DraftFCB Reviews

Pros

Warm & friendly place
Informal environment
Learning opportunities
Experienced people
Great portfolio of clients
Stability led atmosphere
Financially stable
Non-political environment
Old world feel

Cons

Lack of technology impetus
Lacks aggressive approach in the market place
Lacks effective management delegation
Slow decision making process
Slow to adopt new practices
Lacks cutting edge attitude in vision and practice

Advice to Senior Management

Move and grab new opportunities that will help maximise the real potential & worth of the talent prevalent in the organisation

Pros

Strong leadership from the agency president. Generally nice people. Fairly open environment. Positive attitudes among team members. A few good accounts. Well-stocked kitchen.

Cons

Like most agencies, there are silos between departments. There is also limited ability to learn beyond one's own account. Some at the SVP level can be risk averse, others don't provide any leadership for their teams, and others are completely hands off when it comes to any actual deliverables. Lack of thought leadership.

Pros

Good work life balance
Fun and creative individuals (VP level and below)
Interesting speakers frequently visit the agency
Laid back work environment/work culture
Good benefits package

Cons

Low compensation
Senior managers are so concerned with looking good that they'll steal work done by analysts and claim it as their own
Doesn't follow through with the 360 review process, poorly enforced, if enforced at all
No opportunity to manage up, everyone is scared of speaking out against poor performance from SVPs or heads of departments
Too much power resides at the SVP level, especially in some of the smaller groups, often all talk and no action
Doesn't encourage growth or goal setting
Complete lack of transparency in promotions, compensation, and staffing

Advice to Senior Management

A high attrition rate isn't something that should be accepted as an industry standard. Having 20-30% of a group leave indicates that management is not doing something right. They're not incentivizing individuals to stay at the junior level, because there's no commitment from upper management that good work will be rewarded. Why should anyone stay at a place where individual growth and goal setting is deprioritized and ignored?

 NOT enforcing 360 degree reviews allows poor managers to maintain their roles with no consequences. Actionability and investment is extremely important when it comes to gaining the loyalty of the people who work for you. Both of these things are non-existent in certain areas of the agency, and need to be acknowledged and restructured.

Fire managers who are only concerned about their personal image at the agency. Hire managers who will genuinely care about the people who work for them and who will provide individuals with opportunities to do impactful work, GET CREDIT FOR THE WORK, and have something to aspire to. Lack of transparency in the promotion process and compensation was not only discouraging but completely unfair and gave me no reason to stay.

There's a lot of things that need to be fixed at DraftFCB and it needs to start at the top. Turn words into actionable tactics, or risk seeing the smartest people at the agency leave for bigger and better opportunities to learn and grow.

Pros

Plentiful resources, full Starbucks coffee bar where pretty much any drink is $1 and proceeds go to charity

Cons

Highly political to be hired at entry level

Pros

Good starting job to get into advertising - lots of training for new hires & integration into how the agency works and is run.

Cons

No real opportunities for advancement or branching out to other areas, despite paying it lots of lip service everywhere. Pay is pretty low.

Advice to Senior Management

Give your homegrown talent more opportunities to show their stuff, and you'll be amazed at how much turnaround you'll see.

Pros

Great team work, small company culture with big agency perks. Open door policy is awesome. Management is honestly receptive to feedback, positive or negative.

Cons

Limited client base and its developing internal structure provide opportunities for future improvement. Small agency means everyone gets to wear multiple hats.

Pros

There are some great people and clients, for now

Cons

Senior Management from CEO level down are clueless about running a full-service agency.

Advice to Senior Management

Quit positioning for your next role and be great at your current role.

Pros

Friendly staff
Supportive upper management
Strong leadership development

Cons

Long hours/ Poor work/life balance
Low pay
We weren't pushing to produce award winning work
Deadlines too tight
Creative dept severely understaffed

Advice to Senior Management

HIRE PEOPLE PLEASE! Too many talented people left because they were being asked to kill it and bill it. More intermediate creative and account roles would help fill the gap between juniors and upper management.

Pros

...and the work/life balance allows me to pursue outside interests. Decent benefit package and in house cafeteria. They try to keep morale up by doing lots of work events and internal contests.

Cons

...but I'm not in account services, where I know they work much longer hours. Often. Sometimes there is a lack of communication between interacting departments, but that's common in such a large company.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't sugar coat the bad stuff, and pay your employees what they're worth (their time, talent and energy). Enough said.

Pros

- Collaborative enviornment
- Motivated and friendly employees across the board
- Impressive client list
- Agency is consistently looking for new business

Cons

- Salary
- Long hours
- Difficult to retain entry levels
But hey, that's the ad business!

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what you're doing!