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Eulogy for Ian McNair by Matt Balogh
Leaving behind only two other living founding member of the Market Research Society of Australia, Ian McNair passed away in the early hours of Tuesday 30th October 2007, after an 11 month battle with a brain tumour.
He was called many things, and almost called many others. Gunner McNair, Private Eye McNair, Almost Ian Kellogg McNair, he was called `one of the three Ians’, certainly Dad, husband, brother and son. He was always called a gentleman, polite, humble but never called a walk-over. He was called shrewd and perceptive but never manipulative. So was Ian Wallace McNair known.
Ian was enormously influenced by his father, who’s commitment to market research he unreservedly admired and inherited. In fact, Ian carefully chornicled his father’s life as he did his own, and it is from this that we learn that Bill McNair entered market research at J.Walter Thompson, the advertising agency, in New Zealand in 1930, just three years before Ian was born. Bill was great grandson of Peter McNair, who migrated from Scotland in 1845 – and Ian has remained staunchly a McNair all his life.
The advertising industry was hit hard by the depression, and Ian’s father Bill only managed to stave off unemployment by moving to the Sydney office of the firm in 1932. Their first home was in Chatswood, and while both Bill and Ian traveled greatly in their lives, Ian has never strayed far from the lower North Shore of Sydney. When Ian was born on the 24th October 1933, at Roseville, Bill, his father also received news that gave the family their first financial security in some years – JWT had won the Kelloggs advertising contract – and it was for this reason that Ian almost acquired Kellogg as his middle name. However the name Wallace was chosen for two reasons, one that if was the middle name of Bill’s brother, but probably more so in recognition of William Wallace, who’s defeat of the English in 1298 was made famous in the what’shisname film, thingy.
While Ian was schooling, first at Fort Street primary, and later at North Sydney Boys High, Bill McNair was building up a reputation for ‘Investigations’ as it was called in those days, for a variety of organisations, but particularly radio audience surveys and later magazine and newspaper readership studies. Bill McNair travelled greatly, with a a pioneering six-month round-the-world trip in 1938, during which time Ian and his brother David stayed in a residential kindergarten called Jabberwocky in Chatswood. Even when Bill was at home (which was now North Bridge), he spent a great deal of time talking to his business partner and others on the telephone, and Ian himself described Bill’s heavy workload as having an impact on their family life. So while Ian took after his father in many ways, Ian also chose to do some things differently, and one of those was to make sure that he spent quality time at home with his children, and more recently, as much as possible with his grandchildren – so it would be fair to say that Ian chose to be more of a family man himself.
Despite Bill’s pioneering of market research, times were hard in the young McNair household – it was not until Ian was finishing school that they had plumbed sewerage, got their first washing machine, and in 1951, the family bought it’s first car, and Bill, his wife Betty, Ian and David all learnt to drive at about the same time.
On finishing school in 1950 (with honours in French), Ian started full-time study in Economics at Sydney Uni, but later reverted to part time, while working at the accounting firm, Holt and Thompson. He also did three months National Service at this time, where he was know either at Gunner McNair or Private Eye McNair.
In 1953 Ian joined The McNair Survey Pty Ltd, the market research business that Bill and his business partner Gwen Nelson had bought off JWT just the year before. He joined initially on a trial six week period as a clerk. Even in his first few years Ian worked on many of the same accounts as he did more than 50 years later, including The Readers Digest and the Women’s Weekly. Of this period, Ian wrote ‘I learned early on that it was good to have plenty of fun in the office, and that despite the fun or perhaps because of it, plenty of work seemed to get done’ – a sentiment that is perhaps what allowed Ian to tolerate my shenanigans around McNair Ingenuity in recent years, and our motto: ‘have fun, work hard’.
The McNair Survey began to make its mark on political opinion polling, when in the 1955 Federal Election, they correctly predicted that Federal Labor Leader Dr H.V.Evatt would retain his hotly contested seat of Barton. His father Bill had conducted his first “election canvas” 15 year prior, for the Federal election of 1940, won by Robert Menzies.
Amongst Ian’s early work mates was the then 17 year old Hugh Mackay, who joined the company that same year, and with whom Ian went regularly to the office of the Australian Bureau of Statistics to transcribe Census data, including a complete week of transcribing at the ABS office in the relatively newly established city of Canberra. At around this time The McNair Survey ventured into the dangerous area of punch cards, the first computerisation of research analysis.
In 1954 The McNair Survey moved from the unfortunately named Asbestos House where it had sub-leased from JWT, to modern offices on the corner of Miller and Blue Streets, North Sydney.
1956 was both the year that Ian completed his Bachelor of Economics with Honours in Statistics, and the year that TV arrived in Australia – which set The McNair Survey on its course as a leading supplier of both radio, and now TV ratings. Ian traveled to New York and studied at Columbia University for 10 months to complete a Master of Science with a Major in Marketing. While in New York, Ian gained a wide variety of experience trying to meet and work for as many research experts as possible, including working on the 78th floor of the Empire State Building.
By the time Ian returned home to Sydney, nearly every second home had a TV set, and The McNair Survey was competing fiercely with both Anderson and Lintas in the provision of TV ratings. This battled rolled out city-by-city as TV broadcasting spread from Sydney and Melbourne, to Brisbane, and then to the other state capital cities. Amidst all this, Ian became Technical Director of The McNair Survey, and in 1959 commenced the advertising effectiveness measures named after Daniel Starch for The Women’s Weekly, which is still carried out to this day, using much the same method, sampling procedure and exactly the same sample size as the very first wave of the survey, 48 years ago.
In the early days of TV ratings, Ian spent a great deal of time touring the capital cities, and about which he said ‘I was not a natural salesman, but I soon discovered the elation of ‘signing-up’ potential customers, not with fast sales talk, but with logical reasoning, sincerity and honesty, and good old-fashioned service’. And it would be true to say that is exactly how Ian conducted his business right up until the last few months.
Ian was a founding member of the NSW Division of the Market Research Society of Australia, which had its first meeting at Stawell Hall in Macquarie Street, on 12th November 1959.
In 1959 Ian had his first experience of jet travel to Melbourne on a week-long sales trip – formerly Melbourne involved two stop – one in Canberra and one in Albury.
Throughout Ian’s younger years he was a constantly involved in presenting papers, lecturing or tutoring at the University of New South Wales. In 1960 Ian became an elder in the Presbyterian Church (now the Uniting Church) and there can be no doubt that one of the aspect that he most enjoyed of this was his role as a Sunday School teacher from 1956 to 1968. Ian found this very fulfilling, and even in his 70’s Ian was always delighted to teach and mentor anyone – even the most recent graduates, although he did have the expectation that they would pick things up quickly, and much preferred students to whom one only had to say things once – perhaps with the exception of those that had to transcribe his handwriting – for which allowed extra tolerances, on account of Ian’s extraordinary ability to write what appeared to be 1,000 word report on a small scrap of paper.
As a guest speaker at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Sydney in 1999, Ian stressed, amongst other things ‘the important of lifelong learning and the importance of continuing ties with the university and giving something back in the form of teaching or mentoring, even on a small scale’.
In 1961, Ian married Cecily Anne Fitch, who died tragically two years later. Fortunately, Ian’s life long passion for tennis paid off, for it was through the Cleland Tennis Club in Artarmon that he met Elspeth (then Page), who he married in 1965. Ian and Elspeth have been devoted to one another for 42 years, and continued to play tennis together nearly every weekend of all those years – in fact Ian only retired from Tennis in November 2006, and Elspeth continues to play.
In 1967 Ian and Elspeth adopted the first of their two children, Bruce Ian McNair, and two years later, Heather Margeret McNair.
In 1971 Ian became a member of North Sydney Rotary Club, with which he has remained a member ever since, holding the position of Secretary from 1975 to 1977.
Ian has consistently been involved in many philanthropic activities, most recently the funding and organising of fresh water supplies in Madagascar.
While Ian was a shareholder in The McNair Survey by virtue of the fact that Gwen Nelson sold Ian a small parcel of shares, Bill and Gwen actually sold The McNair Survey to Ian McNair, in partnership Ian Muir and Ian Pilz, not surprisingly known as the three Ians.
Under Ian McNair’s leadership, the organisation grow to Melbourne and New Zealand, and in 1973 merged with the competitor, Anderson, to become the largest market research firm in Australia, with McNair Anderson providing the national radio ratings, TV ratings and national readership survey. In 1978 Ian was created a Fellow of The Market Research Society of Australia. The Executive Secretary, M.S. Vary wrote “It is indeed an honour to be promoted to the grade of Fellow, as it is your peers that so nominate you and it is only ratified by Federal Council if it is felt that the person nominated has shown excellence’.
In 1980, Ian agreed to sell 60% of McNair Anderson to AGB Research, not an easy decision, but the strength of being part of a global organisation, as well as a high selling price, clinched the deal. During the late 60s, 70s and 80s Ian travelled extensively in North America, Asia, Europe and to South Africa on business trips promoting the businesses services or attending AGB conferences and seminars.
That same year Ian purchased a farm at Bathurst, in part because of his own affinity with an outdoor life, but also because Bruce and Heather both seemed interested in careers on the land – which in fact they have both successfully achieved.
At the beginning of the 80s McNair Anderson bought AGB McNair Hong Kong, and a few years later, SRG Australia and Spectrum Research, bringing Paul Korbel into Ian’s life.
But as with nearly all takeovers, AGB marginalised the original leadership team over time, and Ian finally left the organisation in November 1985. AGB was acquired by ACNielsen shortly after that. In 1986 Ian, together with Paul Korbel, Ian Bell and Mike Larbalestier, formed Quadrant Research, essentially a partnership of four independent researchers sharing resources, and based on Falcon Street in Crows Nest. The start of Quadrant was not easy for Ian, since in that year he suffered a serious heart attack which he survived, while his brother David also suffered a heart attack that same year and passed away.
Nevertheless, Ian bounced back, ever determined to see out his career, but also resolved to be less intense, and to look after his health more.
It was at Quadrant Research that I joined Ian in 1998, initially as Marketing Director, and later to become General Manager. The following year Paul Korbel negotiated the sale of Quadrant to The Gallup Organization, resulting in the dismissal of nearly all the staff in 2001. At this time Ian offered to help me get back on my feet, and lent me the money to establish what was then Ingenuity Research, a tiny market research business with an office on the Pacific Highway, Crows Nest.
Ian McNair resumed trading as McNair Research, on his own, but working from my own offices, and used our services to conduct interviewing. We worked well together, and formally merged to become McNair Ingenuity Research in 2003.
So as you have heard, Ian McNair had many adventures, many business, much travel, and some ups and downs. But also in his life were many things consistent. To coin words from the language that Ian excelled in at school, La plus ça change, la plus c’est la même chôse. The McNair Survey, McNair Anderson, AGB McNair, Quadrant Research, McNair Research and McNair Ingenuity Research were all based within less than a kilometre of one another, and close to Ian’s first home in Northbridge, and his current home in Cammeray – and just a few hundred metres from his old school of North Sydney Boys High.
So, Private Eye McNair, Almost Ian Kellogg McNair, one of the three Ians, Dad to Bruce and Heather, husband to Elspeth, brother to David and son of Bill, Ian Wallace McNair, very consciously chose to leave a legacy, and we here now, are that legacy. His friends. colleagues and family are at one in wishing Ian peace in the afterlife, for his colleagues felt like family, his friends were his colleagues.
Ian McNair was someone about whom no one ever had a harsh word to say. He led an exemplary life, and he will be sorely missed by the thousands of people that his many good deeds touched.
By Matt Balogh, McNair Ingenuity Research
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Other Articles in this edition
Conference 2007 award winners
Reflections on the changing face of research
Getting real about prediction in marketing research
Election 07 proves opinion polls work
The clash of institutional imperatives
Predictions for 2008
Following the track into the future
Ian Wallace McNair 1933 - 2007
AMSRO news
An ethical question: No. 155
Australian software firm goes global
Australians in ESOMAR publication
Career moves
Cegedim Strategic Data acquires 3ES
Enhance Management goes troppo
GMI launches new gamer panel
Highlights of 2007
Homescan turns 21
Local Government Association wins marketing award
New venues in Melbourne
Nielsen reorganisation
President's report: Thinking that moved my mind
Research News over the decade
Scholarship awarded at Colmar Brunton
Starfish opens office in Papua New Guinea
Statistics: Ordinal data is, on average, OK
Synovate expands footprint in Australia and New Zealand
TNS restructures Australian and NZ operations
Winner of market research presentation of the year
Research News
Edition index (December 2007)
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