Walking through the old ad district in Chicago and saw something wild

I was downtown near the old Leo Burnett building yesterday, checking out the old agency spots. Saw a huge, empty office space that used to be a full-service creative shop, now just a 'For Lease' sign. Made me think about how many of those places used to run on long-term partner deals, not just project gigs. Back then, you'd walk in and see teams from three different firms working together on one floor. Anyone else see old partnership hubs turning into ghost towns in their city?

3 comments

3 Comments

mary77621h ago

Guess the only partnership left is between the client and their project manager spreadsheet.

skyler_thomas23h ago

Those old partnership setups were inefficient and expensive. Clients got locked into long deals with bloated overhead costs. The project based model lets companies pick the best talent for each job without being tied to one agency. An empty office is just a sign the industry is working smarter now.

ellis.hayden22h agoMost Upvoted

The project model you're talking about is actually really expensive for clients too. I saw a tech startup last year spend over 80k just on freelancer onboarding and project handoffs for a single app. That's a hidden cost that gets passed on. Sure, the office is empty, but the client is still paying for all that fragmented management time.