Leo Burnett Chicago had this great idea to create a live action billboard for McDonald's. The Giant Egg was installed across from Wrigley field in Chicago last week.

The egg starts 'hatching' in the early morning hours and by breakfast, the billboard is fully hatched. On the egg's yolk it reads 'Fresh Egss Daily'. The egg is from 6am- 10:30am, indicating the availability of fresh eggs for breakfast during that time. Once breakfast is done, the egg closes and is whole again until the next day, when it repeats the cycle.

It's such a clever way to invite nosey consumers that are just hoping to see the giant spectacle in to spend money. It's also a great reminder of breakfast hours because I always show up at 11am hoping for an Egg McMuffin.

Publicis' Leo Burnett Worldwide is about to purchase its second Chinese firm, which has remained unnamed. Last year, the agency bought marketing firm Yong Yang as a first step to gaining a toe-hold in the $21B market.

Chairman Tom Bernardin told Reuters that:

"You might see one next week. I have a big expansion plan in China. This market and Russia to me are two markets with immediate, big opportunity for growth."

Want to makes some guesses? How about Zi Corporation, a mobile discovery and advertising solutions, whose revenue is up 15% and debts way down this quarter? How about outdoor advertising firm VisionChina Media Inc.? Hmm... Chinese web portal Sohu.com? It's a side step, but the company is huge in the online gaming sector. Their revenue jumped 156% to $84.8 million recently. Who knows?

Miller Genuine Draft has disowned Mother and the $70 million global advertising account has moved straight into Leo Burnett and Arc without a pitch.

Miller apparently asked Mother to submit ideas for a new global campaign earlier this year, but later asked Leo Burnett to put forward its own work for consideration.

Leo Burnett already had a connection with Miller through Arc, which handles Miller Genuine Draft's direct marketing business, which it won in November last year.

Arc was hired by the parent company SABMiller to hook up with Mother and handle the international roll-out of the planned new global campaign. Leo Burnett and Arc will now handle conception and roll-out for the campaign.

Mother won the business in February 2005 after pitching against VCCP and The Hive, the Toronto-based incumbent.

Ha! We got a tip last week saying that Leo Burnett was going to start making staffers adhere to a dress code. We ignored it as our lovely in-house spy at Burnett confirmed it was a hoax. Other bloggers typed it up along with the accompanying in-house ad (see above).

Burnett President Rich Stoddart told AdAge that the spoof was part of a larger campaign designed to improve the agency's workplace.

"Our 'Got a better idea?' campaign has a really simple objective -- to encourage the flow of ideas from the people who work here, on how we can improve our agency. Part one of the campaign, 'Dress for Success,' as provocative as it is, is very deliberately, tongue in cheek!"

Wow. Here's an idea Burnett... listen to your staffers. Quit the cute campaigns and just LISTEN! I'm positive that every single one of your staff members knows of at least one way to improve either the creative output, the company's productivity level, the agency's sustainability practice (inside and out); gaming unit (wait, you don't have one do you?), mobile and social media practices, benefits, time-off, maternity leave, hiring procedures, inner office communication, client billing, pitches; cultural inisghts and trend hunting segments, and yes, maybe the dress code, too.

A UK-targeted Kellogg's ad, created by Leo Burnett London, has been cleared of making light of the sexual abuse of young people.

The ad for a Nutri-Grain cereal bar was set in a doctor’s examination room, with a young man complaining of hunger pangs.

An older man, a baker posing as a doctor, hands the younger man a cereal bar and asked him to take his trousers off.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the UK regulating board for advertising, said 42 complaints were received from viewers who thought the ad was suggestive of sexual abuse, and was not suitable to be broadcast to children.

However, the ASA said that the ad was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence. Leo Burnett said they'd replace the offensive line for future broadcasts of the ad.

Kudos to the kids at Leo Burnett for creating the controversy -- taking the ad standard practice of "sex sells" to a whole new level.

Leo Burnett, bastion of Publicis' plan at being a hub in their plans for complete & total integration of all forms of media & advertising (in conjunction with Digitas & Starcom MediaVest Group) — and I assume targets global domination of said fields — seems to have an issue with the whole premise of the Web it seems.

Leo Burnett's UK site — http://www.leoburnett.co.uk/ — is down & non-functional at the moment — for what I'm thinking is a completely basic & easily-fixed error. Shall we take bets on how long it will take to resolve & fix this?

Meet Rose Cameron, Leo Burnett Chicago's senior vice president and planning director and um, Man Expert. Rose got the title after overseeing a global study of what men want in 2005. The report's final word on the status quo of the male gender: "We appear to be witnessing a new experience of male insecurity and confusion." Oh, we believe it. Rose is the go to gal for all things penises and gets in on strategy sessions for clients.

In her own words, "I just love men." And really, who doesn't? Cameron recently went to Hooters with The Chicago Tribune where she dissected the male psyche.

"She seizes the roll of paper towels that Hooters places at each table instead of napkins, and lowers her voice to a masculine rasp: "I've got these. I can be as dirty as I want to be, since my wife is always telling me I'm dirty."

Seriously. We're not male, but when we read the line above, even we got a little roiled up. We like Rose. Totally. We would so hang out with her. Yet, by the middle of the article something weird happens. The whole piece shifts wildly into her personal life and in a really weird way.

"Cameron is particularly interested in a man she knows as John, a promising online prospect from rural Washington state, who repairs tractors and sounds like a real cowboy hero.

"He's just a delightful guy," Cameron gushes, adding she had just sent him a die-cast model of a John Deere tractor, just to let him know she was thinking about him."

And then, "- there is romantic promise in her voice this night as we leave the restaurant and head out into the parking lot. John could be something special, but Cameron says she's going to stay guarded, at least for now. Her heart has been broken enough that she plans to proceed with caution.

It seems an unfortunate irony that Cameron, by day a leading authority on the male of the species, struggles to understand these mysterious creatures by night. As she discusses failed relationship after failed relationship, you can hear in her voice a real worry that her professional gift could also be her personal curse.

In many ways, Rose Cameron knows what men want, and she knows it's not her."

Oh my god! Shut up! Shut up! TMI! We're sitting here wondering what the hell is going on here? The next few paragraphs deal with Rose's difficulty with keeping a man. Who thought this was a good idea? Rose? The PR gal? Seriously. It almost undermines her own credibility. Yes, we can all give good advice to someone else and then, screw it up royally in our own personal lives, but heavens! TMI! TMI!

The article does swing back around to a promo piece for the agency full of findings from their study and professional accolades for Cameron. We were so relieved. They follow Cameron to a brainstorm for the new Pontiac G8. After Rose gives them two example commercials and chats with them about her four male segments: the traditional male, Archie Bunkers, metrosexuals and retrosexuals, etc.

"For the next five minutes the room continues to toss around ideas, and when the meeting wraps up, it does so with a buzz of energy and creativity. Two months later, the first ad featuring a glimpse of the G8 is finished. In the commercial, actor Matt Dillon raises the curtain with this line: "Coming this spring, the Pontiac G8 GT - the most powerful car under 30 Grand."

You be the judge. Take a look at the spot above. Take off the advertising goggles for a second. Men - do you love it?

Oh! The end piece to this article in the Tribune magazine?

"Take John: Cameron finally concedes that relationship is going nowhere, despite her best research to figure out what makes him tick.

"Who knows, maybe he's a 13-year-old boy or an old lady," she says, staring out into the dark night, as the weather worsens.

"You just never know."

Riiiiiight.

Bruce Haines resigned as chairman and chief executive of Leo Burnett London amid much brewhaha after what is was described as "a disagreement over the future structure of the UK group" in October.

It seems that loyal staffers are following him right out the door. The exact number departing the shop is unknown. Got more info? Have you left? AIM us (agencyspy) or use the anon tip box and we'll post your comment.

Ryan Karrell versus Jamie Perry.
Hey, it's a really slow day.

Although we live in New York City, we have zero intention of slogging through Times Square to see the latest addition to the billboard menagerie. Weight Watchers and Special K are launching electronic billboards tonight in the fight against fat.

The cereal maker is promoting its Special K Challenge, a diet program developed four years ago that includes a range of Special K products. From The New York Times:

"That's the biggest moment of self-evaluation of the year. We want to be part of the resolution," said Per Jacobson, a creative director at Leo Burnett in Chicago.

Meanwhile, Weight Watchers is pushing their “Stop Dieting. Start Living" slogan, which is the first effort from their new agency McCann Erickson New York.

Oh yes! Here comes the genius of McCann. Hold your hats kids. Lori Senecal, the head of McCann Erickson New York, said that the Weight Watchers system is "a natural fit for the modern dieter. But, she said, the brand needed some updating."

True. True. So, whatcha going to do McCann? Oh right! Lean on YouTube and user generated content, but of course! There's also a MySpace page and YouTube video of old dieting gimmicks. The creativity just runs wild at McCann. Wild we tell you!

"The company will be soliciting user-generated content. Through Jan. 25, people will be able to send stories to the Weight Watchers Web site about the strangest or craziest diets they have tried. Some will be chosen to appear on the billboard in Times Square."

Joyce King Thomas, chief creative officer of McCann Erickson New York, had a good thought when she said that these outlets could be a modern take on the classic Weight Watchers group meeting.

However, um... why is it that McCann, again, fails to go the extra mile? Remember the Applebee's campaign? Another perfect example. It's like, what - you guys can't think beyond YouTube?

There are eight million diet based social networking sites out there. Why not tap directly into these established bases?

Or consider that women have long seen their phones as a tool for expression and social communication. Plus, a fairly new Pew research study makes it clear how connected we all our to the darn things. So... why not pull in mobile and really connect users to Weight Watchers (through upbeat messaging about the weight goals, connecting the consumers to one another a la Twitter, etc.).

Ugh. There's so much more they could be doing, but we're going to stop here. If you guys have your own feedback, thoughts, ideas, you know the drill - email us at agencyspy at mediabistro dot com or use the anon tip box and we'll post.

We miss you guys.

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COMMENTS:

Comment #1:

Leo Burnett Chicago has for years bought billboard space to put up ads that their clients wouldn't pay for, but would let them run. Did this for both the Army account when they had it and for McDonalds. Y&R Chicago also is known for buying space in odd, cheap magazines to run the fake ads they do. Both Burnett and Y&R have won major awards with the fake stuff they've done.