I was laid off from Ogilvy yesterday. It wasn’t completely unexpected as there were some layoffs last week and I was new on the team. Plus, the position wasn’t a particularly good fit for me. I know that sounds like spin and maybe it is but it also has the benefit of being true.

I still believe what I said when I started at Ogilvy:

To those paying attention, it’s become obvious: Anyone or anything can be a publisher, including consumer brands.

[SNIP]

Behind all of that content are methods and practices that tell us how long people view that content, who’s doing the viewing and how that information can be used to build a sustainable business. It’s something that traditional media publishers need to know more about and do more of in the future.

If I want to have a complete view of the mass media ecosystem and truly understand how content is created, consumed, tracked and paid for across all platforms, then the work I’ll be doing at Ogilvy is the next logical step.

I spent years at news publishers and loved it. But ultimately I’m a content strategist. Whether it’s on behalf of a brand or a traditional media publisher isn’t as important to me as the opportunity to create it, measure it, and motivate someone to take action as a result of it: seeking out more information, participating in the conversation and sharing it with others, taking action in a community, or becoming a new customer. It can be done in print, on the Web, via an app, at events or in many other channels.

While Ogilvy didn’t quite work out the way I expected, I learned a great deal there in a short time. I’m better at what I do now than when I started. The experience didn’t sour me on agency life but it has given me more perspective on it.  My boss and the rest of the team were a great group and I’m looking forward to seeing what they do next.

As for me, this situation is not wholly unfamiliar; something similar happened to me when I was at Playboy.com. After I left there, I got the chance to talk to a bunch of interesting people about their projects before landing at Chicago magazine, which was a great opportunity. I’m looking forward to the next great opportunity this time as well.