Perfect Example of Why Mergers & Acquisitions Destroy Good Companies.
Pros
Blast Radius was once a great place to work. The WPP acquisition started BR's slow bleed as they tightened the financial grip on management and paralyzed us leaving leadership with no control over the company anymore. WPP's financial freeze has prevented management from any freedom to hire, promote, retain, incentivize, or reward talent. A shift occurred due to WPP pressures to run projects with a goal to hit revenue targets instead of doing great work as solution to client and consumer needs. Clients started dropping off to go to smaller, more nimble shops, or taking our talent in-house themselves. Several rounds of layoffs and mass exodus by talented staff left behind a pale shadow of the company that once was growing across a dozen offices around the world. A few offices closed completely. Others were absorbed by Wunderman. One by one, leadership left in frustration as they realized they stood no chance against the monolithic WPP in trying to save the company. A merger with DesignKitchen happened in an attempt to revitalize the company and strengthen its position within the WPP network. Initial optimism diminished as DK leadership took over BR without the capacity to succeed. The merger came with poor communication, unfair discrepancies across the two legacy companies, and a major cultural rift across the offices. In its better years, BR used to: - attract and retain great talent and brilliant minds - look after their resources and balance typical agency burn out with lieu time and bonus incentives - have a strong work culture - pay well - attract highly visible global brands that had budget and courage to do sexy innovative work - offer relocation opportunities to one of the many offices around the world - provide a sabbatical program with an extra month of paid time off after every 3 years - provide mentors and career management advice - do great work
Cons
Sadly, BR today: - hasn't been able to give out raises or promotions in years (except in select cases) - communicates poorly across offices - isn't aligned internally on strategy or process - is becoming more divided across its offices - has lost its identity and direction in the agency world - leads out of Chicago despite the majority of the work produced by other offices - doesn't have a very current portfolio due to high production and development costs forcing clients to go take our great strategy and creative elsewhere I would like to see this company succeed, but I have little faith in today's leadership to make it happen especially under WPP.