Hello, it's Tim Halford here.

Before we get started on the invention of market research,

I wanted to let you know that at the end of this episode,

I'll be telling you how you can help me choose a 51st thing,

that is, if you're listening to this in August or early September 2017,

details coming up in approximately 9 minutes.

50 Things That Made The Modern Economy With Tim Halford

In the early years of the 20th century, US car makers had it good.

As quickly as they could manufacture cars, people bought them.

But by 1914, that was changing.

In higher price brackets, especially purchases and dealerships,

we're becoming chooseier.

One commentator warned that the retailer could no longer sell

what his own judgement dictated.

He must sell what the consumer wanted.

That commentator was Charles Coolidge-Palin.

He's widely recognized as the world's first professional market researcher,

and indeed the man who invented the very idea of market research.

A century later, the market research profession is huge.

In the United States alone, it employs around half a million people.

Paulin was tasked with taking the pulse of the US automobile market.

He travelled tens of thousands of miles and interviewed hundreds of car dealers.

...