BBDO Reviews

3.3

56% would recommend to a friend

(766 total reviews)
avatar

Andrew Robertson

78% approve of CEO

42% positive business outlook

BBDO has an employee rating of 3.3 out of 5 stars, based on 766 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The BBDO employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Media and communication industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

766 reviews
1.0
10 Sept 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

It sits above a microbrewery. It has a nice view of the Singapore River. It has BBH glaring at them impassively from across the road reminding any serious employee brave enough to look out that side of the office how terribly sad they are.

Cons

Upper management is filled with arrogant, outdated, overpaid and stubborn expats, who hire more such expats, forming an impenetrable inner circle that seems to be orientated towards doing the least amount of work possible. Meanwhile the creative department is stuffed with politicking seniors, with any remaining budget going to fresh graduates who happily push most of the work to overworked visualisers while everyone leaves early to drink at one of the many bars downstairs. It makes work a pain, leaving ideas to limp out the front door half mangled before they are put out of their misery in clients' boardrooms. Fair enough, the top pronounced the office a "business orientated" venture, meaning "let's not be clever or creative, and instead do whatever pleases the clients", which should ideally translate to new business wins on the back of insightful strategy - unfortunately, in two years, it had managed to bungle every substantial pitch, its single win being one run by a small, overlooked team (whose ECD was eventually axed for speaking up against the negative policies in place). In one year, there's also been two major rounds of overnight firings of several employees, without warning or adequate reason.

3.0
19 Feb 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The people at BBDO are some of the most amazing I've ever met. Everyone is generally friendly, open-minded, and not at all difficult to work with. Especially at the bottom, there are little politics and we all look out for each other. Great working environment with tons of friendly faces greeting you everyday - these are people you can genuinely be good friends with outside of work. Though the greatest work don't come out from our office, I'm really proud to be part of a greater network that produces some of the best works out there.

Cons

Biggest downside of this agency is its senior management - most of them are very traditional in their thinking and it shows, not only in the way they work, but also in the way they treat the employees. Management needs to wake up and stop treating employees as though they should be indebted to the agency for employment - sooner or later it will come back to bite them when they lose their talents and realize it's the other way round. Management does not show appreciation enough and it's very common to find people within the agency who feel overlooked (and rightfully so).

4.0
14 May 2013

old school ad men

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

they care about the work, they do some good stuff, they're hot on HR

Cons

they don't care about the people, environments tend to suck, HR has itchy all staff e-mail fingers

Viewing 1 - 3 of 766 Reviews

Glassdoor has 1,037 BBDO reviews submitted anonymously by BBDO employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if BBDO is right for you.