Leo Burnett Essay Example

Leo Burnett Essay Born in  St. Johns, Michigan, his parents were Noble and Rose Clark Burnett. His father ran a dry goods store and as a youth, Burnett worked with his father in the store. He grew up watching his father designing ads to promote his business. During high school, he worked as a reporter for a local, rural newspaper in the summers. [5]  After high school he went to study journalism at the  University of Michigan  and received his  Bachelors degree  in 1914. His first job was as a reporter at the  Peoria Journal  in  Peoria, Illinois. 6]  In his spare time he wrote and published various short stories between 1915 and 1921. After realizing the future growth possibilities in advertising, he moved to Detroit in 1917, and he got a job editing an in-house publication for  Cadillac  dealers called Cadillac Clearing House as a  copywriter. He successfully went on to become an advertising director for the company. [7] In 1918, he married Naomi Geddes, whose father was a newspaper man. [8]  He went on to have three children: Peter, Joseph and Phoebe. [7] During World War I he joined the  Navy  for six months.However, he never got to sea as he spent most of his time at  Great Lakes  building a breakwater, and hauling cement. [8]  After his time in the Navy he returned to  Cadillac  for a short while. It was then when a few employees at Cadillac formed the  LaFayette Motors Company. He moved to  Indianapolis, Indiana as the advertising manager for the company. [7]  With the company struggling, he found himself with an offer from Homer McKee. He left LaFayette and was hired to work for Homer Mckee Company as head of McKees creative operation. This was his first agency job. 8] After spending a decade working for McKees Company, and working through the  stock market crash  of 1929. He decided to move on if he was to amount to anything in the advertising business. [8]  In 1930, he moved to Chicago and was hired by  Erwin, Was ey ; Company  and worked as the vice-president and the creative head of the company. [5]  He worked for Erwin Wasey for five years and in 1935 he founded the  Leo Burnett Company Inc. [7] On June 7, 1971, at the age of 79, he died of a heart attack at his family farm in  Lake Zurich, Illinois. [9]