Cossette Communication Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Cossette Communication

Pros – Great boss
Great environment
Great experience for me
Had amazing potential
Had amazing talented creative and strategy people

Cons – Closed the office
Not allowed to manage basedon realistic expectations
Economy had big impact on the end result

Advice to Senior Management – Should have created a realistic plan for sucess

Former Employee – worked at Cossette Communication

Pros – Part of highly professional network, led by strategic marketing pros. Dedicated to growth and stability. Would work there again if possible.

Cons – Top person in direct marketing group highly unstable, irrational person. Alienated entire agency, set horribly negative tone, disrespected employees and management.

Advice to Senior Management – Set positive tone and atmosphere by encouraging free thinking, rewarding both effort and result. Establish forum to truly listen to employees.

Former Employee – worked at Cossette Communication

Pros – Casual & fun atmosphere
Able to work on projects with your own personal edge
Staff were encouraging and friendly, inclusive
Good resources for staff available

Cons – Occasional exceptionally extended hours
Poor communication with Global
Little room for advancement or career development
Agency seemed to be struggling for direction

Advice to Senior Management – Agency needed to commit to being a boutique interactive firm in NYC rather than being like regular advertisers as part of the rest of Cossette Global.

Former Employee – worked at Cossette Communication

Pros – Large enough to compete with the big guys and win good accounts but not so huge that employees disappear under too many layers. Opportunities for growth that may not be available in the enormous agencies. One of these days they've got to figure out how to translate their strong position in Canada to the rest of the world. Many of the companies they're AOR for in Canada have big operations elsewhere in the world. Not a lot of structure in digital, so you can more or less blaze your own trail if you work on that side. Also, many Canadians have funny accents; "when I was in Ot-tow-waaaah."

Cons – Dominant in Canada but hasn't been able to spread the juice to the US. Definitely not an A-list player in any market.

Advice to Senior Management – Be more aggressive when going after new business. There's nothing to lose by making bold pitches and shaking things up since you're a pipsqueak in the US. Canadian interactive people probably shouldn't be be so prevalent in the US.

Former Employee – worked at Cossette Communication full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – When I joined K7 as we called it I can admit that I knew sweet nothing about the ad world so it was a great school to learn about this fascinating world. I would still consider Cossette as a good place to start a career in marketing and advertising but not as good as it once was.
Its ideal for building a network and gain a marketing experience. Also, because its an "all service" firm, it allows employees to move within the firm and learn different vocations which is what helped me stay as long as I did.

Cons – During my tenure, Cossette was never a stable work environment, employee turn-around was always high.
There's a constant and unsaid pressure to sacrifice work/life balance to advance or be noticed by upper management. It often felt like a sweatshop, especially to those working in digital media department.
In my experience management was very much disconnected with the hardships of its employees, all they cared was volume... I've often heard "sausage factory" to describe the work.
During my years there, our department VP's only acknowledge or came to talk to employees when things were wrong which prevented me from having any sort of loyalty towards that person or the company.

Advice to Senior Management – Be approachable, open to criticism and new ideas. Don't take the credit for your employees innovations, let smart employees shine and help them grow.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Cossette Communication full-time for less than a year

Pros – Decent salary and that's basically the only good thing

Cons – The most boring place I have ever worked at

Advice to Senior Management – You should organice your company and keep your employees happy

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Cossette Communication full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Known agency, can get experience here
Talented people
Great location and space to work in

Cons – Creativity is stifled
No real development for people - started a good program a few years ago but hasn't kept up
Lack of senior HR leadership - no one to really influence the senior team or make anything progressive happen
Lack of team work, lots of silo thinking

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Cossette Communication as a contractor for more than a year

Pros – A very dynamic agency, lots always happening, very adequate set of Accounts (a rare thing) and best Project managers team I dealt with in years. Friday night get togethers were also always quite fun.

Cons – In the span of a year I worked there, they cleaned up a floor worth of people once. To be fair, it is common, however, when you lose a big client. Overall, the people flow was very rapid, since by the end of the year I hardly knew anyone in my department anymore.

Advice to Senior Management – You guys are cool

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Cossette Communication

Pros – - Dynamic, extremely competent and intelligent team members
- Lots of teamwork
- Great coaching and learning when you are new

Cons – - Sometimes a little stressful, but you'll live ;)

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Cossette Communication full-time for more than a year

Pros – Fully integrated agency allows you to learn about and experience the full workflow of a TV, Digital, Print production

Cons – Overtime is often necessary
Salary is low
Performance evaluation process is confusing

Advice to Senior Management – Congratulate and recognize the work of good employees

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company