Reprinted with permission. But then, it's not an easy job, and the pay is lousy.
Interactive agencies make no money doing work for themselves.
Their priorities are with paying clients, and the house site gets done when it gets done. These goals tend to clash, meaning you can end up with a site that over-demonstrates but is hard to navigate, or one that has forsaken its creative side in an effort to pump out company data and ideology. Schlaak has seen this at Arcadus, which recently changed its name from Atlanticweb and is redesigning its site. Ad agency Hill Holliday's site is clearly in the control of creative. The home page warns that Shockwave and Flash are used extensively, and the site is not shy about straining the modem.