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Leo Burnett
Putting people first is at the heart of everything we do
We are a creative agency that specialises in what we call ‘populist creativity’ to help our clients grow.
At the core of what we do, and in the famous words of Leo Burnett, “we are just people talking to people”. We know that advertising has the power to move people, rationally and emotionally. As people, we want to be entertained, engaged and listened to, and our ‘populist creativity’ approach makes people laugh, smile, cry and feel everything in between. We specialise in making people FEEL something, something that moves people and makes them connect, engage and act.
We create populist work that moves the nation and attracts like-minded clients that want to build big, populist mainstream brands, just like our existing clients. Our 37-year partnership with McDonald’s continues to be one of the most collaborative, productive and effective in the industry, as does our 53-year relationship with Kellogg’s.
We helped McDonald’s adopt a leadership position throughout the pandemic, resulting in the brand being recognised as one of the UK’s best-behaved brands during the Covid Crisis. McDonald’s is now enjoying its highest ever market share. We also helped relaunch Butlin’s to the nation, helping them become a much-loved destination again, celebrated going back to school with Kellogg’s, made an entirely CGI-first ad for ŠKODA and created a virtual festival for the Teenage Cancer Trust. We’ve launched Marvin the Mole for Vision Express, helping them become the go-to optician on the high street, as well developing and introducing ‘Rest Easy’ for Premier Inn, re-establishing the hotel brand as the most trusted home away from home.
All of this is what we do best. We exist to grow our clients’ brands through ‘populist creativity’ and deliver ideas that connect with people across the nation.
Key people:
Our culture and our people are intangible assets that set us apart. They are the key to developing ‘populist creativity’ that connects with people around the country.
Leading our famous agency in the UK is CEO Charlie Rudd who joined Leo Burnett in 2019. Alongside him are creative powerhouse Chaka Sobhani (CCO), Josh Bullmore (CSO), Carly Avener (MD) and Mark Elwood (ECD).
We’re especially proud that we have been welcoming former Leo Burnett-ers back into our fold, which speaks volumes about the momentum and culture we’re building. These include Mark Elwood, our Head of Planning, Tom Sussman, and Chief Production Officer, Emily Marr, who all returned to the Leo Burnett London family in the last year.
Key work:
Some of our most iconic and award-winning work has been delivered for longstanding clients McDonald’s and Kellogg’s. Who doesn’t love a Maccers or a bowl of Coco Pops? Through populist ideas we’ve helped them deliver growth and build brands that people love.
We’re also delivering populist work for our other clients - new and old. Just check out our brilliant ‘Rest Easy’ campaign and brand platform for Premier Inn that brought back Sir Lenny to our ad breaks or our first CGI ad for ŠKODA, which goes to show the power of creativity when facing any and all Covid-related shoot challenges!
Our culture:
We put people at the heart of everything we do. In recognition of the huge strain that working from home full time during a pandemic has placed on people’s mental health, we have evolved and bolstered our ‘More Good Days At Work’ wellness strategy. Some initiatives that have come out of this programme include:
No Meeting Zones and early Friday Finishes – All year round!
Well-being buddies – Everyone in the agency is assigned a well-being mentor, someone who regularly checks in on their physical and mental health. Free weekly (virtual) yoga sessions and subscriptions to the Headspace app are also available.
Little Lifts from The Core – We know how hard our folk work and how important it is amidst this to have little lifts. Some of the things we’ve done include decorate-your-own doughnut kits, hot water bottles for January, Halloween brownies and Franco Manca pizza making kits.
Leo Learns – These fortnightly training sessions make up for the lack of learning by osmosis that happens when you’re in the office. And we’re going to continue these once the world reopens as we know how important a well-trained and inspired team is for our clients.
Leo Solves – We bring all our people across the agency together to tackle a problem that is facing us as an agency, the industry or life in general!
We have a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination and have a non-negotiable casting policy in place (part of our diversity strategy) to make a clear statement of intent about the agency we are, the people we want to work with and the ads we want to make. We have also set up the Anti-Racism Collective, a Leo initiative to stamp out systemic racism in advertising through raising awareness of its many faces and establishing tangible practices that’ll embed diversity in the work we do and the way we work. These practices include a monthly educational newsletter, a book/film club and Diversify the Deck – a bank of creative assets that ensures we are thinking about diversity from at the start of our creative process.
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