metal & gin | (a weblog by craig t mackenzie)

2 comments

add your own

1. # on 02 Jan 08 @ 6:38 wayne hall said this:

   Hi Craig

   I regularly visit your website to see what you are up too and was disappointed that you have written such a negative comment with regard to IMPACT.

   After our last discussion I thought we had bridged the gap of impact not being the right company for you rather than it being a shit hole. Most of the comments on our site I deem inaccurate.

   In 2008 we have a head of New Media starting who has headed up one of the bigger digital companies in London and is respected in the digital community.

   He sees the potential in IMPACT and what we are trying to achieve and is committed to helping us get there.

   And that what its all about isn’t it? Building things? Not bitching that things are wrong but helping to put them right.

   I grant you Avenue Razorfish sounds an amazing company. Buts its been built by the looks of it on a lot of money filtering down from above and therefore may have a luxury that other companies only dream of. I don’t know.

   Its easy to be so positive about something thats been built ( you can ride for free )but I can tell you its much harder to build something from nothing. We did it at IMPACT with old media and have taken the company into being the 35th best performing agency in the country and are now creatively beating a lot of London Agencies deemed better than us to a lot of work last year by winning pitches.

   We are now putting this effort into New Media and whilst we have no gravy train to ride on give us 5 years and I believe we will be a respected digital company.

   We have a very happy and motivated staff at IMPACT all committed to making IMPACT a better company. They know it takes hard work and a high level of maturity. Sure they could bitch but for some reason these guys and girls just want to get on with it and make things better. I doubt that you will find that many people here who do not feel they are part of an improving company who looks after its staff.

   I would therefore appreciate it if you would remove this reference to IMPACT from your website out of respect for the many people we have here who are trying to create something special.

   At IMPACT you were never treated badly by me but always with respect. You say you never developed but we allowed you to develop your Ruby Skills in our time and at our cost (albiet I do realise you would have done a huge deal in your own time as well).

   I think the thing I am most disapointed in is that I have the experience and intelligence to see your potential but you never extended us the same courtesy.

   When you left you admitted to me that you had been incorrect in some of your thoughts and assumptions and admitted you had learnt from this.

   From your post I can only deduce that you were not straight with me and did not feel that way at all.

   In future if you are honest with your employer it may make it easier to for them to understand.

   For the record you can be honest to me in your reply (if you give me one) as there is no point in telling me one thing and thinking another.

   Wayne

2. # on 19 Jan 08 @ 10:55 craig t mackenzie said this:

   Hi Wayne,

   Apologies for my delayed reply, I have been on vacation in Dubai and have been very busy the past couple of weeks at work.

   In 2008 we have a head of New Media starting who has headed up one of the bigger digital companies in London and is respected in the digital community.

   I’m glad to hear you are (finally) replacing your Head of New Media, but I can’t help but feel I’ve heard the same before with your current/previous head. Just because someone’s coming down from London doesn’t necessarily make them any good. Your current head is a key example of this.

   I hope he is good for you though, because that is definitely one of things which is needed, a sense of understanding and knowledge in the department, it needs to be lead by someone that understands the job, the industry. Not by a salesman.

   And that what [sic] its all about isn’t it? Building things? Not bitching that things are wrong but helping to put them right.

   You’re right Wayne, it’s all about building things: building a good team, building confidence, building ability, building commitment, building trust.

   It’s definitely not about lying to staff over pay or festering an unpleasant working environment through broken promises. It’ not about publicly escorting your hardest working member of new media management out of the building for everyone to see, regardless of what she’s done (which by the way, was one of the main reasons Arfon left).

   The problem is Impact NM expects a massive amount of commitment from people on blind faith. With only ever a promise of “this year we’re going to invest a lot in new media” or similar given as justification. I was there for over 9 months after Ian left without a senior designer.

   How does that build commitment? How does that build confidence? How does that build trust? If the company you’re working for can’t even arrange a replacement for such an important member of staff in over 9 months!?

   I grant you Avenue Razorfish [sic] sounds an amazing company. Buts [sic] its been built by the looks of it on a lot of money filtering down from above and therefore may have a luxury that other companies only dream of. I don’t know.

   Its easy to be so positive about something thats been built ( you can ride for free )but I can tell you its much harder to build something from nothing.

   Avenue A | Razorfish London is an amazing company, it’s an amazing company now and it was an amazing company 10 years ago, when it was called DNA and was only a handful of people. It’s not an amazing company because of the money it has, when it first started it was as small as Impact NM’s offering.

   The difference between AA|RF and Impact NM is that AA|RF “gets it”. The company was founded by people who work in the industry, and understand the wants and needs of both their staff and their clients. Fast forward 10 years and you have a company full of committed, talented people confident and trusting of their employers ability to steer them and their careers in the right direction.

   People chose to work at companies like Impact NM & AA|RF, they need to have a good reason to commit so much of their life to it.

   We did it at IMPACT with old media and have taken the company into being the 35th best performing agency in the country and are now creatively beating a lot of London Agencies deemed better than us to a lot of work last year by winning pitches.

   Impact is first and foremost a design / print place. It excels at this type of work. It can probably quite easily compete with the bigger boys for print / design work because it’s a commodity. People will always need it.

   It won’t be able to compete with the big Digital boys. Not yet anyway. It doesn’t have the right experience or support that it needs, it would be nice to think that one day it will, but the whole time it’s part of the overall Impact it will only ever be a misguided department within a print agency.

   We are now putting this effort into New Media and whilst we have no gravy train to ride on give us 5 years and I believe we will be a respected digital company.

   Is it only now, in 2008 that you are putting this effort into New Media? Because that’s the same story I was told over 3 years ago when I started working at Impact.

   In my 3 years of being there Impact still hasn’t progressed as far as i would like it to have done, despite my best efforts. So how long does it take? It doesn’t take 5 years because their are companies out there today that have only been around perhaps 18 months, and are already in the NMA Top 100. You’ve got to at least consider that perhaps Impact’s approach to Digital is wrong.

   We have a very happy and motivated staff at IMPACT all committed to making IMPACT a better company.

   You do have a (relatively) happy and motivated staff at Impact, I wouldn’t want anyone to think otherwise. Impact NM or Impact Digital or whatever it is called these days is a different matter. It doesn’t (or at least didn’t) have a happy and motivated staff. I can tell you that for nothing.

   I would therefore appreciate it if you would remove this reference to IMPACT from your website out of respect for the many people we have here who are trying to create something special.

   I’m unwilling to remove my comments about my experiences at Impact NM, as it is my personal opinion, and this blog is a place for me to detail and journal my life, wether it was good or bad being at Impact NM played an important part in my life, and I have every right to express that.

   You say you never developed but we allowed you to develop your Ruby Skills in our time and at our cost (albiet [sic] I do realise you would have done a huge deal in your own time as well).

   You are actually right, Impact NM did allow me to develop my Ruby skills and took a big risk in doing so (from the perspective of a small company). And I am very grateful for this.

   It wasn’t entirely at Impact’s cost however because I was made to sign an agreement to pay the cost of attending RailsConf back to Impact (an unheard of agreement at larger companies).

   I think the thing I am most disapointed [sic] in is that I have the experience and intelligence to see your potential but you never extended us the same courtesy.

   I do have the experience to see Impact NM’s potential, thats the reason I took the job in the very first place. When I was presented with a desk shared by two and told this was the New Media department, I could have thought “no, not for me”, but I stuck around, I stayed whilst members of staff left, I helped grow and build that department, I was the Head’s right hand man on pretty much everything until Sarah arrived.

   I think we both know I played a big part in the moulding and development of the department, if you’d like to admit it or not.

   When you left you admitted to me that you had been incorrect in some of your thoughts and assumptions and admitted you had learnt from this.

   From your post I can only deduce that you were not straight with me and did not feel that way at all.

   I think you’re missing the point Wayne (and perhaps I’m guilty of not making it clear enough) I have nothing against Impact as a whole, as I’ve said before Impact’s print and design services are exceptional, and it does have (on the whole) a very happy and hard working staff.

   My comments and views come solely from the perspective of working within Impact’s New Media Department. And that’s the problem, it’s just a department, it’s always billed as an outright agency, with the same opportunities and excitement as a full blown agency, it’s recruitment adverts urge people to avoid the commute to London, as if there’s a happening, buzzing, digital hub in the sleepy village of Marden.

   But there isn’t.

   One day there could be, but it will take some very talented and committed individuals to help push it there. I was one of those individuals, but I was pushed out by Impact’s inability to invest in the department I cared most about.

   Not just that but I suppose I was becoming incredibly fed-up. After 3 years of working there I still wasn’t earning the money my job was originally advertised at way back in 2005, even though i was basically running the department from the perspective of enhancing and developing skills.

   That and the unfortunate realization that the departments head had never done the job I do, and wasn’t really suitable to drive the department forward.

   I’m rambling slightly now, so I’m going to wrap this up, but rest assured I have been nothing but honest with you here, and I genuinely do wish Impact NM the best of luck with growing in the future, I just hope that it learns from it’s mistakes.

   Craig