Leo Burnett New York

Spying a network name nestled amongst the start-ups and indies on these pages, you might have just done a double take. But over the past year, since returning to Manhattan from his joint-ECD role at Leo Burnett Sydney, new chief creative officer Jay Benjamin has been building the  New York office of Leo Burnett from the ground up.

“Our network has been on a great run in recent years, so it was only a matter of time before the right mix of talent put their hands up to do something new in New York,” says Benjamin. “Leo Burnett Chicago is such a storied agency, with so many great people and clients, that there hasn’t really been an immediate need for a New York office. This is less about a need and more about a vision. We want to create something amazing.”

Now with a crack team, including ex-BBDO creatives Darren Wright and David Skinner and Aussie duo Michael Canning and Kieran Antill, Jay Benjamin refers to the operation as a ‘nimble giant’ – while the agency itself is small, it still has the size and support of its bigger brother.

“I believe,” he continues, “that what we are creating is exactly what clients want and need – collaboration, love and attention, combined with scale. We are so much more than just the people in this building. We are kind of like a pool. People from around our network are free to jump in and out whenever they want. We share ideas and then someone else jumps in. This is the new world.”

At the time of this issue going to press, LBNY was still in the final stages of wrapping up its first work, but the agency is embracing Leo Burnett’s network-wide HumanKind philosophy, which puts people and human behaviour at the centre.

And in between winning accounts, the agency is also launching a social platform aimed at igniting the New York creative community, called New York Writes Itself – and it’s this style of project that seems at the heart of what LBNY is all about.

“I want to create a collaborative culture that breeds innovation, every day,” enthuses Benjamin. “My hope is that LBNY becomes a beacon for new world thinking. I don’t want people to ever be able to define us or fit us into a mould. Moulds are the death of creativity.”