Mark Tutssel blew into Leo Burnett USA two years ago, promising to make the big advertising agency’s commercials better and its creative department’s oversized ego a bit smaller.
He made big statements by hiring high-priced writers and art directors from award-winning agencies out west like Nike agency Wieden & Kennedy.
He did the previously unthinkable and scoffed at some of the work that had been celebrated internally. A lot of it was sent back to the drawing board.
And then, for a while, nothing happened. Some of his high-priced talent even left in frustration to go back west.
Most figured that with Cheryl Berman still in charge of the creative department, Tutssel, Burnett’s deputy creative chief, didn’t stand a chance.
After all, the city’s ad community had seen this before. A talented creative is brought in under Berman, vowing to win awards. He then winds up leaving in a couple of years when he finds out nothing really changes.
You couldn’t blame anyone for believing that history would repeat itself with the hiring of Tutssel from Burnett’s London office, which at the time was one of the creative gems in Burnett’s far-flung network.
But quietly, a transformation has taken place at the Chicago-based agency, which has made news this year because of its lows rather than its highs.
Even with uncharacteristic upheaval and turmoil in the executive suite, Burnett’s creative has emerged as one of the local turnaround stories of the year. And much of it has been done on typically sleepy Burnett clients, like Kellogg Co., ComEd and Heinz.
To his credit, Tutssel, 45, has overseen the rise in quality on a variety of clients–a more difficult feat given that a number of clients are in business categories not known for sharp creative.
That was evident at the revamped Chicago Creative Club’s award show this fall when the agency took home nine awards (not including the Kraft Foods’ Altoids work from its former subsidiary LB Works) for clients that ranged from Polaroid (now gone) to Kellogg.
But even as Burnett’s reel of commercials improves, rumors continue to fly that Tutssel may be talking to other shops. He says he has no plans to leave.
“Every week I have a new job,” he says about the rumors. “I’m headhunted all the time. It’s coming up on my second year anniversary and it’s been a productive two years. I’m happy at this point. With the addition of [new chief marketing officer] Ben Kline, we have an ad-literate ad man coming onboard. So I’m pretty pumped up.”
At the very least, Burnett is showing versatility again.
On ComEd, for example, Tutssel brought in creative directors Paul Hirsch and Josh Denberg from San Francisco-based Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to give the stale utility a contemporary image.
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The campaign features a montage of musical acts, ranging from speed metal, to hip-hop bands, and a cameo by crooner Jimmy Damon, who all deliver the cliched “Hello Chicago!” from their respective stages.
The idea is to convey that ComEd is helping deliver passions, not just electricity. It’s a simple premise. For Kellogg’s Special K’s new Red Berry cereal, the agency gets real about women and self-image. In one spot, titled “Office,” we peek into a non-model’s (read “normal”) thoughts as she makes her way to the restroom.
“What was I thinking when I wore a thong today?” the woman says to herself. “My butt eats thongs.”
Kellogg responds, “Don’t be so hard on yourself,” as it offers up Special K Red Berries with “sweet strawberries, crunchy flakes, and only 110 calories.”
In launching the much hyped “Super Mario Bros. 3” game in October for Nintendo, Burnett used big and bold special effects that showed kids running on top of a speeding subway train to be first in line to get the new game.
It’s an example of where Tutssel would like the direction of the rest of the reel to head.
“We made a huge step change on Nintendo,” he said. “It’s the kind of quality work we should be doing.”
Despite rumors of rifts, Burnett’s creatives have been centralized on three floors after previously being scattered across different floors on different accounts.
They have “come together as a force,” he says. “There’s an incredible work ethic.”
For his part, Tutssel calls 2003 a transition year. And he talks like an executive who will be around Chicago in 2004.
Even if it ends up being all talk, it’s the kind of reassurance the agency needs.