Brian Swords has resigned as managing director of Cawley NeaTBWA and is to move to China to take up a senior post at the Omnicom group’s TBWA Shanghai office in December. Swords joined Cawley Nea in 1993 and has been president of the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland (IAPI) since the start of 2008.
A business graduate from the University of Limerick-UL, he worked in marketing at C&C from where he joined the drinks group’s ad agency, Dimension. There he worked with Chris Cawley and David Nea, who went on to found Cawley Nea, which was acquired by the Omnicom network and became Cawley Nea\TBWA.
Although he dabbled in media, Swords’s forte was in client service. Among the accounts he has worked closest with in recent years are McDonald’s, The Irish Times and Topaz. Executive chairman Chris Cawley confirmed that Deirdre Waldron, who heads up Agency.com, the company’s digital arm, will replace Swords.
“Brian has already travelled to China three times this year, working on McDonald’s business there,” Cawley told Marketing.ie. “While we’re sorry to see Brian go, having worked with him for 18 years, we realise it’s a big career opportunity for him. We’re happy that he’s remaining on as a director of Cawley Nea\TBWA. “
