LEO BURNETT

Leo Burnett was one of the most reputed advertising executives who laid the foundation of

modern advertising in today’s world. He was named by Time magazine as one of the 100

most influential people of the 20th century.

Burnett's earthy roots go back to St. Johns, Mich., where he helped write ads for his father's

dry goods store. But his career really started at General Motors, where he rose to head

Cadillac's advertising department before switching to ad agency work.

When Burnett first started his business in August 1935 he had one account, a staff of eight,

and a bowl of apples on each desk in the reception lobby. The agency's only client was the

Minnesota Valley Canning Company, which had formerly been with Leo Burnett's old firm.

It had moved over to the fledgling Burnett agency because the management at Minnesota

Valley liked Leo Burnett personally. "I want the little guy with dandruff and the rumpled

suit," said the president of the company. To reward this display of confidence and loyalty,

Burnett created the Jolly Green Giant. His company was able to reflect the American values

of strength, tradition, comfort, and family in its advertising campaigns. This won a number of

new and profitable clients and secured those accounts already in the Burnett agency.

Today, his personal trademark is the bowl of red apples that sits in each of his agency's

reception rooms—a permanent rejoinder to a scoffing gossip columnist who warned years

ago that Burnett, by going into business for himself, would "wind up selling apples."

“Advertising is the ability to sense, interpret... to put the very heart throbs of a business into

type, paper and ink.” – Leo Burnett