The Escape Pod Reviews

-No project Managers. Execs did not want to hire one- everything was always all over, on a google doc, or on a giant white board. - There is also no HR on staff. They have one person doing the job of 3. Much like a lot of the people there. -The creative "leader" they assigned is not a leader. Inappropriate comments, lies, and misogyny flooded the place and turned it into even more of an uncomfortable environment. This person could walk around and insult everyone all day long but there was no insulting their ego. Beware. -Felt like a case of Stockholm Syndrome honestly. -Back to misogyny -Status meetings were always a hoorah meeting with "You guys need to step it up and win us clients for money. Then maybe we can talk about getting more people hired." Oh yeah- understaffed. Not sure at what point will they be adequately staffed. -Your day is jam packed with work that all somehow needs to be out at the same time. Which put a damper on Account & Creatives. -You were almost always set up to fail. No one took accountability for their flaws. -Clients got too comfortable with asks out of thin air and never trained to work with a small agency. -Senior Creatives (copy & art), you will work on banner ads and multiple social posts on top of writing scripts and planning out shoots. -Always arguments in the air. Shouting matches between Execs. Hard to concentrate with that going on. - Really felt like they set themselves up for a mess when they promise clients the world of a large agency but in a small one. Expectations are insane and the toll they take on everyone SHOWS. -Oh, and health insurance is pricey.

- NO PROJECT MANAGERS. They don't believe in them. You NEED project managers, especially if you're going to task creatives with multiple projects/clients at a time. All communications came from account people who were all trying to please their clients. - Terrible management. While they say that they care about the agency, it feels like they really only care about the next paycheck. - Bad place for brainstorming and collaboration. Most creatives here, CD level and higher, would get into shouting matches about which idea should be sold in. An executive would hear the shouting, walk over and then start yelling too. Then, the CEO would eventually make her way over to do the same. All of this would happen in an open office setting too, so it was impossible to ignore. - Weekly Status Meetings. While in theory, this should work in a small agency setting. But these were the most depressing and useless meetings ever. We would all cram into a small conference room every week and listen to the CEO tell us, "We're going to be the Wieden & Kennedy of Chicago!" Yeah, okay. Management would then tell us everything we were doing wrong and tell us to step it up. - Amount of work. Creatives are stretched thin on a ton of projects, meaning they behind on their work. - There's a lot of pointing fingers here. No one will admit to taking fault. - Unwillingness to change. Creatives voiced their opinions to better the culture and work ethic, but nothing changed. - Bad benefits. - Good luck getting promoted. - If they don't like you, they'll fire you.