Officespotter

Leo Burnett is one of the most prestigious advertising agencies there is, and so we were very pleased when they decided to give us a call, saying they would like to show people their offices through our blog. Their call was timely, as the office recently underwent a facelift, as a result of which their lobby became a very pleasant lounge area. Our tour guide, as well as one the people behind the facelift, was Gergő Horváth, Creative Group Head.

To start with, Gergő shows us the general layout of the office. Where the account people and creatives sit, and which spaces are used for what. We get the distinct feeling that during the years Gergő has received a good dose of corporate influence, and can speak of the traits of Leo Burnett offices worldwide with great ease.

As a bit of history, we are told that Leo founded the company in 1935, and ever since the beginning he put emphasis on his people, stating that a company is only as good as the people who work there. This is why employees who have worked over 5 years at the company get their faces and names adorned on the Wall of Honor. Other important motifs are the pencil and the doodles stemming from them, as well as apples, which can be found at the reception of each and every Leo Burnett office in the world. (The apples don’t actually symbolise knowledge, rather they are a metaphor for climbing out of the/a financial crises: link)

Leo’s office differs from other ad agencies inasmuch as they give a much cleaner and simpler image, not every square inch is decorated to the brim, and thus the office doesn’t vibrate as much. It seems as though the people here are more mature and measured.

Naturally, there are those in the office who do collect gadgets. Some collect robots, while others adorn their offices with posters of planets from the Star Wars Universe.

We often emphasize that we like to visit at an office without the employees knowing of our arrival, this way we get to see the actual everyday image inside. We would never want to give a false impression of an office. Of course there are some rooms which are not quite as tidy as one would expect, but Gergő tells us this is because the company is constantly changing due to shifting clients and their expectations, as a result of which people have to move to different spaces within the office.

Stating that this building next to Kolosy tér is an office building would be quite an overstatement, the reason being both its size and that Leo occupies most of it. The reason for the facelift was to repress the 90s style of certain parts of the building, and bring a new, modern design. We have to say, they succeeded in this endevour. Unfortunately thus far this has only happened in the lounge area, but there it has happened splendidly. We are confident that these tasteful renovations will continue throughout the building, as it would be a shame to limit redesigns of this caliber to only communal areas.

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