Leo Burnett

Lately we've heard some rumblings from a few of you that the Los Angeles offices of Leo Burnett are closing. We called around and eventually got an answer that makes more sense. And let's be honest — the fewer agency closings, the better.

According to a source within the agency, one of the two offices in LA is no longer needed. Yes, that's not necessarily a good thing, but saving money just makes sense. Apparently some of the GM team was needed in Detroit — the agency wanted those folks closer to the client, etc. But the shop, as best we can tell, is still very much open for business. Could this be an indicator of things to come? Who knows, but it's definitely a trend that's popped up lately.

Better to sacrifice office space than bodies.

More: "Should Leo Burnett Take 'The Man's' Name Off the Door?"

Last week, SVP ECD George Katsarelas passed away. The 49 year-old writer apparently had a heart attack earlier last week and was being kept on life support. He was taken off of life support today and passed on shortly after.

Katsarelas is a Michigan State grad. He studied advertising and communications there and later became a copywriter. He spent five years at Doner before moving on to an ACD position with Campbell-Ewald. He stayed with the agency for seven years, but most recently served Leo Burnett as an SVP, ECD, beginning in 1994.

Under his direction, his teams created myriad award-winning campaigns for the likes of Pontiac, Cadillac, GM Service Parts and AC Delco. He was president of the Detroit Creative Director's Council and an active member of the Detroit advertising community.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Katsarelas family during this extraordinarily difficult time," said Leo Burnett Worldwide Chairman and CEO Tom Bernardin. "George was extremely talented and a wonderful family man and friend."

Katsarelas is survived by his wife, Mary, two sons, Max and Nick, and daughter, Elizabeth.

Arrangements for George are as follows:

Visitation will be Monday 2:00 pm — 8:00 pm with prayer at 7:00 pm.

Funeral will be at 10:00 am Tues. St. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Westland.

McCabe Funeral Home
31950 W. 12 Mile
Farmington Hills, MI
Tel: 248-553-0120

St. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church
36375 Joy Road
Westland, MI
Tel: 734-525-6789

We've always loved this clip of Leo Burnett's speech "When to take my name off the door." This speech is meant to inspire you to feel good about what you do so long as you do it for the intrinsic value of communicating in a persuasive, clean way. It's idealism at its best/worst and maybe outdated a bit but it's definitely the kind of thing we all need to watch once in awhile if for no other reason to understand a little about this business. The message then isn't just for the Leo Burnett agency of today, but for all of us.

Booms Burnett, "let me tell you when I might demand that you take my name off the door...that will be the day when you spend more time trying to make money and less time making advertising, our kind of advertising..."

Advertising is a perfect example of "unappreciated art" — probably because the field is so cluttered with unsavory work that the good stuff has a hard time getting noticed — and then it's only by some internal award show or Kevin Nealon. And that makes it hard to take pride in what you do sometimes.

More: "Leo Burnett Dances With The Dragon (Again)"

This week, we're going to follow the adventures of one man's journey through the mine fields of the job hunt. Meet Todd Beeby - a creative director who was recently laid off from Leo Burnett.

For the recently laid-off, it's: "Wouldn't it be great to be sitting in a real office thinking about when I can get the F out of there?"

Once you sign the separation papers and get over the shock of being laid off, it feels like a world of possibility opens up. Just think of all the grand things you'll do, like finish that "Fast and the Furious" meets "Nights in Rodanthe" screenplay. Go into a different line of work like community organizing. Maybe become a reluctant blogger?

When you get a few weeks into your unemployment, the bright luster wears off. Days don't feel "airy and free" so much as "scary and desperately wide open." I'm going to take another bike ride around the park, visit another museum, finish another season of '227' on DVD? This is when you realize all you're really going to do is shamelessly network to find another job you'll eventually complain about.

Looking for a job, as they say, is a full-time job. And you soon discover there's a blurry line between networking and other unsanitary pursuits... like prostitution. You're doing very uncomfortable things with people you wouldn't normally contact, all in hopes of getting paid.

To get that elusive new gig, you'll be spending your time doing such things as joining Facebook (if you hadn't already) to friend all sorts of remote acquaintances and colleagues you never enjoyed working with. You'll make appointments at agencies all over town for sad-sounding "informational interviews." You'll send out loads of emails and check your in-box no fewer than 100 times a day. You may even sign up at CareerBuilder.com for job leads like the gem I got yesterday: KFC Team Member/Supervisor (see above).

The site said it was a "Fair Match" but I think I'll hold out for at least a "Meh" one.

- Todd Beeby / "Under-Utilized" Copywriter in NYC. If you would like to reach out to Todd, you can connect to him here.

Coming up later this week Beeby will also be getting into:
- The Finer Points of COBRA
- Lean Pockets vs. Hot Pockets
- The Dangers of Netflix's "Watch Instantly" Functionality
- When the Severance Ends

Just got an e-mail from Abby Lovett, the same rep. who has been telling us for a week or so that John Condon was not leaving the agency, saying that John Condon is leaving the agency.

Lewis Lazare of the Chicago Sun Times first aired rumors of the split, though AdAge will probably be like, "as we reported".

This is just annoying because last Friday we asked Lovett if there were any updates on Condon and she said, "No update on Condon..." and the only reason we're mentioning this is because there's no way she didn't know about it. Oh and even before that we asked her about the sitch and it was all, "no no, he's staying everything is fine."

The real reason we reached out to Lovett last Friday wasn't so much to get an update on Condon as it was to ask if Ned Crowley might be coming back to replace him. Despite what Lovett was telling us, we had notions that he was indeed on his way out. Anyway, Crowley left LB for McGarry Bowen in 2007 — where he's been ECD since. Some say that when he departed, he took the remaining Disney business with him. Lovett disgarees, "...he didn't 'take' the business," she wrote. "In fact, we (LB) still retain a small portion of the account. Before Ned's departure, the account had been slowing down for some time, so it didn't have a huge impact."

How about that, it was slowing down anyway! Well that's even better than losing it when a top creative guy leaves, isn't it now?

Speak agency, speak: "John served the agency admirably for 20 plus years at Leo Burnett. As Chief Creative Officer, he has improved our creative product and global ranking. He's an extraordinary creative and we will miss him. We wish him only the best in his new venture," said Chairman and CEO Tom Bernardin." Good job.

Anyway, McGarry Bowen is in the shitter (well, not that LB isn't) these days so we wouldn't be at all surprised if Crowley stepped in — and up — to helm the creative boat. Wait for it. As for Condon't next move — the agency says the plans aren't yet laid. Do you believe them?

More: "Did John Condon Get the Boot From Leo Burnett Chicago?"

According to a Leo Burnett representative, CCO John Condon is not leaving the agency. What that means is to the best of the rep's knowledge, Condon is and will for the foreseeable future remain in his current role. We've played the "to the best of our knowledge" game before, and this post is meant to update you on what Leo Burnett is saying and weigh that against other information that has been reported.

We floated a story on Friday of last week asking you if the rumor we heard about his departure was true. We originally sought comment from the agency following a story in the Chicago Sun Times, and today the agency replied with the aforementioned response.

AdAge ran a piece today stating the opposite, that Condon is departing. The story sources "two people familiar with matter" (similarly, the Sun Times refers to "informed sources"). With no one coming forward to openly state that he's leaving — and the agency claiming he isn't going anywhere — the reality of the situation remains unclear.

Obviously, AdAge and the Sun Times felt compelled by their evidence. Whether wrong or right, it's great to see them dipping their toes in the "anonymous source" pool.

More: "Did John Condon Get the Boot From Leo Burnett Chicago?"

Leo Burnett CCO John Condon is purportedly out, as in no longer with the agency, according to Lewis Lazare of the Chicago Sun Times. Condon was allegedly, "tossed to show the agency is supposedly serious about turning itself around and boosting its imageo revamp the shop's beleaguered image," wrote Lazare.

He continued, "But truth-be-told, Condon was pretty much a non-starter from the get-go in Burnett's top creative post, though he had been with the agency for nearly two decades when he got the job (in 2005)."

Condon succeeded Cheryl Berman. An agency representative was apparently out of town and the subordinate we were forwarded to didn't respond to our e-mail. So, Leo Burnett couldn't be reached. Yeah.

Full story, Image

More: "Leo Burnett's Video Game Massacre"

Leo Burnett Sydney is a long way from its Chicago roots, and it seems that some internal strife has lead to staff cuts — despite semi-regular announcements that all is well.

Outside the layoffs, folks are said to be leaving on their own, like the Senior Digital Art Director and a Senior Digital Strategist before the holidays. The restructuring apparently started a year ago, purportedly at the hands of CEO Todd Sampson. But Head of Digital Dominique Hind is known as the "axe wielder."

"It took (Sampson) the best part of the year to secure Dom as head of Digital and they got rid of Rene Leger (previous HoD) in August," said a source close to the agency.

Drama in the ad biz is not native to the U.S. The spy continues, "Dom is extremely ambitious and is likely to be after Todd's job longer term."

The agency lost the McDonald's account in October. It went to DDB, apparently due to consolidaton of the Aussie and New Zealand work. "They gained new Macquarie Bank direct product and consequently all of Macquarie Bank in December, so no net loss of client."

So if business is OK, why would the agency need to lay people off? Eh hem, restructure?

"Previous staff meetings were all about how profit is up to 9% on previous year which was -1%...wondering whether this 'restructure' part of a devaluing of Leo Burnett Sydney..." said a source.

Hypothesis: Could the management team CEO Todd Sampson, Head of Finance Andrew Lovell, ECD Andy DiLallo, ECD Jay Benjamin, Head of Digital and Head of Direct Marketing Josh Grace (with the help of another financial backer) buy the agency from Publicis?

"Publicis will merge Publicis Mojo and Leo Burnett Sydney (LB is moving to Walsh Bay next door to Publicis Mojo in April). (With an) artificial boost to bottom line by reducing wage costs," they could hypothetically get the shop for less.

Buy low, sell high as they say. Typically, buying an agency from a parent is too hard — but when stock prices are at their lowest and investors are looking to sell...the math gets a lot easier.

More: "Leo Burnett Settles with U.S. Army in 'Whistleblower' Suit"

Leo Burnett Chicago is going to paying the U.S. Army a whopping $15.5 million as settlement for a lawsuit alleging that the agency over-billed the Army.

The announcement came via the Justice Department, and an accompanying article on Chicago Breaking News that states, "The allegations surrounded Burnett's work on its "Army of One" recruiting campaign. The suit charged that Burnett unfairly increased its profit by billing for services of its own units as if they were independent contractors and inflating subcontractors' hourly rates."

Oh damn! Mothas were raising their rates thinking they could go all Halliburton but then the Army was like, "no way, bitch" and that was that. LB settled "to avoid the expense and uncertainty of litigation." You mean, they settled because they knew they had been caught red handed. Two staffers apparently blew the whistle on the agency in the first place. According to a press release those two employees, now removed VP Greg Hamilton and controller, Michelle Casey, will be taking home almost $3M of that settlement money.

Right now you're thinking - "I should blow the whistle on my agency. I could be set for life." Something to consider as you head home today, no?

A tipster tells us: "The whistleblowers both worked in finance at Burnett and where privy to all the information. After being fired they filed suit. One was also involved in an affair with the CFO."

More: Watchyaback Bitches: The SEC Makes IPG/McCann Pay Up

We're so damn sick of Web sites that waste our time with kitschy little games like "dodge the fruit" and a "break dancing with robot." Someone sent us a link to this FiveAlive page called SuperCrazyAlive.

Apparently, Leo Burnett is behind it. We, on the other hand, are wholeheartedly against it (and most other sites like it). The reason? It's completely pointless. And pointless is not OK. There are sites that do UX much better, such as T3's Script Your Trip and Virtual Office, and another of my favs, YearbookYourself.

More after the jump.

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