Seeing the bigger picture: Why market research history matters?

Robert Crawford

Market researchers and the market research industry more generally have paid little attention to the history of market research.

When Sylvia Ashby was interviewed by the Sydney Morning Herald in 1938 about her recently established market research firm, the general lack of knowledge about market research led her to offer the following explanation:

Market research is the science of interviewing the buying public to find out why they buy certain goods. It gives housewives the opportunity to record complaints and make suggestions and from the manufacturers angle it is a means of overcoming strong competition by studying the consumer and giving him what he wants (Sydney Morning Herald, 1938).

While the general public has since developed a...

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