Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/532497
michiganavemag.com 67 photography by petya shalamanova idea man Leo Burnett gLoBaL chairman and ceo Tom Bernardin ceLeBrates the 80th anniversary of chicago's worLdwide advertising Behemoth. by novid parsi On a shelf inside Tom Bernardin's sparse office, there's an old, weathered violin case. As he takes it down, the chairman and CEO of Leo Burnett Worldwide—the Chicago advertising institution that is celebrating its 80th anniversary—fondly recalls receiving the farewell gift from his German colleagues when he moved to Italy early in his career. A tongue-in-cheek reference to movie mobsters toting machine guns in violin cases, this particular case, Bernardin says while opening it, is full of pacifiers—a more creative means of persuasion. As the 61-year-old Detroit native describes recent campaigns illustrating the creative might of Leo Burnett, they suggest the Trojan-horse violin case and its unexpected pacifiers: direct force trumped by humor and wit. Leo Burnett's ads cleverly tap into a cultural dialogue and become an inextri- cable part of it. Think of Allstate's playful, pervasive Mayhem guy (who doesn't love Mayhem?) as our modern-day insurance salesman. Or take #LikeAGirl, the girl-power campaign (and a social-media lightning rod during this year's Super Bowl) to sell feminine hygiene products. "Our clients become part of the dialogue, and that's what we're in the business for; that's what creativity should deliver," Bernardin says. "What we strive for is the power to transform human behavior, to make people think differently about brands." "What we strive for is the power to transform human behavior, to make people think differently about brands," says Leo Burnett's Tom Bernardin. continued on page 68 PEOPLE View from the Top