BENJAMIN, SAMPSON AND DILALLO: GOAL TO MAKE LEO BURNETT BEST IN THE WORLD
Leo Burnett Sydney has confirmed the CB Blog story posted last night that Andy DiLallo and Jay Benjamin have been appointed joint executive creative directors of the agency, replacing Mark Collis, who has headed to the ECD gig at Ogilvy Tokyo, as previously reported.
Says Leo Burnett CEO Todd Sampson – centred with Benjamin (left) and DiLallo (right): “I hired Andy and Jay because I think they are the best and will liftan already high bar of creativity in the agency. This year Leo Burnettwill be one the top creative agencies in the world. We are the onlynetworked agency in the world to ever win Titanium and I view this asour starting point. Therefore, it requires a certain type of energy,drive and talent to push that even further. I have found that in Andyand Jay.”
American born DiLallo and Benjamin were promoted to joint executivecreative directors of JWT Sydney in August last year after joining asdeputy CDs in December 2006 from Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand. Thepair were brought out to Australia by Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney in2003, hired by then ECD David Nobay, who was their boss at Bozell, NewYork.
Says Sampson: “My ambition creatively is simple – to be best in the world and I want to dothis across all channels, in all mediums on real clients both large andsmall. This year our awards and recognition are coming from a range ofclients and disciplines including McDonald’s, Fairfax, Bundy, Canon andWWF. We had the most awarded digital campaign in the world last year,our Promotion Division is 4x Agency of the Year and we recently won DMAgency of the Year at Adfest. I want to be the most recognised andawarded in all mediums and channels.”
Benjamin and DiLallo are two of the top and most awarded creative directors in the country. They rank in the top 10 in the region and their work has been continually recognized at Cannes, One Show, D&AD, Clio, AWARD, Adfest and Young Guns. They were also big part of five Campaign Brief Agency of the Year titles during their five year stint at Saatchi’s both in Sydney and Auckland.
Says Sampson: “But it was when they took on the role of co ECDs at JWT that their true talent as creative directors came to the forefront. In their time at JWT, they took it from number #72 in the network to #1 and made one of the least creative agencies in Australia runner up Campaign Brief Agency of the Year. Many thought this was not possible but it is proof of the power of this creative duo. Everyone that has worked with Andy and Jay talk about their passion and drive to be the best in the world and their ability to bring the entire agency with them.
“Now with the appointment of Scott Davis as Head of Strategy and Josh Grace as Head of DM we have completed the management line up with the best talent in the industry. There is no limit to what we can achieve as an imaginative company.”
Says Mark Tutssel (left), Leo Burnett Worldwide Creative Director, who was in Sydney last month judging the Andy’s: “Andy and Jay have a proven ability to generate big ideas time and time again. Their award winning work speaks for itself. With Todd Sampson we now have a dynamic, new, creative management team in place, with the talent to take full advantage of the infinite creative opportunities that face our industry.”
Says DiLallo: “Leo Burnett is already a solid agency with creativity firmly planted in its DNA and for that reason is a place we have always had our eye on. Todd’s unrelenting drive toward big, creative, problem solving ideas is very much in line with the way we work and where the industry is headed. When you combine that with Leo Burnett’s world class capabilities in the digital, direct and emerging media landscape and our experience in these areas, there really is no limit to what the agency is capable of achieving”
Adds Benjamin: “We believe that the best work comes from creating a vibrant, fun and rewarding agency culture, across all departments. We’re passionate about the people we work with and share the same philosophy as Todd in this area. People first, then product, then profit.”
The pair has experience with some of the biggest international and local brands including Toyota, Kellogg’s, Nestle, Westpac, Tiger Beer, Johnson & Johnson, Olympus, Thrifty, Bank of America, Fujitsu and Verizon…to name a few.
43 Comments
Sampson and DiLallo… one of your better ones, Lynchy.
Oh, please.
Do the people who write this stuff really believe it?
Wall of text hits you.
You get black eye.
Wow – that release needs to be broken into chapters.
Looks like we have ourselves a serial cap offender. That’s the stuff trademarks are made of.
Talk it up. Talk it up. Sniff. Talk it up. Yabber.
Mr. Sampson, don’t let the facts get in the way of a good PR story…
Sydney leapt into the top 5 JWT agencies under Amy Smith and Andy McKeon as reported in the Australian at the end of last year. Jay and Andy were a new part of the team and contributed, but, much of the work that got the agency there was in place before hand.
How much would I hate to be Noel and Craig Davis right now…
shoot then aim?
Spectacular trajectory guys.
Hope you get to walk the talk.
Genius move.
Nice work Yankeedoodles. Leo’s is finally getting the talent they and their clients deserve. You rock
4:53 ‘Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good PR story’?
Does that even make sense? Either way, if you ever set foot in 338 Pitt Street over the past year and a half you would know who led the turnaround. I can assure it wasn’t Andy McKeon.
Very exciting days ahead for Leo Burnett.
Good on Jay and Andy. Sampson has the tools to really make LB’s a great place with great work.
YOU CAN’T BULLSHIT AN INDUSTRY FULL OF BULLSHIT ARTISTS.
Anyone can push the run the ad once stuff. The trick will be how good these guys do on TVC’s for Canon, Subaru and Diageo. Not WWF and the like. Come on boys, you know we’re not going to take you seriously until you do the real stuff. The big stuff.
You did an ok job on Kellogs and that was about it. But I do admire your proactivity. Will Leo Burnett follow suit and be the smoke and mirrors print agencies that the Saatchis, DDB’s and JWT’s or are they going to be the real deal? Let’s see.
But well done on getting the gig. It is a good one on paper and clearly it’s a great PR story.
How easy it is to through stones hiding behind anonymity.
heya 7:51,
i’d be happy to talk talk you about the substanctial progress we made when i was ecd, show you the before and after, the jump in agency standings, the people i hired etc including the talented andy and jay etc.
you can reach me at:
andy.mckeon@bulldozerinc.com
cheers,
andy
9:08 Don’t hate the player hate the game.
I loved the thrifty stuff. As far as I know that was real, 9:08AM?
Or are you in the office too early to watch sunrise?
Great strategy.
9:08
True true true.
don’t forget Energy Australia, Colonial and NRMA.
Big ships to turn around.
Good luck.
Micah might have some tips.
“you can reach me at:
andy.mckeon@bulldozerinc.com”
That just about says says it all all.
Andy, history speaks for itself
Well done boys.
Whatever’s said, I’m sure you’ve gone in with your eyes wide open and you’ll tackle it with your usual energy and determination to succeed. Good luck, I’ll certainly be watching keenly.
PM 😉
11:38…..OUCH!!!! Nice one though. Pretty freakin childish to try and claim the hard work Andy and Jay have put in. They’ve been doing it over here for years. And on big and small stuff.
And what have you done Mr. Andy McKeon? Last I heard your famous reel was ‘sitting in a container somewhere’.
How is Bulldozer different.
Here goes:
We give Australian clients access to some of the brightest advertising people from around the world.
We will build a brilliant bespoke team to work on your business project.
We are as frustrated with big, old, slow, boring, expensive ad agencies as you probably are.
We know there is a better way because that’s how we’ve been working in San Francisco, New York, Portland and Amsterdam for the last 10 years.
We will do work that’s in your best interest not ours.
We are independent and 100% Australian owned. We don’t answer to a big faceless overseas holding company. We answer to our clients.
We have been using TIVO since 2000 and worked for the agency that launched it in the USA. It’s coming. It’s fabulous. And, nothing will ever be the same again.
We work with planners that don’t simply feed back to you what you already know in a posh 37-page power-point presentation.
We don’t think fart, gay or dick jokes are that funny or right for 99% of brands.
We are not desperate to be famous but we are desperate to do work that makes brands famous and cash registers sing.
We do what we do because we really love it.
We will tell you what we think not what we think you want to hear.
We shy away from using the latest wanky marketing phrases and think that most proprietary tools are just a way for boring, generic agencies to try and differentiate themselves.
We have traveled the world to learn our craft at many of the world’s best advertising agencies Wieden + Kennedy, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, BBH, Crispin Porter Boguski and now you can benefit from all our jetlag from the comfort of Australia.
We have also worked at some of the world’s worst agencies. Names withheld to protect the guilty.
We have worked on many of the world’s biggest campaigns for example the $300 million US dollar global launch for MSN 8, the launch of the Mitsubishi Colt across 42 European countries in 13 languages and Nike throughout Asia Pacific.
We have also worked on $1500 TV ads for a furniture store in Hobart.
Yep, we’ve pretty much seen it all.
If we really don’t deliver and it’s our fault, you don’t have to pay us.
Who the fuck is “We”?
Is that the Royal “we”?
“We have traveled the world to learn our craft at many of the world’s best advertising agencies Wieden + Kennedy, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, BBH, Crispin Porter Boguski”
In that case let’s see the work. I’m sorry I’ve never heard of you (must have been a while back), I have worked at both Weiden + Kennedy, and Crispin.
Can’t find the Bulldozer website anywhere. bulldozer.com and bulldozer.com.au both feature, er, bulldozers. Can you supply the URL.
Andy, checking the Cannes Lions Archive for all years, can only find your name three times for a Pacific Bell campaign for Goodby’s in 2000. You are listed as copywriter but none made the shortlist. Presume you’ve won metal somewhere?
bulldozerinc.com/
got any work
I wonder how many people slagging Andy off have actually done anything.
I met him when I delivered a parcel to his office. He actually acknowledged me. Forgot my name, but that’s ok.
Nice people go a long way in this business.
Psssst, 1.06. If Andy’s email address is really andy.mckeon@bulldozerinc.com (and I have no reason to doubt him) then I’m tipping his web address is http://www.bulldozerinc.com. 😉
Australian advertising makes me shudder sometimes. I don’t work there, but I once did and I log on to this blog to see what’s up.
How can people be banging this Andy chap like this? Asking how many awards he’s won, what he has done with his life. Who gives a fuck? He’s been brave enough to start his own company, brave enough to sign his name on emails and brave enough to have a little humour about the wankers who are attacking him. People should applaud him or at least have the decency to recognize that he has done what precious few people have done. Worked on four continents and started his own agency.
7:27… I wish I could say you are right because i don’t like shitting on people on the blog, but Andy M is the one who started the negative comments. Just see above. This story isn’t even about him but he tried to say it was. Desperate times. I’m sure he is a nice guy though.
that DiLallo chap sure does like his baseball caps
Still poppy-cutting?
Grow up and give this guy a chance, whoever the hell he is.
boy, someone shore threw a bumsteer in here to drive the attention away from the real debate. among other things andy just judged the andy awards. and if you haven’t heard of those, then you might as well pull your head in. one of the best juries ever assembled at an award show. pretty esteemed company. as for jay and andy, good luck to them. you never know unless you try.
C’mon, Andy McKeon was only an Andy’s judge (which were judged in Sydney) because he was a last minute replacement for Bob Scarpelli. It was too late for the organisers to get an international replacement and chairman of judges Mark Waites happened to know Andy so he got the call. Yes, he was a ring in.
how old is todd sampson?
Is Todd Sampson single?……….
Just to answer the above we use some great creatives who have including steve mapp who won the cannes grand prix for the ikea lamp spot and shawn preston ex-bbh, an old colleague and friend from my wieden days.
if you’d like to see my personal reel or the work we’ve been doing at bulldozer i’d be happy to share. my email is above.
cheers,
andy