Publicis Groupe announced a new, flexible agency model at Leo Burnett, to be rolled out starting in the U.S. in Q1. In order to take better advantage of changes in the media environment and consumer behavior, Leo Burnett is shifting to a collaborative, open architecture organization delivering right-size, right-time solutions to clients.
The model is designed to guarantee greater exchange of assets, resources and talent across Leo Burnett, Starcom MediaVest and Digitas. Leo Burnett, SMG and Digitas all remain independent-on shared clients, some solutions could be led by Leo Burnett, others by SMG, others by Digitas. There will be no default lead-but rather teams will be led by a single agency leader accountable to the team’s success.
At the heart of the new model will be a central services operation, "The Insight Factory", an aggregation of tools and talent. The operation will be sourced from Leo Burnett and Arc (creative, research, market segmentation, and planning, production and database management), SMG (media behavioral insights, media research and some digital production resources) and Digitas (creative, brand navigation, digital insights, dashboard management systems, digital production and technology development).
A new management board has been named to oversee the activation of the new model. Tom Bernardin, Chairman and CEO of Leo Burnett Worldwide; Renetta McCann, Global CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group; and David Kenny, Chairman and CEO of Digitas will each be accountable to deliver the unprecedented level of collaboration and partnership the new model requires. Jack Klues, Chairman of Publicis Groupe Media and a member of the Publicis Groupe Management Board "Directoire", will chair the Board, representing it at the Publicis Directoire level.
