Crispin Porter Reviews

Pros

Great people, great work! A culture like no other. If you want a good place to learn, this is it. You move at record speed here.

Cons

Work / life balance is pretty poor and pay is extremely low. Takes forever to get a yearly review and advancement can be really hard. Sometimes you feel like a number more than an actual asset to the company. Really high turnaround, people get burned out!

Advice to Senior Management

Treat employees with respect and keep them happy. They will want to stay for a longer period of time.

Pros

There is no denying that the work is great and the building is full of talent. It creates a very creative vibe where good creative thrives - especially in the realm of interactive.

Cons

The hours are insane and the deadlines cut throat. There is very little regard for a balanced lifestyle because everyone works for the big idea. Also, reviews are rare as are promotions. Also, the salaries are very subpar in an area where cost of living is on the high end.

Advice to Senior Management

Take note of employees that can be the future of the agency. A majority of the employees are viewed as replaceable simply because there are so many people wanting to work at CPB. Make them feel valued, pay them fairly and have an awareness for the importance of a balanced life. If you continue to show disregard for your employees and the quality of work suffers as a result, then the agency will be knocked down from the top.

Pros

Huge accounts. Lots of buzz about the agency, clients and partners. Having CPB on a resume is an incredible boost to any employee. CPB is truly a factory - they churn out huge ideas and work at the speed of light. As an employee, it's exciting to be a part of all the buzz.

Cons

In this creatively driven agency, account people are treated like second class citizens. Hours are just as ridiculous as people say, and it is almost impossible to have a work/life balance.

Advice to Senior Management

Throw employees a bone. A window in the office would help. Or annual raises, even if they are small. There is so much recognition of the partners, but not enough praise given to the people with their heads down actually making stuff happen.

Pros

Working at Crispin you will be exposed to a lot, no two days will be the same and you can expect to be consistently challenged. Almost impossible to fall into a routine or become bored with the job. Biggest takeaway is that it will benefit your resume, and you will gain a lot of experience.

Cons

In a way, you sell your soul to work there. Impossible (and I do mean impossible) to have a work/life balance - perfect for someone who is younger and doesn't have a wife/husband or kids. The "process" is incredibly disjointed, you will be thrown into situations daily without having the proper background info or knowing what the heck is going on. Long hours. The attitude prevalent there is somewhat snobby, eliteist. Takes a while to become part of the clique, and even then people will rip you behind your back.

Advice to Senior Management

Management needs to establish formal training. I.e. classroom format for the first week or two covering an assortment of topics. No more of this 'baptism by fire' because everyone is too busy to slow down for 10 minutes and actually explain what the task or standards are.

Pros

Crispin porter + bogusky is a place to be at for people who enjoy having the opportunities to make big risks and get rewarded for it.

Cons

Some of the upper management folks do not know who the people are on the lower portion of the company.

Advice to Senior Management

Even though the company has grown to over 500+ employee you must pay them well, treat them right and respect them for they can do.

Pros

Work for the best, make amazing advertising you are proud of.

Cons

Boys club. No process. Training is practically non-existent. High school social dynamics.

Advice to Senior Management

More training.
Evaluate who is getting opportunities to advance and who isn't and why. Seems like it is easier to be promoted to management roles if you're male.
Do a better job of leveraging the staff's experience and developing them, instead of limiting their roles to what is needed in the moment.
A big agency trying to act like a small agency leaves everyone who isn't in the "click" out in the cold. Create a small agency culture by creating small communities that own a particular client or internal project. Create real teams.

Pros

The creative work that leaves the agency is unparalleled. At any time, you are working the most cutting-edge, wacky and polarizing work in the industry. Everything has a chance to win a Cannes Lion. Always get questions about Crispin when interviewing as everyone wants to know how the machine works.

Cons

Slave-ship hours. Typically 14 hour days where face time is important. Leaving before 7 is taboo even if you've finished all your work. Account people are bag holders for Creatives who run the place on their whims. There is absolutely no strategy involved with creative development-- it's all about the quantity of work that can be pumped out. A lot of the time Account people feel like they're just filling a spot on the org chart to justify a retainer fee. Creatives don't care what Account people or Clients want, it's all "We're Crispin. Take it or leave it."

Advice to Senior Management

Stop pretending like people actually want to live in Miami or Boulder. You're making people self-select themselves into complete dedication to the Agency.

Pros

Working at CP+B looks great on a resume. You're working with some of the best creatives in the industry, and for the most part, the creatives are genuinely great people. And since CP+B has such notable clients, it's fun to be a part of creative that gets seen by a large audience. There are lots of perks, like in-house concerts every once in awhile, free breakfast, an on-site gym, you can bring your dog to work, and they'll pay for your cell phone (Blackberry), to mention a few.

Cons

Painfully long hours. You're fully expected to be tied to your Blackberry at all times (hey, they are paying for it after all). And if you aren't, then you are looked down upon. Management tends to play favorites, and when you bring this to upper management's attention, they seem to turn their ear from it. It makes for a very stressful place to work.

Advice to Senior Management

Please, listen to the people under you. I mean, REALLY LISTEN to them. Listen to what needs to be fixed, and really fix it. CP+B could be such a wonderful place to work, if there were just some improvements made.

Pros

As a Creative you are looking to be a part of the strongest creative in the industry. Crispin is that powerhouse. They dominate with their amazing ability to think, sell & produce culture changing work. The clients on the roster buy great work and there is ultimate support behind making great work succeed. At other agencies, great work gets shoveled away from the lack of funds to produce it. At Crsipin, there is always a way to make it happen. Part of your job is actually figuring out ways to make it happen, 'solutions, not problems' is on the orietation card.

It's also quite a young and fun environment. There's a certain life to it that you can feel when you first step foot through the Boulder office. That helps keep up the momentum of the place. The Senior Management are all young (late 30's/40's) and think young so it's nice to feel that vibe circulating about.

Cons

It is definitely stressed upon you that working hard is part of the agency life. You're working all the time - weekends, holidays, late nights, early mornings and schedules & production have no boundaries. If you aren't there to be responsible for your work, the repurcussions are that the work is taken away from you and handed to someone else.

The other major dowside is communication. For an agency so great, they score poorly in communication. From Department to Department, from Senior Management to their department, from individual managers to their groups. If you aren't following up on every little thing, no one will tell you about it.

Advice to Senior Management

Revisit small agency specialness. Not in a mass email to the entire agency, but in a smaller setting that makes employees feel like there is a consideration for them.

Also recognize individual strengths. There are people who can create awesomely and there are people who can manage awesomely, and both of those talents should be recognized separately. To succeeed in both is rare, yet both have a valueable place within the walls.

Pros

Good name recognition within the industry, working with top creatives in field. There are many talented and motivated people to learn from and a lot of cool perks. If you can find the right person to be your mentor in the company you go far, it is a lot like a family and if you are part of the "old school" it is much like a family. in my almost 3 years at the company it has seen tremendous growth so the family atmosphere has changed a lot and also with the transition to the Boulder office things have changed quite a bit. It is hard for those of us still in Miami since all the creatives are in Boulder. There is always a fun holiday party and a gift and bonus in December as well as various things like t shirt giveaways and other gifts.

Cons

department manager is not qualified to manage and does not treat her employees fairly or support them. upper management does not help in these situations and just accepts it as status quo. favorites are played and it is accepted by everyone. Not all departments are like this it seems to just be in the production/creative services area. The department has grown so much in the last few years and little has been done to create opportunity for those that have been in the department for a while and have done well. This is not the case company wide but specific to my department.

Advice to Senior Management

to get more feedback from lower level employees. It could be anonymous so they would get honest answers.