Carly Avener

Carly is CEO of advertising agency Leo Burnett. The agency is Campaign magazine’s Agency of the Year and in the Sunday Times Best Places to Work for the second year running (for the first time in its 60 year history). Leo Burnett creates populist advertising for fabric of the nation brands such as McDonald’s, Kellogg’s, Morrisons, Vodafone, TUI, Premier Inn and Skoda.

Carly is the first to admit she never thought being a CEO was on the cards. The first in her family to go to university, Carly is a true beacon for change in a largely male-dominated industry.

Over the last few years, Carly has helped Leo Burnett continue on its stellar upward trajectory: she has led the agency through multiple new business wins, instilled a relentlessly positive culture by putting the agency’s people first and continued to lead the charge on DE&I.

Carly wholeheartedly stands behind Leo Burnett’s mission: to make the good stuff in life accessible to everyone. This is something she fights for in all areas of her role, one in particular being her dedication to DE&I. Carly has helped Leo Burnett become a place that makes a career in advertising available to everyone, not just the few: she has created and launched every single one of the agency’s DE&I initiatives and thanks to Carly’s efforts this year, Leo Burnett was one of only 16 agencies achieving all the IPA’s UK diversity targets. Additionally, Carly has put much of her spare time into mentoring young women. She has embraced the government’s apprenticeship levy and for the first time has hired apprentices into the agency. This year she is launching a Working Parent programme to support everyone juggling work and family life.

Carly’s vision for Leo Burnett is to create an era-defining agency; one which is not only famous for brilliantly effective creative work, but one which is famous for winning in the right way, whilst embracing their populist culture in everything they do.

One of the ways Carly has been opening up publicly in the industry is by honestly talking about imposter syndrome, which she wrote about suffering from in an article for Campaign. At one point in her career, while she was Managing Partner at BBH, these feelings grew so strong she sought help, and through coaching, she regained her self- confidence. This in turn has inspired many men and women across the industry to reach out to her to thank her for bringing such an important topic into the spotlight, and for encouraging people to get better at talking about mental health.

Under Carly’s leadership, Leo Burnett’s creative output is of the highest standard. In January 2023, Leo Burnett launched Raise Your Arches for McDonald’s, which went on to win three Cannes Lions. The agency delivers stand-out campaigns for McDonald’s, TUI, Kellogg’s, Skoda, Premier Inn, Morrisons and Vodafone.

“Carly has been absolutely central to the Leo’s turnaround story. Everything that we’re most proud of such as internal initiatives to improve our working lives through to the biggest pitch wins and to creating our best work have got Carly’s leadership right across them. She has become the most accomplished CEO I’ve ever worked with and it’s clear she is going to go on to achieve so much more. She has become a much loved and respected role model for so many at Leo’s. We’re lucky to have her, as is our industry.”
– Charlie Rudd, Group CEO at Leo Burnett and Publicis • Poke