No, this is not a post about global warming.
Besides, if it was, wouldn’t I have to title it, “Hello More Summers”?
No, this is a post about saying goodbye because today is Richard Summers – planner extraordinaire – last day at Wieden.
Rich has been with W+K for 6 years … first in London and then with us.
Over that time, Rich has been involved in a huge amount of stuff, however the best way to show how much it’s changed him is to compare photos from his time in London …
… with that of his time in Shanghai …
Yep, he’s gone from clean cut, lover of stylish, laid back shades-of-grey to semi-drunken, cliched french/burglar fashionista.
Alarming.
That aside, Rich is going to be missed hugely by colleagues, clients and me.
Apart from being smart, hugely talented, immensely creative and a fellow lover of documentaries [not to mention being the possessor of the largest bank of definitions for sexual perversion since Heidi Fleiss] he’s done fantastic work on everything he’s touched, from Converse to Umbro to P&G to Beats to our own W+K Open Office.
In addition, Rich sent me my favourite ever SMS.
Yes, EVER.
A bit of a back story.
A few years ago I wanted Rich to go and do an experiment for us about China’s fastest growing cities.
While the end result of that was our lovely BoomTown Stories what isn’t known is that I sent Rich off to do it in mid-winter … and just to add to the hardship, I said he wasn’t allowed to pre-plan much, he had to do it on the fly.
I can’t remember why I said that, but I’m sure there was a reason for it. Ahem.
Anyway, I was in an airport about to fly to Portland when I got an SMS from Rich where he stated he was so cold, he’d had to steal toilet paper from the hotel to insulate himself from the freezing temperatures.
God, that makes me sound like a complete bastard doesn’t it.
Ahem.
Anyway, while I’m very sad Rich is going, the fact he was handpicked by Anomaly to be their head of planning for their new China office gives me some comfort.
Not just because one of my colleagues was recognised by a great company for his skills and talent … not just because he is going to a place that will continually embrace and push his talents … not just because it will be very exciting to see what he does and creates … but because I know he will make Anomaly even better and that will push the creative standards of China which will make the industry better for everyone.
Rich, thank you for everything, you leave a lot of memories and a big hole and we look forward to competing against you in the near future.
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PS: Don’t worry Rich, even though you won’t be with us anymore, I’ll make sure you still get your annual birthday cake and sing-a-long from us, because I know how much you used to absolutely love it and look forward to it.