This issue marks the 40th year in print for this magazine and also, of course, our 40th year as an independent media company. Neither of these is a small achievement – especially when the “dollars to dimes” impact of digital advertising has created a graveyard of too-big-to-fail legacy media outlets. In mulling over some of the reasons for our continued success, after acknowledging our focus on delivering quality information – whether through our editorial content, our research provider directories or our Quirk’s Events – I kept coming back to one word: authenticity.

Tom Quirk, our late founder and publisher, started the company in 1986. He had been an in-house researcher himself and had also run his own marketing research firm for a while, so he knew the industry well from both sides.

He was a humble guy – fitting, as research is a humble (and humbling) business. Researchers are always stretched thin, asked to do a lot with a little, often the first to be let go during a downturn and perennially battling for respect and recognition.

Tom knew this and had the simple goal of serving the needs of end-client/corporate researchers by demonstrating the use, value and understanding of marketing research through substantive editorial content and a wide range of resources.

He wanted the articles we published to be well-informed – light on the salesy tone that so much B2B content can have – but understandable enough that readers could use them to educate internal clients or other audiences who had questions about the efficacy of a research approach or method.

‘Doesn’t cut it’

My reminiscing reminded me of a conference call that we had in the early years with some hotshot research company marketing VP in New York who was new to the industry. The sales team had asked me to sit in on the conversation to explain our editorial mix and overall philosophy and I don’t think I ever even got the chance as he spent most of the time ridiculing the lack of sophistication of our ad offerings (perhaps we used too few buzzwords?) before dismissively bellowing, “Midwest doesn’t cut it!” and ending the call. (Maybe it’s not unique to them but I’ve seen variations of that “I’m a brilliant, game-changing force with ideas that no one has ever thought of before” approach from more than a few marketing VPs over the years! What’s up with that?)

Yes, we are based in the Midwest. No, we are not on the cutting edge, nor have we ever really aspired to be. That’s what authenticity has meant for us: not chasing an image of who we’re supposed to be but being genuinely useful to the people we serve. 

We’ve of course covered all the new and emerging technologies and techniques that have arisen over the years but have continued giving space to tried-and-true methods as well.

From crowdsourcing and MROCs to neuromarketing research and behavioral economics – and now AI – as an editor I have tried to temper the enthusiasm of the purveyors of the new techniques who often promote them, whether for commercial purposes or out of sincere zeal, as the answer to every researcher’s prayers. The truth is that, rather than rewriting the whole playbook, they usually end up expanding the set of tools available.

Our focus on dependable, proven methods has mirrored what our corporate readers have told us: Their internal clients don’t always want or need the newest tools or technologies and in fact they don’t always trust them, especially if they are opaque, black-box approaches that rely on uncomfortable levels of faith and trust on the part of the user/buyer.

A company we are proud of

Tom’s guidance has served us well. As an independent media firm, unaligned with any association or larger corporate entity, and with a staff that has never exceeded 15 employees, we have grown into a company we are proud of, known for integrity, quality, approachability, authenticity and, hopefully, a sense of humor – attributes that could all have been ascribed to Tom Quirk.

I don’t recall Mr. Crabby Marketing Whiz’s name or the company he was with, but if I could somehow track him down today I’d have a chuckle and politely say, “Actually buddy, it looks like Midwest DOES cut it!”