Digitas Reviews

Pros

Great benefits
Smart colleagues
Nice location to work - the office is pretty sweet in Boston

Cons

Senior management not connected to the work and evaluate junior staff on reputation and not merit.
The only way to get promoted is to kiss up to key senior leaders and then tell them (nicely) to promote you
Staffing is a joke - the staffing department in Boston doesn't understand how the agency makes money and therefore has limited abilities to staff correctly
There is way too much 'process'

Advice to Senior Management

Take a look around and see who is really doing the work, not just who is kissing your @ss

Pros

A large company, looks good on the resume.

Cons

If you are not marketing or at a Director or VP level you have to fight very hard to get a laptop.
I was dissapointed with the pay, I was making the same at a much smaller agency and had less responsibility.

Advice to Senior Management

We are a digital agency, not having laptops for a majority of your workers is ridiclous. Having a laptop would lead to me being much more efficient.

Pros

Great opportunity to learn the industry, especially the business side of running an agency and a campaign.

Your peers are wonderful. People will help you with your project despite their own heavy workload.

Cons

Highest turnover I have ever seen at any agency.; I went to more 'goodbye' parties than I did work meetings.
It took me a while to realize the trick:
Hire eager and willing account/PMs and work them to death. Watch them burn out and then hire another 10.
You will be told that "support" is coming. It doesn't. You will probably not have a manager or anyone to directly report other than a super busy SVP.
The dishonestly of remaining billable is a joke. If you bill your job too hard, you will be disliked, if you underbill and report too many "un-billable" hours, you will be called by HR.
So what do you do? You end up underreporting the actual hours you've worked to remain "billable" and to support the underscoped work you're doing. The irony of it all is that you see it coming as a producer but you also learn that Marketing/account runs the team. They make decisions that should come from PM but they have the upper hand.

The hours are insane. You're not staying late to deliver a project but to put out "fires." Again and again and again.

Advice to Senior Management

You're smart. You know what you're doing when you hire A-types that will try and fix the problem. They ultimately burn out and land better jobs. I don't regret the things I learned but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Pros

Work with some of the brightest people in the industry, is largely an ego-less environment, have access; if you have a great idea people buy into it and support it 100%; people are real so it's easy to create lasting relationships; the work is challenging and a great resume boost

Cons

The work pace and number of responsibilities one person can managed is unrealistic, No one seems to get how much of a strain this has on people; Digitas wants to be competitive but struggles with how to create an environment that MAKES people want to keep working harder; Some senior leaders have the worst management skills I've ever seen and are continually rewarded

Advice to Senior Management

Help us the little people and stop whining; Be friendlier in the hallways or in meetings. It means a lot just to call someone by name. Don't forget the little things matter most

Pros

The people at Digitas were generally very smart. It did seem somewhat confined to certain capabilities, but marketing, tech, and media were all great. You get to work on some great strategy projects as well, which aren't available at other agencies.

Cons

Since they want everyone to be billable constantly, you will likely be slammed with work. This is a good and bad thing - they won't lay you off, but you also can be working until 10pm every night. Also for a top digital agency, I was rarely working on the "cutting-edge" stuff

Advice to Senior Management

I think the agency is running smoothly overall. I think that more effort could be taken to spread the workload around.

Pros

Great potential for growth beyond our own specialty. Senior leaders have put great efforts to help their teams develop their skills.

Cons

Just like many big companies, politics is surely a skill that one needs to know or learn fast when working at Digitas.

Advice to Senior Management

Moral is a big concern at Digitas, merits should be awarded to those who really showed great performance. New hires are often preferred to current Digitas employees for new higher position openings.

Pros

Nice Center City location; free workout/gym membership; a lot of attractive people working alongside you; community service day supported by management

Cons

Bad behavior not only tolerated, but upheld (seems to be a surefire way to get promoted); cubes (or worse) for just about everyone; no career path; compensation not competitive in the market; executive/senior management completely inaccessible (never met the EVP in charge of my area in nearly 2 years); without a question, the most layers of any company I've ever worked for.

Advice to Senior Management

Get out of your ivory tower and practice a little MBWA. Quit allowing the "teacher's pet" to run roughshod over decent people and departments. Recognize that DH is not "all that" and needs to offer a realistic compensation package (with raises and bonuses) in order to attract quality candidates. There is a reason there is a revolving door there.

Pros

Digitas is filled with sociable, smart, hard-working people, the kind of people you'll learn a lot from and want to have a drink with after work. The client list is top notch, and the importance of learning digital can't be overstated for marketers going forward.

Cons

Compared with some other agencies, Digitas tends to put in longer hours. That said, a "long" week for me was rarely more than 60 hours.

Advice to Senior Management

The toughest thing you'll face is making sure Digitas maintains its entrepreneurial and experimental soul, even as the company becomes a bigger and bigger part of Publicis overall.

Pros

Great flexibility, tons of opportunities for learning and networking in the advertising industry, as well as others. The people are talented, intelligent, helpful and kind. Beer Friday - senior management attend and they're very accessible. Great opportunities for travel, depending on your position. Large network because of being part of the Publicis family, and a very respected name in the industry.

Cons

It can be very clique-y. It's definitely tough to get to know people, and I'm a very outgoing person. It's hard to get to know people who aren't on your team or within your capability. However, once you're in, you're in - and that's great. It just takes some time.

Advice to Senior Management

Make sure that entry-level and middle-management feel encouraged to work hard and continue to succeed. Continue to

Pros

Smart people, engaging projects, part of a big network. Good benefits and great work environment. Bottomline: Truly an agency for the digital age

Cons

Pay scale compared to industry is an area of concern.
Possibility of growth depends upon location, network within company. A standardized approach would be nicer...which is in place but like any agency difficult to execute

Advice to Senior Management

More fluid career change possibilities between offices, and Publicis Groupe companies globally would be a great benefit. Good thing is management has already identified this as an initiative for 2010.

A way to identify mid-manager with leadership talent and a process to groom them for bigger responsibilities needs to be established.