Danny Brager, the long-time leader of market research firm Nielsen’s beverage alcohol practice, is exiting the company to pursue other opportunities after nearly 40 years.
Brager notified industry colleagues earlier this week of the move. Although Brager is departing a full-time role with Nielsen, he will maintain a consulting relationship with the firm in the alcohol space. He will maintain the freedom to pursue other work in the beverage alcohol industry.
In a statement to Brewbound, Brager wrote:
“As I look ahead to a change in my professional life which will include a consulting relationship with Nielsen, in looking back I feel very privileged and honored to have led the Beverage Alcohol practice at Nielsen over many years. One of the highlights for me has been meeting and getting to know such outstanding people such as yourself, and since I intend to stay within the Beverage Alcohol arena, I look forward to our paths crossing again.”
Brager is one of the most widely tapped alcohol industry experts on retail and consumer trends. He has served in the role of senior VP of Nielsen’s Beverage Alcohol Practice for 19 years. In 1977, he started his career at The Nielsen Company and worked as VP managing director for 18 years. He then spent a six-year stint at ROI Inc. from 1995 to 2001 before returning to Nielsen.
“We are grateful and indebted to Danny for the profound impact he’s made at Nielsen and on the Beverage Alcohol industry, and we wish him the best,” Nielsen communications manager Greg Doonan told Brewbound. “We remain committed to the Beverage Alcohol industry and our clients, and we will continue to help industry executives shape a smarter market, while building solutions, strengthening our industry relationships and sharing differentiated thought leadership.”
Nielsen tracks off-premise scan data of beverage alcohol scans collected from major retail and convenience chains, as well as on-premise business through its Nielsen CGA division. Other departments of the company track media consumption, conduct consumer insight panels and track consumers’ shopping behaviors online and in stores.
In early July, Nielsen announced a restructuring plan that included cutting about 3,500 jobs, which the Hollywood Reporter noted amounted to about 8% of the firm’s total workforce.