Article by: Mike York, COO
Once upon a time, long before dashboards, heat maps, and the phrase “Let’s take this offline,” market research did not exist.
There were no surveys. No focus groups. No segmentation frameworks.
There were just… feelings.
The Prehistoric Era: “Ugh Means No”
The earliest form of market research likely happened when a caveperson handed someone a sharpened stick and waited for feedback.
- Smile? Product-market fit.
- Confused grunt? Needs refinement.
- Thrown stick? Strong negative sentiment.
This was pure observational research. No respondent deli platters. No incentives. No bias. No follow-up questions (because you were too busy running for your life).
The Industrial Revolution: “Let’s Just Make a Lot of It”
Fast-forward to the late 1800s. Factories are booming, products are everywhere, and businesses are operating under a revolutionary strategy: “If we build it… surely someone will buy it.”
For a while, this worked. Then shelves filled up, competition exploded, and customers started doing the unthinkable: having preferences.
Rude.
1911: The Exact Moment Market Research Was Born (Seriously)
Then came 1911, the year market research officially went from feelings to a job title.
That’s when Charles Coolidge Parlin was appointed Manager of the Commercial Research Division within the Advertising Department of the Curtis Publishing Company, which created the first in-house market research department in history.
This was a big deal. And not like “someone heated their leftover fish in the office microwave,” big deal. Like, a quietly enormous, industry-creating big deal. Why? His appointment changed how business decisions were being made.
Parlin didn’t just ask, “Did you like the ad?” He asked:
- Who is buying?
- Why are they buying?
- What are competitors doing?
- And what happens if we actually study this instead of guessing?
In other words, he invented the radical ideology that systematically studying consumers was worth the time, money, and organizational effort. Groundbreaking.
That may sound obvious now, but in 1911, it was radical. The flare that was shot signaled that creating an in-house research department for consumer insight wasn’t a side activity; it was part of a strategic infrastructure.
The Mad Men Era: Focus Groups & One-Way Mirrors
From there, things escalated quickly.
By the 1950s–70s, market research became a full-blown discipline:
- Focus groups behind one-way mirrors
- Clipboards, transcripts, and intense debates over packaging colors
- Researchers watching people eat cereal like it was a psychological experiment
This was when research earned its seat at the table, usually accompanied by stiff drinks and an ashtray.
The Digital Age: Data Everywhere, Answers Optional
Then the internet arrived and said, “What if we tracked everything?”
Suddenly, we had:
- Psychographic data became a really big deal (1980)
- Conjoint analysis becomes the cool kid (1980’s)
- Online surveys (1994)
- Clickstreams (1995)
- Early DIY survey platforms become a thing (early 2000’s)
- Dashboards became a personality (mid-2000’s)
Market research evolved from “What do people say?” to “What do people actually do at 11:43 p.m. on their phones?”
Powerful. Terrifying. Beautifully chaotic.
Today: Less Guessing, Better Decisions
Modern market research blends:
- Quant + qual
- Data + psychology
- Science + storytelling
The goal hasn’t changed since Parlin’s day; it’s just gotten louder, faster, and more complex.
The Last Word
Charles Coolidge Parlin didn’t just introduce market research.
He:
- Changed how companies think
- Professionalized consumer understanding
- Laid the groundwork for an entire industry
- Reduced the world’s supply of confident bad decisions (slightly)
Every insight deck, survey, focus group, segmentation model, and “data-informed strategy” owes something to that 1911 decision.
Not a bad contribution to humanity for a guy most people have never heard of.
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SMARI is an award-winning Indiana-based market research consultancy that was founded in 1983 with the idea of guiding change and inspiring confidence. We are proud to work with both SMEs and a variety of Fortune 500 brands. We are powered by our core values: integrity, community, perseverance, trust, passion, curiosity, and innovation. SMARI’s expertise spans full project scopes, including instrument design, sampling & fielding services, and reporting & analysis across Healthcare, CPG, Retail, Food & Beverage, Manufacturing, and Financial Services industries, and beyond. Much has changed in our 40+ years, but our tagline and overarching mission remain the same—to guide change and inspire confidence. Start a conversation with us at www.SMARI.com.
