So you're job searching. The world is officially your oyster.
A big, confusing, tumultuous oyster with dozens of options and no handbook.
Now, the fun part: looking for a job in an industry that just wiped out 4,000 roles in a single merger announcement. Welp.
If you've been paying attention (or listening to me harp on at any point at the end of last year) you'll have seen the DDB news. One of the most iconic agency brands in advertising history folded into TBWA alongside FCB and MullenLowe as Omnicom and IPG, merged into one giant holding company blob.
The message that rang through the advertising landscape was loud and clear: even legendary agencies aren't safe.
This might make you think twice about joining a small agency, where it feels like hundreds of jobs can vanish overnight when its parent company decides to "streamline operations."
But before you rush toward the perceived safety of a massive holding company, let me ask you this: do you really want to be employee #47,362 in a bureaucratic machine where you'll never even glimpse the C-suite, let alone learn anything from them?
Both options are terrifying in their own special ways. So how do you actually decide? That is where I come in, dear. I’m here to help. Hold on to your seat.
The small agency reality check
What you get: Direct access to founders and senior creatives. You're not separated by twelve layers of management. You're actually in the room where it happens. You'll wear multiple hats, which means you'll learn everything fast. Your work actually moves the needle and you see the impact immediately. The culture is tight-knit (for better or worse), and scrappiness breeds creativity in ways big budgets never will.
What you sacrifice: Job security (obviously). No fancy training programs or clear progression paths. The big agency name won't be on your CV. Resources and budgets are smaller. Pay might be lower. And yeah, when that one major client walks, things get real, real quick.
The holding company reality check
What you get: Structured training programs and mentorship frameworks. Big brand recognition for your CV that opens doors later. More job security (in theory, until the next merger). Bigger budgets to play with. Clear progression paths. You won't be scrambling to keep the lights on.
What you sacrifice: Being a literal number in the machine. Bureaucracy hell where getting a simple idea approved requires fourteen sign-offs. You may never meet anyone above your direct manager's manager. Slower learning curve because you're siloed into one specific function. Your brilliant idea gets diluted through so many layers it comes out the other side as beige mush, often unrecognisable to the project you poured your own blood, sweat, 150mgs an hour of caffeine, and tears in the storage room when no one's looking.
To actually decide, ask yourself these questions:
How do you learn best? If you need structure and formal mentorship, holding company. If you thrive in chaos and learn by doing, small agency.
What's your financial situation? Can you stomach the volatility of a small agency potentially losing a major client? Or do you need the relative stability of a holding company paycheque?
What do you want your CV to say in three years? "I worked at BBDO" opens certain doors. "I helped build a 15-person agency from the ground up" opens different doors. Both are valuable, just differently.
Are you more scared of irrelevance or instability? Small agency = higher instability risk. Holding company = higher risk of becoming invisible and irrelevant.
Do you want to specialise or generalise? Small agencies force you to generalise. Holding companies let you go deep in one area (media planning, creative, strategy, etc.)
Red flags at either:
No clear mentorship structure.
Vague answers about growth opportunities.
Leadership that can't articulate the company vision.
High turnover (ask how long the average employee stays).
Clients in industries you genuinely don't care about (trust me, it matters).
In reality, there's no "right" answer.
Some people thrive in the chaos of small agencies. Others need the structure and resources of holding companies to do their best work. And plenty of successful careers involve doing both at different stages. The real question isn't "which is better?" It's "which is better for me right now?"
Because today, with AI reshaping the industry, holding companies consolidating, and independent agencies flooding with talent fleeing corporate bureaucracy, the only wrong choice is not choosing at all.
So pick one. Learn everything you can. And if it turns out you chose wrong? That's fine. You're not a tree, you can move. Hello.
Just maybe keep your LinkedIn updated, yeah? Kisses!
-Sophie Randell, Writer
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