Leo Burnett was born in St. Johns, Michigan, on October 21, 1891 to Noble and Rose Clark Burnett. Noble ran a dry goods store and as a young man, Burnett worked with his father, watching Noble as he designed ads for the business. After high school, Leo went on to study journalism at the University of Michigan and received his bachelor's degree in 1914.
His first job out of college was as a reporter for the Peoria Journal Star in Peoria, Illinois. In 1917, Leo moved to Detroit and was hired to edit an in-house publication for Cadillac Clearing House, later becoming an advertising director for the same institution. At Cadillac, Leo met his advertising mentor, Theodore F. MacManus, whom Leo called "one of the great advertising men of all time." MacManus ran the agency that handled Cadillac's advertising.
In 1918, Leo married Naomi Geddes. The couple met at a small restaurant near the Cadillac offices, where Naomi worked as a cashier. They went on to have three children: Peter, Joseph and Phoebe.
During World War I, Leo joined the Navy for six months. However, his service was mostly spent at Great Lakes building a breakwater. After his time in the military, Leo returned to Cadillac for a short while. It was then when a few employees at Cadillac formed the LaFayette Motors Company - triggering Leo to move to Indianapolis to work for the new establishment. Soon after, Leo was offered a position at Homer McKee. He then left LaFayette and joined McKee, where Leo Burnett said of the founder, "(He) gave me my first feel of what I have come to regard as the "warm sell" as contrasted to the "hard sell" and "soft sell. This was his first agency job.
After spending a decade at McKee's, and working through the stock market crash of 1929, Leo left the company. In 1930, he moved to Chicago and was hired by Erwin, Wasey & Company, where he was employed for five years.
In 1935, Leo founded the Leo Burnett Company, Inc. in a suite at the Palmer House in downtown Chicago. Soon after, the operation moved to the 18th floor of the London Guarantee Building. Today, the agency has 9,000+ employees in over 85 offices globally.
In December 1967, nearing the end of his career, Leo Burnett delivered his famous "When To Take My Name Off The Door" speech at the agency's annual holiday gathering.
On June 7, 1971, Leo Burnett went to his agency, pledging to his colleagues to cut back to working only three days per week due to some health problems. That evening, at the age of 79, he died of a heart attack at his family farm in Lake Zurich, Illinois.
Leo Burnett (21 Ekim 1891 Michigan – 7 Haziran 1971) ABD'li ünlü reklamcı. Reklamcılık sektörünün en "Yaratıcı" isimleri arasında gösterilmektedir. Time dergisi tarafından 20. yüzyılın en etkili 100 ismi arasında gösterilmiş ve reklamcılığın değişim ve gelişim sürecinde en etkin isimlerden birisi olmuştur. Burnett, farklı reklam ajanslarında çalıştıktan sonra 1935 yılında kendi ismini taşıyan ajansını kurdu. Büyük buhrandan sonra kurulan bu ajansa o dönem reklam sektöründekiler pek şans vermedi fakat reklama olan farklı yaklaşımı ve yaptığı başarılı reklam kampanyaları sayesinde Leo Burnett reklam ajansı en önemli reklam ajanslarından biri haline geldi.
