|
private:codeword
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1259059
|
Jul 14th, 2020 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Codeword
|
Anonymous Employee
|
United States
|
USA
|
Not for anyone looking to grow in the ad industry
|
|
It's small, which is nice if you're looking for a smaller agency. Dog-friendly office. A few nice people. That's about it.
|
Its small size makes it extremely cliquey; if you don't adhere to certain people's rigid standards, you're set up to fail. Hardly any culture to speak of. This matters less in a post-Covid world but its office location in NYC is awful and prior to Covid, leadership had a very draconian view of working from home (unless you were one of their favorites). There's a definite disconnect between the type of work Codeword actually does (PR and comms work) and what its founders claim they aspire to do (big campaign/advertising work). The agency has neither the means nor the tools to do that kind of work.
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
|
|
0.0
|
NO_OPINION
|
2.0
|
1.0
|
3.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
2.0
|
1.0
|
|
1259059
|
Open
|
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
0.0
|
|
|
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Codeword
|
|
|
|
private:codeword
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1259059
|
Jun 16th, 2020 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Codeword
|
|
United States
|
USA
|
Don't work here if you're interested in career growth
|
|
Perks of the WE acquisition
|
Too much to list here
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
0.0
|
NEUTRAL
|
-1.0
|
DISAPPROVE
|
2.0
|
1.0
|
3.0
|
2.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
|
1259059
|
Open
|
Transparency at the partner level. Biggest disappointment working here lied in how they "led" the company.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
0.0
|
|
|
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Codeword
|
|
|
|
private:codeword
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1259059
|
Jan 4th, 2019 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Codeword
|
|
San Francisco, CA
|
|
Great career kickoff, flatlined execution (SF office)
|
|
This is a pretty great place to start if you're just graduating or getting to know the PR/media relations world, especially with their intern program. You'd typically get to know the ropes of basic PR - foundational docs, industry terms, etc. Depending on what you're specifically interested in (i.e. content, strategy, media relations) you'll get a good lay of the land in terms of how a team works at its core per account, which makes it easier to determine where you think your skills best fit. The team is pretty tightly knit, so if you start off on the right foot and have an outgoing personality you shouldn't have too much trouble fitting in. Even though their clientele is most, if not all, tech, extensive knowledge of jargon isn't needed - you'll learn this along the way and possibly gain genuine interest in some of these tech categories.
|
While the company culture can be super and almost family-like, people definitely pick their favorites and it gets pretty obvious, especially with upper management. There's not a lot of room to grow as an individual professional since, especially if you're a lower-level employee, most of the focus seems to be catered to higher-level employees (i.e. a lower-level employee's advancement can sometimes depend on someone higher up being promoted as well - job growth depending on others rather than merit). Management emphasizes an open door policy, but social stigmatization and some cliquey attitudes make it difficult for that to seem plausible. Manage up however you see fit, but recognize that more often than not your drive can be taken advantage of for the benefit of those higher up rather than out of interest to invest in an individual employee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.0
|
3.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
3.0
|
3.0
|
0.0
|
|
1259059
|
Open
|
Be more transparent to your workers. If an open door policy is encouraged, make sure it's an environment everyone can participate in without passive aggression kicking in. Listen to all your employees without making a decision on who you'll side with before you objectively have the entire story. If you truly value an employee, be transparent with what they deserve and let them manage up instead of keeping them stagnant.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Codeword
|
|
|
|
private:codeword
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1259059
|
Aug 29th, 2018 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Codeword
|
|
United States
|
USA
|
Must love PR
|
|
Great location in San Francisco, social environment, kitchen in office, dog-friendly
|
Co-workers were judgmental and shady. Very little straight-forward advice. One co-worker would get upset at almost everything I did and act incredibly immature and passive aggressive. There were two or three co-workers I had no problem with who actively made an effort to provide constructive criticism, however, the remaining co-workers made the experience quite off-putting.
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
0.0
|
NEUTRAL
|
0.0
|
NO_OPINION
|
1.0
|
2.0
|
2.0
|
2.0
|
2.0
|
2.0
|
2.0
|
|
1259059
|
Open
|
Pay close attention to the work dynamic, offer more details on position, provide constructive criticism and any/all feedback as much as possible.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
INTERN
|
No
|
No
|
|
0.0
|
|
|
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Codeword
|
|
|
|
private:codeword
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1259059
|
May 11th, 2018 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Codeword
|
|
United States
|
USA
|
Codeword Proves that Agency Life Doesn’t Have to Suck
|
|
Codeword has made it a point to hire smart people and get out of the way while they do their work. They value people who work well and collaborate with others and get results.
As a team member at Codeword I have had many great opportunities to work with world-class clients on amazing projects.
The best thing about Codeword is that when things get rough, as can happen a any agency, the partners and management don’t fly of the handle. Instead, we work on solving the problem and learning from the experience.
The work life balance I have experienced at Codeword is by far greater than any other agency I have ever worked. Taking a vacation is not only allowed, it is encouraged. My kids actually recognize me at their parent now :)
|
Agency life is stressful no matter where you go; however, at Codeword you don’t have to deal with out of touch egos of the execs and are instead able to focuse on driving value for the client.
The overall benefit package could use a little work. I would look into providing a little more value to your employees. That being said, I do love the unlimited vacation policy.
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
|
|
1.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
4.0
|
5.0
|
|
1259059
|
Open
|
I would focus a little more on internal mentorship. With so many talented people at the top, it would be a waste not to pass down some of the knowledge base to the junior staff.
Look into adding a few more benefits
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
1.0
|
|
|
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Codeword
|
|
|
|
private:codeword
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1259059
|
Apr 18th, 2018 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Codeword
|
|
United States
|
USA
|
Glad I spent time here. Don't miss it.
|
|
I'm glad I spent time at Codeword. It's a solid place if you're scaling into a mid-level role. Lots of opportunity to forge your own path and be a self starter, and screw up and get better.
The structure of the agency is not top-heavy, so you get to try a lot of things you wouldn't normally get to at a more junior level, which is cool. Each parter or member of the management team has their own niche that they're really good at.
No boss is überboss that does everything perfectly, so it makes sense -- especially here -- to learn what each partner or management team member is genuinely good at and pick that stuff up. Not just work skills but practical, professional skills too.
They don't run on debt and are smart with money and hiring volume. It's a stable gig. People don't get kicked to the curb when a client leaves. A lot of agencies are the exact opposite.
Again, glad I spent some time here. You have to have the right kind of personality and it won't be for everyone. That's why I don't miss it. Culture and people never totally clicked. But for some it definitely does.
|
I dislike how they've segmented things into "teams." The PR team is just doing earned media. The creative team only does creative. The editorial team only does content. Strategy only does strategy. It makes contract writing easy, and makes the agency feel bigger than it is, but it can be limiting and I think it bores a lot of the employees--especially in the SF and UT offices that are 100% PR focused.
Earned isn't the future of PR anymore, and the definition of what PR is here is about 5 years behind. If you don't let employees run across disciplines regularly, and teach them how to be strategic across channels and services, you're creating single-track professionals. I felt bad for the PR team. It's a lot of pitch-monkey work, but at least it isn't a smile n' dial shop. Still, I saw a lot of budget-mandated, mono-channel thinking and under-delivering rather than deep thought about client objectives, audience, and how execute holistically. Also saw a few things that lived on the outer edge of acceptable ethics too.
The four partners have never run a business before, but they've been at this for pushing 10 years now so that rationalization is worn. It can absolutely be a bit dysfunctional at times, but they do listen and try to make things better. NYC seemed best at that.
My biggest beef is that it was pretty clear that at least a couple of the partners genuinely disliked their employees. I draw the line about being audibly annoyed with the work arrangements of new moms -- arrangements that you set up. This kind of thing shows. People feel the vibe. Venting is one thing...being a jerk because you can be is another.
Turnover was high, even for an agency. Partners seemed to think this was normal...I think that if you want to build something long-term, it totally wasn't. Granted, a lot of the people that left needed to leave...ratio of solid to "meh" employees wasn't that great. Definitely saw some issues with favoritism and even nepotism, but it wasn't as crazy as some of these other reviews make it out to be. Just managers being human.
Several of these reviews are super padded and it's obvious.
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
0.0
|
NEUTRAL
|
|
|
4.0
|
3.0
|
5.0
|
2.0
|
2.0
|
3.0
|
3.0
|
|
1259059
|
Open
|
Are you really thinking long-term? I felt like you were aiming to sell the whole time I was there. NYC does some solid work, but the other offices seemed content to do the same old same old. The competition in SF nabs all the marquee clients. UT seemed much the same. Hard to tell in the pit of marketing firms in SF, but in SLC you'd hear about this other shop that seemed to take every single top-tier tech client. It felt like the place hadn't actually grown in years.
Are you in or are you out? Answer that question for yourselves and the people that work for you.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
4.0
|
|
|
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Codeword
|
|
|
|
private:codeword
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1259059
|
Mar 21st, 2018 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Codeword
|
|
United States
|
USA
|
Toxic culture
|
|
Codeword is a good place for anyone who wants to break into PR or content marketing. It's a good place for the first 1 or 2 years of a person's career.
|
Codeword has great potential but it suffers from chronic disfunction at the management level. A member of the founding team has surrounded himself with enablers and sycophants who will do what it takes to preserve the status quo. The broader agency culture feels more like what one encounters in high school: a desire to be cool or hip or 'in' without any real focus on substance or intelligence. There is no depth. Unfortunately this impacts the firm's quality of product and the quality of talent it is able to attract and retain. Many of the management team also lack direct experience and longevity in the disciplines (PR, content) they lead, which leads to a chronic pattern of poor work product and poor ability to offer quality strategy and counsel to clients. There also exists a blindness to it all due to the aforementioned lack of direct experience or longevity. This in turn impacts junior or mid-level staff's ability to learn from any strong mentors. There are very, very few strong mentors or senior folks. Quite frankly this is one of the most poorly managed firms I've encountered and the only firm I've encountered that enthusiastically and openly celebrates mediocrity, underperformance and dysfunction.
|
|
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
|
|
6.0
|
1.0
|
2.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
2.0
|
1.0
|
|
1259059
|
Open
|
Invest in self-work and serious self reflection. Practice honesty.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
0.0
|
|
|
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Codeword
|
|
|
|
private:codeword
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1259059
|
Aug 15th, 2017 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Codeword
|
PR Intern
|
San Francisco, CA
|
|
A productively semi-chaotic environment like no other
|
|
-Dedicated account managers and upper management
-Access to a full kitchen on-site
-Located in SoMa close to the water and in a great, clean neighborhood
-Supportive family-like staff always works together
-Cross-office meetings with Salt Lake City and New York help cultivate company-wide relationships outside of the physical office
-Interns are treated more than fairly, and given normal account work rather than meaningless tasks and time-killers
|
-Company communications handled via Slack, so everyone will always be on their computer
-Internet connectivity was spotty during my time, making the online-first workload a problem from time to time
-Account teams DO exist, but the same person will be juggling multiple accounts with varying degrees of success and thought regarding each
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
|
|
0.0
|
4.0
|
4.0
|
5.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
4.0
|
|
1259059
|
Open
|
|
0.0
|
[]
|
INTERN
|
No
|
No
|
|
1.0
|
|
|
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Codeword
|
|
|
|
private:codeword
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1259059
|
Aug 5th, 2017 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Codeword
|
Account Executive
|
San Francisco, CA
|
|
Bad experiences and very little professional development.
|
|
Flexible vacation calendar, decent autonomy, good internship possibilities to get exposed to PR world
|
MAJOR favoritisim from partners. Upper management was distant and yearly reviews were useless because most managers have no leadership experience or quality work experience and are removed from the work. No real room for growth and company culture is seriously lacking.
Very little guidance on project work, and work flows downhill towards low level employees and interns, which leads to subpar deliverables to clients. Screening process and hiring is done at a seemingly ad hoc basis.
Benefits are poor. The HR department consisted of one person after many years of not even that.
Lack of promotions, empty promises of advancement led me elsewhere. Great place to intern, not a great place to build a career or develop professional skills.
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
|
|
8.0
|
2.0
|
4.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
3.0
|
2.0
|
|
1259059
|
Open
|
Root out favoritism, it kills work environments and relationships in teams. Get a real HR department. Hold managers accountable and provide trainings so they can help more junior team members. Only promote people with manager skills to manager.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
4.0
|
|
|
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Codeword
|
|
|
|
private:codeword
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=1259059
|
Jul 25th, 2017 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
Codeword
|
Manager
|
New York, NY
|
|
Be The Work You Want To Make
|
|
Some of the best people in the business.
There's a culture, particularly among folks who have stuck around awhile of just rolling up their sleeves and getting things done (often with a smile on their faces). People genuinely seem to like each other and want to get into shenanigans (like Hello Kitty painting parties, dress-up days (looking at you Halloween), or office potlucks.
That said, the partners are human, and there are missteps. But come on, they really do care about the people who work here and try to do their best and do good by the people they hire. They're also accessible... if you take the time to go speak to them, email them or otherwise get to know them (i.e., join them for their daily salad). They're busy, but will make the time if you ask them to.
The work... is what it is, but you have the ability to make it as good as you want it to, so if you're not happy with the work you're doing here... that's really on you.
|
The most recent hires are taking advantage of the country club environment... they're in at 10ish and out by 6pm (at the very latest). It's changing the culture, and the bulk of work and the maintenance of work quality is falling on senior managers and the partners themselves.
The adults here... can't figure out how to refill the ice trays.
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
|
|
3.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
|
1259059
|
Open
|
Don't take things personally. Especially stupid internet reviews from folks who couldn't hack it or don't bring up issues to you (either in person or through the anonymous channels you set up).
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
4.0
|
|
|
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Jan 19th, 2021 05:50PM
|
Codeword
|
|
|