Leo Burnett on ‘When to take my name off the door’

On the day he retired in 1967, Leo Burnett gave a speech to employees titled “When To Take My Name Off The Door.” As of today, Publicis Groupe is removing the ad giant’s last name while honoring his legacy as it combines Leo Burnett and Publicis Worldwide to form a “creative constellation” named Leo. More: Leo Burnett merger—former executives and clients react In his speech, Burnett implored the agency to stay true to its ideals—and vowed that the agency must remove his name if it ever veered from those values. Watch Burnett deliver his 1967 speech in the video above (and read an excerpted transcript of Burnett’s words below the timeline). Ad Age Agency Report 2024 Revenue and analysis for agency companies Click here A timeline of Leo Burnett and Publicis 1926 Marcel Bleustein‑Blanchet opens Publicis, an ad agency in Paris. On the company’s history page, a quote from Bleustein-Blanchet explains the name: “‘Publi’ for publicité, the French word for advertising, ‘cis’ for the French sound of the number six, like 1906, the year I was born.” Publicis says Bleustein‑Blanchet (born Aug. 21, 1906) was “a Leo by birth and by nature.” (The company pays homage to its founder with Marcel, an AI platform it publicly introduced in 2018 after announcing it the prior year at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.) 1935 Leo Burnett opens Leo Burnett Co. in Chicago. The agency would go on to create iconic work for marketers including Philip Morris, Minnesota Valley Canning (Green Giant), Pillsbury and Kellogg. Among Ad Age’s ranking of the 10 most-identifiable brand icons of the 20th century, four were created or shaped by the agency: Marlboro Man, Green Giant, Pillsbury Doughboy and Tony the Tiger. 1955 Ad Age ranks Burnett as the No. 6 U.S. ad agency, up from No. 20 in 1950. 1962 Burnett, looking for global opportunities, buys London agency Legett, Nicholson & Partners, renaming it Burnett-Nicholson. 1966 Bleustein-Blanchet asks Van Cleef & Arpels to produce a gift for his employees. The French jeweler creates a lion’s head surrounded by 14 sun rays. This would become the Publicis logo. 1967 Leo Burnett retires as chairman and CEO of Burnett, transferring all of his voting stock to a charitable foundation. 1971 Leo Burnett dies at age 79. 1975 Burnett is the No. 3 U.S. ad agency. 1981 Publicis opens an agency in New York. 1990 Leo Burnett is the No. 1 U.S. ad agency. 1996 Bleustein‑Blanchet dies at age 89. 1999 Leo Group, Burnett’s parent company, merges with MacManus Group, the parent company of D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, forming Bcom3 Group. 2002 Publicis Groupe buys Bcom3, making Publicis the world’s fourth-biggest agency company in Ad Age Agency Report. 2025 Leo Burnett and Publicis Worldwide merge to form Leo. Sources: Ad Age, Publicis Groupe. Excerpts from Leo Burnett’s speech to employees on Dec. 1, 1967 (see video of the speech, above): “This agency means everything in the world to me, especially its philosophy and its character, and so does its future,” Burnett said in that speech. “Not just next year and the year after that, but 10, 20, even 50 years from now, especially if my name is still connected with it. ... “Somewhere along the line, after I am finally off the premises, you or your successors may want to take my name off the premises, too. You may want to call yourselves Twain, Rogers, Sawyer and Finn Inc. Or Ajax Advertising. Or something. That will certainly be OK with me if it’s good for you. “But let me tell you when I might demand that you take my name off the door.” The founder went on to list objections he said would make it imperative that his name be stripped from the agency. “That will be the day,” Burnett said, “when you spend more time trying to make money and less time making advertising, our kind of advertising. “When you forget that the sheer fun of ad making and the lift you get out of it, the creative climate of the place, should be as important as money to the very special breed of writers and artists and business professionals who compose this company of ours and make it tick. ... “When you are no longer what Thoreau called ‘a corporation with a conscience,’ which means to me, a corporation of conscientious men and women. "When you begin to compromise your integrity, which has always been the heart’s blood, the very guts of this agency. ... “When your main interest becomes a matter of size just to be big, rather than good, hard, wonderful work. ... “When the apples come down to being just apples for eating, or for polishing—no longer a part of our tone, our personality. ...(Note: Apples had been core to the agency’s imagery since Burnett put a bowl of red apples in the reception area when the agency launched.) “When you stop building on strong and vital ideas, and start a routine production line. “When you start believing that, in the interest of efficiency, a creative spirit and the urge to create can be delegated and administered, and forget that they can only be nurtured, stimulated and inspired. “When you start giving lip service to this being a creative agency and stop really being one. “Finally, when you lose your respect for the lonely man–the man at his typewriter, or his drawing board, or behind his camera, or just scribbling notes with one of our big black pencils, or working all night on a media plan. ... "When you forget he’s the man who, because he is reaching harder, sometimes actually gets hold of, for a moment, one of those hot, unreachable stars. “That, boys and girls, is when I shall insist you take my name off the door. “And by golly it will be taken off the door. “Even if I have to materialize long enough some night to rub it out myself, on every one of your floors. “And before I dematerialize again, I will paint out that star-reaching symbol too. And burn all the stationery. Perhaps tear up a few ads in passing. “And throw every goddamned apple down the elevator shafts. “You just won’t know the place the next morning. You’ll have to find another name.” Become an All Access subscriber Get access to exclusive resources including Leading National Advertisers, World’s Largest Advertisers, Agency Report, Agency Review Tracker and TV Pricing Report. Click here

Leo Burnett on ‘When to take my name off the door’

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