publicis

New business here. We are good, but we’re not THAT good. It’s just that omnicom and wpp are that BAD. The clients are absolutely beside themselves with the cluster fuckery over there. I’ve heard really insane stories. Like one of the week before a product launch, their account and creative lead laid off with 0 backup plan. Client found out from bounced emails. So ya it’s not a hard sell when we can say “we are stable, aren’t going through a dumpster fire merger, and have data and tech solutions they’re still years off from”

The overarching thing that we’re not addressing is client optics. OMC prioritized the merger so much to drive their stock price up but deprioritized their accounts and talent. Did they expect that their employees were going to magically take their clients’ business to new heights without any incentive ? They axed everyone from the team building their AI tech. What were those people getting paid to do for the past year then? The negative press that they’ve been receiving about their massive layoffs and a constant cycle of staffing cuts was probably the straw that broke the camel’s back. Classic example of overpromising and underdelivering. The instability of OMC drove clients to the point of feeling neglected. Yes, business need to remain profitable, yes margins are small. But cutting back on resources to provide mediocre work is not it.

Agree, also the love letters to companies from people who laid were laid off, like they are somehow supposed to grateful for the opportunity

hey - been at Publicis for 4 years. I HATED it for the first 6 months, then you start to get the hang of it and find the "good" people. I would stick around for a bit and try to find the pockets of work you find interesting, and proactively talk to the people who own them. There's not much self-initiative, and as a manager, if someone raises their hand and shows genuine interest, I assign them to that project. If you still hate it, consider moving within the group. Each agency is different. It's really hard out there, and Publicis seems to be the only holding company in a stable place rn.

I'm interviewing for a role at a global agency (in the likes of Omnicom, Publicis etc). It's literally my first interview after my first job working at a smaller agency - so apologies if this is a stu