An Ad Agency’s Very Public Take Down
September 18, 2007
Zimmerman Advertising is part of the Omnicom Group. It’s one of those little ones that no one ever talks about. The Florida based agency recently picked up the Crocs account and employs more than 1,000 bodies. After 23 years, the agency will surpass $2 billion in billings this year. The Miami Herald recently wrote a puff piece about chairman Jordan Zimmerman, president Pat Patregnani, creative director Zev Auerbach and the shop’s grand success. It’s normal stuff except for the line about their business cards having the motto ”24/7 (seriously),” on them. That’s just silly. Downright silly.
Anyway, if you take a look at the comments section, you’ll see that past (and possibly) present employees are trying to set the record straight. It’s insane how angry, emboldened and ready to rumble these folks are. There are five pages of comments and at some point, employees (about three of ‘em) who love it there take on the lynch mob. In the interest of your sanity (because it gets really crazy) here’s the highlights:
“They definitely work 24/7 SERIOUSLY. Take it from me & the many who have gone through the revolving doors of Zimmerman. You get worked to the bone! Some would compare it to a sweat shop.. you pretty much pay the price on working with such a large notorious agency. Plus- you are treated like pawns on a chessboard.”
“The worst 10 weeks of my life…felt like torture!”
“They “love” the employees sooo much, that must be why they are secretly making plans to move the office to a new building in Boca or Palm Beach… they don’t want you know since they’re afraid that all the employees who live down south will quit!”
“When I was there, they actually had a bomb threat. SERIOUSLY. It’s an AD AGENCY getting BOMB THREATS.”
“I left quietly after witnessing a grotesque display of egocentricity and greed. Granted, they make a tremendous amount of money… but on the backs of hundreds of people who secretly despise, resent and abhore the owners and puppet VP’s and managers.”
“If you want “formulaic” advertising from the famous dinosaurs – the Zimmerman is the place for you!”
Holy crapola… every agency has embittered past employees. If there’s one thing we’ve learned since writing this blog, it’s the ratio of haters to lovers in the comment section tell the true tale of whether an agency is on the dark side or fighting in the light. For example – when we knock McCann Erickson no one – NO ONE – comes to their defense. However, when we bang on W+K, the flood gates open and the loyal come out to defend. This pattern gets repeated again, and again for Fallon, Crispin, Anomaly, Berlin Cameron, BBH…. the comments section is the truth.
Thanks Tipster.
September 18, 2007 at 10:21 pm
I talked shit about them over at beyond madison avenue, and got a serious bum rush from a few of their employees. They definitely don’t back down from a fight…
September 19, 2007 at 5:38 am
another Zimmerman production:
https://www.pick-n-click.com/
September 19, 2007 at 1:54 pm
FYI, I guess this just proves how heated and controversial this has become–it looks like the Miami Herald took down the comments section for that article.
September 19, 2007 at 2:03 pm
FYI–I guess this just proves how heated and controversial this has become–it looks like the Miami Herald took down the comments section for that article. Or at least the link to it. All the more reason to spread the word, right?
September 19, 2007 at 5:44 pm
good point about the comments section – even the anti-current management comments about Fallon in that agency spy bust-up were still from people who loved the place and hated where it was headed. says all that needs to be said.
doesn’t seem to be the case with zimmerman
September 19, 2007 at 5:56 pm
Wow, that comment section was hilarious to read…that place sounds like the depths of hell!! I hope you do a follow-up to find out what happened as a result of this…clearly, they threatened to sue the Miami Herald and had them halt all commenting on the story.
I wonder how many posters took a bullet for this…
September 22, 2007 at 1:14 am
You can actually read the forum on a separate link. And apparently, if you search the article and load the ‘cache’ page, you can still post.
http://www.beneaththebrand.com/2007/09/18/cracks-in-the-brand-how-the-internet-is-changing-everything/
October 3, 2007 at 6:50 pm
I’ve been with ZPA for several years and I will say that I’ve never worked for an organization that took advantage of its employees the way that ZPA has…. An example you might wonder: employee reimbursement (aka expense checks). This company has the gull to reimburse its employees for company expenses no sooner than four weeks and as long as several months. The official company position is that employee reimbursement requires several signatures; so many, in fact, that it requires several weeks to cut a check. All the while, ZPA collects the interest on the money they withhold which is at the expense of their employees, who in turn are required to pay the interest on the very same company expenses that they are owed….disgusting.
October 6, 2007 at 4:59 am
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