media planner

account executive

account coordinator

junior account executive

account director

Zimmerman Advertising


Experience as a Designer

As a Graphic Designer at Zimmerman designing was the easiest part of my job. The most difficult part of my job was people managing which was not apart of my job. (*co-workers and people around the building all are pretty nice)

All of our jobs were given to us from Account Service, with no interaction with the clients all of our information was through them. They were the foundation of our jobs and with such a high turnover rate that foundation was pretty shaky. 

I didn't blame the new hires on the Account Service team I blamed their supervisors. They didn't take the time to properly train them and then the improperly trained train the new people, it's was a cycle. 

Here's how getting jobs would work, Account Services would write up a job containing what they'd want us to do and extra details that would help with the job. But since they aren't trained correctly they omit tons of essential information, instruct us to do things that are against the brand, and cut corners because they waited to long to submit a job. 

All of those things would result in unnecessary revisions and would just steal all the time from the other jobs. Even when we'd take the time to have a meeting to say "this doesn't feel right", "this goes against brand guidelines", "There's too much going on", it goes in one ear and out the other. We'd do their changes and end having to revert to the previous version.

Another thing when it comes to concepting for campaigns Account Service higherups beg for NEW, BIG, IDEAS that they have no budget for. We deliver each time and guess what they end up stripping and bastardizing the concept to the point where it makes no sense . It honestly tiring and so draining to see the work you pulled all nighters on turned into a another generic piece of production work. If we were to start with where the concepts usually ended up we'd get tons of critiques and tongue lashings.


Experience as a Designer, Salary, 
Work Life Balance, etc.

As a designer I really felt like my hands were tied, the longer I was there the more I felt my design senses suffering. Mostly because I was being art directed by people who don't even know the basic design principles. They would always steer us in a direction that would go against what made sense to do as a designer. This wasn't coming from a place of ego either, the changes they request would cause the opposite effect of what they'd wanted to achieve.

The pay is horrible and under industry standard. For example if they give you a ball park range like $30,000 - $45,000 better believe you'll get that $30,000. I suggest pushing back on whatever salary they give you. It's also very hard to grow here unless you're working with the higher ups directly.  

Work life balance is even worse then the pay. I always thought companies that pay you less would at-least let you enjoy your time off but no its rare to have a week without an all nighter. Its hard to have an actual life. Now I heard that they implemented working partially remote since they have to compete with the current job market. It's actually ironic they lost a lot of great people due to bringing everyone back into the office and not budging on working remote at all.

Everyone in the office is super nice and helpful, I feel like its a reason alot of people end up staying. Alot of people look out for each other at-least in my experience. I wish them the best! We bond over the nonsense

Zimmerman can be a start for your career but I wouldn't recommend staying there long term. If you decide to work here please make a conscious plan of, getting your portfolio together, creating an exit plan, and have self checkins to see if you're happy

A typical day at Zimmerman includes working harder than ever before... much of this is because of poor management. I was in the Creative Department for many years. The difference in Account Service and how they dealt with the clients was directly related to how much work was piled on to Creative. AS was never trained properly. Straight out of school, pauper wages, and sink or swim mentality - so it is hard to blame them. It is their superiors. Hire some people with experience! Train the kids right out of school! Have some feeling for your employees, rather than how many minimum wage graduates you can hire and throw them in. Soooo many adorable, fashionista model type 21 year olds straight out of college work at the Z!!! Some have good brains. Train them! Creative is closely guarded. A very few selected guys are allowed to do creative. The rest of the department are allowed to do production. No matter how talented they are. So much creative talent in this organization is totally wasted because of poor management! THEN, if you are one of those "chosen" ones, you must work approx 70-80 hours a week! We are talking every night. Every weekend. No extra compensation. It is crazy. 

THEN, after you have given all you have, after you have been there 8 years, 12 years, even 20 years... risen up the ladder to VP status or more.... POOF, you are gone! Sorry, no room for you anymore. Z can hire 3 new graduates for your salary. Opps, NO severance. NO unused vacation pay. NO unused sick days. Your health insurance stops today. Your pay stops now. Not one dollar more. Any benefit you may have accrued up to this point, the Z will now take back. Oh, you didn't read that line of find print on page whatever in the employee handbook? Don't worry... there is 13 weeks of $250 a week unemployment to get you back on your feet. 

UGH!!!!!!

What is the best part of working at the company?
Affiliation with recognizable brand names

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Understaffed, no regard for employees as people. Only “cogs” in what they overtly reference as “The Machine”. Their tagline is 24/7. really. Believe this. Jordan or “jz” will commit to insanely close deadlines and the whole agency has to scramble to meet those commitments which have been made without regard to understaffing or existing workload. A culture of fear pervades. No one wants to be yelled at by JZ.  Also parent company Omnicom  is out to make money on every level so they outsource digital buys to people in other countries   So you have to do multiple sets of buy inputs and be satisfied to relinquish visibility into the buys. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Toxic, stressful, fearful, angry

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
You better be at your desk by 9:00 am. There is a “truancy officer” monitoring arrival times in lobby eager to write up and turn you in. That same person walks the floor to make sure you remain at your desk. Or else. Written  up and reported
I am not sure how millenials or even younger people are going to tolerate this for long. There is an expectation of continual work

Zimmerman will quickly grow on you because luckily the people there quickly become really good friends, and will help you adjust to your position. The work environment and culture truly is strong and a place where you enjoy being. The building and facilities itself are super nice and comfortable to be in. However, it is the complete opposite when it comes to your work managers and the work you have.  There is no real organization on title management there. A Junior could be doing a Senior job and still gets paid junior position and there are Directors sitting there doing nothing all day and getting paid 6 figures. There are plenty of talented leaders but they are too caught up in their egos they forget how to lead. Overall, there isn't much room to grow in the company, unless you are completely lucky, which doesn't create a fair process for everyone. The work you will create is nothing creative, you have no creative freedom - Zimmerman does not value the aesthetics only wants to work to be done fast.

A typical workday was steady and offered valuable opportunities to grow my skills. During my time at the company, I learned how to operate MediaOcean, develop complex media plans, analyze reporting data to optimize campaigns, and navigate the digital advertising landscape.

While I gained a lot from the role, I felt management could have been more organized. The workplace culture was generally positive—kind colleagues and a pleasant environment—but it sometimes felt cliquish, and there was occasional water-cooler gossip that I didn’t find constructive.

The most challenging aspect of the job was adapting to MediaOcean, as it was a new system for the entire agency, and there was a steep learning curve. However, the most enjoyable part was the camaraderie during lunch breaks and the benefit of free catering.

This company is all about who you know. Its a great place to gain good solid job experience fresh out of college but the place is a revolving door. There is always someone waiting in line to take your place. I worked there for 2 years and had great relationships with all of my co-workers including my bosses. I made a mistake and was fired.

its a big company that likes to plan a lot of events which is cool from time to time but its far from a great company. I enjoyed most of my time there.  

Expect to make next to nothing if you're entry level. $24k is standard for people just starting out. it took me 2 years to get up to $30k which is what they should pay from the start.  you can also expect to work long hours without compensation for overtime. I've worked 60 hour weeks with nothing extra in my paycheck. 

If you get the opportunity to work there I would take it. its the largest agency in Florida.

This company has potential. It's a very big company with hundreds of employees. Our new building is more relaxed and we're really quite happy here. We have more physical room to be creative. However, the department I work in, isn't my favorite. CReativity is frowned on from certain people. Work is recycled, and new ideas are quickly scrapped. Very disappointing. Management (mine specifically) doesn't leap to manage my department well, will not create new ideas, and generally sticks to what is known, even if its been known for the last 10 years.
Aside from management, Zimmerman is quite a decent place to work. When the workload is heavy, and when I'm challenged, I'm generally content. Basically thats the hardest, yet most enjoyable part of this job.

Salary at this place is dreadful, but the vacation and benefits make it more manageable.

What is the best part of working at the company?
They give you your birthday day off.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Turnaround times are 24-48 hours
Management will treat subordinates horrible
Layoffs every quarter 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Is a toxic environment, no matter how many people will express it on their exit interview, things would never change, basically HR will don't as protocol not to really do something about it. No respect to the employees. 
And the culture well its right there on the wall, they are a machine, overwork you and pay you the minimum. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Working all day nothing special.

this agency is a CYA place. Everyone is looking for some one to blame but themselves. You will definitely work for pennies in a high stressful environment. i really dont understand how come Omnicom has yet to step in. This place has a revolving door. The only people who stay around are the higher level executives (VPs and Directors). i'm pleased at the experience i gained within the 6 months i'd worked for ZA. But if you want to work for a complany that cares less about their employee and more about the money... then this a place for you!!!!! The average coordinators make $24k yearly before taxes, that is $11k less than what i've paid for college a year. Lower level executives, only make a few grand more. Most enjoyable day was lunch!!!

My direct supervisor was not great, but my other managers were kind and eager to help me learn. They were fantastic and really took me under their wing. However, everyone was always slammed and stressed. You could cut the tension with a knife in every department or office you walked into. Everyone was on edge. By the time I left I was the senior planner on one of the accounts I worked on, because everyone else on the team quit. I only worked there for 8 months. The turnover is constant. You'll learn a lot if you are up for it and can afford the terrible pay.

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