Why Our Agency Closes for the Holidays (And Why Recharge Matters in Advertising)

Every December, we do something that might seem counterintuitive in an industry known for its relentless pace: we close our doors. Not just for Christmas Day or New Year's Day, but for the entire stretch between the holidays.

It's a tradition we've maintained since day one at Left Hand Agency, and honestly? It's one of the decisions I'm most proud of.

This isn't about being lazy or uncommitted to our clients. It's about recognizing something fundamental that our industry often forgets: we're human beings first, advertisers second.

The Reality of Agency Life

Let's be honest about what working at an agency really looks like. Most weeks, we're juggling multiple client campaigns, responding to "urgent" requests that materialized out of nowhere, and putting out fires that somehow always seem to ignite at 4:47 p.m. on a Friday.

The pace can be exhilarating: there's nothing quite like the rush of launching a campaign that drives real results for a brand we care about.

But it can also be exhausting.

The advertising industry has a well-documented problem with burnout. We've all heard the stories (or lived them): 70-hour work weeks, weekend "emergencies" that turn out to be routine revisions, and the constant pressure to be available at all hours because client needs don't follow a 9-to-5 schedule.

During the pandemic, this intensified dramatically, with some agency employees reporting work weeks exceeding 75 hours as clients demanded faster turnaround times while companies navigated layoffs and budget cuts.

At Left Hand Agency, we work hard to maintain better balance than most agencies. We set boundaries, we respect weekends, and we encourage our team to actually use their vacation days. But even with these guardrails in place, the reality is that fires do pop up out of nowhere. Client emergencies happen. Sometimes that "quick fix" turns into a late night, and sometimes that late night turns into a late week.

It's part of the territory, and we accept that. But accepting it doesn't mean we have to let it consume us.

Keeping Perspective in a High-Stakes Industry

Here's something I remind myself (and our team) regularly: advertising isn't life and death.

I know that might sound blasphemous coming from someone who's built their career in this industry. We pour our hearts into our work. We obsess over click-through rates, conversion metrics, and brand lift studies. We celebrate wins like they're Olympic victories and dissect losses like they're personal failures.

But the truth is, no matter how important our campaigns feel in the moment, no matter how much pressure we're under to deliver results, the world will keep spinning if a campaign launches on Tuesday instead of Monday.

The universe won't collapse if we take time to be present with our families during the holidays.

This perspective isn't about diminishing the importance of our work: it's about maintaining the mental clarity and emotional well-being that makes us better at our jobs in the long run. When we're constantly operating in crisis mode, when every deadline feels like the most important thing that's ever happened, we lose the ability to think strategically, to be creative, to see the bigger picture.

The best work comes from people who have space to breathe, think, and connect with life outside the office.

The Power of True Disconnection

There's a difference between taking time off and truly disconnecting. We've all had those "vacations" where we're still checking emails, jumping on "quick" client calls, and mentally cycling through campaign optimizations while we're supposed to be relaxing.

That's not rest: that's just working from a different location.

Our holiday closure is designed to make true disconnection possible. When the entire agency is closed, there's no pressure to check in, no fear of missing something important, no guilt about not being available. Our clients know we're closed. Our team knows everyone else is closed. It creates a shared permission to actually step away.

During this time, our team gets to do something radical: they get to live their lives. They cook elaborate holiday meals without worrying about campaign performance. They play board games with their kids without their phones buzzing with Slack notifications. They sleep in, take long walks, and read books (that have nothing to do with marketing attribution models).

They remember what it feels like to be human beings who happen to work in advertising, rather than advertising professionals who happen to be human beings.

Why This Recharge Matters in Our Advertising Work

You might think that taking time away from our campaigns and clients would hurt our performance. In reality, it does the opposite.

When our team returns in January, they're not just rested: they're recharged. They come back with fresh perspectives, renewed energy, and often, unexpected insights that only come from stepping outside our industry bubble for a while. Some of our best campaign ideas have emerged from conversations our team had during their time off, connections they made between advertising challenges and completely unrelated experiences.

The creative industry thrives on diverse inputs, on seeing the world through different lenses, on making unexpected connections. You can't do that when you're buried in spreadsheets and media plans 365 days a year.

A Challenge to the Industry

Our holiday closure isn't just about our team: it's a statement about the kind of industry we want to work in and the kind of culture we want to create.

The advertising industry has a reputation for grinding people up and spitting them out.

We've normalized a culture where burnout is worn like a badge of honor, where saying "I haven't taken a real vacation in three years" is somehow seen as dedication rather than dysfunction.

But it doesn't have to be this way.

Some of the most successful agencies are the ones that prioritize their people's well-being alongside their client results. They've figured out that sustainable success comes from sustainable practices, that you can't build a great company by burning out great people.

To our peers across the industry: your people deserve this time.

They've spent the year pouring their creativity, their intelligence, their energy into building your clients' brands.

They've navigated algorithm changes, budget cuts, supply chain disruptions, and whatever other curveballs 2025 threw our way.

They've earned the right to truly disconnect, to reconnect with what matters most to them outside of work.

The campaigns will still be there when everyone returns. The optimization opportunities will still exist. The client relationships will still be strong. But your team's mental health, their relationships with their families, their connection to life outside of advertising: those things are irreplaceable.

And, this is why recharge matters in advertising.

Looking Forward

As we head into our holiday closure, I'm grateful. Grateful for our incredible team that makes this work feel meaningful, for our clients who trust us with their brands and respect our boundaries, and for the opportunity to work in an industry that, despite its challenges, allows us to blend creativity with strategy in ways that genuinely impact businesses and people's lives.

But mostly, I'm grateful that we get to step away from it all. To touch some grass, as the saying goes. To remember that advertising is an important part of our lives, but it isn't the most important part of our lives.

When we return in January, we'll dive back into campaign optimization and performance analysis and all the strategic challenges that make this work exciting. We'll be better at it because we took this time away.

To everyone reading this: whether you're at an agency, a brand, or anywhere else in the advertising ecosystem: I encourage you to find your version of this. Create space for true disconnection. Prioritize the people and experiences that fill you up outside of work. Give yourself permission to remember that you're a whole person, not just a professional.

The industry will be better for it. Your work will be better for it. And most importantly, you'll be better for it.

Happy holidays, everyone. See you next year.

~Lauren