About Nichols Research
We are an innovative marketing research company providing specialized qualitative and quantitative services and insights to the research community through every imaginable methodological approach, and with every conceivable audience and industry.
Our team’s experience is unsurpassed in recruiting hard to reach audiences and providing research environments that facilitate actionable results.
Consultation, research design, national field management, mock juries, and more — our expertise goes beyond the ordinary.
Our Story
On January 4, 2016, partners Amy Shields, Michael Mermelstein, and Steve Zuppas purchased Nichols Research, Inc., an industry leader in the research arena for over 40 years. Under the new ownership, we re-branded and are now Nichols Research.
Of course, that alone does not a unique story make. To understand the spirit of Nichols Research today, we must go back to the beginning and the legacy entrusted to us.
The late Mimi Nichols, after the success of a potato chip focus group in her living room — with clients viewing from the kitchen, established Nichols Research, Inc. in 1978. Mimi was an icon in the marketing research industry with a keen business sense, the ability to foresee trends long before most, and an uncanny knack for identifying talent. She never settled but set the bar high. Enter Jane Rosen in 1984. Together, for more than three decades, the two women reigned powerfully, creating a unique blend of high standards, professionalism, and heart.
As Nichols Research begins a new era of leadership, its partners and team members remain inspired by the founders who came before. Some of the favorite sayings often heard around the office from 1978 to 2015 (e.g., “You have to be willing to take risks,” “You get out of it what you put into it,” and “Take your vitamins and brace yourself!”) still hold true today. But with change comes the need for new inspiration.
Our Mission
Nichols Research engages in sustainable practices that anticipate the needs of our stakeholders by supplying marketing research that inspires and delivers a pathway to decisions. We are responsive to and creative with client and provider needs; are thought leaders who promote the value, ethics, and professional standards of the industry; and are fair, humane and transparent in all that we do.
Our Vision
Internally and externally, Nichols Research is committed to providing innovative products, ethical services, and an environment of creativity in marketing research to ultimately demonstrate the value of the insights and strategies industry in order to foster growth for our partners, staff, providers, respondents, and organization.