Chaotic and fear-driven = odd culture - Anonymous employee Merlot Marketing Employee Review

After working at three different PR/Marketing agencies I can confidently say that Merlot’s agency culture is unmatched. Everybody is so supportive and focused on creating top-tier work, and it shows in the incredible coverage and opportunities that get secured for clients. The leadership and management team has consistently shown support by checking to make sure I am doing okay (professionally and personally), that I have what I need to work successfully, and if I have any questions or feedback about things I am working on. This type of support has made it exciting to work everyday and be in an environment where people not only care about their work and clients, but also about their team. Many of the perks (remote work policy, monthly lunches, weekly team brainstorms, daily check ins to name a few) has created an environment that motivates me rather than stresses me out like past agencies have.

My only con is that the PTO policy could be more generous (compared to past companies I’ve worked for).

I’ve been working here for over two years and absolutely enjoy it. The atmosphere is overtly demanding and challenging, yet encouraging and a place where you can grow. Promotions are commonplace, but you definitely need to put in the work and be committed to achieving at a high level. Groupthink is discouraged and constructive conflict is encouraged. You often hear “turn good into great” and “may the best idea win,” pushing us to come up with new ideas and be tenacious in our recommendations (both internally to the team and externally to the client). Many of our clients are the best in their respective categories and lead the industry, so it’s a pleasure to work on the accounts; however, having high-profile clients that pay a premium for our services means that our output must be top notch. We all hold ourselves accountable for that level of achievement. Overall, the culture is driven, passionate, professional, fearless, positive, sincere and team-oriented.

Like any agency, you're constantly dealing with multiple clients, overlapping deadlines, and the workload is unyielding. The organized chaos of agency life requires you to juggle multiple projects and compartmentalize in order to focus on each task. Working at an agency isn't for everyone, so you definitely need to be passionate about your career and truly committed to perfection in order to thrive.