Leo Burnett Worldwide brought home nine Pencils at the fourth annual One Show Awards.

Leo Burnett Worldwide 2012 One Show Award wins include:

Gold Pencils
One Show Design
Elections Ontario “Elections Ontario” – Design: Corporate Identity (Leo Burnett Toronto)

One Show Interactive
Montblanc International “The Beauty of a Second” – Interactive: Craft – Typography (Leo Burnett Milan)

Silver Pencils
One Show
P&G “Bounty Picks It Up” – Collateral/Posters (Leo Burnett Toronto)
Troy Library “Book Burning Party” – Experiential Advertising (Leo Burnett Detroit)

One Show Design
Raising the Roof “Nothing But Potential” – Design: Public Service/Outdoor and Posters (Leo Burnett Toronto)

One Show Interactive
James Ready “JR Spelling Bee Lottery” – Interactive Advertising: Environmental/Experiential (Leo Burnett Toronto)

Bronze Pencils
One Show
P&G “Bounty Picks It Up” – Collateral/Posters (Leo Burnett Toronto)
Raising the Roof “Nothing But Potential” – Public Service/Outdoor and Posters (Leo Burnett Toronto)

One Show Design
Leo Burnett Toronto Office Workspace – Design: Industrial/Product Design (Leo Burnett Toronto)

Only 364 days until the next Big Omaha and I can hardly wait!

Some of my favorite moments at the event this year began with the phrase “So why is Leo Burnett at Big Omaha?” The simple question provided an opportunity to explain that we were there to learn, to participate and to help, resulting in a smile and strong head nodding from the questioning party.

Many of the startups and small companies participating in Big Omaha have the connective tissue that they’re trying to change people’s behavior for the better through small “acts.” As an agency that is fueled through our HumanKind philosophy of “acts not ads,” we landed at the perfect intersection at Big Omaha. Our HumanKind philosophy is not about advertising or brand propositions or selling products, but about people, purpose and changing behavior. It’s a look at marketing that serves true human needs and not the other way around, and this philosophy is on full display from the minute Big Omaha starts to the very last speaker at the event.

There were many moments during the event when an idea for one of my clients was born. Now, my challenge is to bring these ideas to them and demonstrate why I was so moved by the idea, and get them to believe in it too. I think it would be great if next year we have some of our clients standing shoulder-to-shoulder with us at the event so we can experience that “aha” idea moment together. Just a small warning to any of our wonderful clients who might be interested in joining us next year, start strengthening your leg muscles because participating in the pre-speaking standing ovation is a lot of fun, it also tires the leg muscles quickly.

Entrepreneurial people are no less creative, innovative or inspirational but tend to want to (or are forced to) see things and prove them out… even prioritize. Seth refers to them as “managers” but I see them everyday in the creative community, especially at Leo Burnett, and we hold many titles. We seek problems in the form of a brand’s purpose, uncovering why a brand exists and what role it can play in people’s lives. Then we bring it to life with great ideas and acts. The difference is we often start with objectives, briefs and budgets. Process slows us down but our passion stays strong. Mediocre isn’t good enough but it’s hard to get to great. These restrictions are fixed, at least for the time being, however we share many of the same goals, beliefs and patterns. As we evolve, hire and partner we should surround ourselves with more entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial people… they’re good company to keep and their passion and perseverance are contagious. They will make us better.

I love this question: Why? Why do we do what we do?

Sahil Lavingia of Gumroad posed this question to himself and shared it with the audience here at Big Omaha. His answer was pretty interesting. He knows one day he will die and so he makes things to give himself a chance to live even when he’s gone. Pretty deep!

But it made me think, why do we do what we do at Leo? Day to day, week to week, the answer can seem obvious because more likely than not, if we ask ourselves ‘why’ our response will be something around ‘to solve a client’s problem.’  Great!  That is our job, for sure.  But, did we really chose advertising – of all the things we could have done – for that reason? I suspect we all chose it because, at some level and in some way, we wanted to scratch some creative itch. We did it for some intrinsic reason that over time has been replaced by extrinsic factors like clients, awards, or maybe even money.

It’s for these reasons that I’m pretty inspired by that question. The answer doesn’t really matter, though. The asking and the reminding is enough. Try it! Reach back in your memory and try to conjure up that initial impulse or motivation. Forget the day to day and think of why you wanted to get into advertising in the first place. You may find the answer. You may not. But just thinking about it may put that spark (and maybe even a swagger) back in what are doing day to day.

As someone who closely follows start-ups and the start-up culture, I had never heard of #BigOmaha before and I’m glad the saying “better late than never” applies here. I’m loving the event tradition of giving every speaker a loud and boisterous standing ovation as they take to the stage to speak. The tradition not only speaks to the uniqueness of the event, it also speaks to the courage of the person getting up to speak.  To be a successful entrepreneur, you really need courage and I find inspiration in this courage. I wish some of this courage would rub off on more marketers and brand managers and inspire them to think more like an entrepreneur and get out of their too easy “play it safe” comfort zone. Ben Lerer, co-founder of Thrillist had a good quote during his morning #BigOmaha talk where he said “There’s no shame in failing, there’s only shame in not trying.”

Ben has built Thrillist into a growing media and e-commerce platform and brands are starting to find unique ways to leverage the Thrillist communication + e-commerce platform and activate some really different and interesting ideas that drive brand participation. They have inspired me to the point where I have invited Thrillist to come into the agency in a couple of weeks and ideate alongside us.

…so watch this space for an update on what we come up with.

The kick-off to Big Omaha solidified for me what the intention, spirit and power of the conference is about: Each other. How we can each do more and do better through working with each other.

Ted Rheingold from SAY Media, the first speaker, talked about how important networking is. What he sparked for me though is that networking is about much more than finding people to fund your work or colleagues to work with, but about drawing knowledge and inspiration from each other. None of us knows everything or how to do everything, but we each have a repository of people filed away in the folds of our brains that we open up when we can’t find a solution to a problem. It’s our transactive memory at work: I may not know the answer or the way to do something, but I know someone who does. This is how we get to true collaboration, a way of working that isn’t about just throwing more people at a problem, but the right people at a problem.

The other bit that makes this network of doers and thinkers so valuable is what we are able to draw from it when we aren’t actually working together. Knowing others’ strengths, styles, quirks and brilliance means at any time we can actually borrow inspiration from these people. They don’t have to be actively involved in what we’re doing, but just by connecting with them we can strengthen our own ideas. And because every time we work with someone new, we learn something new. Each person we work with gives us the gift of their experience.

This is the real power of our networks. When we build it right, we make each other better.

It’s day one here at Big Omaha and we’re already learning tips and tricks from the next greatest start-ups and entrepreneurs. This morning, we got the lowdown from Jeff Slobotski and Dusty Davidson from Silicon Prairie News, as well as emcee, Antonio Neves from THINQACTION on what exactly we should expect in the next 48 hours. Ben Lerer of Thrillist Media Group/JackThreads took ten to sit down with us and talk about the importance of an open company culture and the power of risk. Ted Rheingold from SAY Media shared his thoughts on the inherent ups and downs of the start-up process. Sahil Lavingia of Gumroad and Jim Mckelvey, co-founder of Square, also offered their tales of success. Stay tuned for more updates this afternoon, or view the Livestream.

Leo Burnett Worldwide 2012 OBIE Award Wins Include:

Gold

Food & Restaurants: Multi-Format Campaign — McDonald’s “Best Fries on the Planet” (Leo Burnett Chicago)

International: Multi-Format Campaign — James Ready “James Ready Fall Campaign” (Leo Burnett Toronto)

Silver

Food & Restaurants: Street Furniture/Transit/Alternative Campaign — McDonald’s “Windy City Fries” (Leo Burnett Chicago)

Special FX: Street Furniture/Transit/Alternative Campaign — McDonald’s “Fry Lights” (Leo Burnett Chicago)

Public Service: Multi-Format Campaign — Coca-Cola “Thumbprints” (Leo Burnett Chicago)

International: Street Furniture/Transit/Alternative Campaign — James Ready “Pop-Up Billboards” (Leo Burnett Toronto)

International: Traditional Billboard Campaign — James Ready “Fall Billboards” (Leo Burnett Toronto)