• by Joe Mandese , November 14, 2011

After eight Years as one of the leading economic thinkers on Madison Avenue, Brian Wieser is jumping back to another block, Wall Street. Wieser, who joined targeted TV advertising network Simulmedia as CMO in February after eight years as a top Madison Avenue economic forecaster at Interpublic, is returning to his roots as a Wall Street equity analyst.

In an email circulated Sunday night, Wieser said he has joined Pivotal Research Group, an independent equity research firm focusing on the media and communications industries, as a senior research analyst.

“I remain extremely confident in Simulmedia’s prospects and plan to continue my relationship with the company as a member of their advisory board,” he said.

At Pivotal, Wieser said he would lead coverage of advertising agencies, ad-supported media, and ad-related technology companies.

“A key differentiator in this role, I believe, will be the time I have spent in the industry at Simulmedia and as global director of forecasting at Interpublic’s Magna Global,” he said.

Wieser, who joined Interpublic in 2003 from Deutsche Bank, was eventually groomed to succeed long-time Bob Coen as Interpublic’s, and Madison Avenue’s de facto, chief forecaster. Before leaving Interpublic, he completely restructured the agency holding company’s method for calculating and forecasting U.S. and worldwide ad expenditures, shifting from estimating ad expenditures from advertisers and agencies, to calculating advertising revenues from media companies and trade associations.