Leo Burnett CEO Todd Sampson appointed non-executive director to the Board of Qantas
Leo Burnett Group national CEO Todd Sampson has been appointed a non-executive director to the Board of Qantas Airways Limited, with effect from 25 February 2015.
Welcoming Sampson, Qantas Chairman Leigh Clifford said the appointment would provide board-level marketing expertise for one of Australia’s most enduring and recognised brands: “Todd will bring a wealth of marketing experience to the Qantas Board, as well as broader business acumen from the senior leadership and strategy roles he has held.”
Says Sampson: “Qantas is one of the most iconic brands in the world and it is an honour to join this Board.”
Sampson has a diverse range of expertise in marketing communication, new media and digital transformation. He also sits on the Board of Fairfax.
It will be interesting how Sampson’s appointment will be viewed by Qantas agency Droga5 and Qantas creative consultant Neil Lawrence.
9 Comments
I wonder how it will be viewed by his superiors. I presume this would preclude Leos doing any work for QANTAS given the conflict of interest.
So not only do Leos not benefit from the relationship, they also have to sit and watch his undeniable knowledge and expertise being given away to other agencies for nothing.
It will indeed be interesting to see his influence given marketing & communications experience has been absent from the board for some time, and the marketing department has been more like a departure lounge. If there are any pretenders there amongst marketing and their agencies, (and I’m not suggesting even for a fleeting moment there are), they may be getting nervous.
Lets just hope Todd stays well clear of Delilah.
“not only do Leos not benefit from the relationship”
Errr. Because Todd being on the board of one of the greatest brands in the country isn’t going to impress any other prospective clients, is it?
I’m sure they’ll be just fine.
Todd is on an amazing self propelled trajectory.
Good for him.He’s smart,different and a rare individual.
His future does not lie in advertising and Burnets would surely know and accept that.
He will be gone fom there in the not too distant future and lost to our industry.
I wish him luck.
And I hope we can encourage more young people to emulate him.
This will exclude Leos from being selected from the shortlist of any rival airline, won’t it?
But this is really good for Brand Todd.
D5 have been off ‘retainer’ for months…LCS will be rolling out more 60sec spots for months to come and for a very good reason…D5 have dropped the ball big time… Even sad old groucho would agree to that…but then again?
earth hour. So far away now isn’t it?
@Odd, how is this a conflict of interest?
I can see how it could be potentially perceived as cronyism, however Leo’s have had smh.com for years and Todd is also a board member for Fairfax. It shouldn’t preclude anything?
How the CEO of one of Sydney’s bigger ad agencies manages to be on 3 boards, produce (a pretty damn interesting) TV series about improving your brain, be a regular panel guest on everything from breakfast TV to The Project to Gruen and still make his clients money is beyond me. But however it’s been set up, it’s worked wonders for Leos.
Not sure it’s worked well for their clients or made any of their marketing managers famous, but they’re still willing to put up with it, so something must be working.
@Delilah : love it when a post is too subtle , it amuses the rest of us.