Leo is Head of Advertising & Retail at KFC UK & Ireland. He joined KFC in March 2020 as Marketing Lead for Ireland, just as Covid was unfolding and the entire restaurant estate closed. For the first 6 weeks it could be said that Leo had eaten more chicken than he’d sold. Since then, Leo has led the turnaround of the Irish market from 8 years of transaction decline to hitting record sales growth and brand results.
As Head of Advertising & Retail he now leads the team that brings KFC to life for the customer through the marketing calendar, launching campaigns such as And That’s Why There’s KFC Delivery and The Ultimate BBQ Burger.
In many ways Leo has come home to KFC having worked on the brand for 5 years as Business Director at BBH. At BBH he also led the APG, D&AD, and BAFTA award winning Chokeables campaign for St John Ambulance; although no award felt as significant as the 55 parents who reached out to say The Chokeables helped save their child from choking.
Before BBH, Leo spent 3 years at DLKW Lowe where he helped switch the UK to Digital TV, launched rollercoasters at Thorpe Park, and raised awareness for The NHS National Dementia Strategy.
Before joining KFC, Leo was Managing Director of Tombo (Japanese cafes in London) winning Deliveroo’s Top Rated Restaurant in 2019. Prior to that he was Head of Brand and Marketing at LEON restaurants.
Leo indulges his half Japanese heritage by cooking lots of Japanese food (having a rice cooker is the key) and drinking plenty of green tea. His minor claim to fame is writing 2010 YouTube hit viral video ‘Newport State of Mind’ parody of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys.
