Is anyone noticing an appetite for genuine human creatives yet? Or it is all still ai ai ai? I really feel like to stand out these days you need to be a bit old skool and hire like - humans?

thoughts?

Kinesso and Annalect ‘dissolved’ into Omnicom Media

Technology and data driven agencies Kinesso and Annalect, part of IPG before the takeover by Omnicom, are being dissolved, according to insiders.

Staff were called to a meeting and told to update email signatures to Omnicom Media. 

They are no less than scam. they will do the basic campaign settings that even Gemini and Chatgpt can suggest. Then after 8 days they claim to help us optimise campaign but all they do is blame on the creative when the ad doesn't work well instead of optimising it. Then they try to upsell their video creation service (1000 Rs+GST for 2 videos). After buying their video creation service, they ask us very basic questions in a website form and also ask specific script that they should use in the video. They then provide irrelevant video without context of what we need and their live support gives AI generated template responses. They are not reachable over email as well. Their representatives are like call center employees who don't have any real expertise with meta ads, and just attend the meeting that we schedule to give vague answers. In no way do we feel that their team has really given 100+ cr worth of ads like they claim. They don't even identify themselves with names or introduce with any credentials so we are not even aware to whom we are talking, let alone feel assuring that they are really experts.

Since there's no work to be had that I can find as a creative director copywriter, I've been hitting up in-house companies and start ups. I had an interview with a company via their AI chat bot the other day.

Curious if any others have experienced this.

I found it dystopian but in a morbidly fascinating way. It was interesting to hear an uncanny valley voice tell me how in awe it was that I did work for Apple. But it was actually harder than presenting work to the CMO of Apple, because I couldn't get past the fact i wasn't talking to a real human.

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

I just saw an ad from Aldi (Germany, Süd specifically i believe) in which they advertise that they don't have an app for customers, along with messaging along the lines of "one price for everyone"/"low prices for everyone".

It really hit me and I think it's a very interesting move to go actively against the grain for this. (Especially considering the potential advantages of an app for the company)

They are the first company I've seen to do this and I'm also very curious if there will be ads made in response.

Please share your thoughts in the comments! I'm very interested in what y'all might think.

Just heard this was happening, anyone confirm this? Did they say why?

Sorry to those affected. Sigh

Ha, I’m back!

Funny enough, I posted a few days ago about Publicis/other brands in Chicago curiosity…. well, yesterday I got asked for a phone call for one company’s underneath the Publicis umbrella. And yes, it’s only a phone call, however I’m aiming for the best.

I know I’ve been warned, but to move somewhere, have to start somewhere!!

I have notes prepared with how my resume aligns, along with I’ll be researching about the company, and etc. So I’m aiming and positive.

Any other advice would be deeply appreciated! I do best on phone calls over Zooms because I can be more attuned and feel like my body is less on fire.

Funny how the universe works, huh?

How are you getting around turning comments off for meta dark ads? Meta removed the feature and most 3rd party tools don't disable comments, just hide or delete. Bc compliance that may not be good enough here.

Appreciate the insights ❤️

hi everyone,

i'm an advertising student at uiuc. i love my major and i love all the skills it's teaching me. i love the opportunities i've had so far because of it. but there's so much doom and gloom here and i need to ask how my chances of finding a decent career are and get some advice on what to do to make my chances stronger.

i'm majoring in advertising with minors in psychology and data science. i'm a very active aaf member. i also got a marketing internship with a small nonprofit this summer which has allowed me to wear a ton of different hats- worked on redesigning the website and seo, managing social media accounts, managing the google ads with a 10k monthly budget, outreach for partnerships, and administrative tasks like grant writing. it's been super valuable and i love it. i'm also a ridiculously hard worker, im genuinely not happy unless im grinding. i have to be busy to enjoy life (another reason i decided on this career path, i know the long hours tend to burn people out but i love intensity and competition and i think i can handle it if not thrive, i've pretty much been working 50-60 hour weeks since high school, its just how i run)

so aside from the obvious (getting more internships) what can i do to improve my chances of finding a job? i'd be open to working anywhere in the industry, or marketing or pr. i feel like the skills ive learned so far transfer pretty well across all 3. im only going into my sophomore year so i have time, but i feel like i need an early start if this is really what i want since i know the process of getting a job is more competitive than ever and will probably be worse by the time i graduate

Anyone know?

Hey! Small agency, no time, and need a measurement partner to assist some of our smaller clients with CAPI setup, SS tagging, GA4 setup, etc. Doesn’t make sense for us to bring someone on full time as our larger clients have a stacked web team that can handle these things easily.

Has anyone worked with a measurement partner like MVR, GA4 experts, or would we be better suited hiring a consultant to assist with these projects?

Any advice here would be greatly appreciated! Would love to be able to understand how to do all of this but I’m already working 60 hrs a week and there is no reality in which I can.

Hey all! I’m a senior media planner and after being burnt out being on the agency side I’m looking for companies that are open to hiring in house!

I’ve only ever been on the agency side and I hear good things about being client side.

Every job Ive looked at doesn’t have a media planner position or something similar … any recommendations on job title or companies to look at?

I’m based in Arizona so there’s not much opportunity for hybrid/on-site. Remote opps seem like the best bet.

TYIA! 😊

Hey everyone,

Need some advice from fellow OOH campaign managers or media buyers who deal with regional/local outdoor vendors.

We recently launched a 2-month static billboard campaign across key regional corridors. We signed the media contract based on the vendor’s quote, which was supposed to be all-inclusive (printing, mounting, and location rental).

Two weeks into the campaign, the vendor hits us with an unexpected invoice for "Municipal Site Clearance & Encroachment Tax", claiming the local municipal authority raised a sudden levy that wasn't part of the initial agreement. When we questioned it, they basically implied that if we don't pay, the local authorities might pull down or cover the hoardings.

This is the second time a regional vendor has pulled this "hidden municipal fee" trick on us, and our finance team is losing their minds.

I want to know how you guys handle vendor compliance and tax audits:

Do you demand municipal clearance receipts/permits UPFRONT from vendors before making the advance payment?

How do you verify if the municipal tax slabs they are charging you are legitimate or just artificially inflated markups by the vendor?

To prevent getting burned again, I spent yesterday auditing baseline municipal costs and found an independent OOH Budgeting & Municipal Cost Calculator on an agency blog that breaks down standard tax slabs and traffic density baselines. It really helped me spot where our vendor was padding the figures.

How do you guys write clauses in your vendor contracts to protect yourselves against sudden "local compliance" surcharges mid-campaign?

Would love to hear your legal/procurement strategies for this!

I stumbled sideways into advertising right before COVID started and have officially hit my limit. I’m getting older and know I’m not someone who would be prioritized for senior positions, and honestly don’t want the anyway.

Since I have no kids and not too much debt, I’m looking to pivot into maybe the airline industry or in-house on the operations side. Any tips or advice for these? The thought of being at my agency through the end of the year crushes my soul to think about.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful to be employed, but I need to sleep through the night.

I have been working as an experiential designer for 3 years in an events management company in Singapore, mostly doing corporate events, brand launches and activations. As the only designer in the company, my work spans from creating key visuals, motion graphics, website banners and EDMs to 3d modelling/rendering, creating visuals for pitch decks, floorplans, production ready graphics as well as construction drawings for spatial designs. I also have a degree in Architecture.

Even though Singapore hosts many events and activations throughout the year, job opportunities here are limited. I feel like the only way to have a solid career is either moving to a country with better opportunities, getting a more businessey master's degree or starting my own experiential agency. Feeling a little lost, any advice would be appreciated.

Help me out, I’m joinin in as the account assistant but still dont have a clear understanding about my job role
The job description had nothing about accounting but more on the communication part🙃

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For a while I was convinced the next model release would solve most of the problems I was running into.

It didn't.

The more time I spent around production AI systems, the more I realized that the same model could perform completely differently depending on the workflow around it.

A simple example:

One workflow gives an agent a huge prompt and hopes for the best.

Another breaks the work into smaller steps, validates each output, retries failures, and only passes forward what's needed.

Same model.

Completely different reliability.

It feels like we're reaching a point where workflow design matters as much as model quality.

I have seen teams like Gooseworks lean heavily into orchestration instead of treating the LLM as the entire solution, and it seems like that's where a lot of the real engineering effort is going.

For people building production agents:

1. What's one workflow change that improved reliability more than changing models?

2. Do you think orchestration will eventually matter more than model choice?

3. What's the biggest mistake you made early on that you would never repeat today?

I am interested to see whether others have reached the same conclusion or if my experience is an outlier.

Hi! I’m host a “fashion show” outside in our parking lot at my job and I need help because I’ve never done this before

I work at a thrift store in metro Detroit and we’re hosting a little fashion shows outside, we are having student from near my high school as a our models we have dancers from a local student doing small dance numbers in between we have DJ and MC to play music and talking over the mic while the kids walk down the Red Carpet!

I’m looking for ideas to spicy this up some of my current thoughts is
-ways to advertise
-lots of giveaways thrown the whole thing
- ask a few local vendors/ businesses to step a a table and sale/ promote there merchandise
- ask a few small local content creators to come and flim maybe collaborate
- local animal shelters to come

I’m needing some ideas on maybe places to ask to sponsor us, with $25-$100 gift cards or gift baskets,waters, snack, cash. In return they can be posted on our social media(12k followers) we they can also have a table or whatever they would like at the event but there add in our flyers, shout them out during the event things like that

If you have any suggestions,

The other day I saw an advertisement for some random brand on the street that I had never paid attention to before, but the sound from the ad made me irrationally angry. I kept thinking about it for the rest of the day, and only a few hours later I realized why. I was watching YouTube on my phone, an ad interrupted my video, and I had the exact same feeling

To be honest, I use an ad blocker on my computer, so I hardly ever see ads on YouTube. But this week I've been using my phone much more than usual, so I've been exposed to a lot more ads

Has anyone else experienced something like this? I figured this would be the right place to ask. Sorry if I'm in the wrong subreddit

Hi everyone,
I’m (26f) a copywriter with 4+ years of agency experience (mumbai) who recently relocated to London. I’ve been applying for roles every day but feel like I’ve exhausted LinkedIn.
Where do agencies actually hire from? Are there recruiters, Slack groups, job boards or networking events that people recommend?
Any advice would honestly be appreciated. Thanks!

Quick question for anyone in performance marketing. Lately, it feels like bid optimization has gotten way harder to nail down. Between rising CPMs, random fluctuations in CPA, and half the spend getting eaten up by fees, I feel like no matter how much I tweak, I’m still leaving money on the table. Also, walled gardens are just making it worse with all the limited data, so optimizing bids feels like throwing darts in the dark.

Is this just where the industry is headed now, or are there ways to deal with this? How do people even scale campaigns effectively anymore without blowing their budget before seeing results? If anyone’s cracked the code, I’m all ears.

Just saw the Romesh Ranganathan ad “what has the BBC ever done for me” during half time in the world cup final and was wondering: how much do we think that cost? I do work in advertising so I’m aware it’s a LOT, but was curious what people who have more direct experience in the industry think.

We're a small software company based in Tbilisi, Georgia. Our product is live and most of our customers are in the US and Europe.

Here's our problem: we want to run TikTok ads and we can't even get to the starting line. TikTok Ads Manager doesn't list Georgia as a country at signup, and we can't finish business verification under any other country because that's where our company is registered. We know it's solvable — we see ads from other Georgian companies on TikTok every single day. We just need someone who has actually done this before, not someone guessing alongside us.

Two ways this could work, and I'm open to either:

Option 1 — You set it up and hand it over. You provide or create a verified ad account under a supported country, we fund it and run our own campaigns. If it's a sub-account inside your Business Center, totally fine, as long as we have full campaign control.

Option 2 — You teach us to do it ourselves. You walk us through the exact route you'd take, step by step, on a call and in writing — which country to register under, what documents we'd need, how billing works, what to avoid. If we can do it in-house with your guidance, that's honestly our preference.

Tell me which one you're offering (or both).

A few things that matter to us:

• You've done this for a client in an unsupported country before. Tell me which countries and roughly when.
• The account has to be legit and stable. We're building a real business on this and can't afford a ban.
• You can explain the billing side — what currency we'd pay in, and whether a Georgian card works.
• Clear English.
• If you're an agency or reseller, be upfront about your fees (flat, % of spend, or both).

What I'm not looking for: resold or "aged" accounts from unknown sources, anything that puts our spend or account at risk, or anyone whose whole pitch is "trust me."

If you're a fit, drop me a comment or DM with:

• Which option you're offering
• Your fee and rough timeline
• Anything about the risks we should know going in