Founder’s story: How Rep Data is creating a new data collection vision for market research

By Gary Elstein, Partner

When one door closes, another opens. That’s true about life – both personally and professionally. It’s the action taken at those pivotal points that can influence so many aspects of life. I found this to be true last year when my time at Lucid came to an end. 

In the middle of a period already wrought with major changes due to the pandemic, I was faced with some really interesting decisions. I was presented with countless new opportunities, which I had to weigh carefully against my overall goals for how I wanted my future to look. These decisions, especially in the midst of the struggling economy, were not easy by any means.

Then something magical happened. I received a call from Pat Stokes letting me know that he was going to start his own data collection company to better serve the market research industry – and he asked me to be his partner. Saying yes to this was one of the easiest decisions I’ve had to make in my career. Pat not only is the best leader I’ve ever worked with, but his vision for Rep Data was directly in line with what I always felt the industry was (and is) missing – consistency. This is the foundation on which Rep Data was built. And it was the vision I needed to see my own future more clearly. 

In truth, Rep Data’s vision encompasses fixing many broken pieces in the industry, with consistency as the cornerstone. As the market research industry increasingly turns to technology and automated processes to accomplish goals, many lose sight of the personal relationships that are essential to ongoing success. While technology certainly has its place, I love that Rep Data puts relationships first. Our clients love it too and our superior customer service is one reason why they keep coming back to us for their data collection and sample needs. 

As the consumer landscape becomes more complicated, insights projects synonymously become more complex. Our hands-on approach and agnostic approach to sourcing is one of the only ways that can deliver extremely niche audiences, on time, and ensure quality data. Couple this with our consistent, real-time project management, and we can see our data collection vision benefitting our clients every single day. 

I’m so glad I decided to walk through this new door and build Rep Data along with Pat and Adam. Our vision is simple – we will be the last partner you’ll need for market research sample – through our values of reliable, repeatable and reputable data collection. I love that I am able to work with folks that I’ve met over the more than 10 years I’ve been in the market research industry, and that I’m developing new relationships maintaining the same longevity – stemming from trust and execution.