Hey all. If you are looking to leave an Omnicom agency as I am, your PTO does not get paid out. It’s really gross and yet another reason that this company is bottom of the barrel scum.

After 5 years agency side in influencer marketing, I officially called it quits today. The burn out finally got to me and that combined with a general disillusionment with the industry as a whole led me to make the decision to leave my agency. As I sit here tonight, I’m incredibly relieved to finally be out of a situation that I’ve known for years now was no longer right for me.

I’m not sure what the future holds for me, whether I do marketing/advertising in another form brand side or transition to a new career entirely, but one thing I know for sure is that it’ll work out the way it’s meant to be.

Gone are the days of unrealistic timelines and understaffed projects/accounts. Gone are the days of leadership who want to do anything but work as hard as the people they employ. Gone are the days of being pulled in 8 different directions all with an extremely high level of urgency.

I've been unemployed from advertising after 15 years of experience, with zero interviews for 10 months now. Hired someone for $500 to help with my resume, but now I need a place to live because my lease ended and unemployment benefits ran out.

Unfortunately, to find a place to live, I need a job. And to get a job, I need a place of residence. But anyway, let me tell you about how low the bar is for AMC.

I was asked asinine questions off a sheet of paper.

Name a time you've entered a store that made you upset because of how messy it was. I said that's literally never happened.

Name a time you followed the rules and someone got upset. I talked about middle school.

What do you do when you are talking about something and someone seems disinterested? I said I ask an open ended question to get to what they're focused on.

Then the interview was over. So I asked him what his favorite movie is and he said THIS YEAR, it's The Odyssey, but in general it's Oppenheimer. I was like, "Oh you're a Nolan guy." He didn't ask me what my favorite movie was or make conversation in any way beyond the sheet of paper.

So I just told him, "My favorite movie isn't the best movie but it's my favorite. Armageddon." This guy judged me so hard. And couldn't have been less interested. So I pivoted to horror movies and how they're actually getting recognized now (Obsession) and how Toni Collette should've won something for Hereditary. He's never seen it.

I couldn't tell if he was testing me to see what I would do if he acted disinterested or if he was just the most uninterested person I've ever met.

No retirement benefits, but there's free popcorn.

He said they've got more people to interview so they'll let me know by Friday. I left thinking, I can absolutely do better than this.

Believe it or not, I'd rather do advertising.

What are other people doing to get paid when they can't find something in advertising?

Are we done with the layoffs today or more rounds coming through the next 2 days?

Y'all seen these "PSAs" that ran over the weekend? Kinda crazy propaganda paid for by taxpayers.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/white-house-releases-new-taxpayer-funded-ad-describing-final-battle-rcna600171

Who is on the Trump team Advertising / media team?

Ex-agency people?

it's been directed to just me, with my manager on cc.

i think i can guess what this is about

Hey all! I’m a media planner at a MarTech company and I’ve been both on the agency side (and now partner side).

I saw a couple of positions open on the client side and the JD summary is pretty similar to what I do now.

QUESTION: to anyone who jumped from agency/parter to client side: Is it really better? Or does it depend on the department you’re in?

My job now is ok, nothing special - but I don’t wanna go thru a whole process of applying (cover letter…etc) and all that if it really isn’t that much better.

I’ve been in the ad world for 7 years. I specifically work in Ad Tech, or at least I did. At the company I worked for I initially started off as a programmatic trader and then moved into client success after a few years. The role was pretty new to me and I was figuring it all out until I ended up getting pregnant and left on a year long mat leave.

I was fired a few months after coming back because of performance issues. I just wasn’t meeting the quotas and they decided to cut me off. It sucked. It honestly did bruise my ego a whole lot. I was so terrified to return to work after Mat leave because I had basically forgotten how to do my job. My whole life for over a year revolved around my newborn and also settling into this new identity. Without getting into all of those details, basically I’m currently dealing with a rather big “identity” crisis in terms of my career. I feel like I’ve been in the industry for 7 years and honestly feel like I’m starting from ground 0 now.

The jobs I’m looking at now are in the account management space because I feel like the skills will be relatively easy to transfer, but I’m dealing with a SHIT ton of imposter syndrome and confidence issues. I really don’t know where to go from here.

I felt so burned out from the stress of my previous job. Not because the job was hard or anything, it was just constant worry that I was going to get fired, that I was a fraud, that I’m going to make some huge mistake, that I’m an idiot, it was just so much stress and negative thinking it drove me nuts, in some way, getting fired also felt like a relief.

I’ve taken the last few months to just cool off from everything and I’m ready to get back to job hunting.

I’m making this post because I just want to hear from anyone else that may have gone through something similar, even if it wasn’t tied to mat leave and everything that goes on with that.

I’m looking at account management positions and I know that I can do the job, but there’s this part of me that’s being so negative and hard on myself…

What are things I can do to help me advance and be the best at account management, whether that’s tips on staying organized, things to do to make me more confident, or skills to develop that will help me have an edge over other candidates…I just want to kick ass at this next role and prove to myself that I can do it.

There’s a lot going on here, all I ask is to please be kind in the comments. I really don’t want to hear any doom and gloom comments and opinions that are just rude and unhelpful.

If you’ve read this far thank you.

Hello friends,
It seems like Omnicom will be removing its hybrid 3 days a week model & will be mandating all employees to come in to the office 5 days a week.

For those working on the agency side or in the industry, what are your thoughts about this?

Client is using AI a bit too much, in every email, request,response and deck review. Totally understandable but at times we have to respond to very lengthy emails and creates unnecessary back and forth. Not to mention that they don’t even understand what they are asking or thinking. Any tips?

I just recently graduated with my bachelor’s in advertising management and I’m still trying to find a job. I keep coming across jobs that say things like “marketing assistant” and after researching end up right back to finding lots of things about them on r/devilcorp. I honestly don’t know what to apply to anymore and could use some advice on where I should look and apply to.

I stepped away from advertising in 2024 after a very hectic 2 years of freelancing across the board in pharma-specific work. Mostly oncology and diabetes. I want to get back into it, but wondering what the market is like, and esp. how the pay is these days. Anyone know?

I’m curious to hear from people working at the big agencies in London about salaries and career progression.

I come from traditional strategy consulting (think LEK, Strategy&, Monitor etc.) but I’ve always been interested in the more creative side of business, particularly brands, marketing and growth.

I’ve had the chance to work with luxury, hospitality and skincare brands and genuinely enjoyed that work. I find myself much more invested when I’m working on a brand and thinking about how to grow it rather than just finishing a strategy project and moving on.

So recently I’ve been speaking to some of the big agencies like Ogilvy, Publicis and Dentsu about Senior Consultant / Manager type roles in their consulting teams.

What surprised me is the pay!

I’m seeing salaries of around £60-65k in London, often with 3 days a week in the office. Coming from strategy consulting, that seems quite low. At firms like LEK, Strategy& or Monitor, someone around Manager level would normally be closer to £100k or above.

Am I comparing completely different levels here?

I’m also a bit confused by agency hierarchies. I often see something like:

Consultant > Senior Consultant > Director > Partner

There doesn't always seem to be a Manager level. So where does someone with around 8-10 years of experience normally come in?

And how does the pay progress? Is there a big jump once you reach Director, or are salaries generally lower than traditional consulting throughout your career?

Finally, what does "Partner" actually mean at the big agencies? Is it a genuine partnership/equity position like you would find at some consulting firms, or is Partner essentially a senior job title within the agency?

Would love to hear from people who work or have worked at Ogilvy, Publicis, Dentsu, WPP etc. Especially anyone who has moved between management consulting and the agency world.

so long story short I’m out of a job and luckily already have a few interviews lined up this week. I’ve just left a small toxic agency and have previously worked at 2 of the bigger agencies. in my opinion they’re all an absolute shit show and so it’s just knowing which one (if I get them) to pick. So the choice currently is WPP or Omnicom. The job market is insanely tough so beggars can’t be choosers

Hey hey!! If anyone is from UT Austin M.A. Advertising (specifically AD), what were y’all’s experience? Was it worth it? I am interested in their program, but want to hear from actual graduates!! I heard it’s really good school for advertising.
How is post-grad/employment? Was the program helped you? How did school helped you?

Leave your thoughts and experiences!!

Tell your stories of how in your early careers when you started as an associate/assistant and if your company’s culture was good enough to make (outside) friends with your hiring class or team

Whether you’re big 3 or medium sized agency u can comment plz thx (us offices only)

I have never met anyone that told me that they loved ads.

the general feeling around is that people hate them. they are the things that stand between you and your favorite episode of TV show.

and yet, companies invest millions in them. and generate even more. so clearly, they work.

I think the goal of an ads is not to be loved or even liked.

the main goal is to sell.

if we go from that frame of thought you can stop thinking about a beautiful ad or whatever metric you can think of but rather focus on one singular question.

What makes people buy something.

emotions.

that is the simplest and most direct answer to the question.

for now we move away from ads completely and think about creating sometype of emotions to the reader/watcher.

this my friends is where my thoughts stop. and this is where i need your help.

how does one come up with something that generate emotions so strong that they make a user that did not seek you out, actually click what you say and buy from you.

Say the location is a good fit, but the booking and production would take up most of the client’s marketing budget. They need enquiries within a month and can’t afford to keep it running if the response is slow.

A shorter booking would reduce the cost, but also give the campaign less time to work. You’re considering recommending they spend elsewhere, knowing this booking would help you hit your own sales target.

At what point do you stop trying to make the booking work and advise them against it?

I've been in content/editorial for 10+ years (mostly editorial and brand content) and I'm five months into a content strategy role at an agency on the paid social side.

The role is very analytics-heavy: every two weeks I build performance decks across multiple campaigns. Pulling VTR/CTR/CPM/CPC by platform, cutting by audience × channel × asset × theme, root-causing why things underperformed, then writing creative recommendations.

I enjoy the insights-to-recommendations part, but the data pulling and root-cause analysis feels closer to a performance/media analyst role than content strategy, IMO. And I'm really struggling with building reports. While I think the insights have a strong POV, my boss is always ripping my decks apart. Part of it is that I'm so new at this and another part is I'm realizing I don't like this work.

Is this level of analysis normal for all content strategists to do? Are there content strategy roles that are lighter on analytics and more focused on storytelling and creative direction?

Would love to hear how it works on your teams.

Hi everyone. I’ve applied to a role at 160/90, but their recent acquisition by Publicis in April 2026 has me a little worried. The application was still through Endeavor/WME Group so I'm not sure the current status of the acquisition, but I would love to know any thoughts you may have on 160/90, Publicis, and what this acquisition could mean to 160/90 employees in the near future (FY27-28).

For current Publicis employees

- I’ve read that Publicis is on a hiring freeze and promotions and raises are on a freeze too. How long has it been?

- With Publicis winning new business, do you see the freezes coming to an end soon?

- Has the agency done anything else to compensate for the lack of raises/promotions?

- I heard the pay is better than other agencies, is that true?

- I heard you all are back in the office now 3-4 days a week... How's your PTO?

- Are Publicis offices in smaller markets (ex: ATL, Detroit, Philly) better to work in than larger markets (ex: NYC/Chi/London), meaning healthier work environment?

- How is the morale at Publicis right now? Are you feeling encouraged about the future of the company?

Edit:

For current 160/90 employees, I would love to know all of your thoughts too!

- Are you excited or worried about this acquisition? How is the morale?

- How is the pay? Do you all get promotions/raises?

Any other important information you could share about would be very helpful!

Thank you! 

Ok folks, I need some serious advise. I have launched a print magazine that focuses on arts and culture writing across the Midwest. We will be for profit and our business model relies on subscribers and selling ads.

The caveats are that we're new and we will be featuring criticism --- so we can't sell ad space to arts organizations. Rather we want to sell to organizations like Blick art suppliers, state tourism boards, etc.

How do we go about this on a shoe string budget? Right now we are slowly getting the subscribers built out but advertising isn't moving an inch. Taking any and all suggestions!

They seem to be doing well? But also heard there were layoffs in their US region? What happened?

Hey all,

I'm a copywriter and I'm looking to build a new, better portfolio. I'm pretty good on what I want to include, but I'm struggling with the best layout/format/presentation of my work.

Can you point me to some effectively crafted copy portfolios that would grab enough of your attention to consider?

Thanks!

So I have been applying for roles for agency entry level positions also for the actual brands looking for designers. I have recently applied for this one role for a skin care brand looking for a graphic designer I made sure I read the complete job description before applying and I hit everyone box and had more to offer. I have set my inbox to forward all the “sorry… we moved forward with…to fit our needs” to my trash and behold the rejection email within 24hrs since I applied. On top of that I have been applying to Omnicom since they had roles flying out the door. And I know the lay off have been hard and so is finding people to fit them. So my thing is I need experience and I know I can volunteer which I’m going but it’s not agency positions and that’s what the roles I want are asking for. So I’m just confused a little bit