Brian Palmer  enjoys a very successful career in strategic planning and marketing research which, in addition to advertising account management, has defined his last 30-plus years of employment experience. 

He has held key marketing research positions as a research supplier, as a research client, and as an ad agency research department head. A native Detroiter, he tried to avoid being another “car guy” … but landed in that industry nonetheless for 25 years … first on the marketing staff of Ford Motor Company for six years and then heading up several ad agency functions (research, planning, and account management) for the next twenty years managing a Chrysler automotive advertising account with an annual advertising budget of more than $300 million .  

During his career to date, Brian has been responsible for conducting every type of marketing research that exists in the automotive industry:  new product studies (such as product clinics), consumer surveys, advertising research, and on-line panels.  He has a breadth of non-automotive experience as well … initially trained by A. C. Nielsen, then heading up the marketing research department at Florists Transworld Delivery (FTD), and currently consulting and conducting research in areas as diverse as animal welfare, banking, and home health care. Mr. Palmer has a BS and MBA degree from Wayne State University, and has been a guest lecturer at Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.  He is believed to have been the first Detroit ad agency employee in a Forward/Strategic/Brand “Planning” function.

At Oakland University, Brian teaches MKT 405, Marketing Research.  He brings to the classroom a wealth of experience which helps make the text materials come to life.  Each session he brings in “marketing problem” topics from the day’s news and shows videos on subjects of “absolutely current” interest, such as the topics covered daily in Advertising Age’s 3-minute videos.   The examples he exposes to the class come not only in the form of real-life marketing and advertising examples, but also in the form of first-hand exposure to some of the finest researchers in the business.  He typically schedules three “special sessions” each semester.  One of these sessions is a guest lecture by a senior staff member of a major (top 50 U.S.) research supplier (Gongos) which focuses on an understanding of a variety of methods they employ to serve their clients.  Another is a guest lecture by the former Director of Marketing Research at Chrysler (Dave Bostwick), who now consults and conducts research using a qualitative technique that is quite extraordinary (Metaphor).   The third session toward the end of the semester is an off-site tour of a major (also top 50 U.S.) research supplier (RDA Group) wherein students observe and discuss a research company in operation.         

Brian led the product marketing research effort that launched the original Ford Taurus, as well as the positioning and communications effort that launched the original Chrysler minivan … two products that led the automotive marketplace … and he was the strategic impetus behind a broad range of major advertising efforts, including campaigns that utilized spokespersons ranging from Lee Iacocca to Tina Turner.  He teaches marketing research because he loves the subject, understands the significant impact of providing consumer information in support of the marketing problem-solving process, and hopes to instill that passion in others.