A. C. Nielsen, Sr.: Audit Pioneer
Journal of Advertising Research, 26 (1):
36--38 (1986)Abstract
The article presents an interview of Arthur C. Nielsen, founder and chairman of A. C. Nielsen International Inc. Answering to the question on the issues and problems that confronted him when he first entered the research field Nielsen said that, the most serious problem involved the raising of the necessary capital. He had always feared failure due to inadequate capital, and to make sure that this would not be the fate of the new Nielsen Company, he made careful estimates of the amount required and then raised three times that amount. He was aided by members of his fraternity, Sigma Phi, at the University of Wisconsin, who did not really understand the nature of the work the company proposed to undertake, but who had developed confidence in him because they had seen him working day and night to break the records for a scholarship in the College of Engineering– records, incidentally, which have not yet been equaled. On asking Nielsen, about his unique contribution in the field he said that, there were several, and they did not all occur at the start. The first was the performance surveys. They were very useful to nearly every client who subscribed to this service. However, it was difficult to persuade the typical client to purchase a sufficient variety of these surveys to enable his salesmen to use them successfully with any type of prospect for his product and so that he could pile proof on proof to an extent which achieved conviction on the part of the prospect.