Redundancy sucks but Andy Flemming has turned into an opportunity to show his creative flair by writing his own departure announcement. Flemming was told by M&C Saatchi that he could choose the manner of his own departure, he relates in the announcement. His first choice, he says, was “death by long sword”. This, he notes, was rejected by the agency, which preferred not to be likened to a medieval judge.

Then he chose the cliché, ‘more time to spend with my family’. “But then I realised that I’ve been stuck with them for months and my daughter’s Christmas presents of a bass guitar and amp has become one of my greatest regrets of 2021.”

M&C Saatchi suggested, ‘the chance to pursue exciting opportunities elsewhere’, he recalls. He rejected this “due to it being the absolute number one excuse used by parties who departed without a job to go to, but somehow wanted to give the impression that there was some sort of majorly impressive international job on the horizon as opposed to sprawling on the couch and playing Assassins Creed Valhalla in their pants.”

He did agree to “a puff piece in the middle of the release that would list his accomplishments and would approve the HR quote about him being ‘proud of his team, and have no doubt that he’s set the groundwork for their continued growth and personal success’,” he writes.

This is that tract:

In fifteen years, Flemming has been one of the most influential writers in M&C Saatchi, if not the industry, with work such as Optus ‘Ricky Gervais’ and ‘Idris Elba’, ‘Can Kids’ for CommBank and ‘Matesong’ for Tourism Australia. Alongside the legendary Tom McFarlane, he helped build the CommBank ‘CAN’ brand from scratch and wrote exceptional long body copy ads that at least one international judge was quoted in the press as being ‘just too long to read.’ He was also part of almost every major pitch win, including the recent Tourism Australia pitch in 2018. He’s also won numerous awards in Cannes, D&AD and all those other little ones.

Flemming has also shared his exploits, failings, inability to stand after Rose and judging exploits in his long running ‘Cannes Diaries’ for CB that have been read by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. In his spare time, he lectures film at UTS and plays ‘Assassins Creed Valhalla.’

He states that he was granted the request to have quotes from M&C Saatchi chief creative officer, Cam Blackley, and regional creative director, Tom McFarlane.

“Andy is a self-proclaimed sniper and I’d second that,” stated Blackley. “Whilst we’ll miss him in the day to day, he’ll only ever be a phone call away for special operations. In all seriousness, it was Andy that welcomed me into the agency, he’s been a rock. I described him as a ‘scholar and a gentleman’ to the agency earlier and that’s the truth. He leaves an unparalleled legacy. His Ricky Gervais work for Optus is one of the greatest pieces of modern advertising in my opinion.”

Tom McFarlane added, “What can I say about Andy that he can’t say about himself far more eloquently. He’s everything a good writer should be. Witty, curious and a lover of words. I enjoyed nothing more than seeing him strut through my door, just hours after receiving a brief, loudly declaring- ‘I’ve cracked it… and it’s fucking brilliant!!’ And it nearly always was. On the occasion it wasn’t, he’d exit, unbruised by rejection and reappear a short while later, with an idea that was indeed, utterly brilliant. And it’s that resilience that makes Andy a truly great writer.”

Ultimately Flemming wants the truth to be told. “To be honest, my GCD role was becoming unfeasible, and M&C Saatchi bent over backwards to make sure that redundancy was absolutely their last wish – going so far as to offer me other roles within the organisation. But fifteen years is a ridiculously long time, and it seemed the right moment to take stock and peruse another adventure, wherever or whatever it is. M&C has been my home for a long time. It’s in great hands and it’ll be a little odd to watch their successes from the outside.”

Flemming will remain at M&C Saatchi until the end of August. Then you can find him here.