TBWA\Shanghai promotes Brian Swords to MD

Brian Swords, currently Brand Team Leader at TBWA\Shanghai, has been promoted to Managing Director of the Agency. The new position is effective immediately. Ian Thubron, President of TBWA\Greater China, has been acting Managing Director for the last 12 months, to whom Swords continues to report.

Swords joined TBWA\Shanghai in mid-2011, moving from Managing Director at Cawley Nea\TBWA in Dublin, Ireland. Swords worked with Cawley Nea\TBWA for 18 years. During this time, in addition to his local management responsibilities, he was Global Brand Leader for Pernod Ricard’s Jameson whisky brand. During his first 18 months in China, Swords oversaw the agency’s flagship McDonald’s account.

Commenting on the appointment, Thubron said, “We brought Brian to China confident in his leadership capabilities. In the time he’s been with us, he’s provided an extremely high level of brand leadership for McDonald’s. It’s no co-incidence that the level of strategic and creative thinking on the brand has improved exponentially – we’ve won EFFIEs, we’ve won creative awards, the business is growing significantly, and we’ve launched initiatives like the Angry Birds partnership. Brian will continue to work closely on McDonald’s and to bring his leadership qualities to bear across the Agency.”

“I’m fortunate to be taking on this position after a period of significant development and growth for the agency. We have a great team in place and some very exciting future growth initiatives in the pipeline,” said Swords. “Our core philosophy of ‘Disruption’ has served us well in China, guiding both our own business strategy and how we work with our clients. It’s our core differentiation and is the foundation to drive fresh, innovative and breakthrough work for our clients.”