Barrett has been instrumental in agency growth and leads many of GS&P’s largest and most pivotal clients. With a client retention rate of 100% since 2014, she has fueled the agency’s average client tenure of seven years. She has enabled pitchless business wins over the years, most recently Comcast Business, Idorsia, Califia Farms, One Medical, Oura, Lidl and Bic razors. The agency is defending the BMW account, which the brand put into a procurement-mandated review earlier this year.
In her new position, Barrett wants GS&P to take an even more aggressive approach to new business and leverage technology—including AI—to answer harder questions and do more interesting work, like it did recently with its “Dream Tapestry” at the Dali Museum, an interactive experience where visitors can turn their dreams into art using OpenAI’s Dall-E.
“Strategy is more important than ever, and we have the best strategists in the world. Our offerings, such as [creative branding experience] Brand Camp, help clients prepare for and react to the future of their companies, articulate their purpose and evolve their brands,” said Barrett.
Over the past few years, Barrett and the agency have welcomed back boomerang clients, including HP and Truly. She helps establish deep client relationships, including with Doug Sweeny, now the CMO of Oura.
“Leslie and I have worked together three times on vastly different brands over 12 years—at Nest and most recently at One Medical and Oura,” said Sweeny in a statement. “She has the innate ability to solve problems quickly, to challenge and rally clients while earning their respect.”
A push for diversity
GS&P, an Omnicom agency, has long championed diversity and bringing new voices into the industry.
In 2022, GS&P created an in-house advertising school called The Academy at GS&P, which trains talent tuition-free. The goal for the school is to increase the diversity of talent by including those from different socioeconomic backgrounds, and the inaugural class was 74% people of color.
“We’ve always championed diversity because we do our best work and are our best selves when we reflect the audiences that we have the privilege of representing,” said Barrett. “Like most people, we are on the journey. We are learners and listeners and strive to be our best.”
