Promotions body loses Annie Swift

The Institute of Promotional Marketing is hunting for a new chief executive following the exit of Annie Swift, who had been at trade body five years and oversaw a major shake-up of the organisation.
It is not thought Swift has a job to go to, although having completed her five-year plan, she believes it is time to move on.
Swift became the trade body’s first ever chief executive in June 2008, and she implemented the name change from the Institute of Sales Promotion in March 2010.
At the time, IPM chairman Clive Mishon claimed that the new name better represented the wide range of marketing and communications activities the Institute’s members carry out. He said: “Changing our name underlines the fact that promotions are about more than sales. Promotions are a part of the marketing communications industry and not ’apart’. Promotional marketing is present in all media channels, particularly digital, but also the experiential and motivation disciplines.”
Swift joined the trade body from Centaur Media – where she was publishing director of the marketing titles. Having started her career at Haymarket on Marketing magazine, she switched to arch-rival Centaur in 1988 to take on the publisher’s role on Creative Review. She went on to work her way up the business on titles such as Precision Marketing and Marketing Week. At the time of her departure she was responsible for Marketing Week, Precision Marketing, Data Strategy, Creative Review, New Media Age and Instore Marketing. Most of these titles have since been axed.
Swift left the business in what was deemed “the night of the long knives” when a raft of publishing directors were ousted by the newly promoted managing director of business publishing, Tim Potter.
Potter and chief executive Geoff Wilmot were pushed out in May this year following another poor set of results.
Swift said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at the IPM and having achieved the key things that I set out to do over the last five years, I now feel that the time is right for me to move on and pass over the reins. My particular thanks go to the great executive team and consultants who have worked so hard to achieve all that we have.”