MindShare Reviews

Pros

training, connections, global networking, great people

Cons

lowest compensation in the field, overworked

Advice to Senior Management

keep up the good work, review though competitions compensations per position level

Pros

It's one of the biggest agencies, for the most part has good people - you can have fun with the group that's close to you.

Cons

Big agency and it's easy to not know most of the shop, and there's zero exposure to sr. management. Still lags behind in understanding breakthrough/new media.

Advice to Senior Management

It's an agency, bring the agency vibe back.

Pros

MindShare has a very casual work environment, and some great teams and some understanding managers. Depending on the team you're on, you can get a lot of exposure to clients and plenty of responsibilities that will allow you to learn about the digital space.

Cons

As it is common among agencies, Mindshare has a terrible work-life balance and many understaffed teams. Most managers don't and can't respect work-life balance because they're working with understaffed teams and are expected to cater to client's every whim and demand when the practical thing to do is manage client expectations and push back on unneeded/unreasonable tasks.

Compensation is awful and turnover is high (also common in agencies) because people often find the need to move to get promoted and get paid market value for their skill set. There is very little investment in employee training and retention. Some of the internal infrastructure (email & billing systems, etc.) uses technology that should have been retired in the last decade.

Few managers are sympathetic to employee needs; quite a few prove to be incompetent and resistant to change and innovation. Junior staff often takes on responsibilities that are a level or more above their position because of large hierarchical gaps within teams, and does not get compensated for it.

As with any company, promotions depend on internal opportunities for movement and how good your manager is in training and helping you advance.

The Cons list goes on, but the bottom line is: Mindshare is a great place to start in digital and worth staying at for a year or two if you are happy with your team. If not, learn what you can and move on when opportunity comes.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay employees more and reward talent - it makes more sense to promote from within and retain employees than to pay more in training and salary to hire from without

Train managers and have them evaluated by their teams.

Staff teams better so clients are not under-serviced and employee burnout is reduced.

Breakdown internal silos and encourage exchange of ideas among teams. Make an effort to listen to employees more and narrow the gap between senior management and those that are below their level.

Pros

Great company with great opportunities.

Cons

Lack of growth and understaffed

Advice to Senior Management

If someone quits, hire a new individual for replacement.

Pros

The people are cool and the work isn't difficult.

Cons

The pay is awful and a monkey could do my job, it makes me feel dumber than I am.

Pros

The office is in a nice location and there are some very lovely people who you can grow and learn from. You have to find the right team though.

Cons

There is a serious communication issue. Everything appears to be very cloak and dagger. Even within my team, there is no clear idea of our strategy let alone company strategy. Training is not a priority on any level and this is apparent in the lack of leadership skills from partners, not all of course, but most I have worked with. This coupled with the overt arrogance of the majority of partners makes it a difficult place to be.
Lack of communication on benefits, bonus eligibility, no appraisals. An employee survey is performed but no attention taken to the fact that submission levels are decreasing due to a lack of taking on actions. Horrifc systems and suggested solutions to combat this are not received well.
All in all, my time here has been demotivating.

Advice to Senior Management

Very little awareness of Dominic Proctor's or Nick Emery's specific roles and tasks. My key recommendations would be to invest in their people and systems.

Pros

People were smart and passionate.
Plenty of client interaction.
Good way to learn about media industry.
Media Vendors tend to wine and dine you.

Cons

2008-09 was a bad time for the industry. Clients were cutting back on ad spends and poor management meant that the agency lost key accounts.

Advice to Senior Management

Situation in Asia was not handled well. There was a lot of uncertainty and mixed messages coming from upper management. Communication should have been more transparent.

Pros

Great people - very friendly
Innovative thinking - opportunity for new ideas
Good connections with GroupM and broader WPP agencies

Cons

Career path not clear
Company keeps changing corporate strategy
Lots of turnover at the top in recent years

Advice to Senior Management

Clarify corporate strategy better and share it out to all levels; continue to build on innovation

Pros

The people at Mindshare are the best part; bosses are easy going and teams become very close. Being in the media planning/buying industry gives young people many opportunities to go out to restaurants/bars they would not be able to afford on their own and get to know their co-workers very well (Thanks sales reps!). My first year at Mindshare was basically an extension of college, which was a great way to start out in the working world. Work hard, play hard!

Cons

Pay is ridiculously low and raises are few and far between. Senior management does not seem as involved in mentoring junior level staff as they were in the past. Chalk it up to the recession but it does feel like a there's a sense of general lethargy around the office among junior and senior level staff

Advice to Senior Management

employee training programs would be a good way to motivate junior level staff. Also this may be a WPP problem but it would be great if management would reconsider their pay scale since their so out of line with the industry standard

Pros

great work environment, great training

Cons

low pay and long hours

Advice to Senior Management

pay more!