I was watching one of my favorite shows, “Sunday Morning” a few weeks back and learned some interesting new things about the advertising icon Leo Burnett (1891–1971). Many of you probably have no idea who Leo Burnett was, heck I barely knew the name. But I bet everyone knows the Pillsbury Doughboy, Tony the Tiger, The Jolly Green Giant, Morris the Cat, Charlie the Tuna and the unemployed Maytag repairman. As a baby boomer my childhood was filled with many of those characters and Leo Burnett and his agency created them all.
Some of these characters have never gone away, they’ve been tweaked and modernized through the years. Tony first came to life in 1952 and has been going strong ever since. [http://adage.com/century/icon09.html] Others were living on a dusty shelf somewhere in my memory and are now being reintroduced and revved up to engage the next generation. Leo Burnett's genius lives on in these iconic brands
I Googled Leo Burnett to find out more about this advertising giant and yes, although Leo is long gone, his agency, which is now worldwide is going strong. What I found most interesting was just like the iconic characters he created, Leo’s philosophy is also timeless! Here are just a few of his famous quotes about advertising.
“Regardless of the moral issue, dishonesty in advertising has proved very unprofitable.”
“Advertising is the ability to sense, interpret… to put the very heart throbs of a business into type, paper and ink.”
“Anyone who thinks that people can be fooled or pushed around has an inaccurate and pretty low estimate of people – and he won’t do very well in advertising.”
And my favorite, which proves “that everything old is new again."
“Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.” Hey! I thought I came up with that!
Leo Burnett (1891–1971)
–Ann Byne, Principal, The Byne Group
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