Leanne Too is a Marketer of the Year finalist in the YouTube NZ Marketing Awards 2025.
The winner will be announced on September 3.
Name: Leanne Too
Job title: Marketing Director, KFC
In a couple of sentences, sum up your career so far.
I have built my career leading iconic brands through bold, insight-led marketing that delivers both commercial results and cultural relevance. Along the way, I have championed creativity, grown high-performing teams and contributed actively to the wider marketing community through mentoring, judging, and now board leadership.
The yardstick of success
How do you measure the success of a campaign?
Success starts with clarity – and that begins by understanding the problem we are trying to solve. Before a campaign is briefed in, we define what success looks like – commercially, creatively and culturally.
From there, we balance hard metrics – sales impact, media efficiency, with softer metrics like brand metrics, engagement quality, earned media and relevance in culture. We look for outcomes that drive the business and deepen brand affinity over time.
Say hello to the other Marketer of the Year finalists 2025
Brid Drohan-Stewart
Cath Brands
Dave Pearce
Fraser Shrimpton
Matthew Pickering
PJ Morris
Susanne Hardy
Focus on sustainability
How do you incorporate eco-friendly practices in your marketing initiatives?
Sustainability is part of our wider corporate focus, and it is something we actively consider in how we show up as a brand. We are mindful of choosing partners and messaging that reflect responsibility and relevance – and where it makes sense, we look for ways to align with our broader environmental goals.
How does Aotearoa rate?
On a scale of ‘deathly boring’ to ‘in a golden age’, where does Aotearoa sit when it comes to creativity?
Creativity in Aotearoa is thriving – not because we follow global trends, but because we challenge them. Our scale forces sharp thinking, our diversity shapes richer storytelling and our ideas are grounded in real, human insight. We are not just producing great work – we are creating work that feels deeply local and increasingly global in impact.
Good stuff
Biggest win this year?
KFC NZ kicked off the year with KF&C – a limited-time beachfront fish & chip pop-up that raised $40k for Surf Life Saving NZ. It sold out in two days, drew crowds and headlines, and transformed purpose-driven marketing into a true cultural moment.
Building on that momentum, KFC Zing Air took brand experience to new heights – literally – flying fans on its first-ever private airline to a Super Rugby match, complete with branded lounges, in-flight pamper kits and offset carbon emissions via Ekos. Both campaigns proved how KFC can turn bold ideas into business results – while creating real emotional connection with Kiwi audiences.
Coming up
What’s next on your to-do list?
Continuing to build brand love in bold, unexpected ways and investing in the next wave of marketing talent. I am also focused on embedding more cultural and commercial creativity into everything we do, while staying close to what matters most: our customers.
Every winner, every category – read all about it in issue #84 of NZ Marketing magazine. Subscribe now and get the magazine delivered to your door.
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