Pros
Good for getting an entry level job. Employees are a mostly a really fun, nice group of oddball characters. Most are very talented, but not given the respect and consideration they need to live up to their potential. Nice variety of media and clients
Cons
-FLY operates like a preschool for advertising. At least a third of the agency is comprised of under 25's (some of whom were not even of legal drinking age at the time of employment). Many are placed in senior-level positions. Lots of new hires are thrust into roles they know nothing about and were not originally hired to do, and given little to no training or mentorship to perform their new roles. -In some ways, FLY is dependent on its clients' ignorance and desperation. Many clients catch on and either seek help from better agencies, or hire their own staff to fix the problems FLY created. -FLY is mainly targeting clients on tight budgets with tight deadlines, so there is just no time or money to do really great work. FLY will never be an award-winning, innovative, breakthrough agency. It is mediocre at best. The work is forgettable and the structure (or lack thereof) causes it to function more as a factory than an agency. The lack of structure, by the way, is not a deliberate thing to make the agency cooler and more laid back. It's just the result of laziness and avoidance of accountability. -There is no room to grow. You're either management level or junior level, and it has nothing to do with talent or experience. You won't be promoted unless someone else leaves, and you won't get a raise without a fight. -Salary is pathetic and arbitrary. A junior designer who works 40 hours a week will make more than a senior art director who works 60 hours a week. -A select few employees start out great, but end up with insufferable egos as a result of the cofounders' shameless pandering and favoritism. -Same dated, cliched ideas keep getting recycled. -Senior staff is burned out from constantly having to train new junior designers in addition to maintaining their own deadlines. FLY only hires entry level employees. This allows the cofounders to keep salaries low and prevents people with actual experience from coming in and seeing FLY for the chaotic mess that it is. -Everyone (except the chosen few egomaniacs mentioned above) seems to have chronic self esteem and insecurity issues that get exploited. -There are absolutely no boundaries between departments or roles. Account managers pretend to be art directors, designers are forced to do IA, copywriters double as social media experts, etc. Everyone is so busy doing everyone else's jobs that no one has the time to do their own.