A Creative Catalyst for Change: Leo Burnett Re-ignites Partnership with The International Exchange

Creative agency Leo Burnett has re-ignited its partnership with The International Exchange (TIE), a world-leading international leadership programme that connects commercial businesses with non-commercial organisations to apply their skills and expertise to solving real life challenges that affect the world and its poorest and most vulnerable communities.

Leo Burnett has invested in the partnership with TIE as part of its mission to deliver a unique training experience for its people, embedding leadership skills across the agency, at every level. The partnership gives participants the opportunity to expand their horizons, push their boundaries, and apply their creative problem-solving skills to real world challenges, demonstrating to teams how impactful creative thinking can be.

Charlie Rudd, CEO, Leo Burnett added: “As a leader of an agency, all you have is the talent that works for you so we’re always looking out for innovative ways to inspire and motivate our people. TIE allows people to step out of their day-to-day and exercise the amazing power of their skillsets whilst helping some of the most needy on the planet. TIE projects serve to remind us that nobody should ever underestimate the creative industries’ potential to be a catalyst for change.”

TIE currently works in 21 countries around the world, supporting over 50 organisations, on projects as diverse as preserving the Brazilian rainforest to aiding survivors of ISIS’s barbaric crimes. TIE's first client was Leo Burnett in 2007, where TIE provided the agency with a transformational learning opportunity for an Account Director, who worked on a short-term project with an HIV/AIDS organisation in Brazil. 

TIE founder, Philippa White, who previously worked at Leo Burnett as in Account Management before setting up TIE, said: “Leo Burnett was the first company to trust us when we launched and we are proud to join forces once again, in an official and ongoing partnership where they will be able to offer diverse challenges to their employees, pushing them in new ways, whilst having the chance to lend their skills to the communities which need them most. Turning gifted professionals into gamechangers, we help create better companies, with better people, in a better world. Creative agencies are in a huge position of power and responsibility to lend their creative minds to help solve some of the world’s biggest challenges, and we hope that the success of this unique partnership will inspire other businesses to join us.”

The diverse Leo Burnett team has already delivered the first project from the partnership with TIE, helping to relaunch and rebrand a Mumbai-based children’s charity. As part of this project, Save The Children India (STCI) has been renamed the Vipla Foundation, in a move that will enable the charity to differentiate itself, grow supporters, secure donors and gain awareness in its local market.

Leo Burnett developed a new brand identity for the charity, supported by a new colour palette and a three-word tagline: ‘Grow, Learn, Flourish’.

Leo Burnett also worked with the charity to shift the brand towards a more ownable, honest and positive position, while proudly championing its hands-on approach to helping the children of India, a promise they have delivered on since its launch in 1988. The new focus has also provided the charity with a clear and bold mission which creates a clear path to growth in the future.

Jyoti Nale Tajane, senior director, VIPLA Foundation, said: “The similarity of our name with a more established charity was preventing us from generating the donations we needed to expand our work, holding us back from having meaningful local impact in India. Leo Burnett has helped provide the charity with a clear and bold mission which creates a path for us to grow in the future, and deliver even more support where it’s needed.” 

Founded in 1988 by Mrs Vipula Kadri, the Vipla Foundation supports children suffering from educational inequality, disabilities or risk of human trafficking. The Vipla Foundation currently has 84,141 students enrolled on its education programmes and 96% of those students who received remedial support moved up one level in maths, as well as over 220 disabled children attend the special care centre. In the past decade the organisation has trained over 12,000 law enforcement personnel through its anti-trafficking initiatives.