Digitas Reviews

Pros

Working with really talented and smart people. People are generally good-hearted and the culture is very dynamic and passionate. If you find yourself in a good account team and under supportive (not egoistic) leaders you can go really far.

Cons

Politics do exist, especially in the bigger accounts where there are a lot of layers. Big focus on profit margins often has consequences to employees' work/life balance. You have to learn to say no very firmly in order to survive in the long-term.

Advice to Senior Management

Take people's work-life balance JUST as seriously if not more than you do your profit margins, or you WILL lose all your best talent and erode the reputation you've built.

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.

Pros

- Good work culture
- Good benefits
- Good number of holidays
- 401 K match
- Free beers and free bagels

Cons

- Few people, lot of work
- Hire and fire rule rigorously followed
- Its based in downtown boston, so commuting through train might be problematic

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing the good work, keep identifying the talent and give them a good opportunity and good benefits. Thank you

Pros

People get excited when they hear that you work at Digitas - it has a good reputation for some reason. Bagel Fridays help you work on your desk butt. The proximity to Shake Shack can't be beat.

Cons

Everyone is a Senior This or Lead That, simply because they've put in their time. Hours are rough. Clients are too conservative - good for the traditional people, but bad for the interactive teams. Thought leadership and creativity are discouraged. Marketing and Creative both think they run the show, and they do not want to work together, which means too much drama and not enough good work. Employees worked to the bone, and it is impossible to figure out who your HR rep is, so that they can discourage complaints and interventions.

It's your basic corporate agency... sitting and wasting time on the internet because nobody can figure out how to schedule resources, and stuffing yourself with junk food to try and discourage yourself from jumping out of a window due to sheer boredom.

Not a good place for interaction designers - you won't learn anything.

Terrible place for freelancers - they will shake your hand one day and cut you dead the next, and if you leave on negative terms they have no problem trying to make it so that you can't work at any other agency in the city.

Advice to Senior Management

Quit.

Pros

Digitas is like a big family but one that makes you want to run away on your 18th birthday. It is very easy to make long lasting friendships here. You will work with some of the smartest and most forward thinking people in middle management.

Cons

Senior management cares more about their own bonus than the growth of the people who give their heart and soul to the place. It's also a very passive/aggressive environment so prepare yourself for surprises at every turn.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your middle management staff. They know your clients best and they have a true pulse on your team. Stop closing the doors on middle management and open it up in an open forum for them to help you and your senior colleagues truly understand what's makes people tick. It's pretty simple - recognition when it's deserved and a little time back in our personal lives. . . just a little.

Pros

Great people, great people, great people

Cons

Needs to figure out who they want to be, as they can't be all things to everyone
Needs to find the right balance between being a large agency, while remaining flexible, nimble and not entirely focused on financials -- to the point that it gets in the way of quality and flawless execution

Advice to Senior Management

Are you a consulting agency or an ad agency? Which do you want to be? Figure it out and do it.

Pros

Big company and benefits so its good.

Cons

Too much politics. Only certain people get promoted

Advice to Senior Management

Retain employees. Pay attention to each employee. Clean up HR. Listen to employees. Stop politics in the office from top management to mid management. Improve the quality of work.

Pros

What do I like.... I've learned a TON about analytic and having Analytics on my resume has already gotten me several phone interviews.

Digitas is also a HUGE internationally known agency under the Publicis group. This alone will stand out on your resume and help you in the door at other companies.

Cons

Most everything else.

I interviewed for a position in Strategy and Analysis, and was lead to believe that I would actually be working on digital strategy for our clients. I was told that I would be part of a cross-functional team made up of media, marketing, creative, user experience and analysts. I was told that the analyst was looked at as an expert and that I would be expected to propose strategy based on what I was seeing in the site and marketing analytics. Read the job description.

When I started I found that this was NOT the case at all. I pull reports all day long. That's it. It's very rare that I'm part of this 'cross-functional' team I was told so much about, and S&A is certaintly not looked at as an expert. We're asked for numbers and results without understanding the goals or objectives of the campaign and/or site project, and in fact it's rare that our clients and internal teams actually have any goals or objectives. The limited exposure I've had to the marketing team (who is supposed to own and manage the client relationship) has been piss-poor. They seem to be simply order-takers who get requirements from clients and pass them along. They don't ask the hard questions or make sure deliverables that come from my team actually match up with what the client has asked for, making me look like an ass when I spend 40 + hours and deliver a report that wasn't what they asked for at all.

On top of that, Digitas is very siloed and political. Departments don't share information, and groups within department don't either. Middle management varies WIDELY from each other. Within the same dept, directors have very different skill sets and experiences. Now, I see the value in a variety of people and background, but everyone who has a 'director' title should be of director caliber, and that is what I take issue with. Upper management might as well not exist. I have no idea what they do. What they don't do is manage their directors, which is a huge part of the problem.

There's also no communication. Most people are dedicated to one or two clients, so I don't understand why there aren't regular client team meetings so everyone knows what's going on. Instead, we all have no idea what other people on the same client is doing. I ran in to a girl on my client team in the elevator the other day, and she happened to mention something about our client that s&a absolutely should have been involved with, but was left completely out. I wish I could say that's unusual, but it's not.

Advice to Senior Management

Dramatically improve communication among employees, teams and departments.
Provide more structure and guidance from upper management to middle management.
Push clients to develop clear goals and objectives.

Pros

Energetic atmosphere, plenty of bright people, pipeline of exciting opportunities to work on. Good industry reputation in specialized healthcare field with true competitive separation. Great opportunity to learn a lot in a specific industry. Good place to start a career, or to gain a lot of experience in a lower level management role. Respectable notch on any resume.

Cons

Weak senior leadership across all departments. Lots of figureheads that have stopped adding value in their current role, and created a stagnant environment. Political games are prevalent among mid-senior level management, and employees advancement is often based on factors other than talent or contribution to bottom line (i.e. personal relationships). Poor management training by example.

Advice to Senior Management

Find a way for talent to be rewarded without "large company" constraints setting unnecessary setbacks and timelines for employee growth. Get organized and catch up to our own growth before chasing the next big thing, otherwise we'll find ourselves right back where we started, unable to sustain as a large agency. Audit performance and contribution and clean house!!!

Pros

The best reason is your team. Most all the people are sincere and professional. You will work a lot, however, there is flexibility in telecommuting and having to take time off unexpectedly.

Cons

The high price of workload is not fun to pay. Senior leaders expect around-the-clock availability. If you're not on board with that, you will get passed over as not as interested in your career as others.

Advice to Senior Management

Create work life balance in your own lives so that everyone else can feel they have the permission to as well.