Leo Burnett business up by €6 million in 2006

Marketing communications group Leo Burnett, owner of Leo Burnett & Target advertising agency and media agencies Starlink and Starcom, registered a €41 million turnover in 2006, up €6 million year-on-year.

Leo Burnett & Target reported €14.6 million worth of business in 2006, a €1.9 million increase compared to 2005, while net profits dropped by 33 percent. 

Starlink also registered an increase of €2.6 million, amounting to €5.4 million in total business, with net profits dropping from 270,000 in 2005 to 106,000 in 2006.

Starcom’s total business also increased from €19.7 million in 2005 to €21.2 million last year. The media agency’s profits for 2006 amounted to €1 million, up €200,000 year-on-year. 

These good results could be a result of the fact that Leo Burnett & Target lost no clients in 2006, and its portfolio gained Beck’s, Virginia Slims, Focus Sat, DaKino, and Orange Moldova.  In 2007 Leo Burnett gained Orange Romania as client, and has lost beer maker Beck’s and Nestlé’s Joe, following international tenders.

The Leo Burnett full service agency is one of the largest advertising agencies on the Romanian market. Advertising group Publicis is a Leo Burnett & Target minority shareholder. 

Apart from Starcom and Starlink, Leo Burnett Romania also includes the following agencies: Starlink Creative Services (creation), iLeo (interactive services agency), The Practice (PR) and 23 (creation shop). iLeo, 23 and The Practice have not reported any financial results for 2006, owing to the fact that they were either established at the end of last year or the beginning of 2007. 

Some of Leo Burnett & Target's clients are Altex, beer producer Interbrew (Bergenbier brand), meat processor Cris-Tim, beverage producer QAB (Prigat brand), and cigarette producer Philip Morris.

Leo Burnett has won the Ad'Or Agency of the Year award five five years in a row, the Agency of the Year 2005 award from Golden Drum, and it is the only Romanian agency nominated six times at Cannes Lions, the largest international advertising festival. The agency has also been awarded most of the four Effie Awards.