• by Seana Mulcahy , June 30, 2003

Well dear readers, I officially write to you as an ex-agency person. So much for the Darwinian theory as it applies to my gig as a VP, Director of online media. Yep, I've joined the bandwagon of casualities; I've been laid off.

For years I've been eating sleeping and breathing the agency lifestyle. I've pitched new business hard. I've won. I've lost. I've resigned accounts and upsold capabilities. I've saved and fostered client relationships. I've survived many layoffs and then had to lay staff off. I've even survived the revolving door of client layoffs. Many a time I've played translator between offline and online media, brand planning, pr, data analytics, and the list goes on.

The talk I've talked has been laden with jargon and all the latest buzzwords like SMS, WAP, ITV, SEM, and PVRs for customized sponsorships, product placement, online polling, viral marketing, and rich media.

The walk I've walked has a beat of a different drum. Its been one of a headstrong AOR (agency of record) while hoop jumping, juggling, putting out firs, and needing to be multiple places at the same time.

I've had to become builder, strategist, brainstormer, public speaker, show woman, mentor, rainmaker, pundit, student, teacher, panelist, keynote, the whipping post, the bad guy, the bearer of good news, and the swallower of the bad news.

Quite often I've had to hold my breath, let things go in one ear and out the other, grow thick skin, paint a smile on my face, stay late, come in early, miss weekends, and still be passionate.

My days were filled with targeting anyone and everyone from Tweens to Boomers, Seniors to babies, men to women, parents to singles, suburban to urban, B2B to B2C, from wired to wireless, from neophyte to tech savvy, African Americans, Latinos, Americans, and just about anyone in most foreign countries.

The products and services I've advertised were just as diverse: automobiles, financial, consumer packaged goods, telecom, wireless, fashion, fish sticks, panty hose, sneakers, travel, tourism, the government, plastics, pharma, pizza, burgers, fast food, cheap beer, tech, cause-related, golf balls, transponders, etc.

Writing had its limitations as I was restricted. I needed to be careful what I said because clients may have read my work. I couldn't praise anyone else's creative publicly. I couldn't really discuss pitches, snafus or inside kudos for that matter. It was hard.

What's even harder is the number of free agents out there. No matter where you look be it sales, vendors, agencies, or client-side, there's still a heck of a lot of downsizing going on.

I guess I can still speak as if I'm wearing an agency hat though. I think I've earned the right. I may just even be able to say what I want to say versus what I'm supposed to. So no worries, I'll still be here on the Spin. Thanks for your support dear readers. Thanks for your comments and posts. Keep 'em coming. You can certainly mark my words that I'll have a lot more to spill.