Pros
• The greater team (producers, designers, social, etc) were a great bunch of people who really wanted to make great creative and cutting edge marketing materials. No matter how passionate they were, there were always roadblocks from the most senior management/founders, who consistently made terrible decisions - decisions that were bad for morale and bad for business.
• Team bonding/commiserating due to said issues
• Brief dog-friendly office. This was also vetoed after fleeting joy was had.
• Standing desks
• Filter coffee provided
• Free paper-clips (limit 5 per year)
Cons
There were some big personalities and some big ideas in this place that were consistently shut down by senior management. There were constant roadblocks to project success and growth of the company, and the most intelligent and thoughtful opinions were not listened to. Decisions were made regardless of detailed strategies and dedicated time put in by talented employees, which lead to widespread burn-out and general frustration.
While senior management may have had "good intentions", good intentions don't mean you actually know how to run an advertising agency. This was consistently obvious by the choices being made that would surprise the team.
A great company is the product of it's employees, and unfortunately this wasn't realized at BLKBX.