Hires, Expansion for Ad Industry Analyst Madison & Wall

In Portland, Oregon, media and ad industry data and research consultancy Madison & Wall has hired former WARC exec James McDonald as MD, Global Markets; and Michael Leszega, formerly of Interpublic's MAGNA, as a Senior Analyst. The firm is also expanding its global ad market coverage.

Madison & Wall was founded in 2023 by Brian Wieser, and provides proprietary research, market forecasts, analysis and consulting services to clients in advertising, media, technology, marketing services and investment communities. The firm taps Wieser's experience from Wall Street, Madison Avenue and ad tech, including prior roles at Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank, Pivotal Research, GroupM, MAGNA and Simulmedia. Its focus is on helping companies understand 'how advertising money moves, how markets are changing and what those shifts mean for strategy, investment and growth'.

The firm is currently focused on the US and Canadian advertising industries, and says the new appointments will help its plans to expand to 50 markets and add ongoing written research and analysis. The firm is releasing a new global advertising forecast today, covering major markets across North America, Europe, APAC and LATAM.

McDonald (pictured) began his career at Informa, then joined ad industry publishing house WARC in 2013, helping to grow its advertising data offering into an international product. He holds a degree-level qualification in machine learning, data engineering and DevOps. In his new role he will lead Madison & Wall's development of a broader global research platform, including new datasets, market analysis, visualization tools and client-facing products.

Last year the company appointed another former MAGNA exec, Luke Stillman, as MD; and Greg McLelland, as of Canada and CRO. Leszega joins from MAGNA, where he worked alongside Stillman for eleven years, strengthening the firm's US intelligence offering by analyzing, modeling, publishing and presenting research on the country's advertising market.

'Over the past three years we've been building out world-class capabilities to analyze and advise on the global advertising economy,' says Wieser. 'With James and Michael joining us we will have, by far, more collective expertise forecasting the advertising economy than any other firm on earth.'

Web site: www.madisonandwall.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.