Leo Burnett merger—former agency executives, clients and industry insiders react

Less than a month into 2025, the industry has another high-profile merger on its hands. On Tuesday, Publicis Groupe revealed it’s combining Leo Burnett and Publicis Worldwide, a move that will erase one of the most iconic last names in advertising, Burnett. Leo Burnett and Publicis Worldwide will merge to form Leo, a new creative unit that will have 15,000 employees across 90 countries. Leo Burnett’s regional offices will now simply go by Leo. Leo Burnett Chicago, for example, will now be known as Leo Chicago. The same goes for Publicis Worldwide offices, except Publicis Conseil, which will retain its name. Publicis New York will now be known as Leo New York. More about the merger: Chicago-based Leo Burnett had carried the Burnett last name since Leo Noble Burnett opened Leo Burnett Co. in Chicago in 1935. Publicis is removing Burnett’s last name from the agency moniker while emphasizing his legacy through the name Leo. In a video to employees announcing the move, the company states, “Leo, your name will be on more doors than ever.” Burnett’s last name is the latest to disappear in recent years. Three legacy agency names, J. Walter Thompson, Young & Rubicam and Wunderman, were wiped away when WPP merged VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson in October 2023. (WPP now uses a bespoke team called Thompson to service its United States Marine Corps account.) Industry experts and executives, including former Leo Burnett employees, are somewhat split on the merger. Some lauded Publicis’ move as a savvy branding update, while others criticized the holding company for further consolidation and continuing to strip away the agency’s identity. ‘Relieved and delighted’ Publicis deciding to stick with the Leo name was a positive sign for some former executives, who added that, in order for Leo to thrive, it will need to keep more than just a first name. “I think this demonstrates that Publicis believes there is still more in Leo Burnett as a creative brand,” said Emma Montgomery, a former CEO of Leo Burnett Australia who was also Leo Burnett Chicago’s president and chief strategy officer. “Consolidation is going to keep happening, I hope they bring the Leo philosophy and creative perspective—not just the name—to whatever they are building. It’s a special place,” added Montgomery, who is now global chief strategy officer at Droga5. Another former executive found solace in the move. “I’m really very happy they are keeping Leo. Actually, I’m relieved and delighted,” said Simon Fairweather, formerly senior VP, creative director and head of art for Leo Burnett Detroit, which was closed in December following General Motors account losses. “The name must still have value.” Read Ad Age’s 2025 predictions stories here Publicis Chief Strategy Officer Carla Serrano told Ad Age that Leo—which joins the holding company’s existing creative roster, including Le Truc, LePub, Fallon, The Community, BBH and more—is “another model that we think is fit for today’s landscape.” Leo will be overseen by a single leadership team, but its team will be deployed at the country level through Publicis’ “Power of One” model. Some consultants praised the move, which Publicis claims brings together Leo Burnett’s human craft and insights and Publicis Worldwide’s chops in data and technology. “This change underscores that Leo’s creative prowess will be at the forefront more than ever before,” said Lisa Colantuono, president at AAR Partners. ‘A public funeral’ The merger didn’t draw universal praise—some former Leo Burnett execs and clients expressed issues with the rebrand. “Merging all those companies, not necessarily creative agencies, under just the name ‘Leo’ does away with the Leo Burnett I know and love,” said Lisa Cochrane, who once worked closely with Leo Burnett as senior VP of marketing at Allstate. Cochrane, who oversaw the iconic “Mayhem” campaign created by the agency for the insurer and retired in 2015, added that the move “takes Leo Burnett’s name off the door of the iconic Midwestern-born creative agency full of hardworking creative people who did their very best to build their clients’ businesses. We lose the humanity of offering a crisp red apple to bite into when we walk in the door and get AI instead—doesn’t taste quite the same. Kinda sad.” Apples have long been a Leo Burnett symbol (along with big black pencils), stemming from when the founder placed a bowl of the fruit at reception when he opened the agency during the Great Depression. “Publicis has been killing Leo Burnett slowly and methodically for years,” said Amy Cheronis, founding partner of Chicago-based communications firm Scratch Collective, who spent more than 10 years at Publicis, including as executive VP for reputation and communications at Leo Burnett. “At today’s public funeral, we learned that his name endures in a small way, but absent of any Burnett leadership or any caretakers of a brand that had such meaning to adland, to Chicago and to creativity.” At Leo Burnett, “it wasn’t another old dead guy kind of agency feeling. People believed in Burnett and people wanted to fight for and hold on to Burnett,” she added. In his famous retirement speech delivered in 1967, Leo Burnett suggested the agency take his name off the door when they stop doing things he believed in, such as when it spends “more time trying to make money and less time making advertising. Our kind of advertising.” Cheronis nodded to that speech while talking about the merger with Publicis Worldwide. “It seems the people and the legacy lost and the realities of money and industry won. It is indeed time to take his name off the door,” Cheronis said. “As alumni are texting, posting and talking this morning, there is belief that what was envisioned, built and grown at Leo Burnett does now live on at great independent agencies such as Highdive, Quality Meats and hopefully even Scratch.” But there may be benefits to changing Leo Burnett’s name, said Matt Ryan, CEO of consultancy Roth Ryan Hayes. “Those older names, including Leo Burnett, have a downside to them,” he said, adding that some marketers have a preconceived notion of such shops, viewing them as “old-fashioned, large, slow and expensive.” Leo Burnett has “a very modern offering among their team, and maybe they don’t get credit for it by calling it Leo Burnett,” said Ryan. By changing the name, Publicis is trying to “create branding that reflects a modern, fresh take on those agencies and the people in them.” Consolidation continues Some executives bemoaned the Leo move as another example of the industry’s fixation on consolidation. Just four agencies from the list of the top 22 agencies in Ad Age’s first Agency Report in 1945 are still standing: Omnicom Group’s BBDO and Interpublic Group of Cos.’ McCann, FCB and Campbell Ewald. (Omnicom last month agreed to acquire Interpublic, in a deal that is still pending.) Simone Mandel, co-founder of consultancy NBZ Partner, called the merger “another Tuesday in the industry.” “It signals what we already know: the value of long-standing agency brands is increasingly diminished in favor of short-term solutions like consolidation,” Mandel said. “There’s often little to no clarity on what these moves are doing on behalf of clients. Whether the focus is on creativity, the intersection of creativity and data, humanity, talent or building ‘creative powerhouses for modern times,’ these are all things clients already assumed they were buying. So, what’s the actual innovation here?” Added Montgomery: “As someone who has worked for Leo Burnett since I was a graduate in multiple countries, with so many great people, it is very sad that the Groupe saw consolidation as the best path to securing the business.” Agency Review Tracker Stay up to date with the latest account reviews Click here Publicis executives told Ad Age the combination is about better supporting global clients and focusing on “exponential creativity,” rather than creating efficiencies. There will be no layoffs as a result of the merger, according to a Publicis spokesperson. Merging agencies is always a “major risk” with cultural challenges, said Greg Paull, principal at R3 and president of global growth at MediaSense, who noted that Leo Burnett has a long history “from the U.S. outward,” while Publicis comes from a French legacy. Paull noted that, because of the custom solutions Publicis’ clients are often looking for, the merger “may not have the impact it might have 10 years ago.” “Publicis is doing this from a position of strength so it picked an optimal time for such a risky move,” Paull said. “More and more of their clients are also pursuing bespoke units within the Groupe, so this won’t have the same type of impact it might at another holding company.” As Omnicom’s proposed acquisition of Interpublic Group of Cos. looms large, the creative churn won’t slow down anytime soon, multiple executives told Ad Age. “There are too many creative agency brands in every holding company,” said Michael Fassnacht, a former CEO and president of the Chicago office of IPG’s FCB. “I expect a reduction in agency brands by potentially up to 50% over the next few years.”

Leo Burnett merger—former agency executives, clients and industry insiders react

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