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Writer's pictureMichelle McKinney

AGENCY SPY!? WHAT!!!??

Updated: Jul 4, 2022

FAMOUS FOR A DAY!

I sort of fell into advertising. I was placed by a temp agency at Grey as an account assistant on the Kraft Foods account… in that high rise building on Wilshire Blvd across from the historic landmark Johnnie’s Diner that was only used for film shoots. At the time, I thought it was pretty f-ing cool. Three months later I experienced my first, one of a few, lay-offs in advertising. Being so young, and kind of like Reese Witherspoon in Election, I took this very personally. I thought I was specifically singled out and fired. I learned quickly that “layoffs” are a bit of a right of passage in the ad biz.


Fast forward 20+ years, and BA is my career of choice; a perfect blend between creative and business. Over the years I have had the honor to work at many of the best creative agencies in the world, with amazingly talented people; on some of the biggest brands. I had a recruiter say to me just a few years ago, looking over my resume, “It’s interesting. Every agency you’ve worked at you were there when they were hot, at their peak, and left shortly thereafter.” I hadn’t thought about it until that moment but she was right. I’ve never had a problem moving on when it was time. Of course it is easier when you’re 25 and a Jr. BA Manager making $22K a year.


Throughout my career, regardless of having worked at the ‘hot shops’, on the ‘big accounts’, nobody, and I mean nobody, ever did a press release when I was hired, or when I moved on. Director of Business Affairs just isn’t that kind of role I guess. So when, on September 20, 2018, I was contacted by Patrick Coffee at Adweek to comment on my leaving 72andSunny, I will admit I was a bit giddy! Of course I declined to comment on the specific reasons for my departure, keeping it focused on my next venture, HAILSTORM. A big shout out and thank you to @PatrickCoffee @AgencySpy for writing this very nice piece. I was famous for a day! #ModernBA #HAILSTORM


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