Agency culture handbooks have always been mythical documents. Historically, agencies didn’t publish these for public consumption, instead they were passed around the DL. They were like secret manifestos that somehow tried give context to the crazy circus that is agency life. They are at the same time inspiring and intimidating. Typically filled with stark admissions of “we’re not for everyone.”
Here are the best agency culture handbooks we could get our hands on, don’t ask us how….
Crispin Porter Bogusky (CP+B)
Best line:
We do everything we can to minimize the things that block the creation of great advertising, but the reality is, there will be many days when advertising feels like a hard punch in the gut. It takes a special person to succeed here, one who has a passion, confidence and work ethic to believe in their ability to come up with more great ideas if and when their original great idea dies. And ideas do die here. On every account. In every department. Great, groundbreaking ideas die horribly sad deaths. But what makes us better than most is our ability to go back to the well and come up with more, better and even greater ideas. There. Now you know our secret.
Brains on Fire
Download the “Tequllia Shots” here >
Best line:
Brains on Fire is not a company. It’s a movement
Seer Interactive
Download the Seer Values handbook here >
Best line:
All Seer Interactive employees have at least one thing in common: we are driven by curiosity. We take the time to learn not only new aspects of our industry, but also to truly understand the people we serve.
Big Spaceship
Download their new employee manual >
Best line:
Big Spaceship is different. The weirdness makes it special, but it can be a bit jarring if you’re used to another way of working. We wrote this manual to give you everything you need to survive and thrive here, whether on day one or day
one thousand.
BS + Co
Download their onboarding handbook >
Best line:
“Don’t be an asshole.”
Weidert Group
Download their Promise & Culture code >
“We err on the side of overcommunicating because great teams do their best work when they are fully informed.”