Leo Burnett has added a new team of business-to-business advertising and marketing specialists that will be called Leo Burnett Business, effective immediately. The group was formerly the New York-based arm of Masius/Publicis Consultants. The focus of Burnett's new unit, so we're told, will be the development of creative ideas to close the gap between a client brand's perceived position and its true value. "Our approach to business communication mirrors Leo Burnett's philosophy in that making a true human connection between brands and their audiences is at the center of everything we do," said Lisa Abbatiello, CEO of Burnett Business.
Of course, in addition to its stated goals, Leo Burnett Business undoubtedly will be all about fattening the agency's bottom whenever possible -- something that Burnett has not been able to do much in recent years via the addition of huge, lucrative new accounts. Current Leo Burnett Business clients include Ace Limited, BP, Johnson & Johnson and United Kingdom Trade & Investment.
Mark Tutssel, chief creative officer of Leo Burnett Worldwide, will head the film and press juries for the Cannes Lions 2010 competition. Tutssel currently oversees the creative work of Burnett 96 global offices, and he selected Susan Credle to take over Burnett/Chicago's creative department last month.
In 2009, Burnett Worldwide was the third most-awarded network at the Cannes International Advertising Festival, as well as the Network of the Year at the Art Directors Club of New York and the Gold Drum Awards.
Prior to becoming Burnett's worldwide creative director, Tutssel was executive creative director of Burnett/London. During his tenure in London, both McDonald's and Heinz were named advertiser of the year in the United Kingdom by Campaign magazine. Commenting on his Cannes appointment, Tutssel said: I am delighted and extremely flattered to be asked to preside over the world's biggest celebration of creativity in communications."
Looks like the delightful Steve Peckham will be around a while longer to field inquiries from the media at Leo Burnett/Chicago. We were told back in May that Burnett hoped to have in a place by mid-June a new chief spokesperson to replace the less-than-competent chief press rep who was axed back in January. Peckham was brought in from Edelman to handle PR chores on an interim basis.
But now, according to the delightful Peckham, it can be revealed that the search for a new spokesperson was, in fact, put on the back burner while Burnett executives focused on finding a new chief creative officer. As we now know, that search ended with the announcement last month that Susan Credle, late of BBDO/New York, would be the agency's new chief creative officer. Credle began her new job this week.
So with Credle's input, Burnett is restarting its search for that chief spokesperson, we're told. No indication, as yet, about just how much longer the search will take. But whenever that new PR person does arrive, he or she will soon thereafter help in the search for a second PR person to replace Abby Lovett, the agency's former spokeswoman for global affairs who left recently to take a job with Weber Shandwick.
Let's hope, after this whole, terribly protracted process is over, that Burnett winds up with two public relations professionals that know what they're doing. They could be a big help in getting Burnett back on track, now that Susan Credle is here to work on improving the shop's creative.
Nick Jones has joined Arc Worldwide's Chicago office as an executive vice president, retail practice lead and account director. Arc is Leo Burnett's marketing services arm.
Before joining Arc, Jones led Rivet/London, where he was charged with creating the office from the ground-up, and with managing every aspect of the office. Jones eventually grew Rivet/London to include a staff of 30. At Arc in Chicago, Jones will take the lead on several key accounts, including Comcast, Miller-Coors and Coca-Cola. "Nick brings with him vast experience growing retail practices, and we are thrilled to have him on board," said Bill Rosen, president and chief creative officer, North America, Arc Worldwide.
The consumer division of Symantec Corp. has selected Leo Burnett USA as its global and North American agency of record. The appointment expands on the retail marketing work that Arc Worldwide, Burnett's marketing services arm, has done for the past eight years with Symantec's consumer marketing team.
Now Burnett and Arc will work to solidify Symantec's Norton brand and position it as the market leader in online security by educating consumers about the issue of safety and security online. "Leo Burnett and Arc are focusing on what we do best by helping Norton find their true brand purpose and relevance in people's lives and designing creative that will expose and connect them around an issue that has gone dark -- their safety and security online," said Mark Renshaw, executive vice president, Burnett and Arc Worldwide.
Toward that end, Burnett helped Norton create a "Cyber Crime Black Market" event in New York City on Sept. 9. The event exposed the cyber crime black market that trades and profits on stealing and selling personal identities and credit cards online.
The very pleasant Steve Peckham, who for the past several months has served as Leo Burnett/Chicago's interim public relations representative/consultant, is obviously striving for some clever headlines on his press releases, which have become more frequent in the past few days as some relatively positive news has actually begun to emanate from the beleaguered shop.
Most notably that news includes the selection of Susan Credle as Burnett's new chief creative officer. That announcement was trumpeted in a press release with the headline "Susan Credle Leaves Big Apple for Big Apple Agency" -- a reference to New York's nickname and also to Burnett's historical ties to apples. It's fine to demonstrate some cleverness when making such announcements, but let's not mistake that for the big idea creativity that will be needed to get Burnett's creative department back on track -- something we hope Credle will get to work on as soon as she lands in her new Burnett office.
There was yet another touch of, uh, cleverness in the announcement last Friday that Burnett has won an assignment to help AOL communicate its "reinvention" as it legally separates itself from Time Warner Inc. This time the headline read "Leo Burnett: You've Got AOL," which just served to remind some of us how far AOL -- with its iconic "you've got mail" welcome -- has fallen from an Internet leader to a has-been in the eyes of many who were there when services such as AOL were just beginning.
This of course, is just an assignment from AOL with marginal remuneration for Burnett. It's something the agency probably wouldn't have bothered with if business were better.
But times being what they are, Burnett is going to help AOL reinvent itself -- much as we hope Credle will be successful in helping her new agency home reinvent -- or rediscover -- what once made it one of America's legendary shops.
The search for a new chief creative officer at Leo Burnett is over. Susan Credle, 45, is Burnett's new creative leader, effective Oct. 5. "This is a decision rooted in the best driver for our business -- the creative product," said Tom Bernardin, Burnett Worldwide chairman and CEO.
Credle is coming from BBDO/New York, where she is an executive creative director and a hugely-admired member of one of the few outstanding creative departments left in the American advertising industry. Sources say Credle has been at BBDO for nearly a quarter century. She started out as a receptionist, and because her energy and interest in the ad business caught the attention of BBDO executives, she was made a junior copywriter. Credle then worked her way up the ladder.
At BBDO, Credle has worked on some of the agency's most high-profile accounts, including AT&T and M&M's. She will become Burnett's second female creative leader in recent memory, following in the footsteps of Cheryl Berman, who worked her way up through the Burnett hierarchy to eventually lead the agency's creative department. Credle will face a big challenge at Burnett, which has struggled mightily in recent years to attract new business and demonstrate a sharp, winning creative profile. But sources who know Credle say she is ready for what awaits her.
Susan Treacy has joined Leo Burnett/Chicago as a senior vice president and creative director. A main focus in her new post will be the agency's Hallmark business. Most recently, Treacy was executive creative director at the 22squared agency in Atlanta, where she oversaw work for Caribou Coffee, Southeast Toyota and Florida's Natural Orange Juice. Previous to 22squared, Treacy worked at Fallon and TBWA/Chiat/Day, creating traditional and interactive work for a range of brands, including Nordstrom, BMW, KitchenAid, Adidas and Fox Sports.
Burnett's Global Chief Creative Officer Mark Tutssel said "Susan's experience is precisely the kind we're seeking . . .I'm proud to have her aboard." Treacy has been recognized for her work in numerous advertising creative competitions, including the Cannes Lions, The One Show, New York Art Director's Club and the Clios.
Leo Burnett's already extraordinarily thinly-staffed public relations department has taken another hit. Chicago-based Abby Lovett, who was in charge of Burnett's global public relations effort, is leaving the agency to take a PR job in the Chicago office of Weber Shandwick, where she will work on cherries (trade association stuff, most likely) and Campbell's soup, she told us. That leaves Burnett with exactly one PR representative in Chicago, the pleasant Steve Peckham. But he isn't a Burnetter. Peckham is technically a consultant from PR firm Edelman who has been working at Burnett since May, while the ad agency takes its sweet time finding a full-time PR staffer to replace the less-than-stellar one that was fired last January.
We were told a while ago a new PR person was supposed to take over for Peckham in mid-June, but obviously that didn't happen. And there appears to be no definitive date now for when Burnett will manage to find a new PR leader for its Chicago flagship shop. "They want to get the right fit," Lovett said. Lovett also told us the agency intends to fill her job.
After nearly a five-year tour of duty, Lovett leaves Burnett at a particularly difficult moment in the agency's history. New business has been slow in coming, and the agency's image was battered recently by an alleged billing scandal on the United States Army account, which left the agency a while ago. Even the win of the Choice Hotels International creative account this week has become another reason for anonymous comment posters on blogs to suggest how the once-mighty Burnett has fallen. Many observers seem to doubt that any Burnetter would, of their own volition, ever spend a night in a Choice Hotels budget property.
Well, it's a win. Believe it or not. It may not be a whopper of one. But this is Chicago, and Leo Burnett that has won. So the agency is celebrating, needless to say. Choice Hotels International, the parent of the budget hotel brands Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites and Quality Hotels, has selected Burnett as its creative agency of record. Doner Advertising in Southfield, Mich., will handle promotional campaigns. Billings were not disclosed on the account, but Burnett succeeds Arnold Advertising in Boston as creative agency of record.
Choice apparently has decided it would be better served as a hotel conglomerate if its various hotel chains were supported via distinct ad campaigns for each brand. The new, differentiated campaigns will debut in 2010. The economic downturn has hit the hotel industry hard, forcing hotel chains to reduce room rates significantly to attract guests. "The current state of the hospitality industry has made it more important than ever for us to further evolve our advertising strategy to keep pace with the rapidly changing business environment," said Chris Malone, Choice chief marketing officer.
