CHICAGOaFCB Chicago has promoted Mike Leary to the position of senior VP/director of broadcast production. Leary, 48, has spent 10 years at FCB, most recently as senior VP/executive producer.
Leary’s promotion fills the void left by the recent departure of FCB’s former production head, Florence "Flo" Babbitt, who recently became senior VP/director of production at Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco (SHOOT, 3/17).
As an executive producer, Leary said he has worked on "nearly every" piece of business over the years at FCB. He has primarily concentrated on the S.C. Johnson, Kraft Foods and Cadbury Beverages brands, as well as Illinois Tourism (the latter is now at BBDO Chicago). Other FCB Chicago clients include Coors and Coors Light, Gatorade, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Quaker Oats, Sunkist, A&W Root Beer and Canada Dry.
"Mike is a gifted, innovative creative collaborator who helps push ideas to their greatest potential throughout the production process," said executive VP/ deputy creative director Bob Dreveny. "At the same time, his keen sense of detail and organization, tempered with a healthy dose of humanity, makes him an ideal manager and leader."
"This industry is built on a paradox," continued Dreveny. "We zealously pursue the surprising, the unexpected, the spontaneous in our creative product, but we must do so with tremendous discipline in managing the process. Strategic, logistic and financial realities must be addressed without diminishing the delicate spark of creativity. Mike’s great strength is his ability to do both."
In his new role, Leary will now oversee the 50-member broadcast production department, which includes 14 producers. "We’ve grown so much in the last year," said Leary. "We produced a record number of spotsa260 original spotsalast year. And we haven’t just grown because of more business; it’s been in diversified areas, too." FCB’s new business wins last year included Applebee’s restaurants, John Deere, Hoover vacuum cleaners and PocketCard.com, an online bank debit card.
"What I need to do is give that enough structure so that everything functions well," said Leary, "but still keep it flexible enough so people are doing the best work that can be done. And [our goal is] to really respond to our clients needs … not to move like an ocean liner but be a little more nimble, even for a big agency."
Another of Leary’s goals is to heighten the perception of FCB Chicago as a creative agency. "We’ve shown the work we’ve done to people in our recruiting efforts. It’s kind of a left-handed compliment, but I understand it when people say, ‘Wow, FCB Chicago did that?’"
FCB intends to fill several vacancies in its production department, said Leary, who related he is seeking producers who are energetic, creative problem-solvers. "We’re going to maintain a lot of the good things that are in place here," said Leary. "We have a very talented core of people here and we just want to build upon it, and make the work as good and creative as possible."
Prior to joining FCB in ’90, Leary served as a producer at J. Walter Thompson, Chicago, for six years. Before this, he worked as an executive producer at Sive/Young & Rubicam, Cincinnati, from ’80-’84, and as broadcast production director at Willis Case Harwood, Indianapolis, from ’76-’80.
