Leo Burnett Worldwide

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Leo Burnett Worldwide is an advertising company. It was created in 1935 by Leo Burnett. He was born in St. Johns, Michigan, and studied journalism at the University of Michigan. He worked as reporter and copywriter at various companies until 1930. The company was opened in the period of Great Depression. Maybe the first creative advertisement he made was the bowl of apples in the reception of the Leo Burnett’s office. It looks like apples did Leo’s company well-know, because apples are still one of the symbols of Leo Burnett Worldwide.

Later that year Leo made a symbol for the company: hand reaching for the stars. He said: “when you reach the stars, you may not quite get one, but you won’t come up with a handful of mud either”. 1950 is a breakpoint in the history of the Leo Burnett’s company. That year it got two big advertising projects: Kellogg’s and P&G. LB designed “Tony the Tiger” for Kellog’s Frosted Flakes. 49 years later, Tony was honored as one of the 20th century’s top 10 icons. In the 1997 Leo Burnett Worldwide changed brand to written words Leo Burnett, but in the 2002 the “new corporate identity” returned to the hand and the stars.

Today, Leo Burnett Worldwide is one of the biggest and most successful advertising companies in the world. Among its clients are McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Walt Disney, Marlboro, Kellogg’s, Tampax, Nintendo, U.S. Army, Philips, Samsung, Visa, Wrigley’s, Hallmark, etc. It has 97 offices in 84 countries.

On 7th June in 1971 Leo Burnett died, but still being an icon in the advertisement world. It’s famous for creating “Marlboro cowboy”, “Charlie the Tuna”, “Pillsbury Doughboy”, 7UP’s “Spot”, Tony the tiger and Leo Burnett Worldwide.

On June 4, 2008, Leo Burnett won the Grand Effie Award for its work in promoting the Nintendo Wii, more specifically its "Wii would like to play" advertising campaign that reached out to nontraditional gamers.