Our History

M/A/R/C® has been providing answers that empower action since 1965. That's when the research department that Cecil "Bud" Phillips began at the advertising agency TracyLocke became a new company where professionals served their clients as "Marketing And Research Counselors". More than half a century later, we are still committed to the vision that launched the organization:

Doing whatever it takes to help clients make the best marketing decisions.

But our roots are even deeper than that, starting when Bud created the research department within TracyLocke and brought order, credibility and stature to marketing research. In 1965, the subsidiary under his leadership broadened beyond the agency's client base to quickly become a national industry trailblazer. After TracyLocke merged with BBDO in the early 1980s, M/A/R/C® became a separate company with Bud serving as chairman.

While our resources and professional relationships have expanded greatly over the years, we have worked hard to preserve the responsiveness and flexibility from our earliest days. Many clients tell us we are a big company with a small company feel, still combining the science and artistry of marketing research in the way that Bud envisioned:

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. And 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. … Our artistry works as well today as it did yesterday – and as it promises to tomorrow.

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