Hi. I'm Sam Weston, a strategist building brands and reputations for the intelligent era. I currently lead global industry communications at WPP Media.
Read more about me here or scroll down to find out what I’ve been doing for work.
I’ve spent my career shaping public opinion, building global brands, and leading next generation marketing teams.
Today, I head global industry communications at WPP Media where we’re responsible for managing $65B in annual advertising investment and pioneering the use of AI to help companies connect with global audiences.
In the 2010s I cofounded an AI policy organization and managed marketing and communications for Huge and Essence, two agencies that helped make user experience design and data-driven marketing foundational to the way companies operate today. Collectively, we generated nearly $4B in revenue.
I began my career in political consulting and market research, helping Labour Parties in New Zealand, Australia, and the UK secure unprecedented re-election victories and aiding Democratic campaigns in multiple US election cycles.
Along the way, I’ve been fortunate to work with many personal heroes. Stephen Mills, Stan Greenberg, and Aaron Shapiro all taught me the value of being relentless in the pursuit of things that matter. Joe Stewart made me believe in the power of designing things for people. My time at Rubenstein taught me the importance of accountable and egoless leadership. I try to bring all of those things with me to the way I lead teams and approach work.
WPP Media
Head of Global Corporate Communications & Industry Marketing - GroupM / 2020-present
SVP, Global Marketing & Communications - Essence / 2018-2021
In 2018 I joined the WPP-acquired global data science agency Essence to lead marketing and communications. Over the next 3 years we scaled revenue and industry awareness, pushed people to start thinking about the implications of applied AI, modernized the brand, and navigated the pandemic.
In late 2020 I was promoted to lead global corporate communications and marketing for WPP’s media group. Since then, we’ve delivered a transformation program that has streamlined business operations across more than 500 entities, launched the industry’s first Large Marketing Model, and helped our clients navigate one of the most complex macroeconomic, cultural, and political periods in modern history.
AI Policy Labs
Cofounder / 2017-2018
There’s no shortage of attention to the coming impact of artificial intelligence these days. But in the summer of 2017, AI was still a long way from being taken seriously by policy makers - let alone the general population.
To help bridge the gap between DC and AI, I cofounded AI Policy Labs with a mission to advance AI education, research, and policy. Over the following 18 months, we succeeded in bringing White House policy experts, legislators, and tech companies together at a critical time in the development of AI and defined a research and engagement agenda to inform policy and smooth the transition to an AI-led future.
Huge
VP, Communications / 2010-2018
Today it’s obvious that all businesses need to be digital, but in 2010s most companies still saw the Internet as peripheral to their business rather than the most important way to interact with people. Between 2010 and 2018, I led marketing and communications for Huge as we turned a small design studio in Brooklyn into a global institution helping many of the world’s most iconic brands transform into digital businesses.
Like it was for many people who worked with or for Huge during that time, the experience was foundational to the way I think about branding and communications today. I learned to apply design principles to communications and company culture and discovered the power of brands as real-time, personalized experiences, playing roles in people’s lives by anticipating and solving specific user needs.
Rubenstein
Director, Marketing & Special Projects / 2007-2010
Howard Rubenstein founded a company in the 1950s that became one of the pillars of the 20th century public relations and reputation management industry. In 2007, I was part of a core management team helping Howard’s son Steven reinvent the business for the Internet era. While Apple was launching the iPhone and the global financial crisis was turning the economy upside down, we were pioneering new kinds of information and reputation management services, helping brands and high profile individuals manage the transition to rapidly accelerating news cycles and use the Internet, social media, and direct-to-audience communication to their advantage.
Political Consulting
Director, Marketing & Communications - Greenberg Quinlan Rosner / 2003-2007
Research Analyst - UMR Research / 2001-2003
I was very fortunate to begin my career in research and political strategy, working with personal heroes like Stephen Mills, Stan Greenberg, James Carville, and Jeremy Rosner. On elections, in campaign war rooms, and analyzing surveys and focus groups across the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand, I learned how to use public opinion to shape public opinion and the essentials of effective strategy, communication, and leadership.