Nielsen billings 2017: £242m (-1%)
Declared income: n/s
Total accounts at year end: 27
Accounts won: 4 (biggest: Kingfisher)
Accounts lost: 1 (Max Factor)
Number of staff: 237 (-24%)
Key personnel: Gareth Collins, chief executive; Chaka Sobhani, chief creative officer; Josh Bullmore, chief strategy officer
Star player: Anne Vigus, office and travel manager
After a testing 18 months, the leadership at Leo Burnett would have been hoping for calmer waters in 2017. So the shock defection of chief executive Paul Lawson to Y&R London in October, ending a 13-year stint at the agency, was a painful blow. Publicis responded to Lawson’s departure by binding Leo Burnett to the perennially disappointing Fallon under the leadership of chief executive Gareth Collins.
Coty’s Max Factor ended a 20-year relationship with the agency, and Co-op – an account it so vigorously defended in 2016 – began to slip out of the agency’s doors, with only a project-based relationship remaining.
It wasn’t all bad news, however. Leo Burnett picked up the business for B&Q owner Kingfisher across Europe and won global accounts from existing client McDonald’s to launch its McDelivery service and promote its Fifa World Cup and Winter Olympics sponsorship.
Its work for McDonald’s has been as sparkling as ever, notwithstanding a PR gaffe over an ad for Filet-O-Fish, pulled amid criticism that it made light of childhood bereavement. Its McCafé "Madness" ad scooped gold in the Grocery & Soft Drinks category at the 2017 ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 Big Awards.
Effervescent creative chief Chaka Sobhani has improved the diversity of its creative department, with more than 30 new recruits. She also oversaw the launch of Leo Burnett’s in-house production capability, Make, which it road-tested with a campaign for Lurpak.
Nonetheless, it was another difficult 12 months in W14, which its move this year to Chancery Lane will hopefully mitigate. That new-business machine needs to get cranked up.
SCORE THIS YEAR |
SCORE LAST YEAR |
SELF RATING |
| 5 | 5 | 6 |
Agency's year in a tweet
Blimey! Ending solid year on a high; welcoming new diverse creative talent, a new CEO, & new biz buzz. Here’s to an exciting unexpected 2018
Score key: 9 Outstanding 8 Excellent 7 Good 6 Satisfactory 5 Adequate 4 Below average 3 Poor 2 A year to forget 1 Survival in question
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