Overtime
In a Nutshell
Overtime is the extra work agency employees do outside normal business hours, usually to meet a brief deadline or prepare for a presentation. In theory, it's an option; in practice, it's an indispensable ritual of the industry.
What It Really Means
Overtime is defined on paper as extra work. But anyone who's been in the industry knows: overtime is the moment when the creative team's bargaining power hits zero. The 'urgent brief' that comes in at 7 PM actually means this: the client didn't write a proper brief, and the account executive couldn't fix it. So now we'll be writing ads until 2 AM.
Most agencies swallow overtime as 'team spirit.' But team spirit is sometimes an exploitation mechanism glossed over by the boss ordering pizza. In Turkey, especially at big agencies, the overtime culture is so internalized that a new junior hears the line 'be grateful you have hours to work' in their first week. A creative who doesn't do overtime is labeled 'unmotivated,' while one who does is labeled 'self-sacrificing.' Both are wrong, but that's how the system works.
There's also a subtle subtext to the term: There is no overtime on the client side. The client sends the brief at 5:45 PM because they've finished their own daily tasks. The agency accepts it in the name of 'client satisfaction.' The result? The creative team puts in their hours, and the next morning the client says, 'this isn't working.' Overtime is essentially the cost of a communication problem. But no one says that, because the agency that does gets labeled 'anti-client.'