Leo Burnett

On December 1, 1967, Leo Burnett made the above speech to his entire Chicago office. Less than four years later, a heart attack took Burnett’s life. He was 79 years old.

But, should you stroll by 35 W. Wacker Drive, a tall skyscraper bordering the Chicago River to the south, you will still see Leo Burnett’s iconic signature near the building’s main entrance. In 2010, Leo Burnett (the agency) celebrated its 75th anniversary, and not long after, Sao Paulo-based animation and design studio Lobo marked the occasion with the above video in tribute to Burnett’s legacy and his iconic speech. Hey, it even includes those giant black pencils, a reference to the “reaching for the stars” logo, and those “goddamn” apples, three symbols still very much present in Burnett’s agency marketing tactics.

Now, before you commenters get all up in arms about whether or not the agency is, in fact, honoring its namesake with the latest work for Allstate or (insert client here), turn your focus toward critiquing the video first. Nice job, Lobo, and who knows, maybe Leo CCO Susan Credle will soon start demanding that the above clip be played on an hourly loop on all of 35 W. Wacker’s TVs.

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From Leo Burnett Chicago, prodco O Positive, and a director known only as “Kenny” comes the above TV spot for McDonald’s very addictive french fries.

The spot opens on a familiar scene–one we’ve seen on countless greeting cards, stamps and Bic lighters–a boy and his older male friend fishing at the ol’ pond created by hazardous waste runoff from the power plant half-a-mile upstream. Realize, of course, that the duo is not going to eat its catch, as the two picked up some Filet-O-Fish sandwiches before the trip to ensure each has his recommended daily intake of Omega 3 fatty acids. I mean, you don’t actually expect them to eat dirty ol’ fish from the dirty ol’ pond, do you?

Much to his companion’s disdain, the boy opts to use a McDonald’s french fry over watching another worm writhe to death at the end of his hook. This inevitably attracts some employees from the power plant upstream (and one guy who takes cycling too seriously) to the addictive fries, their deaths weighing heavy on the boy’s conscience and causing him to develop an irrational, debilitating fear of ponds and small lakes. The boy learns a lesson that most of us have also learned the hard way: The “Best Fries on the Planet” are not toys.

Credits after the jump.
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And so, the Mark Moll agency tour continues. After spending the last several weeks in freelance mode following his quick, three-and-a-half month stint as an ECD at R/GA, the “OK to Be a Cat Guy” guy is moving from New York to Chicago to assume the title of SVP/creative director at Leo Burnett. Moll’s official start date has yet to be determined, but we’ve been told that he will be working across Leo Chicago’s portfolio of accounts.

As we mentioned before, Moll’s agency career, which spans over 15 years, includes a copywriting gig at Arnold as well as ACD stints at both CP+B and Deutsch LA.

Sources familiar with the matter confirm that Leo Burnett has let go of some staff in Detroit, which handles accounts including GMC and Buick. While no numbers were specified, we’ve been told that the cuts affected a few departments and had to do with, you guessed it, realignment of staff to better serve client needs.

Jeez, it took long enough. Nearly three weeks after tipsters first told us that Leo Burnett’s New York office picked up the Chobani account, it’s finally been made official. The recently opened NY office, which is led by CCO Jay Benjamin, MD Tom Flanagan and director of strategy Jumana Abu-Ghazaleh, beat out the likes of Arnold and Grey and picks up the top-selling yogurt brand’s biz from Gotham (example of the NY shop’s work here). Chobani founder/CEO Hamdi Ulukaya says in a statment, “”We chose Leo Burnett New York because they understand the importance of authentic engagement and the necessity to constantly evolve a brand while keeping it true to its roots.”

For the last 10 days, we’ve received multiple tips that Leo Burnett won the Chobani yogurt business, which was previously handled by NYC-based, IPG-owned Gotham. And though the agency is not ready to confirm anything as of now (see quote in headline), AdAge seems to have it on lock (yeah, we know clients steer towards them first anyways). Here’s a screenshot of one rather succinct tip below as evidence:

Well, there’s a legitimate reason why Deutsch LA wasn’t responding to us in regards to the handover of the Esurance biz as they weren’t actually passed the baton. Leo Burnett has become the brand’s new AOR after beating out Deutsch, Venables Bell & Partners, Goodby and incumbent Duncan/Channon. Guess it makes more sense considering that Leo has already been serving as  the agency for Esurance’s parent, Allstate. In a statement, Esurance CMO John Swigart says, “The decision was a difficult one for us, since all five agencies presented amazing work. Ultimately, we felt that Leo Burnett delivered the best option for continuing the development of Esurance’s brand voice in a crowded industry.”

Leo Burnett has been named agency of record for Cincinnati-based financial services company Fifth Third Bancorp, which chose the veteran Chicago-based operation without conducting a review. The Fifth Third AOR duties had previously been handled by Olson, which originally won the account in late 2007. Terms of the contract weren’t disclosed but as is the norm with AORs, Leo will be responsible for FTB’s advertising, digital and marketing communications services.

In a statement, Fifth Third’s SVP/CMO Larry Magnesen says of Leo Burnett, “They have a proven track record of developing breakthrough communication strategies to articulate clear value and differentiation, and most important, to engage the customer.”

 

With another Cannes International Advertising Festival on the way comes Leo Burnett’s 24th annual Lions predictions, consisting of a reel that includes 40 campaigns from around the world that the agency predicts are the top contenders to take home Lions this year. 2010′s predictions were pretty dead-on, with the 40 taking home 90 Lions including 12 of the 15 Grand Prix honors.

So, how did the agency come to its conclusion that W+K’s Old Spice campaign would win big on the French Riviera? As their press release states, “It was a tedious process for sure: a team led by Leo Burnett Worldwide CCO Mark Tutssel viewed thousands of campaigns, monitored global and local award shows and followed the general industry buzz to select the work for this year’s collection.” That does sound pretty tedious and time consuming, doesn’t it?

You can view the entire list as well as an interactive PDF version on Leo Burnett’s blog, but may we direct your attention to number 29, Allstate’s “Mayhem,” which is credited to “Leo Burnet.” We’re obviously not ones to talk but you gotta love the irony.

Update: Looks like they fixed the typo already. A+ for reaction time, guys.

Now that it’s making some inroads in Brazil, Publicis Groupe sets its eyes on enhancing its digital capabilities with the acquisition of Holler, a London-based shop that specializes in digital content and social media.

As a result of the purchase, Holler will now be affixed to the Leo Burnett Group in the U.K and will increase the latter’s number of digital specialists across the pond from 35 to 70. Holler, which counts clients including Channel 4 (which includes E4 and the original Skins) and Red Bull, will continue to be led by James Kirkham, Will Pyne and Simon Hankin, who hold the titles of managing partner, ECD and joint managing partner, respectively. According to the announce, digital accounts for 28 percent of Publicis Groupe’s revenue, but the holding company hopes to increase that number to 35 percent within the next three years.