In an effort to enhance its creative reputation, Montreal agency Marketel McCann-Erickson has brought in creative power hitter Leon Berger to be responsible for quality control.
Berger will hold the post of chairman, product advisory, a role that will oversee both the strategic and creative sides of the agency, which already has three creative directors – one on Air Canada, one for the general agency, and one for the health-care group.
Berger began his career at Ogilvy & Mather London, later moving to Canada to spend two years at the o&m office in Montreal, followed by eight years with J. Walter Thompson and five with Young & Rubicam.
During that time, Berger was the creative director responsible for a number of award-winning campaigns for Johnson & Johnson, Ford Motor Company of Canada, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Kraft, and Pepsi-Cola Canada.
The work won more recognition in Quebec and internationally than it did in English Canada, although his ‘Still Holding’ billboard for Johnson & Johnson’s Band-Aid brand – which featured a real Band-Aid and the date it was stuck – rolled out nationally and won an Obie award in the u.s.
In 1991, Berger moved to New York as international creative director for y&r and in 1995, he went to Singapore with Dentsu Young & Rubicam to oversee creative for Asia – a territory comprising 17 offices in 12 countries.
