Ryan MacMillan

I am very sorry to tell you that, for one reason and another, I’ve parted ways with RMM, a company that I took great pleasure and satisfaction in helping to create. Leo & Iain will continue to run the company, and my very best and warmest wishes remain with them.

I, on the other hand, am offski.

When Leo, Iain and I started RMM early last year, most of the planning work was done around my old kitchen table - which is where I’m sitting now to write this. We had - we thought - a very clear vision of where we were all heading.

In fact, the hardest job (judged by counting the edits on our company wiki) was choosing a name. I was keen on both “Dashwood Smith Locke Chang”, and “The Unspeakable Fu Manchu.” Iain preferred the guitar-driven: “Blackmore Page May” There was even, it seems, a misguided attempt to call the company “Say Hello to My Little Friend.” I don’t remember this, but it’s there in the wiki, so it must be true.

In the end, we decided that we’d do best if it were our names above the door. It would remind us daily that our product was going out with our names and reputations riding on it, and spur us on to new heights of achievement.

And so, indeed it has. The months have flown past, and I’m proud of everything we’ve achieved individually and together during that time. It has been one of the most productive and creative periods of my career to date, and has made me feel that many more things are possible.

But - I’m sad to say - it has to come to an end. After much careful deliberation, mature discussion, shouting, tears, pleading, stony silences, and many group hugs, I have made the decision to move on.

I’m going to work for an Omnicom agency. Omnicom. It’s a simply fabulous name - suggesting God-like powers and appetites. I wonder how many suggestions, edits and rewrites there are on their corporate wiki?

Now - I’m very pleased to count Iain and Leo as my friends, and wish them - and the company - all possible luck. We’ll continue to get together (so when’s the next laptop dance, boys?), joke, and talk about the future of RMM RM.