Agencies: Boutique vs. Beehive

I spent the last couple of days in Chicago at the New Ways PR regional activity put on by DePaul University's PRSSA Chapter.  While there, I had the opportunity to visit the Ketchum agency.  Having now had the opportunity to tour both boutique and what I like to call beehive agencies (because of their size), I would like to compare and contrast them a little and try and provide a little insight into the types of benefits each might offer up to student's looking to become interns, because that is my current situation.

Right off the bat, I noticed both tend to be relaxed in terms of the general atmosphere.  Dress code, as well as the demeanor of everyone is like this which I suppose is to help foster a creative space to work in.  The decor in both was very modern and hip and the majority of the workers are young.  The biggest difference I noticed was the number of clients and as a result individual attention to detail.

At a smaller agency, I think a fewer amount of people have to pay a lot more attention to detail when doing a campaign for one of their clients, while in a beehive agency there are more people to make it happen.  Individual attention to detail versus populated attention.  I don't know which is better.  It can be seen how successful both have been though.