CommPRO Editorial StaffCognito, the international specialist communication and marketing agency, today announced the appointment of Mark Weiner as Chief Insights Officer to develop the firm's newly launched research-based consulting practice Cognito Insights. Weiner is responsible for establishing and growing the firm's research organization by serving clients and accelerating the organization's growth through the provision of data-informed analysis, insights and guidance.Cognito represents clients across the financial, professional services and technology sectors from six offices around the globe. The appointment is a direct response to the increased ability – and growing expectation – that communications and marketing will deliver measurable and meaningful growth to businesses while protecting and enhancing reputation and profile.Based in the United States, the practice will serve Cognito's clients globally and look at the strategy, effect and impact of marketing and communication activity on Cognito's clients – including communication, social and digital campaigns.Mark brings 35 years of professional experience having built businesses in the United States and internationally.  Prior to Cognito, he led PRIME Research as its CEO before transitioning to Chief Insights Officer after Cision's acquisition of the communications research provider.  Mark led Ketchum's global research practice after leaving Delahaye Medialink.  He is a member of The Arthur Page Society and a Trustee for the Institute for Public Relations.  His new book, "Public Relations Technology, Data and Insights" will be published in April by Kogan Page."With our Insights practice, we enhance our commitment to data-informed communications and marketing.  Data enables us to elevate our performance while demonstrating value and generating a positive return on investment," said Rowan Benecke, Cognito's US President.  "Mark is a recognized leader in our profession as reflected by the businesses he's created, the awards he's won and his many years of experience across diverse business categories.""The pandemic has reaffirmed the essential role communication plays for our clients. The crisis has accelerated the need for data-informed strategies and measurement," said Tom Coombes, Cognito CEO. "This new practice will help our clients to ensure that they work we do is underpinned and informed by solid insights and analytics and that impact and outcomes for the business are maximized. Ultimately it will enable our clients to direct their investment into communication and marketing more effectively and make it more measurable. Ideally, we want to correlate communication and marketing impact on profile and sales and other business functions.""Cognito's commitment to the development and deployment of its research capabilities is a source of great excitement for me," Weiner stated. "The agency's faith in my leadership underscores my commitment to providing research-based counsel and guidance to the world's greatest companies and brands.  Unlike the many commoditized data analytics tools available to communicators and marketers today, we focus on expertise, insights and quality counsel, the uniquely human elements that differentiate our offering and drive client success."