My proudest professional accomplishment

Market Research Council's Hall of Fame Awards - July 19th, 2024

It was a great honor just to be nominated for this special “lifetime achievement” award. When my MRC peers voted to elect me into their Hall of Fame, that was the cherry on top.

Since many of my friends and colleagues jokingly tell me that they STILL don’t really know about my career and post-retirement activities, I am posting the speech I made at this event, as well as its introductory remarks.

[NOTE: There was not enough time or space to thank and acknowledge everyone who played a part in my life’s journey, but I trust you know who you are!?? XOXO]

Ira’s INTRO by Monica Wood, Chair of the MRC Hall of Fame

Some of you may not know Ira that well, so I can’t just say “here’s a man who needs no introduction”.

Ira can be outspoken and amusing, even irreverent at times, but never dull. Surprisingly he is quiet about his achievements. He only recently mentioned to me that he was a member of Mensa, studied cooking at the China Institute, and sang at both Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center! Please ask Ira about that.

Ira was born in the Bronx, grew up in Queens, and graduated from the prestigious Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan.?

While teaching math in the NYC school system, Ira spent evenings in graduate school, adding business degrees to those he earned in psychology and economics.?

He currently resides in Port Washington, where he and his wife Brenda raised twin sons.

Over the past 20 years, I have gotten to learn about Ira’s professional accomplishments, and witness first-hand his work ethics and values.

Having built several internal market research departments for an international company, I am well aware of the challenges and obstacles necessary for success.

Ira went beyond just running a market research function to develop a competitive intelligence capability to capture key information about the strategies and plans of his company’s competitors.

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His primary professional journey began when a marketing professor in his PhD program at Baruch college helped him get an interview which led to him being hired, and eventually serving as the Assistant Research Director at the Advertising Research Foundation.

There he oversaw several councils, helped to improve market research quality and standards, and made many connections with leaders of our industry, including our own Jim Donius, and Erwin Ephron…among others.?

Because others had helped him with his career, Ira promised himself to pay it forward, and quickly became an active member of the NY chapter of AMA.?

One year, Larry Chiagouris, then its President, and who knew Ira from graduate classes, recruited Ira to better organize and monetize the GreenBook. He convinced Ira that his unique knowledge of the market research industry plus his directory experience made him the perfect choice for creating a more complete, and useful source of research suppliers. Under his time as its Publisher, the GreenBook expanded into 2 volumes. It was also then that he warned the AMA board that a new publication called Quirk’s would provide stiff competition. And the Quirks brothers have done so much to strengthen our industry.

Larry couldn’t make it today, but recently wrote to Ira that he was impressed by his “Fog-free vision”.

Larry explained that Ira has “the rare ability to see through all of the tangential and distracting variables and environmental influences, and cut to the chase in identifying the truth....and more importantly...has the courage to do so even if it may not always be popular”.

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At the AMA, Ira also served several years as a judge for their annual Effies awards, and even found time to revise their Member Directory.

Perhaps in part for those contributions and for later serving as Treasurer on their Board of Directors for 6 years, Ira was presented with their first (and maybe only) Volunteer of the Year award at the AMA.

• While on the AMA board, Ira met Lorna Opatow (our 1996 HOF winner) who urged him to apply to the MRC. His nomination was seconded by Harry Heller (the 2003 HOF winner), and Ira became a member in 1999. Over the past 25 years, Ira has made countless contributions to our organization.

Besides serving as Treasurer and then as President, he helped edit our bylaws to make them less ambiguous and more up to date, created a FaceBook presence for MRC, and has tried to assist Rosemarie and almost all of the dozen or so MRC presidents who succeeded him.

Ira has served on the editorial board as a reviewer for several marketing and advertising research journals, and has presented at many industry meetings and conferences on a variety of topics.?

He has also received awards from several other associations for his work as a volunteer, a speaker, and as a top thought leader.?

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Although officially “Retired”, Ira is anything but “Inactive”. For over a decade, he has consulted on business and marketing plans for new products, moderated focus groups, conducted mystery shopping, published many articles, and attended over 50 trade shows.?

He is curious and constantly seeking to explore new places, enjoy new experiences, and learn new things. Ira spent many years traveling to 5 continents both for business and pleasure. This helps to explain why he launched a travel agency 12 years ago.

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When not working, Ira says he is an avid and deceptively good tennis player, enjoys photography, gardening, day-trading and all forms of comedy.?

Ira is a true Renaissance Man.? His?interests further include Latin and ballroom dancing, tai chi, Pilates, yoga, and most recently, behavioral economics, AI and Chat GPT.??

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As for today’s award, the term Legacy applies to someone who has made a lasting impact or contribution.

Ira has done that for our industry. He has given his time and abilities to our industry to improve research quality, standards, and ethical behavior.?

Now, here’s Ira!

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Thank you, Monica, and to all of you for your very warm, sitting ovation!?

I would like to thank each of you for coming, and ChatGPT for writing this speech!

I would also like to thank a few past MRC presidents for joining us today.

·???????? I have known Joan Treistman since we were at the AMA. She was MRC President during Y2K!

·???????? I met Ellen Sills-Levy at the ARF.? As MRC President, she pushed for diversity, and Fiona Blades added to that effort.??? Speaking of diversity, here I am, representing the industrial and B2B world.?

·???????? Kym Frank is always fun to be with. In addition, we share an interest in 3D- printing. Yeah, that’s right! We print plastic birdfeeders and birdhouses. Gotta problem with that?

?·???????? Terry Kent is also fun to be with, but if you know how silly we can get, we should never be allowed to sit at the same table. To be here today, he gave up a chance to babysit.

·???????? Speaking of babysitting, that is one reason I asked Bill Daddi to be at my table. Bill’s job is to babysit Terry.

By the way, Bill is the behinds the scene guy who helped to arrange for this amazing space, both last year and today.

·???????? John Gilfeather followed me as MRC President, and I have always enjoyed being in his presence.

·???????? I have known Bruce Friend for about 20 years, but he has been “a friend” for his whole life!? (sorry.)

·???????? Last, but certainly not least, there’s Ed Keller. I’m saving him for later.?

·???????? Over there is another past President, Monica Wood.?? We have worked on behalf of the MRC for a very long time. Like many of you, she is a friend I would never have, if not for industry groups such as the AMA, ARF, and especially the MRC.

I might be the first person to receive this award, without anyone really knowing what I have done to deserve it!

Let me tell you a bit about myself, and the influences on the journey I have been on, that got me to this podium.

·???????? If you get bored, please feel free to tune out, eat, drink, go to the bathroom, or check your “important” Friday afternoon emails!

[About Me]

To prepare for today, I asked my friends to give me words that describe how they see me. You already heard from Larry Chiagouris.

·???????? One of them told me I was very logical and analytical, while another said I was a creative, out of the box thinker!?

·???????? But here is my favorite description – “you are fascinated by the world, but with not enough time to see it all”.

[Yogi and Me]

When I think about my career, and life in general, I will refer to what a member of another Hall of Fame had to say. Like me, he spent time in the Bronx and Queens.

It was Yogi Berra who famously said: “when you come to a fork in the road --- take it!”

To me, that means that when you face choices, you must make decisions… and you proceed…with no do-overs.

[Graduate school]

So, when I had completed all my coursework for a PhD, it was time to either write a dissertation or look for a full-time job… Another fork in the road.

[Advertising Research Foundation]

I had never heard of the Advertising Research Foundation, but that’s where I ended up.

During my time there, I got to meet a who’s who of market researchers.?

·???????? Many of them were members of the MRC – several served as Presidents -- and many of them later received a HOF award! ?

[Thomas Publishing Company]

When I decided it was time to move on from the ARF, I came to another fork in the road. I accepted a generous offer from Thomas Publishing Company.

I spent the next 31 years in a parallel universe in which I used most of the quant and qual techniques that you have used, but in the industrial and B2B markets.

Thomas Publishing Company was referred to as “product information headquarters”.? It was best known for its Thomas Register of American Manufacturers.? Engineers and purchasing professionals referred to its “Big Green Books” as their “Bible” for finding companies who made or sold parts or products.

·???????? Here’s an interesting fact -- a typical jet aircraft contains over 350,000 distinct parts… and a new cruise ship has over 500,000!

If you’re not familiar with the kinds of products engineers might be looking for, here are some examples…

·???????? Vibrators

·???????? Batteries

·???????? Studs

·???????? Stainless steel balls

·???????? Brass cocks

·???????? Lubricants

·???????? Tie-down straps

·???????? 3-fingered grippers

YES -- those are real products, but you were probably thinking more like pumps, motors, gears, or robotic arms.

My research was never with ‘consumers’, but even at work, people are still influenced by messages, product attributes, performance, and pricing.?

When I moved to Thomas from the ARF, I became involved not only with market research and new product development, but also in creating business plans for joint ventures with IBM, GE, ITT, and 3M involving electronic catalogs and e-commerce across global markets.

So, after the EU was created, we decided to expand across the pond to offer a single source of product information, instead of one for every country.

·???????? I traveled to industrial cities such as Manchester, Milan, Cologne, and Lyon, to personally supervise phone interviews and focus groups.

·???????? One evening, we had scheduled focus groups in London, unaware that it would be during the World Cup.? Suffice it to say, not one person showed up, and we spent the night in a pub – where we learned more about European culture and “football”.

Besides overseeing global research and competitive intelligence, I developed a business plan for a publication in the travel industry.? We named it the Official Tour Directory, and distributed it to every travel agency in North America to help them search for any company, by any destination around the world, and by any type of vacation such as safaris, cruises, or winery tours.

I was ‘volunteered’ to launch it, and then asked to run it for 10 years.

[Trade Shows, Conferences and Workshops – examples]

Another big influence in my life has been trade shows. HUH?

For me, they provide a great way to learn about products and services, as well as the buyers and sellers, in a given industry.? I go to these events with no expectations, but always leave with something of value…and I don’t mean a thumb drive or a t-shirt!

Just a month after I started working at Thomas, I was in Chicago for the International Machine Tool Show. I’ll tell you later how I became a calendar boy for that event.?

As a result of that experience in 1982, I became a trade show junkie, and have since attended over 400 trade shows and conferences.

·???????? When cryptocurrency was emerging about 20 years ago, I was curious, and visited the first Bitcoin show at the Javits Center. That was also where I later attended the first 3D printing show in NYC.

Some of you know, that for the past 15 years, I have attended the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. I have met the founders of startups from over 20 countries showing their new products.?

·???????? Here’s one example. [take out phone] You see this device?? It’s called a PopSocket.

o?? The year it was introduced at CES, I met its inventor, who was a guy with a PhD in Philosophy! [nod to S. Snell]? We talked about branding, packaging, and even product extensions. Today, his company is global, and has $40 million in revenue.?

·???????? Twice, in my role as a freelance reporter, I was selected as an “expert” to judge the popular CES Innovation Awards in such diverse categories as 3D Printing, FinTech, and Home Appliances.

·???????? Two years ago, a tennis buddy who runs a mutual fund was interested in the cannabis industry.? He knew I was going to Las Vegas, and arranged for me to meet with the owners of a marijuana facility there. I got a private tour – you know, for “research purposes”.

o?? And just like at my visits to wineries, breweries and distilleries, I was given a chance to try the final product!??

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[How I got to join MRC]

So how did I end up in the Market Research Council?

Well in 1999, 20 years after I had first been a guest, I applied to join this elite, by invitation only group. Somehow, I got enough votes to be admitted at a time when membership was limited to just 80.?

But then, how did little old me go from being a member to become President of MRC -- and now here?

It all started with a smooth sales pitch by Ed Keller (2020 HOF winner). ?He was then the past President. He calls me to ask a “favor”.? Seems someone was running unopposed for Treasurer, and Ed needed at least one more name on the ballot…. I objected at first, but he said “You’ll just have to write a few checks each year and that’s it”.?? So, I ran, got elected, and soon found out that I had been recruited for a 4-year hitch.

·???????? So, guess what I did a few years later?? I told Monica that she would be a great addition to the board, and as Treasurer, would only need to write 1 check a month. Well, now she’s a past President too.?

·???????? But she got back at me by asking me to help create and co-publish an MRC newsletter. That lasted for 10 years! And then I got hooked into being on this HOF committee!?? So don’t mess with Monica!

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I have been involved with the MRC for 25 years.? When I hosted the HOF in 2008, I promised to give back to this field, maintain high standards and ethics, and help others however I could.? I am grateful for what I have learned from its members, and their many presentations.?

Allow me to give you a few examples of how I applied some of that knowledge, and maybe leave you with an idea that you can adapt to your work.

[Methodological highlights]

One time, we couldn’t get enough qualified participants for focus groups in Atlanta and St. Paul. At the time, decades before Zoom, videoconferencing was emerging, and the service was often set up in small rooms in Staples stores.

·???????? So, our moderator went to Georgia, while I flew to the Mall of America and became a moderator that evening. To add to the challenge, we were in different time zones!? Anyway, combining participants in those two cities gave us a total of 12, and we were able to have everyone interact. To this day, I have not heard of anyone doing this.

When ethnographic research was becoming hot, I wanted to conduct a “Day in the Life” project where we not only interviewed engineers in their work places, but also sought to collect photos of their environment to create personas for our marketing folks.?

o?? Our plan was to take pictures during on-site, in-person interviews. But due to 9/11, we had to check our phones and cameras for security reasons.? How did we get around that? Well, we provided disposable cameras to everyone, along with postage paid envelopes, and asked them to take snapshots of their work space and of themselves. Those photos were among the very first ‘selfies’.

[IKALOS]

About 12 years ago, I was “unhired”, and not planning to work full time.

For years, my friends would call me and ask “Do you know anything about…..…?” It could be a stock, Machu Pichu, AI, SEO, or even BJ’s (the store!)

I came to realize that over the years, I have amassed a rather extensive amount of information and skills.

So, I created a consulting company called IKALOS. No that is not a Greek word or island.??? I-K-A-L-O-S is an acronym for I Know A Lot Of -- Shit!

And with my background in the travel industry, I set up an agency called Sunrise to Sunset Travel, with a focus on luxury vacations.

[closing comments]

So, in 1977, when I began working at the ARF, the MRC had just turned 50 --- and the HOF was created.?

When the MRC turned 75, I was present at the HOF ceremony that year. The event was being recorded, and members were invited to speak about their experiences with the MRC.? So, I raised my hand.

·???????? My only comment was that I wanted to be in that historic video.? Today, I take credit for being one of the first “video-bombers”!

In just 3 years, MRC will celebrate its Centennial.?? And I plan to be there.

In closing, when I saw the list of all the former HOF recipients, I could hardly believe that I actually knew, or met, about half of them.

I’m not sure where I fit in -- but I am sure thrilled to be here.

Believe me, it’s a B-F-D! (Kym, tell them what BFD means!)

Thanks for listening – I hope it was worth your time.