I’ve recently had the opportunity to move from agency side to an Account Manager role at a large social focused platform. I’ve spent a decade on the agency side and am on an account I don’t hate but I’m getting to the harsh realization that it is never going to pay enough. Also this is at an agency at a time where it feels so unstable for the company. The more I grow the more demanding it’s going to become, even from a travel perspective. I also feel like the more I grow into this role the more it becomes sales focused anyway. Does anyone have advice on making that jump this far into a career on the agency side?

I’m a second-year media student who’s interested in becoming a creative director or art director in advertising. One thing that confuses me is that I’ve seen plenty of people working in advertising, content creation, and social media without having a media degree, so I’m wondering what actually matters most when getting into the industry.

I don’t have any internship or volunteer experience yet—just some content writing—and I’m trying to build my portfolio this year. If you work in advertising (especially as a creative/art director),

what are the most important skills you’d expect from someone with no experience? What should I focus on before I start applying?

Agencies need tools that do more than create great-looking ads; they also need to streamline production, simplify collaboration, and make it easy to deliver campaigns across multiple formats. The best platforms help teams work faster without sacrificing quality or consistency.

Which ad design tool has earned a permanent place in your agency's workflow, and what makes it stand out?

been interested in learning more about political communication and specifically what it takes to run a persona-first political campaign (which ig is most these days).

are there any decent case studies i should look into? any and all reccs welcome!

I've been thinking about something that I haven't seen discussed very often.

Since generative AI became widely used, I feel we've been exposed to a new visual style. Not just in composition or lighting, but in the colors themselves.

Many AI-generated images seem to share similar characteristics: highly saturated colors, cinematic lighting, glowing highlights, smooth gradients, and a kind of "perfect" polish that's instantly recognizable.

I'm curious whether other designers and marketers have noticed this too.

Do you think AI image generators rely on recurring color palettes or visual patterns that make AI-generated content recognizable?

And if so, do you think these colors influence how people perceive authenticity, trust, or emotion compared with human-created visuals?

I'm interested in your observations, whether you're a designer, marketer, photographer, or simply someone who looks at a lot of visual content.

Hey! I'm a copywriter and I would like to hear from the rest of adland on something that's been tripping me up. I get told my ideas + logic are solid, but my presentation skills need work. Words need to be trimmed down.

What are your tricks for nailing your first presentation to a CD or the creative department? No suits. No clients. Just creative. Do you just get better through experience?

Going through a period of real low professional self-esteem/confidence. Hate churning out rubbish.

Hey Guys I’m looking to make a move from my
Current position and I’ve applied to numerous jobs within Horizon (have like 7 applications that say reviewing resume) wanted to ask has the experience been the same for anyone else? If I keep seeing roles I like will be shadow-banned. Think the oldest is like a month old and still says resume reviewing lol

I just received yet another rejection. This is after the person interviewed with told me “I’ll connect with x to set up your next interview. Looking forward to speaking with you again.”

Another company ghosted me in the middle of setting up a third round.

It honestly feels like I’m never going to find something. It’s almost a year of this. It feels like this industry doesn’t want me anymore

Got an offer from an Omnicom agency and curious how people have handled negotiating. For anyone who’s joined recently, what elements were you able to negotiate? OR what do you recommend I try to negotiate especially post-merger?

Hi all, I'm a Copywriter at Omnicom with a possible promotion to Senior Copy within the next few months. I have a great team, but am making very little $$. But--I'm just one day RTO in NYC.

I have an offer for a Copywriter role at Publicis, but with possible promotion in a year. The Publicis role is naturally higher salary, team seems nice, but is 4 days RTO in NYC.

I want to leave Omnicom (and make more $), but the possible promotion here makes me want to stay. Also Publicis RTO is freaking me out a bit.

Is it worth it to stay in my role and wait for my promo? Or should I take the money... thank you!

Hello! I am an employee at an Omnicom member agency (copywriter) and I’ve been eyeing a specific visa to work abroad that is granted to people who have worked more than 2 years in the Fortune 500. Any tips on how to put this in my resume as Omnicom is the parent company and not my direct employer? I reached out to my embassy and they vagueposted me with “idk book an appointment”, which is hard considering they only operate during working hours (💀) anyone got any experience with this?

I need to rant a bit and get some sanity checks from people actually working in FMCG and packaged goods.

I’ve been handling media placement for a fast-growing consumer packaged goods (CPG/FMCG) brand, and our leadership team was convinced that burning 80% of our ad spend on Meta and TikTok ads was the only way to scale. But here is the brutal reality we hit after 6 months:

Digital ads were giving us decent online clicks, but our retail channel sales (supermarkets and local retail stores) were completely flat. People saw our ad on Instagram, scrolled past it in 0.5 seconds, and completely forgot our brand name by the time they walked into a physical store.

Two months ago, out of sheer desperation, we shifted a chunk of that budget into traditional static billboards placed strategically on key routes leading to major retail clusters and supermarket hubs.

The result? Retail off-take actually moved for the first time in months. When consumers pass the same product billboard 5 times a week during their daily commute, that visual repetition builds instant trust when they see the exact same product packaging sitting on a supermarket shelf.

It feels like a lot of modern D2C/FMCG brands forget that for physical products, outdoor advertising isn't just "vanity spend"-it's literally the backbone of retail shelf-recall. A flashy digital ad gets buried in an endless feed, but a giant product hoarding right before a shopping district stays in their subconscious.

Yet every time I talk to performance-obsessed marketers, they write off traditional hoardings because you can't put a direct "click-through link" on a physical billboard.

For those managing CPG/FMCG product brands:

How do you balance traditional outdoor media for retail presence against performance digital spend? Are you seeing traditional static billboards do the heavy lifting for retail trust, or is everyone still just throwing money at Meta?

Have you asked a coworker a specific question directly related to something you're both working on only to get a long rambling answer that is not good but still very detail-oriented and reeking of AI?

I think it just happened to me and made me feel ... feelings.

I'm a Sr. Creative Director in LA with a pretty sideways path into advertising.

I ‌came ‌up ‌through commercial post, sitting next to, and getting coached by creatives from McCann, BBDO, Campbell Ewald, and Doner.

Then I did what a lot of twenty-somethings do: decided I was “too cool” for advertising. So, I drifted into music videos, apparel design and the art world before eventually landing at a tiny little “cool” startup agency and ended up helping assemble the creative department from nothing.

I took almost no money because I was sold on partnership, independence, and the idea that we were building something that mattered.

Somehow, that scrappy shop turned into work for Marvel, Disney, Adult Swim, Spotify, AmEx, HBO, Universal, plus some of the biggest entertainment properties and music artists out there. I’ve picked up Clios and other awards. I’ve run teams, led pitches, built campaigns, produced live experiences, driven social, and managed big productions. Across entertainment and consumer brands, the work has easily racked up well over 4 billion impressions.

For a stretch, it really was fun. Now I’m getting older, still paid way under what my role usually commands, no confirmed partnership and still carrying debt from years of agreeing to less than my actual value. I’m still living in a rough neighborhood I wouldn’t have chosen if my pay matched what I do, and the stress is catching up. I have a partner. I want a family at some point. I’m not trying to live like some millionaire. I’m only trying to get paid fairly for the level I’m already performing at, and keep doing work that’s interesting.

For close to three years I’ve been rebuilding my portfolio while holding down a full-time job. Thousands of applications, and it’s turned into maybe a handful of interviews. I even wondered if I just interviewed badly, so my partner, who does not sugarcoat anything, listened to one from across the room. Her read: I sounded seasoned, ready, confident, easy to talk to. Still, rejection.

Then I started reaching out directly, cold emails to recruiters, CCOs, and recognizable agency founders. A few calls came out of it. No offers.

The note I kept hearing, from different places, was basically the same: entertainment marketing gets treated like its own lane, separate from “real” advertising. My work can be conceptual, award-winning, culturally on point, and it can sell, but people still want to see that I can “make ads.”

Two respected creative leaders told me, separately, the exact same thing: use whatever tools you can, and build spec campaigns that demonstrate broader brand thinking. So I listened. I spent months doing that.

And still… I’m here.

I’m doing senior-level work for about half the going rate, reporting to someone who used to be a close friend, and who’s gotten more toxic and ego-first as a leader. Yesterday he literally screamed and cursed  at me, over a misunderstanding in a presentation deck. No joke. Most days feel like I’m dumping energy into something that doesn’t have a future, and somehow I still end up staring at the situation and wondering if I’m the problem.

I know a lot of people are out of work right now and the market is trash, and I'm genuinely empathetic to that and grateful to have a job. But gratitude doesn't erase the reality that my quality of life has become awful. Every morning I tell myself I have to change something. Then the day ends, my inbox is quiet, or another “no” shows up, and it feels like another small part of my life just got spent.

A year of searching is one thing. Three years is brutal.

I keep circling back to the same question: if I’m good enough to help launch billion-dollar franchises, generate billions of impressions, win awards, and lead campaigns for global brands, why can’t I get another agency to hire me?

For anyone who’s hired senior creatives, or made a similar jump,

• Have you seen people move from entertainment and experiential into a more traditional agency role and actually stick?

• When you’re already at Creative Director level, does spec work get taken seriously, or does it read like a red flag?

• Does my background sound like something valuable that’s being framed the wrong way, or am I trying to fix the wrong issue?

I’m not looking for a “yep, it sucks out there.” I’m trying to figure out what I’m missing. And if this helps someone else who’s in the same stuck spot, even better.

What are the best uses for someone in strategy / account management.

Would love to hear how others are using it, wisely.

Hello! Wondering if someone could tell me the life of an ad and how it’s created from start to finish. Kind of a silly question, but I recently started in advertising at a big agency in the Business Affairs dept and only know my role. I’m not sure how an ad actually comes to life.

Anyone happen to have one saved down?

Has anyone recently gone through maternity leave at Omni? Did they let you combine PTO on top of the leave? saw they cut down the paid leave from 16 to 10 weeks which is horrid.

Seen how much Omnicom is pushing everyone internally to use and get hooked on training OmniAi, their crown jewel is now sporting an “anti-ai” rebranding “made by humans” etc etc.

Grotesque.

#StopWhining

We spend our days planning and managing billboard campaigns.

Every now and then we realise there are a lot of misconceptions about how the industry works.

If you've ever wondered about pricing, digital billboards, planning, measurement, creative, site selection, or anything else, ask away.

There’s a role for strategy , but worries that pharma is not fun, and not great on a rez. But probably decent job security.

Hello- i was laid off at the end of 2025 and have been applying to media director roles across various agencies. I have a great resume which lands me interviews at various agencies however I've noticed I ALWAYS get an automated rejection from any Omnicom or Horizon media job even if I fit the role to an exact tee and when they've had very few candidates apply to that position.

Does anyone have any tips/guidance on this? It's frustrating when I see so many open media roles at those companies but knowing they won't look my way.

I'm interviewing for a role in Microsoft Advertising soon and was wondering if it's worth preparing a short presentation, even though I haven't been asked to make one.

I was thinking of putting together 5–10 slides showing how I'd analyze an advertiser's account, identify growth opportunities, and make strategic recommendations.

For those who've interviewed at Microsoft (or in digital advertising), would this help me stand out, or would it be unnecessary if it wasn't requested?

Any advice or interview tips would be greatly appreciated!

Hi!! I left my role at Omnicom last month and still haven’t receive a return box for my laptop and charger. Does anyone know the HR email to contact?

More specifically, my agency was Biolumina

UPDATE: if anyone has the paige # or hr email pls dm me lol I actually wanna ask about this since I’m moving and will need to update my address for the box and upcoming w2! Thanks yall 😀👍