I can’t imagine starting a new business today. Upon reflection, I was bold and brave, but necessity was the mother of invention because back in the mid-noughties, there were few maternity leave benefits. So, pregnant with my second child, I resigned from my full-time, well-paid job and took a leap of faith. Today, some would say naïve – nevertheless, the Feeney Marketing door opened in 1996. Coincidently, it was the same year that FULLER and HUGHES PR opened for business! As a young working mother, I had a few pauses compared to male-owned and run companies. When a third child was on the way in 1998, I was busy with three children under three and a half… but life was complete. Didn’t stop me. I continued to attend countless networking functions … on my own; faced with a sea of dark suits, I was one of very few female business owners in 1998. I met some great blokes flying the flag for my independent marketing agency!

In 2000, the world changed. The World Wide Web appeared, followed closely by Myspace and Facebook. I distinctly remember calling the IT lead at Safcol and asking him to help me connect via email. He asked me, “What’s email?” I told him it was a new way of communicating, and with an American client launching a new ‘revolutionary’ product ‘Micro Crisp’ (a paper wrapped around pastry in a microwave to make it crisp), communicating via email was necessary. Picknowl was my provider, and my email was nicola@picknowl.com.au.  It’s uncanny to imagine life without email today …I still remember the dial-up sound when connecting.

Early 2000 was a buzz with emerging opportunities!

Hello digital!

The shift from offline marketing to online marketing was intense. Google, My Space, Facebook, Websites! Marketing was changing. I started categorising clients into ‘the brave,’ ‘the bold,’ and ‘the buried’. It was so new (almost unbelievable) it was outrageous! Fancy letting people publish comments in the public domain about your products and services without vetting first? Let’s not forget Y2K – it would take down the computers! Some were preparing for the end of the world. In 2007, we endured the GFC -  with a husband working in the finance industry, I remember it well.

We survived.

Jump forward a decade … Myspace died, and Instagram was the new kid on the block. Mobile phones were essential, and social media and digital agencies emerged at scale. Marketing was fragmenting; it was digital versus legacy. Print media was in turmoil. The newness of tracking performance and conversion was creating furore among marketers and boardrooms, who were ecstatic about the data and wanted more! Print would be dead. Blockbuster miraculously survived until 2014, despite Netflix streaming since 2007!

Today, social media has morphed from a place to contact friends, publish photos, and reconnect to a place where brands can target a larger audience by spending less compared to an offline campaign. You can implement a full-fledged marketing campaign and guarantee that at any given time, there are 3 billion people online! Yet offline advertising is far from dead… remember that video stores would kill cinema!

But … I remember a slower pace, a less chaotic environment. I remember when photo selections took over a week! Today, images are sent digitally in real-time from a mobile phone and post edits are expected immediately.

Marketing is nimbler now, with real-time measurement allowing us to be responsive. However, marketing hasn’t changed; it will always be about connecting brands with consumers. Hello Artificial Intelligence – AI. As a side note and a veteran copywriter, I did not thread this up through ChatGPT.

In closing, behind my success are so many I need to thank. My family, my friends, my colleagues, and the outstanding media suppliers who bend over backwards and are relentlessly patient as we wait for client approvals! I can’t tag you all in! You know who you are.

After 28 years of back-breaking hours, late nights, and nail-biting excitement, I wouldn’t change a thing; life is full. I still pinch myself as I look back and realise I have built a strong, well-positioned Agency that has continued to adapt and grow despite the flux and change over the years.

A big shout out to those of you who were in the trenches with me, those who cheered me on from the sidelines, and the voyeurs who watched from afar. And a very special mention to the FEENEY alumni. What a ride! I'm so proud to see you all continuing to achieve great things as I watch from a distance.

Finally, to my team today. I am so proud to have you by my side and be able to help develop such a remarkable group of amazingly talented people. Without this great tribe FEENEY would not continue to succeed.

A big thank you to everyone over these nearly three decades. Three cheers and a happy anniversary!

PS Happy birthday to my son, James Feeney, who also turns 28 this week!