Pros
Getting to do a tremendous amount in a short time for your portfolio, meet a lot of clients who are well connected in the industry, and work on a variety of projects. If you're a go getter it's an opportunity to try your hand designing/writing for a huge variety of work, and at times be given the opportunity to manage large productions outside of what a normal agency would be involved in, such as photo shoots.
Cons
The cons are steep. Although BBI has dreams of being a major player in the Dallas studio scene, the company is run by mgmt who have never worked in an agency or have a background in design or copywriting. There is a lot of creative energy and potential big breaks with exciting clients, that are mismanaged and ruined opportunities because of over promising to clients without consulting the people actually doing the work, no time given to work through all the possible solutions for the best work possible, and a very hostile environment. While mgmt was often unreachable in NYC, the design team labored over projects that mgmt would look at 30 min before a client pitch and change at random without even reading through the pitch or consulting anyone on the team to have context for the last couple weeks of work they hadn't been a part of. It was devastating to the work, and the quality suffered tremendously. While trying to reason or explain the research or give context to the work, mgmt would often shut the team down, saying "I don't care, do what I say". I've never worked somewhere that was so hostile to its employees. The mgmt would scream at employees for tasks they had never been told about, and was unable to be reasoned or calmed down. They were quick to blame and lie to clients and employees alike, and took no responsibility when approached about the unreasonable and hostile nature of the office. At first it seemed this would be an opportunity to support the creative energy of the mgmt, however there was no support or respect given to the employees. While the hours started at 9-6, they continued to stretch into 8-6 and then required Saturdays and Sundays work days. While working extra hours is sometimes a part of the industry, there was no compensation for people who were contracted for only 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week. Many of the staff members were fresh out of college with no frame of reference for how agencies work or hourly compensation, and were told that they should be smiling through their day for this giant opportunity, all while working many hours for free. For people on salary, there is no overtime for working 60-70 hour weeks. I was accused of not working enough after approaching mgmt for help and how I needed more creative support and trust to be able to meet our impossible deadlines. Mgmt was not interested in reasoning or checking timesheets to see that I had been working 60-70 hour weeks since being hired, including weekends and into the night. Instead of addressing the request for support, mgmt accused the team of not working enough. The final straw was after working from 9am-7:30pm, mgmt sent out an email detailing that nobody was working enough and the owners shouldn't be the only ones working late, and the official hours were now 8am-8pm through the end of the year, with no lunch breaks or dinner breaks allowed. The staff would have to have meals delivered to eat at the desk. And if one person wasn't done at 8pm, the entire staff needed to stay no matter what. This is on top of requiring the staff to work weekends. I'm fairly certain this is illegal, and in my opinion is morally wrong to force a staff of almost all contract workers to work for free and with no breaks allowed for 12 hours a day.
