Catch New York

1.0

7 May 2015

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

Nothing I couldn't get at any other agency, big or small. Seriously, this place is Bush League, in my opinion.

Cons

Where should I start? - The compensation is average at best, with no perks whatsoever. - The office is reminiscent of a dungeon from the 1600s: dark, dreary, and stuffy. - There are constant Internet outages. - Timesheets are done in the most archaic fashion I've ever witnessed. - Employees with tenure are immune to criticism, no matter how incompetent they are at their jobs. - There's a distinct lack of accountability on the account teams. - Blame is constantly cast, with little or no reason or context. - Company culture is somewhere between 'not my problem' and 'who is this new person sitting next to me?' - Creative teams are chronically understaffed and overworked while the account teams consider staying after 5:30 "a late day". - You've got creative workers on the digital side who, incomprehensibly, don't know sizing for social media sites. - Good work with research is eschewed for the 'flashy idea' or whatever whim the client goes on. - Good work with research is eschewed for constantly having to put out fires of our own doing. - Of the three principals none are extensively present, yet their offices bely them doing a lot of work. - Employees are always there for the wins, but are noticeably missing when things go wrong. - If you've ever worked in strategy or new business, prepare to have the most unorganized, frustrating time. Between a dozen cooks in the kitchen, the lack of creative briefs, and brainstorms devoid of logic or ingenuity, you will want to pull your hair out. All in all, I'd be sure to stay away from here. There's a reason the company only gets shreds of business. There's a reason the company is anchored by one gargantuan client that makes mediocre products and has their own management issues. There's a reason their job postings are up for months at a time. The only way I'd recommend working here is if you're a freelancer, in which case you'd only have to deal with a handful of the above.

Catch New York Response

10y

Thank you for your candid feedback about your time at Catch. I was disappointed to learn that your experience with us was poor. While some of your feedback was not representative of everyday life at Catch, some of it was fair. Indeed, we had recognized many of the shortcomings you highlighted and we’ve taken steps to help our five-year-old company mature. We still have work to do but much has changed since you wrote this and I’d like to address some of our efforts below. Some Tough Love In the past, we've said ‘yes’ to the wrong kinds of clients, agreed to ambiguous scopes and avoided the tough but necessary conversations about scope creep. Your feedback in this sense was on target. Not facing these issues head-on put unfair burdens on our agency and our people. I take full responsibility for not addressing these issues sooner. We've since overhauled our agreements, become much more disciplined about holding ourselves and our clients accountable to our tightened scopes and we’ve respectfully transitioned other clients. Good Clients We've also instituted a new approach to partner with brands that have the will, the means and the knowledge to produce great work. We’ve since grown almost all of our key accounts, added one Fortune 100 brand and two fast-growing tech-sector disruptors. We’ll continue to make progress here. New Protocols and Resources This past summer we began the process of creating a new set of account and operations protocols and new set of guidelines for briefs and reports. These new protocols will help us keep our projects on track and stay focused on doing the right kind of work. While we’re making steady progress here, it is not as fast as I would like and we still have more work to do. On the plus side, we’ve added some outstanding new creative, development and interactive leaders that are helping us solve important problems for our clients. New Space We’re tired of our space too. It is a bit cramped and messy. So we leased the third floor and we’ll be expanding soon, giving everyone the space they need to be effective and creative. We really do appreciate the feedback and I would be happy to chat with you more. Please feel free to reach me at joseph@catch-nyc.com or 212-715-8700. Again, thanks for being so candid. Very truly, Joseph Perello Co-founder & Managing Partner Catch New York

If you care about your sanity, stay away. - Anonymous employee Catch New York Employee Review

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