Razorfish Reviews

Pros

Really Smart People, in my opinion - Industry Best

Cons

Publicis owns many agencies so agency direction isn't as clear as could be.

Pros

Fun culture filled with extremely smart and talented people. Chance to work at a company with a great reputation, huge campaigns, and big-name clients. Beautiful office in a great location. Fantastic benefits and perks.

Cons

Like many agencies, job satisfaction and quality of life at Razorfish depend on which projects you're working on. That said, with the exception of a few boutique jobs, most projects are run horribly and are in a constant state of triage. Far too little time to produce effective work, and completely inept account and project management. Also, visual designers are gods, while UX and other creatives are undervalued and underutilized.

Management and leadership was, at best, weak and directionless and, at worst, nonexistent. Regional resourcing means many offices do not have the people they need to complete projects. Extremely long hours that can easily be prevented.

Also, there were very strange gender issues at the office I worked at and unnecessary competition and territorialism between offices.

Advice to Senior Management

At the regional level, don't pit your offices against each other for work. At the office level, implement a management structure, any structure would be better than none.

Pros

A great place to collaborate with some of the most smartest folks around. They keep you on your tippy toes.

Cons

People leave thinking it's greener on the other side, but they all return to work at RF. This tells you that it's not always fun out there..

Pros

Good clients, good know how, respectful management

Cons

Fear of innovation, too process oriented — it ends up being the process for the process

Advice to Senior Management

Let's take more risks, let's innovate, let's give the power to the creatives!

Pros

Well known in industry, large well known clients, and convenient in downtown Seattle.

Cons

Owned by a French holding company called Publicis, where numbers and margins drove people, vs. where people should drive numbers. Leadership is not close enough to the business any longer to understand what we do. Huge need for big ideas, which is sometimes now lacking.

Advice to Senior Management

Remember that people drive numbers and not the other way around.

Pros

Great clients
Smart people in the trenches
Pockets of great work
Great reputation
Challenging clients and marketing issues to solve

Cons

Lack of communication from senior management
Lack of a company go forward strategy (or at least one that has been communicated)
Siloed and uncollaborative except locally
Relies on reputation too much
Narrowly focused on core services
Blindly chasing a single competitor instead of blazing a trail

Advice to Senior Management

The management team needs to develop and communicate a clear strategy for the company even if it means alienating some of the current staff. There is too much time and energy spent speculating on what the company's future looks like and not enough time focused on being the best at what management wants to focus on. I would recommend that the senior leadership team look at what has made the company successful, profitable and a great place to work, develop a strategy that will continue that success and lead the digital marketing industry and stop being afraid to make a decision.
Communicate, be seen and don't be afraid to make a mistake are the 3 key items I would tell senior leadership.

Pros

fun employee/peer level staff to work with

Cons

finance department leaves much to be desired. lack of vision and poor communication for director level management.

Pros

Center of innovation
truly great people, with great sense of humor and perspective, too

Cons

Consulting can be both wonderful and challenging -- Razorfish is no exception to that

Pros

Structured review process for performance feedback. Decent salaries. Opportunities for growth and career development. Freedom as long as you get your work done.

Cons

Office is a bit drab looking. No cafeteria where you can get subsidized lunch. No office rotation program. Could be more company bonding activities.

Pros

Great products if you work with the clients.

Cons

A lot of management shifting and reorganization thru multiple change in owners. Cross-training needed to happen between client teams and finance groups.

Advice to Senior Management

Not enough space to provide