Let's have some fun, Pencil Chat, by comparing two pencils that are supposedly very similar (yet may not be related at all)!
The subjects today are the 'Alpha 245' by Eagle, and the 'Leo Burnett' pencil. Both pencils are of the 'jumbo' variety, meaning they have wider barrels than standard pencils.
Leo Burnett was a real person (an ad executive), supposedly inspired by the 'Alpha 245'. according to Quora,
"Leo grew up watching his father lay out ads for the store on the dining room table. The shopkeeper would use ‘big pieces of wrapping paper a big black pencil and a yardstick,’ Burnett recalled. In her 1995 book Leo Burnett, Star Reacher, the agency’s former corporate communications director Joan Kufrin explains that this was how Leo discovered the big black Alpha 245 pencils he used throughout his career – and which the agency has adopted as part of its brand identity.The big black pencils are now a part of the company culture he created, just like the apples that grace the reception desks"
I'd link to the source, but I'm unsure if Reddit allows outside links. ^^
Either way, I was wondering if the 'Alpha 245' and the 'Leo Burnett' pencil were the same or similar. As I have both, I decided to make a real-world comparison.
Turns out both are great art pencils, yet very different! ^^
The 'Alpha 245' has a buttery smooth drag---it glides gracefully along the paper in much the same way as a good quality calligraphy pencil may. The line is dark, but not overly so as the pencil isn't unduly soft.
The 'Leo Burnett' is like a harder variant of the above: it glides well, but its drag has a slight scratchiness to it. The line is a little less dark and erases cleanly.
Granted, my test was rudimentary, and perhaps flawed: my 'Alpha 245' is marked as a 'B', so it would be expected the pencil would be softer and smoother than harder pencils (as the 'Leo Burnett' clearly is).
Another note of interest is the Alpha pencils are slightly heavier than the Burnett, despite being somewhat smaller.
I'm unsure if the 'Leo Burnett' was a 'brand-X' pencil intended to emulate the 'Alpha 245', or even if it were produced by Eagle for Leo Burnett, but it wouldn't surprise me if either were true. :3
https://preview.redd.it/2fcinwniqwi71.jpg?width=2596&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=765629864c8507a13c95aea57fb74976c70617a4
It's very difficult for a brand to talk about sensitive topics. It requires a lot of empathy, research and seriousness to avoid saying or doing the wrong thing. However, we can't avoid some topics and someone's got to speak up.
Leo Burnett's work with NSPCC, named 'Talk Pants', encourages parents to talk to their children and have both parties feel comfortable discussing how to stay safe from sexual abuse.
Watch their video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lL07JOGU5o
Would you recommend this agency? If you worked there what was your experience? How is the salary? How is the culture? Day to day? Work life balance?
I'm not that familiar with the advertising industry and how they used advanced analytics/data science/predictive modeling so if there's anything I should know/research before my interview (even not specific to Leo Burnett), that would be awesome. I'm coming from an entirely different industry hence the question.
