Hi. I'm Sam Weston, a strategist helping leaders and institutions build brands, reputations, and communications systems for the intelligent era.

I grew up in Aotearoa New Zealand believing it’s possible for anyone to change the world. I’ve spent my career working with CEOs, marketers, and political leaders who share that ambition - shaping public opinion, building global brands, and leading next generation marketing teams.

Over the last two and a half decades, I’ve had the privilege to help leaders and organizations navigate cascading, compounding change: the collision of the internet with politics and social media with reputation, the evolution of brands into digital businesses and personalized experiences, and now, a world where what we know, believe, and buy is increasingly mediated by machine intelligence.

I have a global perspective, informed by time working in market research and political strategy, corporate communications, experience design, data science and AI, and media. I use that experience to help leaders and companies think more ambitiously about the future, meet user information needs, and be interesting.

I believe the purpose of communications is to help solve coordination challenges: creating the clarity, trust, and shared reality necessary for people to act together and unlock better futures.

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 two agencies - Huge and Essence - that helped make user experience design and data-driven marketing foundational to the way companies operate today.

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.

I’ve been fortunate to learn from many personal heroes along the way. 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 solve problems.

The change that has defined the 21st century so far is not going to slow down any time soon. We’re not ready for what technology will make possible in our lifetimes.

And that’s exciting, because with the right approach to leadership and communications, I believe we can create a future that’s big enough for everyone.

Three Mantras

  • 1. Ends Then Means


    Having a crazily ambitious goal unlocks enormous potential in yourself and others. But many leaders and organizations spend their lives in pursuit of means without meaningful ends - or worse, means to someone else’s.

    Effective communications - and effective leadership - means answering the hardest question first: what do you ultimately want to make true for the world? Answering this question ambitiously has a transformative impact on leaders, organizations, and their ability to communicate. Deciding on your ‘End’ helps determine the problem roadmap that will define your life’s work, provides a clear framework for decision making, frees organizations to think creatively and act boldly, and reveals the values that will shape your brand and reputation.

  • 2. Fear the Moment


    Change happens slowly and then all at once. Machine intelligence was science fiction. Then it was hype. All of a sudden it is here, reshaping what’s possible and challenging our foundational assumptions about the world.

    Our current moment demands leaders and communicators who understand the stakes - and the opportunity.

    The intelligent era will make entirely new futures possible - for companies, cultures, and people. It will also create social and economic upheaval and pose an existential threat to weak strategies and outdated institutions.

    Now is the time to bring technology and people together to build a future that works for everyone.

  • 3. Build The Culture


    Culture is not just a manifesto or a set of principles or leadership behaviors. It is the principal carrier for communications strategy, shaping people’s beliefs about what’s real, what matters, and what’s possible. It’s how people decide who they’re for and who’s for them.

    To build a culture is to create shared beliefs that let a team or organization think and act together. To build The Culture is to do so - aspirationally - at a civilizational level.

    The purpose of communications is coordination - creating shared realities that enable better futures, in which people are more capable, more creative, and more free.

Work

WPP Media

Global Head of Corporate Communications & Industry Marketing - WPP Media (formerly 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

You might think it’s obvious that all businesses need to be digital, but in the 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. Best of all, we turned our own brand into a core company product.

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.