As much as advertising can be a creative pursuit, it’s a relationship business too. And advertising bosses aren’t just required to keep their clients sweet — just like any CEO, they should also maintain a happy staff too.
We asked Glassdoor, the careers site where employees can leave anonymous reviews about their employers, to see who the most popular CEOs are in the advertising business. The top 10 — which consists of leaders from all areas of the advertising industry — is ranking by the CEOs’ Glassdoor approval rating.
Methodology: Glassdoor’s ranking was based on reviews published between 1/29/15 and 2/28/17 (so the approval ratings here may be different from those you see on the Glassdoor website, which aggregates every single CEO rating through history).
Glassdoor tracked all sorts of advertising businesses including traditional agencies, performance marketing companies, and ad tech vendors. The ranking only looked at companies that have 30 or more employee reviews globally.
As always with anonymous platforms, we can’t ascertain the veracity of the reviews, but on aggregate, they still give a good indication as to where employees are happiest.
10. Grey Group CEO Jim Heekin
Approval rating: 89%
Pros — “Great people and plenty of room to make your voice heard.”
“Fairly low-stress work environment.”
Cons — “A sweat shop – cannot believe some of the other comments posted here about work/life balance.”
“Long hours including weekends whenever they need you.”
9. Videology CEO Scott Ferber
Approval rating: 90%
Pros — “They strike a great work-life balance.”
“Fast-paced work environment; great company growth and success; lots of responsibility; room to grow; effort is rewarded; passionate execs.”
Cons — “Very fast-paced with little direction from senior management.”
“There are about 10x as many butts in seats as there are really smart people.”
Tied in 6th Place. R/GA CEO Bob Greenberg
Approval rating: 91%
Pros — “Super smart people challenging conventions.”
“Some talented people across the network.”
Cons — “Work-life balance could be better.”
“Be prepared for hard work and long hours.”
Tied in 6th Place. Leo Burnett’s former CEO Tom Bernardin (now chairman)
Approval rating: 91%
Pros — “The work-life balance is not great but it is what you make of it.”
“Great work environment with a lot to do.”
Cons — “The work-life balance is tough — but that’s part of the business.”
“Low initial pay and extremely long hours.”
Tied in 6th Place: Lamar Advertising CEO Sean Reilly
Approval rating: 91%
Pros — “Work-life balance is awesome unless you are a sales rep.”
“Lamar offers great benefits, along with great ‘perks’.”
Cons — “Low commission percentage, little to no appreciate shown, always wanting more, never good enough.”
“Work-life balance is non-existing.”
5. McCann Worldgroup CEO Harris Diamond
Approval rating: 93%Pros — “Great work environment; nice people; steady day-to-day work; great perks and work-life balance.”
“Great people and [a] good place to learn about how B2B works.”
Cons — “You will frequently have to work long hours.”
“Better work-life balance and benefits.”
4. RPA CEO Bill Hagelstein
Approval rating: 95%Pros — “Work-life balance is unbeatable.”
“Happy hours every Thursday during the summer.”
Cons — “So there are lots of rounds of approvals, and it’s really hard to move up and grow.”
“Lower pay, long hours, takes two years to get promoted.”
3. The Richards Group Principal Stan Richards
Approval rating: 96%
Pros — “Profit-sharing, bonuses, and fair pay are gravy.”
“People in general are nice and willing to help you get through the ropes.”
Cons — “Strict, long hours, rules, no maternity leave, hours.”
“Work-life balance is not the greatest.”
2. 72andSunny Founder and Creative Chairman John Boiler
Approval rating: 97%Pros — “Great culture, great people to work with.”
“The client roster, with the possible exception of Droga and W+K, is unrivaled.”
Cons — “Struggle to find a solid work-life balance.”
“Long hours were an expectation and not a great work-life balance.”
1. Teads CEO Bertrand Quesada
Approval rating: 100%
Pros — “Great atmosphere, great people.”
“There is obvious career progression.”
Cons — “Communication with international coworkers is difficult.”
“A lot of people are leaving, which changes the atmosphere in the office.”
Written by: Lara O’Reilly – a senior editor at Business Insider who writes about advertising, media, and tech.
Source: Business Insider