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Salesman Frank Martin Jr. led region's first marketing research company [The Roanoke Times, Va.](Roanoke Times (Roanoke, VA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) May 14--Frank Martin Jr.'s career might have gone down a different path had it not been for Dr Pepper. Martin, the founder of one of the area's preeminent marketing research firms, died Saturday after falling in his Roanoke home. He was 80. As sales manager in 1956 at Roanoke's franchise of the Dr Pepper Bottling Co., Martin worked under the legendary John W. "Bill" Davis. Davis was a shrewd and affable salesman, known for his ability to market his company's soft drink to even the most doubtful of consumers through heavy use of radio, television and in-person promotions. It was from Davis that Martin turned his natural geniality into learned salesmanship and trend-spotting, his son, Frank Martin III, said. But television was taking off in the late 1950s, and in 1957, Martin left Dr Pepper to head the research and promotions department at WDBJ (Channel 7). Within a year, he helped WDBJ pass rival WSLS (Channel 10) in ratings for the first time, just three years after the station had gone on air. "He was a very intelligent fellow," said Mel Mayfield, who worked at WDBJ as a promotion assistant and later took over Martin's job. "He could pick up things very quickly and learn to use them in an advantageous way." He started Martin Research in 1970 as the region's first marketing research company. Martin's bailiwick was telephone surveys, his son said. He'd dial 400 people at random in a given market to ask questions about a brand or topic -- a common tactic in the industry now but an idea that was relatively new at the time. "Market research was so new, people weren't tired of doing it yet," his son said. Within a decade the firm had grown to include clients across the country. The company helped several big-name banks market a novel concept to consumers in the early 1970s: the automated teller machine. He led the company until his retirement in 1997, when his son took over. Martin Research now has offices in four cities and includes SunTrust, Carilion Clinic and Cox Communications as clients. Martin served on several area boards and commissions, including the Roanoke Chamber of Commerce and the Roanoke Civic Center Commission. He was born in Roanoke, graduated from Jefferson High School and received a bachelor's degree in business administration from Virginia Tech. He met Martha Clay, his wife of 59 years, on a blind date in 1952. "Her older sister lit into her when she came back with a lipstick smear and said she better watch out," Martin's son said. "But they fell in love, and there was no one else." He was a lifelong member of Second Presbyterian Church, where he was a deacon and an elder. In addition to his wife and son Frank, Martin is survived by a daughter, Susan, and another son, Bob. A fourth child, Julia, died in 1985, Frank Martin III said. A memorial service is scheduled for today at Second Presbyterian Church at 11 a.m. ___ (c)2013 The Roanoke Times (Roanoke, Va.) Visit The Roanoke Times (Roanoke, Va.) at www.roanoke.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |