Leo Burnett’s new Australia CEO embraces innovation, ethical AI, and absurdism

When Clare Pickens took the reins at Leo Burnett Australia this year, she brought with her a wealth of experience, a fresh perspective, and a clear mission: to reignite the agency’s creative fire and elevate its work to new heights. Fresh off the plane from Amsterdam, where she spent 15 years leading creative teams at agencies like Wieden+Kennedy and the indie HERC, Pickens says she isn’t just settling into a new role—she’s preparing to “steer one of Australia’s most storied creative agencies into the future”.

Pickens’ arrival ended a ten-month leadership gap at Leo Burnett, during which the agency had been without a CEO. Despite this, she found a team that had remained resilient and focused. “It’s like I stepped into a really competent, stable team and they did a fantastic job maintaining relationships and delivering work in that period,” she says.

But for Pickens, status quo isn’t the goal—innovation is. Her focus is on pushing the agency to innovate beyond its heritage, and to leverage its human-centric legacy to remain competitive in a market where consolidation is becoming the norm. "The landscape is shifting locally and globally," she acknowledges, but she believes that Publicis Groupe is strongly positioned to thrive in this new environment.

From a global vision to local precision

Pickens’ journey to Australia is more than just a geographical shift; it’s a pivot from global campaigns to the nuanced world of local market work.

During her decade at Wieden+Kennedy, including a stint in London, she was at the helm of both global and regional brands across diverse categories, steering campaigns for giants like Instagram, Milka (Mondelez), Netflix, and P&G. With a talent for uncovering unexpected business solutions, Pickens aims to blend business strategy with creative brilliance, and ensures that the work was not only effective but also enjoyable. As she puts it, “What helps people helps business. Creativity is about solving business problems in the most interesting, dynamic, and memorable ways. That’s how we drive breakthrough.”

Pickens doesn’t see marketing as a siloed function within brand leadership. Instead, she believes it must sit at the table and demonstrate how it’s delivering on key business objectives. Without that alignment, she argues, marketing efforts can’t effectively address the big challenges at the leadership level.

In Europe, Pickens was accustomed to crafting campaigns that needed to resonate across diverse markets, each with its own cultural and consumer nuances. “Everywhere I’ve worked, a diversity of opinion has been crucial to achieving great creative work that is not only unique but different,” she says. However, working on a global or multi-market level often requires distilling various consumer insights into a single, broad concept—sometimes at the expense of sharp, localised relevance.

Now in Australia, Pickens finds herself in a creative landscape that’s markedly different. The market may be smaller, but she sees this as an opportunity, not a limitation. “At the local level, insights are stronger and more focussed and so work can be bolder,” she notes. For example, Pickens talks about the success of campaigns like the ‘Bundy Wedding’ for Bundaberg Rum (see below) highlighting the kind of daring, culturally attuned work that can only be achieved when the creative process is deeply embedded in local insights.

This shift from a global to a local focus isn’t just a change in scale; it’s also a change in creative philosophy. In Australia, Pickens is eager to explore the potential for more “tightly wound ideas"—concepts that are deeply rooted in the specific cultural and social fabric of the market. This approach allows for more flexibility and responsiveness, she says, allowing the agency to create work that not only resonates but also challenges and excites.

“I like what [Leo Burnett] has been able to do with SunCorp Insurance (referring to the Cannes-winning Resilience Platform work) where we put insurance in the face of resilience and protection rather than recovery. We’ve shifted an entire category into an entirely different perspective about what our role is for people,” she says.

The Australian market: A laboratory for innovation?

Pickens is ready to leverage her global experience to push creative boundaries in a market known for its distinctive and daring voice. And the timing couldn’t be better just as Australia secured the highest number of Cannes Lions from the APAC region in both 2023 and 2024.

It’s also a unique market marked by cultural diversity, irreverent humour in advertising and a willingness to embrace risk. While smaller on the global stage, it punches well above its weight in terms of creative output. Pickens is aware of this and sees Australia as a fertile ground for innovation.

AI might be a hot topic, but Pickens is cautious. “Not everyone is using AI in knowledgeable and responsible ways because it’s a new tool, and we all want to experiment with it,” she adds. She talks about how Publicis is “ahead of the curve” when it comes to AI adoption and the Groupe’s Marcel platform which was launched in 2017, but does not get into any granular details about the actual implementation or innovation at play.

At Leo Burnett, Pickens says, the focus is on mastering the technology before integrating it in client work. This measured approach mirrors industry-wide trends towards a more ethical and informed use of AI, a theme that resonated at Cannes Lions as well.

And despite all the buzz, Pickens believes that the real game-changer will not be at the product level. In fact, when AI integrates into the “experience layer” and brand offerings can be personalised and transformed for consumers, she reckons this development “will be more profound”.

Absurdism, cultural fluidity and the power of a light touch

Guiding Leo Burnett into a new era means staying attuned to the creative pulse of the region. This year at Cannes, humour, absurdism, cultural fluidity, and AI took centre stage, and Pickens sees them as crucial tools for pushing the boundaries of creativity.

“I’m a massive fan of humour, especially in tough times when people need a big laugh,” she says. “Creativity that can inject humour will stand out and be breakthrough. One thing creatives sometimes forget is that we don’t always need to hold a mirror up to the consumer; sometimes, creativity is about telling universal stories that connect, much like how Pixar and Disney do with their animated storytelling.”

Her perspective aligns with Cannes’ embrace of irreverence and wit. The introduction of the new humour category at Lions this year saw 798 entries, proving that the power of a well-timed joke resonates with brands and consumers alike. Comedy made a well-deserved comeback, leading to standout work that got noticed—according to the Lions trend report, 3.6% of entries in this new category won, surpassing the global average of 3.1%.

Absurdism was another standout theme at Cannes. At this year’s festival, it became increasingly clear that there’s tremendous value in confusion. In a world drowning in content, sometimes ‘weird’ is the only way to capture attention. Take Dramamine’s work, for example. The anti-nausea brand paid tribute to the sick bag with ‘The Last Barf Bag,’ a campaign so bizarre it took home the Health & Wellness Lions Grand Prix.

“Absurdism, when done right, can be incredibly effective in making a brand memorable,” says Pickens. “Absurdism works because it taps into something deeper, something unexpected. It disrupts the norm and forces people to pay attention.”

Another driving force in today’s creative landscape is cultural fluidity. Asia, with its 51 countries and over 2,300 languages, presents a complex cultural mosaic. And even though Australia is a single market, much like Asia, it is not a monolith, and navigating the cultural tapestry requires both care and creativity. For Pickens, Australia’s multicultural richness is not just a challenge but an advantage.

“Wherever I’ve worked, diversity of opinion has been crucial,” she says. “Whether it’s diversity in education, socioeconomics, or ethnicity, being surrounded by people who aren’t like you—and who have strong, distinct voices—is essential. That’s when healthy creative friction happens, and it elevates the work. When you get 10 people from 10 different backgrounds to debate and agree, the result is always stronger.”

In Australia, nearly half of Australia’s population was born overseas or has at least one parent born overseas, according to the local Bureau of Statistics. This diversity is reflected in consumer behaviour, making it crucial for brands to understand and cater to a wide range of cultural perspectives.

“Forcing yourself to really understand diversity beyond the tick boxes is how the real magic happens,” Pickens concludes.

Beyond awards to real-world impact

At the core of Pickens’ vision for Leo Burnett Australia is a commitment to creative excellence—not just in terms of winning awards, but in creating work that has a tangible impact on people’s lives. “For me, creativity is about solving business problems in the most interesting, dynamic, and memorable ways,” she explains. This philosophy is evident in the agency’s work with Suncorp, particularly the 'One House to Save Many' campaign (see below), which redefined the insurance category by shifting the focus from recovery to resilience.

This campaign, which won numerous awards, including an Innovation Grand Prix at the 2022 Cannes, is a perfect example of what Pickens sees as the future of creative work. It’s not just about being clever or flashy; it’s about making a real difference. “That’s what gets me excited about creativity—doing something that tightly answers a human problem and a business problem with a really exciting creative solution,” she says.

In an industry often obsessed with accolades, Pickens’ focus on effectiveness is refreshing. She values awards, but only when they reflect real-world success. “I tend to lean more towards effectiveness awards,” she says.

“Craft is important, but it’s the work that moves people and drives results that truly matters.”