Agency Creatives - Layoffs Killing Innovation & Diversity

Agency layoffs are killing more than jobs. They're killing innovation. As agencies continue to gut jobs, defund departments, and dismantle creative divisions, those left standing carry a question they're afraid to say out loud. Am I next? And when that's the question you carry into every meeting, you stop raising your hand for anything that doesn't already have a guarantee behind it. You sponsor the same event. You target the same audience. You tell yourself "next year, we'll get more creative." But in the meantime, entire communities absorb the loss. You don't bet on Latinas. You don't bet on Black consumers. You don't greenlight the campaign for the audience that's been called "niche" for decades, even as they drive culture, set trends, and outspend every assumption made about them. Not because the data isn't there. Because "unproven" is too expensive a word when your job is already fragile. And honestly? As a human, I get it! If my livelihood were on the line, I'm not sure I'd raise my hand either. Because being wrong doesn't just cost you; it costs the people around you. The ones who trusted you. That's a weight most people aren't willing to carry. But someone pays for that calculus. It's just never the person who made it. I'm thinking of writing about this for Rogue Citizen! Would love to hear any thoughts, commentary or what you're actually seeing out there 👇