Leo Burnett hire Toffael Rashid as regional planning director for the Samsung account

Leo Burnett has appointed Toffael Rashid as regional planning director working on Samsung business across Asia Pacific. Most recently with Saatchi & Saatchi as planning director, Rashid will be based out of the Singapore office for his new role.

A British citizen, Rashid (left) is a global marketing professional with over 16 years of blue chip international marketing experience which includes eight years of European experience and eight years of pan-Asian market experience. He has lived and worked out of seven countries (UK, USA. France, India, Thailand, Bangladesh & Singapore) and visited over 70 across all five continents.  In that time, Rashid has lead local country, continental and global teams within the entire marketing process including strategy, insights, innovation, brand equity creation, brand advertising and activation, digital marketing and sales promotion.

Rashid acquired these experiences as a client marketer at leading multinational firms (Unilever, PepsiCO) as well as working at elite creative advertising agencies (Lowe, Saatchi & Saatchi) across many categories including nation branding & tourism, FMCG (Beauty care, laundry, home hygiene, snacks), telco, technology, sports, pharmaceutical, infant nutrition and branded services.  Much of his work has been awarded by bodies that include Cannes, the EFFIES, Spikes Asia and covered by BBC, Time Magazine and CNN.

Said Saurabh Varma, chief strategy officer, Leo Burnett Singapore and Malaysia,” This appointment culminates our search which spanned eight countries and lasted more than 6 months. It signifies our intent to create absolutely the finest strategy team in Leo Burnett Singapore, bar none. We are delighted with Toffael joining and bringing his unique brand of thinking to the team.”   

Shilpa Swaroop, Regional Account Director for Samsung, Leo Burnett Asia Pacific said,” To have a truly global thinker like Toffael joining the Samsung regional team is fantastic. There is a terrific momentum to the Samsung business in Asia across several key markets like Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand and his appointment is part of our commitment to bring the best-in-class expertise to Samsung. Samsung is at a tipping point in Asia and Toffael will help us capture this moment and catapult the brand to next level.”

Rashid said: “It is genuinely exciting for me to join Leo Burnett given their undisputed creative repute as well as the opportunity to work on Samsung which provides me with a centre seat smack bang in the middle of consumer technology and digital marketing. The growth of the Samsung is incredible, especially given its competitive set and yet it’s still a story only beginning to be told. It’s brand platform which provides the agency an opportunity to tell the brand story fully through ground-breaking creative work.”