We’ve been lurking around making conversation with ad exes across New York City. According to our non-scientific poll, hands down, the worst agency to work for is… SS+K – Shepardson Stern and Kaminsky. The founding big three names have heavy experience in elections, which explains how Barack Obama became a client. The agency is also partially owned by Creative Artist Agency, which isn’t a good sign either. You know what Hollywood is like. Here’s the deal… We hear…. that the employees at SS+K literally loathe their employers. Hmmm… We got stories, but we’re going to stay silent on the nitty gritty details.
By the way guys, what’s with that new Delta campaign? While we get the double entendre of the new “Delta Is Change” tagline (the Greek letter Delta is used to signify change in physics ) only a true nerd is going to pick up on that. Meanwhile, the associated Delta billboards (see below), which have appeared all over NYC actually use the word “fly” to highlight cutting edge services like an mp3 catalog. If it was 1992 and In Living Colour was still on the air, maybe that would make some sense. In the mean time, we’re all laughing at you. Promise.
SS+K ain’t looking so good. Is there anyone who worked at SS+K who didn’t sign one of their infamous non-disparagements agreements? Do you love ‘em? Hate ‘em? Talk to us at AgencySpy AT mediabistro Dot com
More: What Do Art Directors Make At Publicis?
July 17, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Huh? I didn’t think that many people even knew about us. If you had to ask the average “ad exec” who the worst agency to work for you’d probably just get a bunch of strange looks for calling them an “ad exec.” Like all agencies, SS+K has it’s downsides. But even when we’re in full bitch mode there’s the caveat that the best thing about this place is the people we work with. Next time try getting your information from someone who’s actually worked here.
PS: In case you didn’t take math in high school, the delta is so obscure that it’s option-j on your keyboard. And I’ve never seen an “infamous non-disparagements agreement” [sic], but it does sound amusing. Have you ever been employed at a big ad agency? There’s some creepy paperwork.
July 17, 2007 at 10:49 pm
Awesome! So, glad we finally got some response to this piece from the INSIDE at SS+K. Anyone else want to chime in?
– AS
July 17, 2007 at 11:20 pm
I am not an employee of SS+K but I once had an offer and while we can argue about whether the impression one forms during a day or two of interviews, meet-and-greet’s and the likes are really enough to form a solid opinion on any place, I’d like to submit that this sounds not at all like the place and people I experienced. the former creative I know from this agency doesn’t seem to be overly bitter either. talk to some draft victims if you want a drama lesson.
“hands down, the worst agency to work for” is quite a moniker and I will acknowledge that differences are bound to come up in any working environment that are not always amicably resolved. we all have those stories, independent of the fields we work in. but using what amounts to a superlative with this agency cries for examples, anecdotes, proof. this industry is legendary for screaming knuckleheads and narcissistic trainwrecks. if you want to put them into a league with frank lowe, sally hogshead, howard draft et al, you should not drop the ball at this point but instead make your argument.
that being said … you don’t seem to have had the publicis experience yet. one week there and you will know what cluelessness at its best feels like.
I will leave your opinon of their work undiscussed – it’s the hallmark of our industry that we disagree on what works and what doesn’t – but I do feel compelled to point out that you judged a campaign -if not an agency- based on a single ad. that seems to be the third strike you amassed today.
July 18, 2007 at 2:40 am
Totally news to me. I’ve worked there for four years. If the worst agency in the world is where every level and department plays an integral role in process and ideas. Where your co-workers actually support what you do [instead of stabbing you in the back]. Where new thinking is encouraged and the ONLY politics you’ll find is on the Obama campaign – then I don’t want to know what the alternative is.
July 18, 2007 at 2:58 am
i worked there and i will vouch that it is one of the worst places i have ever worked. i also know that there are many people who still work there who can’t stand the place. while i worked there (for 2 yrs) there were always a few people who loved it. the rest of us couldn’t stand the place. i work at a big agency now. it has its bad points sure but ssk took the cake. fyi those infamous agreements are only signed by people that the company has taken action against. normally happens when someone has a dispute with the owners. you will never get any of them to talk on the record. the ssk lawyers are notorious. ask marty. he’ll tell you all about it.
July 18, 2007 at 3:08 am
Just a note to required name:
Actually, while we’re specifically addressing the stories we’ve been told by employees (past and present) when it comes to campaigns, we’re just talking about the Delta spots in particular – not the shop’s entire body of work.
If you read the rest of the blog, you’ll see that often, we find that we love one thing coming out of an agency, but dislike another. This happens for many reasons from different divisions handling different campaigns to just the simple fact that you can’t hit everything out of the park. We only mention campaigns that really move us or alternatively, in the case of the Delta campaign, give us pause. If SS+K comes out with something we love, don’t worry – we’ll put them right in the applause section.
Thanks for chatting with us! In fact, all of you – thanks for chatting. Looks like SS+K, whether you feel positively or negatively, gets everyone jabbering.
AS
July 18, 2007 at 4:24 am
nameless: you hint at interesting stories. given the relative anonymity here (I sincerely hope you are not posting via a corporate network), would you mind spilling the beans?
(when the real agency lawyers get involved, the stories tend to be far more interesting than mild employment disputes.)
what bothers me is that I have no choice but to take someone’s word when the person doesn’t have the name recognition or reputation to have earned this trust. there isn’t a recognizable byline anywhere here.
give readers (okay, me) the option of judging the circumstances ourselves. let us in on what you claim you know so we can form our on opinions – on places like SS+K and your judgement.
a hop that abuses its power, people or perceived rights deserves to be highlighted. people deserve to be warned about them.
July 18, 2007 at 3:21 pm
as one of the loathed partners, i’d love to dispute your claim but i’m far too busy torturing puppies.
July 18, 2007 at 4:17 pm
as the resident creative dinosaur at ss+k i can honestly say I have worked at at least two agencies that would be better candidates for this, er, honor [aka tops the list in case you were wondering]
i also know about 20 other places i would think of as a worse place to work just based on friends opinions
while your story is just point blank untrue, what is more worrying is that you would let your blog become a tool for such blatant axe-grinding
have you ever thought of getting a second opinion?
ss+ is full of smart people who like each other – there’s really not much more you can ask for in an agency in my opinion
July 19, 2007 at 6:53 pm
Vik Ballah is the biggest hack. Ever.
July 19, 2007 at 7:59 pm
I could ask for a kegerator. And some vegan nachos. And a pony.
July 19, 2007 at 8:43 pm
always ask for the pony
July 26, 2007 at 6:52 pm
This is total bollocks. When I was at SS+K people were suspiciously nice. Even funny “reply all” emails are permitted in the name of [well, frankly I don't know why they are permitted]…Perhaps this being the most important, this was my first job in 10 years where all the girls got along. Seriously, we all liked each other. That’s gotta mean something…Anyway, this dumb post reflects creepily on agencyspy. Idiots.
July 26, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Hold up Kathy… I was not going to chime in. I signed one of those “agreements,” but I worked at SS+K at one point. Half the employees hated it, 1/4 were just vested in the company accordingly saying whatever they needed to get by and the other 1/4 loved it blindly and stupidly.
The blog is right about the “fly” tag. The Delta ads were piss poor.
July 26, 2007 at 7:10 pm
hey, is that kathy roeder? are you still in iraq?
July 31, 2007 at 8:08 pm
Wow! Times certainly must have changed… I think I qualify as the 1/4 who loved it blindly and stupidly… especially the partners. Some of the smartest people I know.
August 6, 2007 at 7:59 pm
[...] SS+K creative director/partner Josh Kilmer-Purcell is holding a book reading tonight in New York City. Sounds boring right? Think again. Josh’s novel “I am not myself these days” chronicles the double life he was leading as a advertising exec by day and a fabulous drag queen by night (see the above video). It’s at the McNally Robinson bookstore in Nolita and he’ll be reading with his “pals” Robert Westfield, and Grant Stoddard as part of a promotional gig for Harper’s called “Take A Stranger Home: HarperCollins Puts Out.” No. We didn’t make that up. It’s tonight – Monday, Aug. 6th, 7 pm at 52 Prince St. [...]
September 5, 2007 at 9:04 pm
I can second that previous comment…Publicis is a godawful place to work because the people at the top REALLY don’t get it.
September 14, 2007 at 5:30 am
after scanning the above comments,I’m really interested to meet someone from SS+K at the PSFK Conference next week…
September 27, 2007 at 11:58 pm
As a former SS+K employee, I can’t say I’m surprised that this is the impression in the industry. while SS+K excels in coming up with good ideas, they fail in actually executing ANY of them.
it holds true for the agency itself. in theory, their “asymmetric communications” is a great idea. in actuality, it has NEVER worked.
September 28, 2007 at 4:38 am
I worked at SS+K for about a year and a half. I was there when they pitched Delta and I worked on it. I personally didn’t think that the agency was the right fit for me as an art director. But to call it the worst agency is bollocks. Whoever has worked there and says so is either a fool or doesn’t know the business.
The reason I joined SS+K was Marty Cook and any creative will do himself/herself a favor by working under the guy. He is one of the very few smart + good fellas left in the industry that you can learn from.
I’m disappointed to hear that the agency is going back to its PR roots. But I applaud Marty’s effort to turn the corner on that one. It is a friggin hard thing and at least the guy has the balls to give it a shot. Here is my analyses: There isn’t much of a difference between the thinking that goes on in SS+K and Crispin. The only difference is that Crispin has it’s roots in advertising and SS+K has it in PR and that (I think makes a big difference).
And as for the Delta work, whoever is commenting on it should just shut up unless you’ve been the creator of just do it or got milk.
October 12, 2007 at 9:03 pm
I’d like to connect with an employee of SS+K. I went to the PSFK Conf. and briefly chatted with Lenny Stern as the conference ended. I just finished at Miami Ad School and am looking into agencies/comms agencies/firms etc that are doing things in non-traditional ways – can anyone help me get in touch with someone? I’d love an informational interview to get the inside scoop.
Thanks!
October 22, 2007 at 8:13 pm
I’m a freelance production artist in New York, which is to say, I have worked at quite a few places, from the tiny boutiques to the gianormis mega-mall-type* agencies. SS+K is one of my favorite places to work. Granted, being that I’m freelancing, a lot of the bullshit office politics go right over my head. But I have to say; the people are really nice, smart and fun to work with. I’ve seen and worked on my fair share of crap to know that SS+K puts out clean, sharp, well-designed work. Not all of it, of course, but most of it. Another thing I like is the way that SS+K presents it’s own brand within a new business pitch. If you could only see one of their pitches, they look friggin’ great, really.
* Mega-mall-type — the office has an arcade, bar, badminton court or other, to offset the sweatshop-type workflow
November 7, 2007 at 7:09 pm
I don’t know- worked there for a handful of months and onyl left to go to school. Otherwise I’d probably still be there because so far it’s by far the best place I’ve ever worked. Great bosses, great vision, great ethics, great parties but sadly, no ponies.
I too must be one of those blind loyalist
January 4, 2008 at 8:16 am
normally i would reveal my name but ‘the dog ate my identity’ [see the http://www.ssk.com site] when are they ever going to get this site live? i worked at ss+k for a few years and come from the agency side of the business. these guys are smart but asymmetric is a bunch of marketing bs and they tout ‘integration’ but outsource most of their creative work and everything digital. the future is now and their old pr model is outdated.
February 26, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Curious, isn’t it, that few if any current non-executive staff have submitted a defense to the charge that it is the worst place to work! One could say it’s a version of the Stockholm Syndrome, whereby hostages become sympathetic with their captors. SSK partners are known to abuse staff, then chase those very ex-employees for business if they go to the client side. And who would hire a communications firm that after about 6 months still can’t design and build ITS OWN WEBSITE!
April 24, 2008 at 9:05 pm
All I have to say is look at the new “PLATFORM A” logo coming out soon….
Done?
now repeat with with me:
“SS + K sucks big time”
Whoever worked on that, from Designer to Director, should think about biscuit design instead.
April 28, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Ouch!
SS+K has it’s issues, but a lack of nice people is definitely not one of them. Everyone here, even in full bitch mode, will admit that it’s an unusually healthy work environment. Not that there aren’t a couple hotheads (me being one of them), but it’s unusually cordial around here.
And why is this thread from July still alive when it’s almost May? Shouldn’t the fine folks at mediabeefstro start a whole new one? The Platform A thing just launched. Josh has another book out. We’re getting a second shared modem so our internet access will keep up with our iPhones. I brought in a new bottle of sriraccha? Any of these big enough scoops?
June 8, 2008 at 7:48 am
Funny. SSK’s tagline/motto is “life is deaf. knock hard.” (sic) why hasn’t even one supposed genius of communications/branding there in the past 10 years noticed that this phrase/metaphor is not only senseless (ok, idiotic) but actually bad for business too. because when someone is deaf, knocking even as hard as you can doesn’t help her to hear. right? yes. duh. so the message–unwittingly– to clients is, pay us gobs and we’ll make lots of ‘noise’ ( as they like to say with buffoonish swagger at the agency), but, alas, no one will ‘hear’ it. great. just what i want to know if i’m, say, microsoft ( a former client that evidently offed them). then on a meta-basis, the fact that the agency sticks with this pointless piece of verbal identity says, we’ll do the same for you our clients as we have for ourselves. pcchhow.