Aussie expat Michael Canning departs Leo Burnett New York – heading to 72andSunny, LA

Aussie expat Michael Canning is departing the ECD and managing partner role at Leo Burnett, New York and is beleved to be taking the ECD role at LA hotshop 72andSunny.

Canning, who was promoted to ECD role at Leo’s in 2011, had only been in the managing partner role for a few months following the departure of Jay Benjamin to Saatchi & Saatchi, New York in April. It is understood his creative partner and fellow Aussie expat Kieran Antill will be taking the ECD and managing partner role at Leo Burnett New York.

Canning’s work has collected 39 Cannes Lions including two Cannes Lions Media Grand Prix (Lynx ‘Lynx Jet’ via Lowe Hunt Sydney in 2006 and Canon “Photochains” via Leo Burnett Sydney in 2010) and pencils at D&AD, The One Show, Clio and Andy’s. In 2010 Canning was ranked in the world’s top 3 most consistently awarded ‘Young Guns of the Decade’, and has presented as a keynote speaker at the Cannes Lions, Dubai LYNX and Young Lions Festivals.

In 2010, Leo Burnett launched an entrepreneurially-driven office in New York built around Benjamin as the agency founder with Canning and Antill as the gun team. The agency quickly grew to 40 people making work for Samsung, Chobani, The Village Voice, United Nations and new technology brand Filip. Their work for The Village Voice, ‘New York Writes Itself’, a crowdsourced off-Broadway play won the inaugural Gold Lion for Branded Content at Cannes in 2012 and Best of Show at the One Show Entertainment Awards in 2013. In 2013 the agency was ranked 2nd in the world in Branded Content by Ad Age and was named 7th most creative agency in the world, according to the Gunn Report.