Last year, while he was still with Santo and shortly before he became Planning Director at W+K London, I met someone whom I felt was one of the most genuine people I’d ever come into contact with. He didn’t need to take the time to speak to me – a good 2 hours – or buy me breakfast while we had our conversation. But he did. He gave me some sound advice and asked me some searching questions which I believe helped me understand what I was looking for in terms of a career much more clearly than before. We stayed in touch by e-mail for a short while after that.
It was the first – and only – time we’d ever meet.
Martin Cole was diagnosed with cancer soon after he took up his role at Wieden’s in December 2008, and about 3 weeks ago, he lost his battle with the disease.
I’m glad I had the chance to know him, however briefly – from these comments on Welcome to Optimism, you can see what a gem of a person he was. My thoughts are with his family.
One Size Fits One 