The addition of Jeff Labbé and Kash Sree to the Leo Burnett USA creative department is the latest and, considering the coveted Lions both sport, the highest- profile of a number of recent additions to the Chicago agency.

Since Mark Tutssel moved from London to Chi-town last fall, the 200-strong department has seen several top creatives come aboard, including writer Stephanie Crippen and creative directors Josh Denberg and Paul Hirsch.

Labbé and Sree join Leo as VP/creative directors, but will function as a working creative team, harkening back to their brief partnership at Wieden + Kennedy, Portland back in '98.

"We mainly want to do the hands-on work. Nurturing is fine, but we are there to write and do ads. We'll just keep going at it until something great happens or we die, both of which should take a year," jokes Sree. "I suspect we have creative director titles so people will leave us alone. Mark wants us to try our hands at anything, essentially using us as hitmen. Also, the fact Jeff and I are both not white and middle-class immediately changes the voices you are going to get from us." (Sree is of South Asian descent, Labbé is Cajun.)

Labbé art directed Nike "Beautiful" in 2000 and also worked at TBWA/Chiat/Day, San Francisco on Levi's and Adidas campaigns, as well as Fox Sports' "Beware of Things Made in October" project. Prior to W+K, Labbé worked for other agencies and ran his own design firm. Sree joined from W+K, where he wrote on several Nike projects, including the "Play" campaign, and worked for Diet Coke, Pizza Hut and the American Indian College Fund. Prior to W+K, Sree worked at agencies in the UK, Singapore, India and Australia (sharing duties with Andy Fackrell).

In the intervening years since their initial collaboration, both have changed their approach to work.

"We were both really ambitious and intense about getting things done," recalls Sree. "We would work ourselves to death, but I got warned off it because I was scaring off partners. So I said, 'I'm not going to do anything.' I sat around playing video games. Jeff says he is the same, but in a new place with more challenges we may go back to the old mould of banging our heads together until something happens. But generally, the more creative stuff comes when you are having fun."

As for his decision to change shops, Labbé says the depth of Leo Burnett's portfolio of brands attracted him.

"Leo Burnett's roster of brands has great potential. Both [US] agencies we've worked at before are great, but they havea depth of three or four big brands that come and go," says Labbé. "Leo Burnett has brands that stay there with a security and trust similar to what we experienced at W+K with Nike."

Although the creatives maintain their new gig will be making ads, not sharing their skills with young'uns, both men do offer some insight into their creative process.

"Write a 30-second script but edit a 60-second spot, and see if you can sell that to the client," advises Sree. "It's better for telling a story. 'Tag' was 90 seconds. If you can, especially if the client is listening, don't go with what you know. Get into that area where you feel uncomfortable; if the idea makes you nervous, it's really good... or really bad."

On the art direction side, Labbé advises not to let the execution overpower the idea, but to keep production values high.

"Personally, I use old computer programs; I don't need access to a million fonts," says Labbé. "Art direction is more about constant attention to detail. Think about it: what if Jaws was a terrible-looking shark?"

As the duo steps into their new partnership, they are the focus of great expectations and hype. Labbé seems jazzed, but Sree feels some trepidation.

"I am petrified," admits Sree. "Leaving Wieden is like growing up and leaving home; it's the longest I've been anywhere in my working life. Every time I spoke to Jim Riswold, I was learning. This move is about giving up that addiction and the Nike addiction."

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