| Leapnet, Inc. | 22 W. Hubbard St., Chicago, IL 60610 |
| www.leapnet.com | (312) 494-0300 Fax: (312) 494-0120 |
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Leaping ahead, but not without stumbles
Founded in 1993 by the creators of a successful Bud Light television campaign, Leapnet (formerly the Leap Group) combined traditional advertising services with interactive and digital media and won its first client, Anheuser-Busch, by the end of the year. By 1995, Leap was also serving the likes of Miller Brewing, Nike, and Boston Chicken. By 1997, however, the firm had lost Miller Brewing, Nike, and 3Com, leading to disastrous losses and deep staffing cuts.
Multicultural advertising
Company founders George Gier, Fred Smith, and Joe Sciarrotta were all workmates at ad factory DDB Needham Worldwide. Rick Lutterbach, a millionaire and an old friend of Smith's, came in to manage the business end of things. Company president Thomas Sharbaugh signed on in 1996, the same year the company went public. In 1997, the company moved into ethnic advertising with the acquisition of YAR Communications and Kang & Lee. YAR was a New York-based agency that specialized in marketing to Hispanic, European, and Middle Eastern consumers. Kang & Lee, which was also New York-based with a second office in Los Angeles, targeted Asian consumers. The two agencies are linked under an umbrella group called One World Communications, making it the largest multicultural advertising agency in America.
Woe
But things tanked in 1997. In January of that year, the company opened its first West Coast office in Santa Monica. By July, the new office won a $7 million account for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Unfortunately, management changes at the municipal utility led to the loss of the account before Leap even got started. The loss forced the company to restructure, which involved the dismissal of several employees, including Managing Director Steve Rabosky, who then sued the agency. He claimed that his reputation was tainted by a news release implying that the management of the Santa Monica office had not been performing up to standard. Further losses were incurred when Leap lost Miller Brewing Co., an account that brought in 66 percent of the company's revenues in 1996. The company also lost Nike and 3Com, clients that accounted for a total of nearly 50 percent of the company's revenues for the previous fiscal year. Net losses for 1997 of $5.6 million forced the company to cut 40 percent of its employees and to reduce executive salaries by a total of $1 million. In addition, an unnamed client of One World Communications made significant cuts to its 1998 advertising budget. Industry analysts have suggested that the company should not have acquired its new businesses so soon, and some believe the company went public before it had the revenues to back up its stock price.
Michelob to the rescue
But all was not lost. Quantum Leap, the company's interactive division, (formed in January 1997) fared much better than its traditional media counterpart. Leap still counted Pizza Hut, RJ Reynolds and Ameritech as clients, and more positive news came when Leap's first client, Anheuser-Busch, awarded the agency its Michelob account. The $30 million campaign was launched in February 1998. In addition, the company won an account with Rockwell Semiconductor Systems, just weeks after losing the business of its rival, 3Com.
Change in name and outlook
In 1999 The Leap Group formed a subsidiary and merged with it, and named the resulting company Leapnet, Inc. Founding partners George Gier and Joe Sciarrotta left their company as it moved away from the advertising business. The Leap Partnership is the division of Leapnet that operates as an advertising agency, but has only one client, Michelob. Fred Smith stayed on as chairman, and remarked that The Leap Partnership is a "less relevant" division of Leapnet, maintained only because the creative and strategic history of The Leap Partnership is important to Leapnet's online business. The other divisions of Leapnet are Planet Leap, Inc., a globalization services company, Quantum Leap Communications, Inc., an internet development and marketing company, and Leapnet, Inc., which provides e-business consulting and technology solutions and services. Leapnet, Inc.'s major clients include Adobe, Apple Computer, Ernst & Young, Microsoft, and Wal-Mart Stores. Planet Leap has done global branding for AT&T Corp. and Nike.
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With the recent losses, it may be difficult to get hired right now, but employees urge people to send in resumes: "If you're interested in Leap, be patient and persistent." YAR and Kang & Lee, Leap's multicultural subsidiaries, have more openings -- you can connect to their Internet sites through links on the Leap home page. The sites are not too comprehensive; in fact one of our sources admits that "we wish we had the time to work on our internal sites, but we're swamped with client work." To apply to Leap, you can send a cover letter and resume via snail mail, or e-mail them to jobs@leapnet.com. You can submit your info to YAR or Kang & Lee through forms provided on their websites. Employees say the interview process "is pretty laid-back," but expect two or three rounds of interviews.
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Relaxed culture
"Dress code? Ha!" laughs one source, "sometimes there are 'suggestions' when clients are expected." As for office hours, "some work 9 to 5," but most "bust our asses all the time." But if you happen to oversleep once in a while, you probably won't cause much of a stir. "We all consider work hours to be whenever you can work, as long as you get the job done and go to the meetings you need to attend." There are all-nighters, but we fight clients on unreasonable deadlines. To further illustrate the relaxed atmosphere at Leap, one insider recalls the morning he "walked in at 10 a.m. in soccer shorts -- I didn't even raise an eyebrow." The "unique" office environment, combined with an opportunity "to do interesting award-winning work" contribute to the "longevity and upward mobility" at Leap. Which is why "a number of folks are still here from the beginning." "There's a lot of potential here, and everyone is given a lot of power to make things happen," says one insider.
Striving for hipness
Insiders describe their co-workers as "a good mix of computer geeks and design nerds, all trying to be as hip as possible." As for the hard numbers, "If you look at Leapnet as a whole, minorities are pretty much the majority," one insider explains. But that's not the case everywhere. The new media group, for example, "has a 5 to 1 ratio of male to female and absolutely no ethnic diversity." Employees chalk this up to the lack of women and minorities employed in the new media market in general -- and add, "I don't think anyone would let race or gender be an issue at Leap."
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Advertising;Strategic Brand Positioning;Graphic Design;Television;Print;New Media;Multimedia Presentations;World Wide Web;Name Generation;Point of Sale Merchandising;Sales Promotions;Realtime Marketing;Entertainment Program Content;Packaging
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