Thanks for having me

Agencies are like parties. Clients and colleagues alike are drawn to the best ones. I’m leaving a cracker so here is my thank you letter. Mum would be proud of me.

It started in an elevator on the way to a big pitch in the City of London. Chris and I knew we needed Fran if we were going to stand a chance at starting a proper agency. I spilled the idea out to Fran, the doors opened and into the pitch we went (we won). It was hours later Fran said let’s do this thing. Omobono (now TMP) was born (Fran and I not really sure about a weird Saint-name for our mad-cap B2B agency idea. Chris was). But as we cold-called our way to surviving year one; it turned out peeps remembered the name and gave us a chance.

We got a few things right. B2B would be our thing. Cash was always king. We said we wanted to work for the best brands, wherever in the world that took us (38 countries is my guess to date). We would hire people better than us. We would keep it silly and there would be biscuits. Outstanding ideas, thinking and execution across any media of the moment would set us apart. And we recognised that the currency of the comms business is, and always will be, relationships (Amen). Nurture them with colleagues, clients, stakeholders (and latterly influencers @joel that’s specially for you) and they would grow with us. They did.

There were many stops on the elevator ride up. 2000-6 was all about the government giving us problems to solve. As spotty adolescents we won (and Fran wrote) three IPA Effectiveness awards. Chris and I flew to New York and spoke to the major US TV networks about how this new thing called the internet might disrupt their business (that is how old I am).

Around this time we grew up. Turned out that in Cremona, a small town in northern Italy, (most of) the body of St Omobono was kept in a Liberace-esque glass sarcophagus  in the crypt under the duomo. We set a target, beat it, realising that setting goals worked. We took the whole team, met the Mayor and were allowed (under armed Uzi-toting guards) to see the town’s collection of eight Stradivarius violins (Omobono Stradivarius hailed from Cremona).

In 2006 we lit the rocket on a relationship that took us all over the world. We were trusted by some incredible clients to deliver brilliant work (you know who you all are and thank you). That word deliver became our secret sauce. It was not simply about what we delivered. How we delivered it made us memorable. If we got in the trench with the client and lived their pressure, we became a true partner. The work produced a Webby, countless other awards (the internal awards for our clients just as satisfying as industry gongs), three patents and drove growth; not just in revenue and share value, but also in the careers of our clients.

2014 we opened in Chicago. We learned just how lovely folks in the mid-West are. Colleagues and clients. We were working, on call (and partying a bit) day and night. The US was a fantastic market.

2016 we went to Dubai. This time a fast moving rocket. Up fast. Down fast. But the business remained steadfast. We loved it because it we were literally enabling trade – tea, coffee, precious metals. And – Hologram for a King - I got summoned to a tent in a desert an hour out of Riyadh to pitch at 2am in the morning shortly before someone was selling a suspension bridge (we won that one too). Back in the UK a personal highlight – a Queen’s Award. Chris and I went to Buck House and had tea with Liz and Phil.

Covid hit us all hard. Twice, every week, Sarah and I would have a cameras on, all hands call. I truly believe that got us all through – virtually together. Mack was there to help us find our way back to the best of our unique female culture.

And in 2021 we joined The Marketing Practice where we made new friends. Clive, Matt, Mirza, Henry, Jim, Luke, Trevor – thanks to all of you. Everyone open to the shared-opportunity of a truly global end-to-end B2B offering and committed to delivering excellence. It’s a great tribe doing great things for great clients.

Now, like my fabulous partners Chris and Fran, it is time to leave. I am lucky to have worked for so many fun, challenging, ambitious, decent clients. I get misty-eyed when I think of ALL the hundreds of people we employed and who have gone on to achieve incredible things – much grander than us and how, when you put us in a room, we all still get on. All of it has been a mad, brilliant, silly, creative – party.

I’ve left most of my moves (and outfits) on the dance floor. But there’s one left to share. My other mother (-in-law) Sally is still at 82 a big ball of energy. She taught me that enthusiasm is free and - given freely – is the motor behind momentum. It ran through our team, through our clients and everyone involved in what has been a wonderful time.

Over and out. So much achieved. So many people to thank – most of all Sophie, Honor, Thea.

Enthusiasm gives you energy and I can’t wait for what one of you is going to tell me comes next.