Yankelovich Partners will announce today that DM veteran Mike Hail has been named as its CEO, effective immediately.
Hail, the former CEO of KnowledgeBase Marketing, hopes to better position Yankelovich as a provider of database services. The company, which had revenue of $17 million last year, intends to grow both “organically and through acquisition,” he said.
Hail wouldn’t name potential acquisition candidates, but said that the Chapel Hill, NC-based firm would “rather acquire people who have existing software than write it ourselves.”
He added: “The board and the management team are committed to making whatever investments are required.”
Yankelovich President J. Walker Smith said that Hail will “focus on our growth and operations—particularly in the acquisitions area—while I will direct my attention to a variety of strategic initiatives.”
Hail, who has a strong background in compiling, said that Yankelovich has no plans to compete in that area. “We’re not in the data compiling business, but in the business of using compiled data,” he said.
But Yankelovich may compete as a service provider. “I think that eventually we will house databases,” Hail continued.
In addition, the firm hopes to “connect the dots between research and database marketing,” said Craig Wood, president of the company’s Monitor MindBase division.
That would mean taking historical intelligence and making sure that it is consistent with “what we expect consumer behavior to be next year,” said Hail.
What does Hail know about market research? “To quote Henry Ford, ‘I don’t know anything about it, but I intend to hire a lot of very brilliant people who know a lot about it,’” he laughed.
Yankelovich will continue its preferred partnership relationship with KnowledgeBase. However, it will obtain data from multiple suppliers, Hail said.
Hail has served as chief operating officer of Equifax Marketing Services. In that role, he developed the use of credit data for marketing applications.
Later, he co-founded and served as CEO of IRA (I Rent America), a Texas-based compiling firm that eventually become one of the original three components of KnowledgeBase.
Hail plans to relocate from Texas to Chapel Hill.
