Here's why every Marketer should work Agency-side. My answer may surprise you.

It’s an argument as old as time in the Creative industry: 

What’s better - agency or client?

Having spent 6 months working agency side in my early 20’s, I quit that big London agency with A LOT of client-related PTSD, unhealthy work-life boundaries and a borderline drinking problem.

So you might be very surprised to hear that I’m a big fan of agencies.

And when it comes to where you should work - agency or client - my answer might surprise you.

Firstly, let’s challenge the question - asking ‘agency or client’ simplifies things way too much. Believe me when I tell you, there are awful client-side roles just as much as there are awful agency-side roles. It's not one or the other. Both sides offer different opportunities.

Here’s 3 scenarios in which I think Agency-side beats Client-side (most of the time!)

1. When you are starting out in your career

If I was starting my Creative Career today, I would be trying to get my foot in the door at a big London digital agency - like AKQA or R/GA - or a new media agency - like Fan Bytes or Seen Connects.

Agencies are a fantastic training ground because they are close to the creative process and the execution. Plus you learn some great business skills (working with clients, negotiating, influencing, presenting).

Cutting your teeth in an agency on a variety of brands will give you a very strong grounding in the Creative industry and after a couple of years, you can easily take those skills to an awesome brand in a client-side role.

2. When you need to reset

One of my clients was working in B2B Conferences and wanted to move into digital performance marketing. A move agency-side was absolutely the best route to learn everything she needed quickly - so she moved to Media Com to work on the Google account (don’t let people tell you these types of moves aren’t possible!)

Moving agency-side helped her learn those skills faster and surrounded by people who were experts in the field already. This would have been much harder on the client side.

3. When you love variety in the brands you work on

I'm a loyal kinda girl. I've always loved working for one brand and going deep on knowing that brand. That's why I loved client-side.

But if you are someone who loves to work on a variety of things AND have the chance to move around clients, then agency is the place for you. It’s very rare to get that level of brand variety on the client side - even in companies that own multiple brands.

Whether you are suited to agency or client side, the key is to understand yourself well enough to know what the right next move might be.

If you know who you are and the environment in which you thrive in, deciding which one is best will be easy and intuitive.