BACK TO THE FUTURE

Time – April 1, 1990

I was 44 years old then and my career was going pretty well.  I was a Partner and Executive Vice-President of one of the most highly respected marketing research firms in the world – “Yankelovich” (aka – DYG/Yankelovich, Skelly & White) and was on a fast-track.

My oldest child (“Brad”) was entering Emory University in Atlanta and my youngest (“Alli”) would follow in three years (the country was also in a recession).  Not a great time to get a mid-life crisis and quit your job to start your own firm, right?  (P.S. I’m still married to the same girl who caught my eye about 40 years ago).

Well, that’s what I did and what a ride it’s been.  Yeah, it was scary – especially the first year – but the rewards keep coming.  Building a quality shop from the ground-up, working with clients you really like and respect and doing it your way.

Time – April 1, 2010

Wow, it’s no cliché – Time Really Does Fly!  It’s the firms 20th anniversary!  Unbelievable, we’re still alive – as we, as well as many other companies somehow manage to navigate through the “Great Recession”.  It’s different than 20 years ago – we’re a bigger firm and we even work in many countries around the world!

Our areas of research expertise has also broadened – from panel research (i.e. setting up consumer panels to measure “customer satisfaction”), social media, new product assessments, agri-research to customized projects.  (We do a lot more than that, but I don’t want to bore you too much!)

Even the way we interview respondents has evolved – going from predominately using face-to-face and telephone methodologies to online research.  Who know what we’ll be doing next – maybe telepathic questioning!

It’s exciting times in which we live with all the changes taking place.

You know there’s one thing that hasn’t changed – I still love the business and the people I work with.  Thanks for 20 years of Trust and hopefully look forward to many more!