McCannBlue chief executive Orlaith Blaney is to quit advertising and plans to take a break while considering her next career move. She leaves the industry after 23 years and having served on the Institute of Advertising Practitioners (IAPI) board for 13 years. She began her career in advertising at Dimension where her accounts included Goodfella’s and Bailey’s.
She later joined McCann Erickson where clients at the time included Bank of Ireland, Coca-Cola, Heineken and MasterCard. She went on to replace Brian Sparks as the agency’s boss. Two and half years ago, McCann merged with Blue Cube to form McCannBlue – “a creative agency for the here and now”. The company is a sister agency of Belfast-based AV Browne.
McCannBlue worked for Microsoft, SafeFood, Kerry Foods, HSA, Davy Select, Deep RiverRock, Subway, Purina, Nestle Cereals, Dundrum Town Centre, Bewley’s, Rape Crisis Centre and St Vincent de Paul. Blaney was president of IAPI, secretary of the International Women’s Forum (IWF) and on the advisory board of the Women’s Executive Network (WXN).
Liam Kavanagh, president of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce and managing director of The Irish Times, appointed her as his nominee to the chamber council. Always a strong advocate of promoting creative standards, she said in an interview with Marketing in 2003, that there would be no joy in getting brilliant profit margins if “the work was to suck”.
McCannBlue’s Stephen Conway will replace Blaney, who remains with the agency until the end of the year. For a video interview with Blaney, go to marketing tv.
