Grantie out...
“Well, that’s that done then….”
That’s what I said on Twitter and in a blog post at the end of April 2009. It was the day Inferno closed its doors for the last time and we merged back into Bite, after spinning out of the brand in May 2003. And that all happened after I’d joined Bite the first time around in late 1996 as a junior account manager (I believe I was Bite’s 9th ever employee). It’s all been a bit of a blur to be honest.
This time, though, it is done. I am leaving the loving embrace of Next Fifteen to take a new path and meet some new challenges, and while I can’t wait to get cracking on the next stage of my career, I am incredibly sad to be leaving such an amazing place.
Fifteen years is a long time to stay in one place. It is, so people keep telling me, a VERY long time to stay at one agency, or on agency-side generally. Ten years and you’re burnt out apparently. Well, I suppose that depends on where you work, that’s all I can say.
And that, I guess, is the point. Loyalty is earned, not given. Bite (and Next Fifteen) have given me so much over my career in terms of opportunity and friendships, that it hasn’t felt anything like fifteen years, more like five. I still feel fresh and energetic and that is because I have always come to work looking forward to the day/week/month/year ahead, simply because I was loving the people I was working with, loving the clients I was working for… just loving it really!
This was all brought home to me last Thursday when Clive, Kath, Macca and Bezza (Bez organised it all brilliantly) put on a fantastic send off for me in a local hostelry (obviously). Some very kind words were spoken by Clive, as were some funny/humiliating ones – hey, fifteen years is a long time to build up some ‘baggage’! There was a great video with contributions from Tim Dyson and Matt Ravden, amongst others. And then there were the people… old and current clients, old and current work colleagues… all friends.
And that’s what I will take with me from fifteen years at Next Fifteen – a lot of amazing, wonderful friends. Now, what more could you ask for than that?
Grantie out.