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You have a thought: let’s invite on global guru Jack Honomichl. You’re a fledgling podcaster so he’s not going to say ‘yes’. But he does, and he’s actually one of the nicest and most visionary people you can meet. Listen to his frank views on the industry and key players, and hear about the genesis of his must-read Inside Research newsletter and how Dun and Bradstreet tried to derail it. Jack also gives us a sneak peak at the upcoming Global 25 list

 STARRING 

• Jack Honomichl, Inside Research
• Michael Warren - michael.c.warren *at* btinternet *dot* com (Host)

PODCAST
Ask the CEOs of research organisations worldwide who they regard as the most authoritative voice in the business of research, and they’ll probably name today’s guest.

Jack Honomichl has written about the industry since 1969, including an 18-year column in Advertising Age.

In 1990 he founded Inside Research, a monthly newsletter for senior business executives that the US financial weekly, Barrons, calls the Bible of the research industry.

Jack also compiles the annual Honomichl Top 50 and Top 25 lists, respectively the largest research firms in the US and worldwide.

And he’s even found time to write a few books!

To cap it all, he has been inducted into the MR hall of fame alongside other luminaries such as David Ogilvy and Arthur C. Nielsen Sr.

Few people can match Jack for his clarity of vision and ability to analyse strategic trends. That’s why MR CEOs and the financial community worldwide scramble for his and Larry Gold’s Inside Research newsletter every month. And now you get to understand some of that magic…

Please let us know what you think of this podcast.

TIMELINE [42m09s]
00m00s Introduction.
02m24s Why ACNielsen keeps changing hands.
04m14s Jack on takeover activity.

Inside Research
07m17s Why it’s a must-read for CEOs and investors.
08m46s Genesis.
10m52s Larry Gold’s arrival as editor and publisher.
12m26s Rationale for its functional style.
13m43s Exclusives (incl. D&B takeover of ACNielsen).
16m02s Has Jack ever been used?
18m32s Do top executives deserve their pay?
20m55s The value and influence of research.

Honomichl US top 50 & Global top 25
24m16s Jack comments on the latest US top 50.
27m13s Exclusive preview of Global top 25.
28m19s Industry outlook for the next five years.
30m29s Top executives most admire.
31m36s What makes superb management.
32m57s Is there a deterioration in top level management?
34m25s Jack’s outlook for the industry.
35m29s Whether the industry is undervalued and Jack’s ‘imperative’ scale.

Jack
38m28s What motivates Jack.
39m21s The accomplishment that Jack’s most proud of.

NOTABLE MENTIONS
ACNielsen (AC Nielsen, ACN).
Advertising Age.
Aegis.
Arthur C. Nielsen.
Arbitron.
BrainJuicer.
Crain Communications.
David Ogilvy.
Dun and Bradstreet (D&B).
Ipsos.
IRI.
John Kearon.
Robert Maxwell.
Steve Morris.
Synovate.
TNS / Taylor Nelson.
Tony Cowling.

SOME QUOTES (not indicative of the whole podcast)
(IR = Inside Research)

On ACNielsen’s initial sale to Dun and Bradstreet: “I remember when Art Nielsen sold the company to Dun and Bradstreet and he called all the employees together…[he said] don’t worry, nothing will change, that turns out in retrospect to be the most naive statement ever made, there’s been nothing but change.”

On the recent change in ACNielsen ownership: “Once you’re in play you become a football and Nielsen’s kinda in the World Cup, it’s getting kicked all over the place…it’s recently fallen into the hands of a bunch of venture capitalists and they’ll use it for their own get rich quick scheme and then throw the carcass away.”

On takeovers: “In many cases the people who take them over didn’t have the vaguest idea what they were getting into when they bought a research company, they saw some sort of glitter there, some sort of mystique.”

On the rate of takeover activity: “Pardon me for sounding a little jaded but I’ve gotten pretty blasé about all this, I mean when you’ve got a company turning over every nine and a half days, after a while it gets to be a same old kind of a situation.”

On the genesis of IR: “This is an interesting thing. Alfred Kinsey the famous sex reporter…when he first announced to his staff what they were going to do someone said, people won’t tell you about their sexual behaviour, too private, too confidential. He said you’ll be surprised, your biggest problem will be to shut them up…that’s what I found, the industry was just hungry for recognition.”

On Larry Gold: “What Larry writes up about these conferences around the world, it’s like movie reviews. It tells the very stressed executive on the buy-side which ones are worth the time and effort since there are so many of them today.”

On IR’s note-like writing style: “I was conscious of how much excessive verbiage there is, good for effect but short on fact…when you see a newsletter that’s full of pictures and graphs…that’s because they don’t have any content…I choose content…squeeze in as much as we can.”

On IR’s editorial asset: “Many publications are written by people on the outside looking in, like looking into a toy store. We know how the toys are made, who made them, which ones work well, which don’t.”

On IR’s first big exclusive, tracking the takeover of AC Nielsen by Dun and Bradstreet: “…it really infuriated the people at Dun and Bradstreet. It got so bad that they financed the start-up of another publication which they hoped would run IR out of business.”

On executive pay: “In my opinion, one of the great weaknesses of the research industry worldwide is that there is a shortage of really good top executive material. By definition the people who are most able already own their own company and already have equity. You can’t hire them, if you want them you have to buy them.”

On the influence of research: “The market research industry is not much to speak of in terms of revenue. But, the leverage that information has is extraordinary, where you might take a company and change it’s whole course of action.”

On the value of research: “One of my hobbies is espionage…research can be viewed as espionage…in that sense research has been under utilised.”

On making effective use of research: “David Ogilvy has a famous quote…in essence..it’s very easy to show people how to use and buy market research, but very difficult to get them to use it properly.”

On the outlook over the next five years: “I’ve been saying for, I don’t how many years, that it can’t go on [rate of takeover activity], but it does!”

On top executives most admire [in addition to Tony Cowling]: “What they’ve done with IPSOS has been for me extremely intelligent and in the end very productive and one of the reasons is they knew how to manage their acquisitions. Any fool can go out and buy a company…but running it after you get it, and growing it, improving it…that’s another subject and that’s where IPSOS stands alone…and also Steve Morris of Arbitron.”

On successful management: “Some companies have literally managed themselves right into the ground…the organisation eventually is an extension of the personality, the drive and vision of one man or a couple or three people, and if there’s no vision at the top then you just have a bean counter…someone who doesn’t understand the research industry and who’s only interested in money making…it shows up over time.”

On making research more valuable: “A piece of information moves way up on the imperative scale if the CEO says we have to have it.”

Music courtesy of: 2006 Pl@stic Soul and The Blue Mile from the PMN

Thanks to K D Consulting for sponsoring this podcast.

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