The Harris Poll facts for kids
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| Private Holding | |
| Industry | Market research and opinion polling |
| Founded | 1963 |
| Founder | Louis Harris |
| Headquarters |
Chicago, Illinois,
New York City |
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Key people
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Will Johnson (co-CEO), John Gerzema (co-CEO), Mark Penn (chairman) |
| Parent | Stagwell |
The Harris Poll is an American company that studies what people think. They have been tracking the feelings, actions, and reasons behind what American adults do since 1963.
Besides giving advice, Harris also creates special computer programs. These programs help companies see how well their products are doing. The company helps its clients in three main ways:
- Understanding how people see a brand.
- Building a good reputation for companies.
- Doing research that is shared with everyone.
The Harris Poll was started by a man named Louis Harris. He was an expert in asking people questions to find out their opinions. He began his own company, Louis Harris & Associates, in 1956. Later, this business was renamed Harris Interactive.
In 2017, a group called Stagwell bought The Harris Poll from another company, Nielsen. Stagwell then hired two new leaders, John Gerzema and Will Johnson. They relaunched the company as The Harris Poll. The founder of Stagwell, Mark Penn, is the chairman of The Harris Poll.
The main offices for The Harris Poll are in Chicago and New York City. They also have offices in Washington, D.C., and Rochester, New York.
The Harris Poll has a very important project called the COVID-19 Tracker. This is the longest-running study of what Americans think about the coronavirus pandemic. They ask a group of people across the country questions online every two weeks.
Contents
The Harris Poll's Story
Louis Harris worked on surveys for John F. Kennedy in 1960. Kennedy was running for president at the time. Harris had started his company, Louis Harris & Associates, in 1956.
Then, in 1963, Louis Harris began The Harris Poll. This poll is one of the longest-running surveys that measures what people in the U.S. think. It has a history of helping leaders like John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan understand public opinion during big changes.
Over the years, Louis Harris & Associates was bought by different companies. First, it was bought by Gannett. Then, in 1996, Gordon S. Black Corporation bought it. In 1997, it became Harris Black International Ltd. This company then became a public company called Harris Interactive in 1999.
Later, in 2014, Nielsen owned it. But in 2017, the Stagwell Group bought The Harris Poll. They made it a private company again. The Stagwell Group relaunched the polling company as Harris Insights & Analytics. Even with all these changes, the name "The Harris Poll" has stayed the same.
Louis Harris created his first company, Louis Harris & Associates, in 1956. In 1960, his company became the first to do surveys for a presidential candidate. That candidate was John F. Kennedy, who became U.S. president that year. Louis Harris started The Harris Poll in 1963 to keep track of public opinion over time.
In 1970, Harris bought a company from Humphrey Taylor. Humphrey was a top expert in surveys for the conservative party and for Margaret Thatcher in the UK.
In January 1992, when he was 70, Lou Harris retired from Louis Harris & Associates. This company was owned by Gannett at the time. He then started his second company, LH Associates.
His first company, and The Harris Poll, was later bought by Gordon S. Black Corporation in 1996. This company became Harris Black International Ltd. in 1997. It then became a public company called Harris Interactive in 1999. In the 2000s, Nielsen owned it starting in 2014. Then, in 2017, the Stagwell Group bought The Harris Poll and the polling company.
Company Changes Over Time
The Gordon S. Black Corporation started in 1975 in Rochester, New York. It later became part of Harris Interactive in 1997. Over the years, the company bought other businesses to grow. For example:
- In 1996, they bought Louis Harris & Associates.
- In 2001, they bought parts of Yankelovich Partners, Inc.
- They also bought companies in the UK, Japan, and New Jersey in 2001.
- More companies were bought in France (2004), Virginia (2004), Germany (2007), Canada (2007), and Hong Kong/Singapore (2007).
- In 2014, Harris Interactive joined Nielsen.
- Later in 2014, a company called ITWP bought the Harris Interactive offices in the UK, France, and Germany from Nielsen.
- Finally, in January 2017, The Stagwell Group bought Harris.
Who Leads The Harris Poll
Since The Stagwell Group bought The Harris Poll in 2017, it has been led by Chairman Mark Penn. The Co-Chief Executive Officers are John Gerzema and Will Johnson.
Mark Penn
Mark Penn has worked in market research, advertising, and surveys for 40 years. He is the president of The Stagwell Group. This company invests in digital marketing businesses. Before starting Stagwell in 2015, Penn was a top leader at Microsoft Corp.
For six years, he was the White House survey expert for President Bill Clinton. He was a key advisor for Clinton's re-election in 1996. Penn later helped Hillary Clinton with her U.S. Senate and 2008 presidential campaigns.
After college in 1976, Penn and his future business partner, Doug Schoen, started a company called Penn & Schoen. It's now called PSB Insights. They helped elect more than 25 government leaders around the world. These leaders included Tony Blair and Menachem Begin. Penn also led a public relations company called Burson Cohn & Wolfe from 2006 to 2012.
He wrote a book in 2018 called Microtrends Squared. This book updated his 2007 book, Microtrends. Penn has also written articles for many newspapers and magazines. He teaches at Harvard College.
John Gerzema
John Gerzema started his career in advertising and marketing in 1987. He became a co-CEO of The Harris Poll in 2017. Before that, he was the chairman and CEO of BAV Consulting for almost seven years. This company was part of the advertising agency Young & Rubicam.
Gerzema has written three best-selling books. One of them, "The Athena Doctrine," came out in 2013. It explored how feminine values are becoming more important in society and business. This book became a best-seller for the New York Times and Washington Post. He has given popular talks called TED Talks. He has also written many articles for places like the Harvard Business Review.
Will Johnson
Will Johnson became co-CEO of The Harris Poll in 2017. Before this, he spent ten years as a leader in advertising and consumer research. Right before joining The Harris Poll, he was president of BAV Consulting. He also helped lead BrandAsset Valuator, which studies brands and what consumers do.
From 2008 to 2015, Johnson was a senior leader at Young & Rubicam. In 2016, he gave a presentation at the World Economic Forum. It was about a report called "Best Countries." This report ranked 80 nations and was a partnership with U.S. News & World Report and the Wharton School. Johnson has written for and been quoted in many articles. These include The Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, and Fortune.
Chief Executive Officers Through the Years
Here are the main leaders of the company over time:
- Gordon S. Black || 1975 – January 2004
- Robert E. Knapp || January 2004 – May 2005
- Gregory T. Novak || May 2005 – October 2008
- Kimberly Till || October 2008 – June 2011
- Al Angrisani || June 2011 – February 2014
- Will Johnson & John Gerzema || February 2014 – Present
