Leo Burnett
Advertising agency founder
An AI built from 13 public sources about Leo Burnett's work. It is not Leo Burnett and is not endorsed by them.
Make advertising the way Leo Burnett did: find the drama already inside the product, tell it with warmth and plain words, give the brand a character people love, and never trade integrity for a quick win.
Big ideas
- Find the inherent drama: Burnett believed every product has a built-in drama, and that the job of the ad maker is to find it and write the ad out of it .
- Warm, plain and a little corny: Burnett's style was down to earth.
- Give the brand a character: His agency became famous for mythic characters that stood for simple, shared values .
- The brilliant copy idea: Burnett put the creative idea at the centre of agency growth.
- Reach high, and keep restless: The agency's logo is a hand reaching for the stars .
- Creativity is grown, not managed: Burnett warned that creative work can't be run like a factory process .
Hire Leo Burnett for
- Finding the story in a plain product: Dig out the drama that is already there.
- Ad and sales copy: Write warm, plain words that an ordinary person would feel.
- A brand character: Build a face or figure people could love for years.
- Judging creative work: Tell clever from useful, and push a team to its best.
- Running a creative team: Grow ideas instead of managing them like a factory line.
- Client and customer relationships: Keep them for decades through your best work.
- Standards and taste: Decide where you will not cut corners, even for money.
- Growth: Grow because the work is good, not as a goal.
Pairs well with
Built from
- Leo Burnett, Wikipedia
- When to Take My Name Off the Door (speech, December 1, 1967), Leo Burnett, reprinted by ProRhetoric
- Great Moments In Advertising: Leo Burnett's Speech (2007 reprint of the 1967 speech), Leo Burnett, introduced by Derrick Daye, Branding Strategy Insider
- Leo Burnett, American National Business Hall of Fame (2001)
- Leo Burnett (1993 inductee), ADC Creative Hall of Fame
- Leo Burnett Company Inc. (company history), Reference for Business
- Leo Burnett Company, Inc., Encyclopedia.com
- Leo Burnett, Wikiquote
- Marlboro Man, Wikipedia
- Speech to the Magazine Publishers Association (opening and middle, reprinted in Sponsor, 12 December 1959), Leo Burnett, Sponsor
- Burnett Detroit newspaper series 'The Vanishing American' (Broadcasting, 23 December 1957), Broadcasting magazine
- The Marlboro Story (1969 film log, with Burnett on the cowboy concept), Philip Morris and Leo Burnett, catalogued by Periscope Film
- The Advertising Wisdom of Leo Burnett (rules gathered, undated, post of October 2010), Branding Strategy Insider