Vantaggi
I worked with some brilliant minds - most were overlooked in favour of pretentious, clueless peacocks. I worked with great clients - who were mostly sidelined and not given attention that the 'cooler' clients were, despite being key revenue drivers. I made great friends - and we all got out of there, traumatised but we made it
Svantaggi
So many. A foolish, inexperienced and narcissistic CEO took delight in playground antics and gaslighting for reasons only known to her. The business was divided between those who were favoured and over promoted and those who were ignored and even bullied. There was a strange air of pseudo academia that benefitted only those who had superiority complexes. This academia input did not contribute to client briefs or actually make any money. Infact, in the desperate chase for cultural clout and with cringey displays of unintelligible intellectual waffle, the company lost a staggering amount of money - which was blamed on everyone but those who made the decisions in the first place. Why weren't we all working harder? Chasing leads? Selling - go sell! While the cultural academic reading group took a half day to ponder Judith Butler....... BuT iT hELps OuR CulTuRaL StRatEgY There was a bewildering 'cultural trends' report that cost in excess of 180k to produce per quarter and ended up with all of about 3 subscribers. Farcical. Meanwhile, those who kept actually doing research and answering client briefs and - shock - making money were deemed... boring? non-visionaries? who even knows anymore. Talent was not nurtured and the staff turnover was unlike anything I'd seen. I feel bad for the junior members of staff who bought into the crap and think this is how an agency works. If you hire someone who worked at Flamingo, just make sure they weren't on the Cultural Strategy team. Ridiculous, exhausting and infuriating - they got what they deserved in the end.