Like any industry, market research has some key players. Some are household names, while others, even after conducting millions of survey interviews, have remained relatively unknown. American Directions Research Group (ADRG) has been one of the key data collection providers in the industry, quietly plugging along in the background, and providing businesses with critical information needed to make decisions for over 35 years. While ADRG is a name you may not recognize (it’s OK, we won’t tell), there’s a good chance you’ve benefitted from our insights in the past or could yet today.
How does a company succeed for so long? Let’s start at the beginning…
History of ADRG
Our founder, Wally Clinton, is a long-time (Hall of Fame) political consultant and in the course of his work, often relied on survey data collection from other companies.
Over time, he realized he needed a higher level of attention to detail, project service, and in general, better data collection project execution. A perfectionist, he took the adage, “If you need something done right, you gotta do it yourself,” to heart and built an integrated survey research data collection division as a part of his business.
That was way back in 1987…since then, American Directions grew from our home in Washington DC into a nationwide survey research data-gathering network. This evolution of survey research eventually eclipsed political consulting, and today ADRG is focused exclusively on providing the actionable data our clients need to solve critical business problems, make decisions, or better understand their targets (voters, members, or customers).
We employ hundreds of personnel from coast to coast in multiple interviewing centers, as well as a large team of remote agents, proudly and exclusively here in the United States. The interviewing stations are each equipped to handle the latest in multimodal survey technologies.
While we are proud of our size and systems, our clients tell us that what sets us apart from other data collectors is our people…in particular our Project Managers. These are the folks who make sure our clients’ projects get done the way they expect, on time and on budget. Our unique long-tenured team of project managers knows that this means watching projects late into the evening and poring over quotas and sample reports. The pleasantly “unique” part is, they really take pride in and enjoy this difficult work and long hours. They are acutely aware of the impact data collection can have on a project’s outcome.
Our Client Focus Continued After We Hired a client…
At least that’s the case with Jerry Karson, our Chief Marketing Officer. He was initially a client of ours. For years, Jerry was a VP of Operations for a major multinational, full-service research company overseeing hundreds of thousands of hours of data collection at their own facilities, but often during busy periods, he had to outsource data collection work to outside firms. As a result, Jerry had the opportunity to work with just about every survey vendor in the industry.
As a customer of data collection, he heard all the excuses and unrealistic promises that made his job even more challenging, and after working with so many, “ADRG became the vendor that I trusted most. They were realistic about capabilities, delivered what they said when they said, the Project Managers were great and I knew I could count on them, which meant I was finally able to focus on my other project priorities”.
When an opportunity to partner with ADRG full-time arose, he came on board. Over the last 20 years, Jerry has continued to carry that client-focused vision forward. That’s client satisfaction at its finest!
Survey research data collection is a tough business where the data collector’s reputation is on the line with the results of every project. For a company like ADRG to last over 35 years in this business is a testament to our commitment to client satisfaction, coupled with a non-stop push to innovate and evolve. We’re proud of our success, and while we may have kept a low profile all these years, wanted to share our story.