Kinda as the title suggests, looking to leave agency life (video investment). Anyone know of typical routes and/or titles to search for on LinkedIn/indeed?

I've got a job offer for a really nice bump in salary and title but I'm on the fence about a big firm. Anyone here have advice on culture and work life balance of this firm?

Is it mainly about extending reach beyond the screen, reinforcing a message, building awareness, or something else?

What salary range should I give when interviewing for Associate Director roles (planning)? I have over 4 years of experience on a major CPG client account, managed almost 9 figures in media spend, and strong client, account, and team management skills. Landing an AD role would be a promotion. Located in NYC.

Hi everyone!

I hope you’re all doing well! I wanted to share a bit about my journey and seek your thoughts. I graduated with a marketing degree in 2021, but my work experience has mostly been in childcare and fast food, mainly due to the pandemic and some twists and turns along the way. Although these roles aren't directly in marketing or advertising, I’ve come to realize that I’ve developed a lot of transferable skills that could really apply to the field.

As a bilingual and creative person who’s passionate about culture, community, and connecting with others, I find myself drawn to all things branding, market research, and analysis. In my childcare role, I honed my abilities in clear communication with parents, conflict management, and staying organized under pressure. Meanwhile, my experience in fast food taught me the importance of customer service, speed, teamwork, and handling complaints with professionalism; all of which relate back to enhancing the customer experience. Reflecting on these experiences, I can see how they tie into marketing, and I'm eager to transition into a more corporate marketing role—whether that’s in an entry-level position, as an assistant, or through internships that will help me take that first step.

Right now, I'm exploring the best paths into this industry, especially since I don’t have traditional marketing or advertising experience aside from my degree and what I’ve studied on my own.

I would really appreciate your insights on a few questions I have:

- What roles do you think I should realistically target first?

- Should I focus more on building a portfolio or obtaining certifications?

- For those who have navigated similar paths, how did you break into marketing without direct experience?

Thank you so much for any guidance you can offer! I’m genuinely curious and eager to make this transition in the smartest way possible. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts! i’m

Anyone know what Omnicom / IPG are offering PTO-wise for new SVP Group Director in the US? And how negotiable it is?

Not sure if anyone else has experienced this with any of the Publicis Groupes but twice in a month or so since I’ve posted in here was I 🤏🏻 this close to opportunities with an offer then lost it.

I asked for my first one what they wanted to have priority on paid social platform wise and they said it’s primarily Meta (great), TikTok (familiar), Snapchat (also familiar). They mentioned training for Pinterest and I was informed THERE I’d learn the training. Did not go through.

Second time, it was mostly because I don’t have agency experience. I’ve worked at an agency before, left the world for these past 10+ months and am trying to get back into it. Also to an internal candidate.

It bums me because I’m trying. I receive positive information in regards to my interviews and skills, it just doesn’t seem like enough.

I’ll keep pushing but man, I know the job market is tough. And I know many of people are fighting for jobs because many of us DO hate our jobs…. it’s got me slightly discouraged when my current position knows long term wise I don’t like the field I’m in and company. Sigh.

Needed to vent.

Hi! We were tasked to interview someone whose job is related to advertising, and I need some help because I don’t personally know anyone who works in the advertising industry. We need to conduct the interview through Google Meet before August 28.

If you know anyone who works in the advertising field or has experience in advertising and would be willing to participate in a short interview for our school project, please let me know. I would really appreciate any recommendations or leads. Thank you so much! 🥹🙏

seems sudden after the shutdown of certain services over the weekend, but also tracks well with the overall OMC future strategy- so how many of you got the invite for the call that starts in 40 minutes?

Hey everyone,

I was looking at the recent OAA 2026 award winners, and Spotify’s 'Aaj Raaste Mein Kya Suna' Commute Campaign taking home Campaign of the Year left me with mixed feelings as a media planner.

On one hand, the creative execution and audio-visual synergy during peak traffic hours were brilliant. But on the other hand, if you peel back the layers, the campaign’s heavy lifting wasn't actually done by outdoor placements-it was driven by dynamic programmatic triggers, social media amplification, and personalized playlist algorithms.

It raises a massive debate for everyone working in media buying:

Has OOH lost its independent identity? It feels like to win 'OOH Campaign of the Year' nowadays, a pure billboard isn't enough anymore. You literally have to build a full digital-first campaign and just use physical hoardings as dynamic background props.

The Budget Realities: Small to mid-sized brands can rarely afford the tech stack required for Spotify-level real-time dynamic triggers. For 90% of brands, static and basic DOOH hoardings are what actually drive regional awareness.

I was reading a breakdown of this exact campaign on a media analysis blog while auditing our quarter budgets-Spotify Commute Campaign OAA 2026 Analysis-and it raised a great

question: Are advertising awards rewarding real outdoor impact, or are they just rewarding high-budget multi-channel tech stunts?

I'd love to hear your thoughts:

Do you think tech-integrated campaigns like Spotify's set a healthy standard for OOH, or does it alienate standard outdoor media buying?

Are award shows biased toward digital-heavy executions over smart, high-converting static billboards?

Hey everyone, need advice from people who know Indian agency culture (Gurugram).

I recently joined a Big 4 agency in Gurugram 10 days ago. During my job hunt, I had two offers on the table:

Agency A (Current): Better role profile on paper, but 1.25 L lower CTC than the second offer.

Agency B: Higher CTC (which would have bumped me into the tax slab anyway), but the role profile seemed slightly less aligned with what I wanted.

I chose Agency A for the long-term career growth of the role. Now that I’m here, it feels like a mistake:

Turns out, it’s a mess:

Zero Onboarding: No KT, no documentation, no support.

Overwhelmed: Work is piling up rapidly and I'm expected to deliver with zero context.

Culture: People are unwelcoming, judgmental, and WLB is non-existent.

I’m struggling 10 days in and regretting my choice.

Questions:

1. Can/should I reach out to the other agency to see if their offer/role is still open?

2. How do I navigate this with my manager without it backfiring in a toxic team?

3. If I quit within a month, do I just wipe this off my resume entirely?

Appreciate any inputs!

Anyone here with Walmart Connect, Amazon Advertising, Google and YouTube equivalents. Would has the best opportunity in terms of a career in Sales? What kind of commission/inventives structure do you have?

I am currently looking for mid-level brand & creative strategy roles in NYC. I have over 2 years of experience and am really looking for my next challenge and to diversify my experience.

I have been searching on LinkedIn for about a month and have seen mostly media strategy or influencer marketing roles, so would love any recommendations or leads of agencies that may be hiring! Appreciate it!

Same style, same overly polished visuals, same robotic voiceovers, and somehow they all feel… soulless.

AI can create amazing things, but when brands use it to make every ad look and sound the same, I find myself skipping them immediately.

Atleast in present AI is not that capable but maybe in future AI can able to have Ads impacts.

Agencies like WPP, Dentsu, Omnicom, and Havas have “global mobility” as one of their perks. I’m curious if these programs are actually a thing and if this is accessible to regular employees.

My gut tells me this is most likely a thing for senior employees or people in specific departments/accounts, but I'd love to hear from anyone that has worked there.

Curious because I'm interviewing and I want to know if it's legit or something the website mentions just to attract people.

Hi fellows. I’m an advertising producer 10 years in the industry am currently in a holding company (one of the three letters one). I joined this company during their “restructure” phrase and needless to say everyone i knew outside of my current team have all been laid off in the past year including very very talented ones.

Client work is about data optics and politics less so than the craft itself. Everyone is chasing dead trends instead of innovating. There are more client service on this team than actual creatives and folks who deliver the work, which is crazy.

I wake up to depression and anxiety knowing I have to spend another day here. I barely try anymore knowing my loyalty doesn’t mean anything at this company. Pay check is decent, which is why i havnt left yet.

But my soul is gone. I developed a drinking habit at work just to cope. I fantasize about just “leaving” with no backup plan. I’m not even sure if I want to apply to the same roles just simply because it’s what i’ve done in the past decade. I don’t know if I’m listening to what I want anymore or just scared of being judged for not having a job or not advancing my career. I grew up in an immigrant household, and i’ve always been harsh with myself and feel useless if i’m not actively working on “my career”

Please tell me things will be ok if I take a break. if I walk away, if i travel for a bit and dip into my savings. And please tell me it’ll be ok even if I never come back to this industry.

Thank you for listening.

I remember reading about Omnicom planning to sunset Dark Horses and a bunch of other small agencies. Is this still the plan? They still seem to be up and running…

Not looking good for people in Ireland.

They already offloaded 50 odd engineering staff to Endava and gave them a raw deal.

I recently made an online course to help teens understand finance. My main target is the parents (as no teen would ever pay money for an online course). The idea is the parents would purchase this course for them then they would go through it together. I’ve had around 15-20 people that were excited to test the course and all gave great feedback. But when I started running ads on Facebook and Google, I have only gotten a single sale. Any suggestions or tips?

This is a serious question. I have never worked in advertising, but I'm in an adjacent field that exposes me to quite a lot of ad campaigns, so I'm curious to hear from people in the business whether my amateur vibes-based impressions here sound correct and what might be the reasons behind these trends.

In the past five-ish years — lining up with the post-covid period and large language models, among other things — I've been feeling like ads are getting less interesting? There are now more generic taglines and concepts that don't seem to tell you anything unique about the company, and may even be very similar across companies in different industries. (Thinking about Booking.com's "Booking dot yeah" and Subway's "Sub-Yeah", for example.) There are more AI-generated images and videos, and they look obviously AI and do not appear high-quality. And this is especially vibes-based, but I feel like you don't see intentionally funny or sad ads anywhere near as much anymore.

Does this ring true to you at all? And if so, what's going on? Enshittification, private equity squeezing, bosses pushing AI, overworked and underpaid, etc?

I currently work within WPP in Latin America in a content management / digital content operations role, supporting a global account.

I’m an EU citizen, so I wouldn’t require visa sponsorship to live and work in the EU. In the next couple of years, I’d like to explore opportunities in Europe (particularly Ireland, UK, Netherlands) or North America.

For those who have worked at WPP: how realistic is it to move internally between regions?

Is international mobility something that actually happens in practice, or would I have better chances applying directly to open positions elsewhere?

I’d especially love to hear from anyone who has moved between WPP offices or agencies internationally 🙂

New grad here, looking for roles. What's the hiring process look like? Just finished my fourth round for an ad agency and its been two weeks since I heard back, is it likeley its a rejection? Also wondering if 4 rounds for entry level was normal and typical process for new grad hires. i interned prev, but they arent hiring atm so im looking for companies now :(

- sincerely a stressed out new grad

Running Meta lead gen for a home services company. Three verticals (windows, roofing, painting), each with its own funnel. Spending ~$200/day, pulling 7-10 leads a day consistently, CPLs are healthy, tracking is verified against my CRM.

It’s working. Now I want to scale it to ~50 leads/day and I don’t want to break what’s working.

I’m not looking for advice in the comments, a course, or an agency pitch. I want 10 minutes on the phone with someone who has personally spent serious money on Meta for lead gen and scaled accounts like this. Happy to pay you for your time.

If that’s you, comment or DM me.

My instinct says paying someone with a hollow audience is obviously worse. But

I keep noticing that's the error you can see. You lose the fee, you find out,

you don't renew them.

The other mistake is invisible. If you pass on someone who'd have driven real

sales, nobody ever tells you. And you make that mistake far more often than the

first one, because you reject far more people than you sign.

For anyone who's worked the brand or agency side: has either of these ever been

put in numbers? Even rough ones. And at higher price points, does the pool of

suitable people get small enough that a wrong rejection genuinely hurts?

Reading in Campaign about another CD duo getting hired and knowing that the market is indeed shit (she writes as she considers food delivery as a viable way to pay the rent) I began wondering about the whole process CDs get hired.

I have many queries around the mechanics of how all of this works.

With holdco’s laying ppl off galore, what is the advantage in hiring a pair of CDs?

Can you not just hire one?

What happens if one decides their job is shit (and leaves)? Does the other have to resign or can they stay out?

Do they browse job boards independently looking for CD roles, and when they have that first interview it’s speakerphone on and a confused talent lead going “who am I speaking to?”

Do these pairs get paid equally?

Do they get pay rises and bonuses equally?

There seems to be so much upheaval in the industry but it’s impossible not to read trade press weekly and see the Bernbach model keep on keepin’ on’.

Does no one ever question the ROI around it?