TRANSITIONS
Leaving It All Out on the Field
All Good Things Must End
This is a love letter. I write it not to an individual but to a company, a culture, and a group of people who I have gotten to know intimately for the past 18 years.
In December 2003 I approached Lynne Veil of venerable Cincinnati media shop Empower with a simple proposition: Let’s get to know each other. I had an ulterior motive, of course, of which she was well aware. She ended our hour-long chat with, “You know, we might have a job opportunity coming up in the spring.” The fix was on.
Yesterday, 19 years later almost to that day, was my last day at the place where Lynne spent over three decades. The place has a way of doing that to people: Getting under your skin and staying there. It tends to give you the opportunity to become who you want to become, and the time to do so. So rare in the agency business.
But Empower has always been rare. It was started as an “unbundled” media operation in the mid ‘80’s, when that was still entirely novel. Fortunately it was not ahead of its time. The timing was welcomed by some very large brands, and therefore was perfect.
Its respectful Midwestern-ness belies a killer attitude that bubbles just under the surface. The only thing its people like to do more than win is to help others do so. Hundreds of brands have benefitted from its commitment to hard work, innovation, and living its values for the last three-and-a-half decades.
In my time at Empower I’ve helped sell fried fish, shoes, bank accounts, pasta, cheeseburgers, spice blends, and glue as strong as a gorilla, to name just a few. You know, the stuff of modern life.
What Empower does best is apply its spirit and hustle to helping others succeed. And its spirit is its best side. At times it threatens to burst through the roof of the building that is humbly emblazoned with 12-foot tall letters that simply spell “Hello.”
It is led by a guy whose wily intuition and fearlessness is matched only by that of his mother, who started the place as an alternative to remaining in the corporate grind of the world’s largest CPG company. Like a lot of humble Midwesterners, he is way smarter than he gives himself credit for.
He is supported by a leadership team who understands how agencies work better than just about anybody. That is an incredibly important trait when the task at hand includes taking on the biggest holding companies in the world on a daily basis. They eat that challenge for breakfast.
But they obviously don’t do it alone. Supporting the mission are 200+ other savvy media folks who not only buy into it, but make it their own.
Like any relationship that ends I leave this one with very mixed feelings. But the most important one is the confidence that I left it all out on the playing field. While doing so was my personal focus I think it was infectious. After battling in the trenches arm-in-arm with hundreds of others, the place is better than I found it.
To me, that’s all we can ask from a relationship like this one: Apply every ounce of grit, determination, and creativity to making it work every day, and if you’re lucky you get to reap rewards that make your life better.
I’ll miss 15 East 14th Street, its people, and its mettle. As a tribute to our time together, wherever I am I will be trying to slay dragons like we did at Empower for 18 years.
But I won’t be far away. Often times you’ll find me at the nearest pickleball complex trying to compete with someone I have no chance of beating. I’ll be the one leaving it all out on the court.
