Leo Burnett

Leo Burnett (October 21, 1891 – June 7, 1971) was an advertising executive who created the Jolly Green Giant, the Marlboro Man, Toucan Sam, Charlie the Tuna, Morris the Cat, the Pillsbury Doughboy, the 7up "Spot", and Tony the Tiger.

n 1935, he created his own agency in Chicago, which is now known as Leo Burnett Worldwide. He was inducted into the Copywriters Hall of Fame in 1961, and retired in 1967.

Burnett followed Walter Lippmann's philosophy of creating an image around the product. Until his time, advertising centered on long text descriptions of the product, with detailed arguments as to why it was better than competing products. Burnett concentrated on style, creating icons as a symbol of the product. He stressed that the creator of an ad needed to somehow capture and reflect what he called the "inherent drama" of the product.

One of his most important uses of internal corporate symbols were the red apples placed on every receptionist's desk. Any visitor or employee was free to take one, and this is still the case. It stemmed from the opening day of Leo Burnett's agency, when the receptionist set out a bowl of apples to brighten up the place. When word got around that Leo Burnett was serving apples to his visitors, a newspaper columnist cracked, "It won't be long 'til Leo Burnett is selling apples on the street corner instead of giving them away." Though the columnist was only echoing the general feeling during the Depression, Burnett saw the apples as representing the spirit of caring and concern for employees and clients alike.

Another important internal symbol Leo Burnett created was an icon of a 'hand reaching for the stars', which he explained with the saying, "When you reach for the stars you may not quite get one, but you won't come up with a handful of mud either".

A third symbol was the "black pencil", an Alpha 245 of the type commonly used by Burnett in his lifetime. To Burnett it symbolised a commitment to the warmth and humanity of ideas, and to the work of the people who create them.

His work feels quite modern and through looking at his work i see where certain trends within advertising began. Using characters to sell cereal and other products i like as it almost personifies the product which i like as it allows more ways of been creative with whats available.