Leo Burnett

Following a tremendous year during which the office earned multiple awards at each of the top seven award shows, produced the second-most awarded commercial in the world (Shelter “House of Cards”) and ranked third in the U.K.’s New Business Gains League, Leo Burnett London was named the global network’s Agency of the Year this evening in a ceremony held in Chicago.

London was vying for the honor with four other LB offices, each deemed “Bright Stars” for outstanding performances in 2009 across all aspects of business – from creative to financial to people.  Those honorees, along with a few highlights, were:

• Bangkok.  Leo Burnett Bangkok bagged a robust collection of awards from shows including Spikes, AdFest, AWARD and a Grand Prix at ADMAN.  The office also earned new business from Tesco, Thailand Military Bank and the Thailand Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.
• Lisbon.  Lisbon brought home more Lions from Cannes (eleven!) than any other Leo Burnet office.  According to Creativity, the agency was the seventh most awarded in the world in 2009.  And last but not least, Lisbon turned Crisis into Opportunity – literally – with a browser plug-in that replaced the word “crisis” with “opportunity” on the web pages of anyone who installed it.  The ingenious application resulted in 16 calls for new business.
• Sydney. Sydney earned two Gold and one Bronze Lion at Cannes for the WWF “Earth Hour” effort, which inspired one billion people to “Vote Earth” this year.  The office was named 2009 YoungGuns Australian Agency of the Year, while Michael Canning was named Young Gun of the Year.  Finally, over the past 12 months Sydney won 26 new pieces of business from new and existing clients.
• Toronto. According to the 2009 Gunn Report, the James Ready Beer “Share Our Billboards” was the fifth most awarded print campaign in the world, and Toronto ranked 44th in the world’s top 50 agencies.  Further, the office had a 75% success rate in new business pitches, winning five pieces of new business in total last year.

The ceremony also recognized the most exceptional creative from across the network with the Pencil Award.  LB/Chicago’s “Zack Johnson” effort for P&G Tampax took the Gold Pencil; LB/London’s “Favourites” for McDonald’s took Silver; and LB/Lisbon’s “World’s First Ephemeral Museum” for Diageo Pampero Rum took the Bronze.

Congratulations to all the winners!