Brian Wieser to leave GroupM

Industry analyst Brian Wieser will leave his position at GroupM at the end of January, Campaign US has learned. 

He has not yet secured his next position and is exploring opportunities, including independent consulting, according to sources. 

Wieser has been president of global business intelligence at GroupM since February 2019. He’s responsible for leading the media buying giant’s research and marketplace intelligence division, including authoring the semi-annual This Year, Next Year globalad spend forecasts, in addition to regional forecasts in dozens of markets throughout the year. He has also developed custom research and analysis for GroupM clients. 

Kate Scott-Dawkins, who works closely with Wieser as global director of business intelligence, will take over his role and be responsible for producing GroupM’s future reports and analyses. She authored GroupM’s most recent ad spend forecast, released on Monday. Prior to her role at GroupM, Scott-Dawkins was VP of thought leadership and innovation at Essence. 
 

A prolific writer and industry analyst, Wieser is known for diving deep into company earnings and their impact on the advertising sector. He has served as GroupM’s main point of contact to the investor and analyst community. He also hosts a weekly podcast called This Week, Next Week, exploring economic trends at the intersection of advertising and media. 

Wieser is also on GroupM’s global leadership team. 

When he was hired, Wieser initially reported to former GroupM global CEO Kelly Clark, who departed shortly after in July 2019, ceding the reins to current CEO Christian Juhl. 

Prior to GroupM, Wieser was a research analyst at New York equity research firm Pivotal Research Group. He started his career as an investment banker with now-defunct Lehman Brothers before moving into the advertising industry as an economist with IPG Mediabrands’ Magna in 2008.

GroupM and Wieser both declined to comment for this story.