Before World War II, many companies would simply bombard the marketplace with new products and services, leaving consumers to sort out the good from the bad. In 1950, Cecil "Bud" Phillips joined TracyLocke, a regional advertising firm, and began to bring order, credibility, and stature to marketing research.

By 1965, the research department under Phillips’ leadership had expanded beyond the agency’s client base to become a national company known as Marketing and Research Counselors. Clients quickly shortened our name to M/A/R/C. Phillips’ pioneering research set the stage for industry innovation and expansion.

In 1986, after four decades as an industry forefather, Phillips reflected on the growth and value of marketing research:

"Today it’s an industry worth $2.3 billion. Thirty years ago, it was only a concept.
And they called the concept Marketing. The elegance of the concept was its simplicity.
Find out what people want and make it for them.
The difference in the concept was its science.
The science began with asking people questions.
Not just a few friends, or your mother-in-law, but a representative sample of people.
And you didn’t stop once the product the people wanted was developed.
You went back with the product and asked them about it again.
When the advertising to sell the product was created, you asked the people again.
And when the product and its advertising hit the marketplace, you went to the people yet another time.
And asked again.
This was the Science of Marketing three decades ago.
And it became a formula for success that would be as powerful today as it was then.
Today "the asking" is an industry worth $2.3 billion.
And M/A/R/C is uniquely part of that industry.
A child of the Concept.
A scholar of the Science.
An author of the Artistry of Marketing.
And, as all good formulas for success, our artistry works as well today as it did yesterday.
And, as it promises to, tomorrow."

In the intervening years, the industry and its clients have been challenged to make better and faster decisions in the face of accelerating market trends — globalization, market segmentation, media fragmentation, advancing technology, and profoundly changing demography.

M/A/R/C has continued to evolve to help clients meet these challenges. We expanded the industries we serve. We expanded our use of technology to improve the productivity of the entire research process. And we significantly expanded the marriage of the science and the art to reveal the simple consumer insights otherwise masked by market complexity.

In November 1999, we expanded our professional relationships by merging with Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE - OMC), a leading global marketing and corporate communications company.

Omnicom’s (www.omnicomgroup.com) branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, direct and promotional marketing, public relations, and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries.

M/A/R/C now has access to extensive resources to deliver on the vision that launched the firm in 1965 — "Do whatever it takes to help clients make the best marketing decisions."

Many clients tell us we are a big company with a small company feel. We have worked hard to preserve the responsiveness and flexibility of a small company while creating the expertise and capabilities of a large one. It is gratifying to know that "our artistry works as well today as it did yesterday and, as it promises to, tomorrow."