Is philosophy creative?

Leo Burnett’s creative philosophy

Inherent drama - Leo Burnett’s creative philosophy

Can you hear them? Sizzling in the pot? " This is the first sentence in the "meat" advertising copy created by Leo Burnett for the Chicago headquarters of the American Meat Institute. Although Leo Burnett has shocking works such as Marlboro cigarette ads and Hulk canned pea ads, However, he regarded this advertisement titled Meat as one of the epoch-making events of his advertising company. Why? Because this advertisement fully embodies Leo Burnett's creative philosophy-looking for "innateness." The drama of "." This is a full-page advertisement: against a red background, two tender pork chops occupy the main part of the picture. There is a main title composed of one word on the picture - MEAT, and the subtitle is "MEAT" It becomes a pleasure to absorb the protein you need." The text is also very concise. "Can you hear them sizzling in the pot? ——It is so delicious, so rich in B1, and such a suitable protein. This type of protein will help the development of growing children and can restore your health as an adult. Like all meat proteins, they meet the requirements of each protein. "The slogan is also very loud - America's most premium steak! This is an epoch-making masterpiece.

When receiving the commission from the Meat Research Institute, Leo Burnett thought: The image of meat should be strong And powerful, it is best to use red. However, many people say that it cannot be expressed with red meat, because it is uncooked meat. For this reason, he made a quite in-depth investigation. Proving that red meat doesn't make women unhappy, he said at the Haywilliam Studio: I wonder what happens if you put a piece of red meat on a red background, does it disappear or does it disappear? Dramatic? The result is great! The red background makes the tender meat look even more tender, and it adds to the idea of ??redness, energy and everything else about meat that they want to focus on. Cheers, and ran this advertisement for a long time, and received good advertising results.

Leo Burnett said: This is the "innate drama" he believes. Every product has a dramatic side. Our top priority is to discover the above characteristics for the product, and then make the product become the hero in the advertisement in a dramatic way. He emphasized: "The most important task of advertisers is to discover and utilize it (drama)" and "find the magic power of products that can make people interested." He claimed that this effort "represents the Chicago School of Advertising," one of whose basic concepts is that every product has "inherent drama." The reason why he is so interested in "meat" advertising is, in his own words, "This is the purest "innate drama". This is what we strive to pursue instead of you being too eccentric or too smart. , too humorous, or anything that makes anything too natural - it just feels natural."

Sincerity, naturalness and warmth are Leo. The main expression method used by Beiner to explore "drama" is also the creed of the Chicago School of Advertising represented by him - we strive to be more candid but not arbitrary, and we strive to be passionate but not emotional. He believes that the elements of "trust" and "warmth" are important for consumers to accept the desire created by advertising. When Higgins asked Leo. When asked whether there was a model or special method to follow, he said: "If I did have one, it would be to immerse myself in the knowledge of the product. I firmly believe that I should face the reality and the product I want to sell to him. I do in-depth interviews with people. I try to form a picture in my mind of what kind of people they are—how they use the commodity, and what the commodity is—although they don’t often tell you that. Talk a lot, but find out the motivations and background that actually inspire them to buy something or what kind of things they are interested in. It can be seen that the factors of "trust" and "warmth" all come from confidence and confidence in the product. In-depth understanding comes from a deep grasp of consumers' consumption motivations and background. With enough effort, you can discover the "innate drama" and express it naturally, without having to rely on opportunism and deliberate carving. , far-fetched associations and other perverse tricks. Leo Burnett said, "I don't think you have to do what they call "unconventional" to be interesting. A truly interesting advertisement or advertising video is "unconventional" and unconventional because of its own rarity.

Leo Burnett adheres to his creative philosophy and creates advertising masterpieces that will be passed down from generation to generation. In addition to the Marlboro cigarette advertisement that has become a universally recognized classic of image advertising, the legendary canned pea advertisement he did for the "Hulk" company - "Moonlight Harvest" is also an example of its creative philosophy. A rare template. In this advertisement, he abandoned the clichés such as "fresh canned", abandoned the boastful words such as "the big emerald in the vegetable kingdom", abandoned the "peas in the earth, kindness fills the world" It is a kind of show off, with a romantic title - "Harvest under the Moonlight" and simple and natural copy - "No matter day or night, the Hulk peas are selected in an instant, with excellent flavor - from It takes no more than three hours from origin to canning.

"In such a natural and concise way, it conveys credible and warm information to consumers, which is also of epoch-making significance in the advertisement of canned peas. Leo Burnett said it well: "Good advertising hangs in the air, not in the air. Will be torn off." Hanging in the air are the desires, dreams and myths of modern commodities dramatically created by advertisers.

Leo Burnett and China

(Chen Nianduan : Current Managing Director of Shanghai Leo Burnett Advertising Co., Ltd. China. 1990-1993, Marketing Department of Hutchison Telecommunications Company; 1993-1995, Assistant Account Director of Lingzhi Ocean Advertising, Hong Kong, China; 1995-2002, Li, Hong Kong, China. Director of Customer Service Department of Oburnut Advertising; Managing Director of Shanghai Leo Burnett Advertising Co., Ltd. from 2002 to present)

Chen Nianduan: Mr. Right of Leo Burnett China

Emerson has a famous saying: An organization is an extension of a person's influence. The kind of "calm" I felt when I met Chen Nianduan, the advertising manager of the year, at the "2005 China Advertising Industry Person of the Year" award ceremony, was a reflection of this. The best interpretation of this famous saying is

Reach for the Stars

The first time I saw Chen Nianduan’s name was when he won the top ten creative directors in China’s advertising industry in 2004, also from Leo Burnett. Li Shaohui’s acceptance speech:

I hope this honor is awarded to our general manager. Without him, Shanghai Leo Burnett would not have been able to increase its operating revenue in the first three quarters of this year compared with the same period last year. 200%, we may not be able to afford the whole company to travel abroad together, morale cannot be as high as a rainbow, and the creative department cannot increase from 8 people to 50 people now. It is definitely possible that I can only sleep 2 hours a day, and creative works are also possible. If it is shoddy, then I may not be able to get this honor, so I am very grateful to my partner, so I hope this honor is awarded to our general manager - Chen Nianduan

Those. They are all from Leo Burnett.

Leo Burnett, the advertising company founded by American advertising master Leo Burnett, is now one of the largest advertising companies in the world. The case is to help Marlboro transform from a women's cigarette brand to a men's cigarette brand and achieve great success.

Leo Burnett once said: "If you reach for the stars, you will reach for the stars in vain." Reaching for the stars may sound naive, but it is a passionate belief of mine; maybe the world should have more of this kind of romance. "Over the past 70 years, Leo Burnett Advertising Agency has won the respect of many clients with its "star-reaching spirit."

Chen Nianduan said that his ideal is to repeat Leo Burnett's original legend in the United States and establish Internationally renowned brands such as Marlboro and Hulk

The Acceleration of the Business Era

However, Leo Burnett, which entered China in 1994, was not so prominent, just competing with many others. Like the 4A company, Chen Nianduan was still in Hong Kong at that time.

The same year. , Leo Burnett China has entered into rapid development. On the basis of seriously serving existing customers, Leo Burnett's three branches in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are actively developing new businesses, including telecommunications, government projects and banking and finance. A new breakthrough.

The promotion of Fiat Palio is one of the successful cases in 2002. Fiat is a world-renowned automobile brand and a global customer of Leo Burnett. Fiat started in China. Being a latecomer, the Palio is the first car launched by Fiat in China. Through in-depth market research and detailed analysis of the automobile market, Leo Burnett formulated the "Building Product Production Guide" for the launch of the Palio. The marketing strategy is to use Ferrari’s reputation in China to build the image and credibility of the parent brand Fiat, and then inject it back into each sub-brand. This can be called “bottom-up”. " method.

What was even more successful was that in the second half of 2003, in the face of criticisms such as "acclimatization around the world" and "aging of the brand image", McDonald's launched the "I Just Like It" campaign around the world. Brand renewal strategy. Heye & Partner, the general agent of McDonald's global advertising, convened the world's major advertising companies to launch an advertising summit called "Forever Young" through a "creative competition" A new global marketing theme for McDonald's was born. Shanghai Leo Burnett's creativity won the advertising design rights in mainland China.

McDonald's global chief marketing officer Larry Light (Larry Light) expressed his enthusiasm for this brand in China. The design team’s performance was highly praised: “China really impressed me. We had no idea they would come up with such expressive and infectious ideas. We originally thought that Chinese advertising plans would be more conservative, more cautious, and less personal. "Far Eastern Economic Review" also cited Leo Burnett Shanghai's Chinese advertising of McDonald's in its cover article "China's Advertising Goes Global" on October 30, 2003, as one of the signs that China's advertising industry is going global.

Later, as McDonald's Greater China headquarters moved to Shanghai, its advertising design rights were also handed over to Shanghai Leo Burnett.

Leo Burnett Made in China

As one of the first multinational advertising companies to land in China, Leo Burnett’s often-talked about “acclimatization” has not been proven here. . The extraordinary strength enabled Leo Burnett's advertising performance to continue to rise in a straight line in 2005 - Shanghai Leo Burnett Advertising Co., Ltd. jumped to the first place in the ranking of advertising company turnover in 2005. Leo Burnett, which ranked third in terms of turnover in 2002 and 2003, achieved a 71.2% increase in turnover in 2004 over the previous year, ranking first with an annual turnover of 4,217.68 million yuan. Although Saatchi & Saatchi International Advertising Company, which ranked second, also achieved a growth rate of 13.2% in 2004. It still missed the first place, with a turnover of 1,106.89 million yuan less than the first place. This made the gap between the first and second place break through for the first time. 1 billion yuan.

At the same time, Shanghai Leo Burnett Advertising Co., Ltd. has also won many awards in many international and domestic competitions. Among them, Leo Burnett won 5 awards at the China Advertising Festival in October 2005. 3 gold medals, 2 silver medals and 2 bronze medals. In particular, 1010Job.com's "Superman Chapter/Doppelganger Chapter/Trophy Chapter/Pig Head Chapter/Dragon Boat Chapter", which won the gold medal in the graphic category, was commented by experts in the industry as "older still is hotter. I have to admire such creativity and execution."

In the face of these achievements, Chen Nianduan just said lightly: "Ranking first in sales in 2004 is worthy of encouragement. We hope that Shanghai Leopard can achieve the same level as any company in the world. . This goal is clear, everyone is willing to go in this direction, and there is a strong team spirit to support it, and the most important feeling today is not only profit, but more importantly, fame - Our creative works in Shanghai have also been presented to global companies. ”

Therefore, in Chen Nianduan’s view, winning the annual advertising manager in the advertising industry is the industry’s recognition of its achievements in the past three years. recognized. It seems that the award is in his own name, but he is actually accepting the award on behalf of the company.

Intelligence of Change: Behind the Simplicity

How to achieve such achievements in three years, Chen Nianduan analyzed three steps in three years. He feels that the company's development curve can be vividly summarized as: going up, leveling off; going up, leveling off; stabilizing.

In the initial period from 2002 to 2003, the company only had about 20 people. There was no standardized work process and no clear departmental division of labor. One person often wore multiple hats, so the company focused on rapid growth. business. By 2004, after having secured some business and increased manpower, we needed to consolidate resources and improve service quality. Therefore, there have been less than 10 pitches that year. In 2005, the company decided to develop offline services.

As general manager, Chen Nianduan believes that only well-managed companies can be creative. "Shanghai Leo Burnett is not a company that only cares about growth. Clients who hire us must have the same belief, trust our professional experience, and work together to build iconic brands."

And behind this management , is to know people well and take responsibility for employees. Employees are regardless of whether they are local or foreign. Important tasks are assigned to those who are capable, ensuring that every employee can develop their strengths and find satisfaction and self-confidence.

Talent is the core asset of an advertising company, which is common knowledge in the industry. Two or three years ago, Chen Nianduan mentioned in an article that the first setback he suffered was when some employees left the team for some reason. He once spent five hours trying to persuade an account director who resigned to change his original intention, but failed in the end. The reason why he thought it was a setback was because the ideal and reality were not yet in line, leaving him speechless.

When reporters mentioned the past today, Chen Nianduan unexpectedly smiled heartily. Coincidentally, the employee who had frustrated him had returned to Leo Burnett four months ago.

This reminds the reporter of a wonderful quote from Leo Burnett: If the facts support you and you believe in yourself, you will rarely lose in the fight for creativity. In fact, it is not only creative, but also management companies.

A group of Leo Burnett people reaching for the stars

Chen Nianduan greatly appreciated the company's team's ability to work together. For example, the aforementioned Li Shaohui was described as “a partner who sincerely pursues better ideas and provides me with unlimited support.” In the early stages of development, Leo Burnett's office address was still in Westgate. When there were not enough workstations, Chen Nianduan and Li Shaohui worked in the same room for more than half a year. When he later moved to a new home, this habit continued. Chen Nianduan simply opened up the company and put strategy, creativity, design, customers, etc. together, which also promoted further cooperation among the team.

At that time, Chen Nianduan described it like this in the article: It was the first time he took up the post of managing director, and it was the first time he was called boss or boss. Unexpectedly, it will carry everyone's ideals and expectations for their future and life. We have to expand, but we cannot over-expand. We just hope to set a clear direction and move firmly towards the goal, so that Leo Burnett will become a company that everyone wants to work with.

Today, Chen Nianduan emphasized that he handles everything objectively and logically. It is best to have goals, understanding and analysis.

This is the best way.

In the eyes of Leo Burnett employees, Chen Nianduan is the kind of smart person who has worked his way up step by step from the grassroots level. He has very clear ideas and a serious expression on his face. He seems to have the temperament of a born boss.

In the interview, Chen Nianduan repeatedly mentioned the entrepreneurial belief of Leo Burnett, the founder of the company, to "reach for the stars" - determined to work hard and eager to surpass other advertising companies. It is the spirit of reaching for the stars that keeps many people working long hours. Wherever we go, let the work fully express this spirit and drive Leo Burnett people to give up the good work and only pursue the masterpiece.

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