Goodby Silverstein Reviews

Pros

Great brands, hard workers, excellent benefits and some of the smartest people in the business. This is a great place to work on high profile creative projects and work with great people.

Cons

With growth the culture is evolving and there is high turnover. Work/life/balance can suffer at times but that's life at any ad agency. Senior partners can be disconnected from the day to day.

Advice to Senior Management

Account management is too flat and there needs to be more opportunity for growth. It's an agency built on great creative but recognition for other departments in the agency falls through the cracks.

Pros

GS&P has enough clout, tenacity and talent to pull off some cool campaigns. But those camps are rare and with the rapid growth at GSP you're more than likely not going to be working on the cool stuff.

The name still carries plenty of weight in the industry and it does attract smart, talented people. Get it, get it on the resume and bail use it (quickly) to move on to healthier and more vital company.

Cons

The senior management has no idea how to scale the success of GSP. What was once a prestige boutique is now a troubled teen struggling (with all the tantrums and drama that implies) with becoming a seasoned adult.

Advice to Senior Management

Quit. Please. Too chiefs with no clue how to do anything short of an over expensive :30.

Pros

The global cache of the place seems to speak volumes to others in the industry. People work insanely hard here and we have the resources to deliver on what we say.

Cons

Goodby is a shop that got big real quick and it feels like the whole place is still adjusting to that...

Pros

dynamic, stimulating, good people, great ideas

Cons

crazy, long hours, tiring, disorganized

Pros

People are very interesting and engaging, the work is creative, work hard, play hard attitude

Cons

probably pays less than other companies in the same category, but because of status, can do so.

Advice to Senior Management

more sharing of information as it comes.

Pros

- Big brands and exciting campaigns
- A few really great people

Cons

This place has the potential to be so much better than it is, but a few (or several) of the egotistical and self-entitled folk (or shall I say culture?) here can sometimes make it unbearably dreadful. It seems like some of these people were never taught by their parents to say "please" or "thank you," or maybe they were picked on in high school, and now take this opportunity to revert back to their childish ways - whining, talking behind people's backs, faking smiles in front of others, and treating people (the ones that won't help advance their careers) like sh*t when they can get away with it. It really feels like high school at times, complete with the cliques who seem to treasure popularity over any other values.

It's unfortunate because there ARE gems here, but they tend to get overshadowed by the general culture of exclusion and immaturity that pervades this place. I value the work that we do here - but let's not kid ourselves. We work in advertising. This isn't Hollywood. And we're NOT saving lives. Get over yourselves. It's not all about you. Focus on the great work, be happy that you get to do relatively cool sh*t, and treat people with respect. Then you might get more out of people. It's really that simple.

Pros

Self Entitlement is very common. Lots of self congratulatory emails to All Agency

Cons

ego is prevalent amongst some creatives

Pros

Good pay, good clients, and a well-repsected agency within the ad community. Lots of great ads coming out of that place.

Cons

Long hours, disorder, lack of structure, poor sense of community, crowded. People seemed stressed and all the projects I was on had a chicken-with-head cut off order to them, bad deadlines. The building is packed with people because it has grown so large and most people don't seem to know each other that well.

While there are a lot of big name clients, there are also a ton of shitty projects getting assigned–the kind of work that doesn't get showcased anywhere but is just part of getting paid.

Advice to Senior Management

Seriously consider whether growing so big is the best thing for the culture of the place. Rather than create a crappy atmosphere with a churn and burn mentality, try to foster a place where creatives feel like they have an interest in the place and projects and each other.

Pros

The people who work here are really smart strategically speaking. You will learn more sitting in a room with these people for an hour than you would after working a month at most agencies. Also no one is afraid to try something new that has never been done, which is why we do such great work for our clients.

Cons

If there is a big presentation coming up, everyone is expected to work round the clock and you can put in a lot of hours. Also, you are expected to be attached to your email/cell most of the time.

Pros

You are mostly working with the brightest and most passionate people in the business. You won't come across too many people with egos and arrogance. They have embraced digital unlike most traditional agencies. It doesn't feel like a corporate agency. They provide good health benefits, 401K and a gym membership.

Cons

It's starting to get too big and could begin to have a corporate feeling. They are hiring in droves and letting average and underwhelming people work here and its beginning to show in the work. Tons of good people have left and continue to leave. They also tend to burn people out quite a bit.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't burn out the talented people, find ways to reward them. Hire the right people and scale back on clients to allow the agency to stay at a good manageable size.