Leo Burnett Names World-Class Creative Leadership Team for Buick-Pontiac-GMC

Hires McHugh, Taps Cruz, Wyville and Loew to Lead Each Brand

CHICAGO, Sept. 20 -- Leo Burnett today announced a new team of creative leaders that will oversee its Buick-Pontiac-GMC assignment as of October 1.

Joining Leo Burnett as EVP with responsibility for GMC will be Peter McHugh, 52. McHugh was most recently chief creative officer and a managing partner of Carmichael Lynch in Minneapolis, where over two years he brought in key new hires from as far away as Mumbai and Sao Paulo and improved the quality of work for clients such as Porsche North America, AG Edwards and Northwest Airlines, winning a record five Kelly Awards and Harley Davidson its first-ever Cannes Lion. Before joining Carmichael Lynch he was executive creative director and partner at 180/Amsterdam, where he helped win adidas' consolidated global business in partnership with TBWA and put 180 among the three "Agency of the Year" nominees at Cannes in 2004.

Over the course of his career, McHugh has been singled out as one of the top 10 creative directors in the world by Creativity Magazine and has won numerous creative accolades during stints as group creative director at Fallon Minneapolis, executive creative director at Chiat/Day Toronto and a creative director at Y&R Chicago.

The agency also named a creative team from within its ranks to serve as creative leads on Buick. SVP Creative Directors Jon Wyville, 42 and Dave Loew, 39, who recently joined Leo Burnett Chicago from Y&R Chicago in March, will serve as creative leads on the Buick assignment. At Y&R, they created award-winning work for Miller Brewing Company, NASCAR and Sears. Additionally, Wyville worked as the Groupe Creative Director on BMW at Fallon from 2004 to 2005. In addition to being Emmy finalists, the duo has won nine Cannes Lions, nine One Show Pencils, nine Clios and a respectful collection of Mercury Awards, Andys and Kellys. Since joining Burnett, they've worked across the agency's portfolio and supported new business initiatives.

Additionally, Leo Burnett will continue to service the Pontiac business under the leadership of SVP/Group Creative Director Jeff Cruz, 37. Going forward, Cruz will oversee all creative for the brand as former Leo Burnett Detroit Executive Creative Director Tor Myhren takes on a role outside the agency. Cruz has worked on Pontiac since 2000 and was promoted to group creative director on the business in 2006. He's been the driver behind Pontiac's annual NCAA campaign and helped guide its MySpace, Pontiac Garage in Times Square and Second Life Motorati Island initiatives, and in doing so won two coveted Gold Cannes Lions.

"It goes without saying that with these new appointments, we're staffing General Motors with the highest caliber creative talent in the industry," said Leo Burnett Worldwide Chief Creative Officer Mark Tutssel. "Jeff has been instrumental in delivering some of the most innovative marketing in the category on Pontiac's behalf. Jon and Dave are fantastically talented and bring a wealth of experience to the Buick brand. And Peter needs no introduction --- he helped shape 180/Amsterdam into the creative force it is today, and in the process, produced some of the best creative in the world. I am personally delighted he's joining Leo Burnett."

McHugh and the GMC creative team will be based in Los Angeles. This new Leo Burnett service office will be dedicated to GM and will interface with Leo Burnett Chicago, where Wyville, Loew and the Buick creative team will be based, and Leo Burnett Detroit, where the agency's Buick-Pontiac-GMC leadership team will reside and Cruz and the Pontiac group will continue to be based. McHugh, Wyville and Loew will work in close partnership with their creative counterpart at Digitas, SVP/Creative Rob Rizzo, and with the broader integrated Publicis Groupe team, including Digitas and other sister companies Vigilante, Lapiz, GM Planworks and MartinJay Retail, to service the BPG assignment.

About Leo Burnett Worldwide -- http://www.leoburnett.com/

Leo Burnett Worldwide, comprising the Leo Burnett brand agency and marketing partner Arc Worldwide, is one of the world's largest agency networks and a subsidiary of Publicis Groupe (http://www.publicisgroupe.com/), the world's fourth-largest communications company. LBW holds people at the center of its strategic thinking, technological innovation and creative ideas, focusing first and foremost on human behavior before attempting to tell a brand's story.

With this approach, LBW ensures that people who buy into client brands believe in them all the more. With expertise in mass advertising and digital, promotional and retail marketing, LBW partners with blue-chip clients such as The Coca-Cola Company, Diageo, Kellogg, McDonald's, Procter & Gamble and Samsung. The company has won more advertising awards for campaign effectiveness than any other agency in the last six years in the U.S., has been heralded as a "pioneer on the frontier of marketing", and continues to be ranked as one of the world's top five creatively awarded networks worldwide.