18 jobs lost as Leo Burnett ad firm folds

Advertising company Leo Burnett Associates (Dublin) is to be liquidated with the loss of 18 jobs. The board of Eastbrook Services Ltd, which traded as Leo Burnett, has informed employees and clients it has decided to put the company into liquidation.

A creditors’ meeting is being scheduled and a liquidator is expected to be appointed in early March, “after which date the operations of the company will be wound up in an orderly manner”, a company statement said.

Accounts for Eastbrook Services for the year 2011, the most recent available, show it made a loss of €64,305 in that period, compared to a pretax profit of €277,805 in 2010. The shareholders’ deficit in the 2011 accounts was €421,972.

The agency, which opened its Dublin offices 11 years ago, was affiliated to Leo Burnett Worldwide, the global group founded by the inventor of the “Marlboro Man”, but was managed and part-owned locally. The Publicis group was one of its investors.

Eastbrook’s company accounts state that its viability was dependent on the support of Quinn McDonnell Pattison (QMP), which owned 60 per cent of the company, and its related company Mediavest Ltd. The accounts show that Eastbrook was a creditor of both companies.

In 2009, Leo Burnett purchased the Larkin Partnership. In late 2011, it added Brand Artillery, a start-up run by experienced creative director Eoghan Nolan.

At the time of that purchase, Shane McGonigle, then managing director of Leo Burnett, said the expansion was part of the company’s push to tackle “a horrible time” in the advertising market. Mr McGonigle resigned as managing director of Leo Burnett last year, with the position taken up by Keith Murray.

In 2012 it won the accounts for Irish Pride and loyalty scheme Win-Win. Mr Nolan also created the campaign for employment initiative Hireland on a pro-bono basis. Other clients included the RTÉ Guide and Nivea.