being said, we have a management debacle in all industries, in which our largest firms are obsessed with quarterly numbers instead of building long term value.

The market has forced management of public companies into a short-term outlook. A business doesn’t have to see its workforce as a family; it should see it as an asset. A strategic investment of time in training, practice, and higher education enhances the value of that asset and improves its value later.

I don’t need to be a family member, but seeing management running scared when running a business is just a shame.

By: anonymous intern

anonymous intern — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:16:49 +0000

My Creative Director once told me that clients pay agencies the money they get from consumers from selling products and lies that art directors create at agencies. Expecting that same agency to be ethical and caring and upfront to its employees all the time is a lie in itself especially in a recession, when that same money starts to dry up. That’s the nature of the business. You all paid for the SVA’s and AD schools knowing full well the hi’s and low’s of the business. Same goes for nurses and doctors cant freak out when someone dies during surgery. Or when a baseball player gets traded. It sucks, but thats the nature of the business. When there is a downturn, people get laid off. U expect benjamin palmer to tweet or put a big announcemnent on the barbarian group website, your lieing to yourself. If all the agencies could push a button to cover up all the people they let go because of the cannes festival expenses they would do it in a heartbeat. This is a shallow industry rotten to the very core. People are just now realizing this. lol

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:42:25 +0000

Why are you so bitter? It’s a business. Every business has to make tough decisions. You’re talking about your ex-agency like they were a cult. I feel bad that you allowed your naivety to trick you into thinking you were invincible, but when the industry you’re in thrives on competition, don’t for a SECOND forget where you are. Sorry for the harsh words, but I think you need to wake up.

By: camilos

camilos — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:38:23 +0000

sad but true and full of BS.