Obituary: Bill Weylock

Research veteran Bill Weylock - the long-time QRCA President said to have conducted the first online focus group in 1994 - has died after a battle with Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Weylock's 30-year career commenced with training in counter-intelligence in Vietnam. He joined Langer Associates as a Research Director in 1980, then set up his own B2B research agency Weylock Associates (later known as Action Insights) which he ran for more than twenty years, focusing on the packaged goods and telecoms services sectors. More recently, he was a Senior Partner at Gen2 Advisors, SVP Research Services at Rockhopper Research, President of Brand3Sixty, and a Senior Partner at Gen2 Advisors. He was also the developer of a proprietary process for online audio-video focus groups.

Alongside his work, Weylock was a founding member of the QRCA, and for 25 years served as its President. In addition, he was Chair of the Research Industry Coalition, served on several Advertising Research Foundation councils, and taught marketing research at New York University Management Institute.

Len Murphy of industry publication Green Book described Weylock as 'the best moderator I ever saw', adding: 'He could get a group to engage, be comfortable, and share honestly like nobody's business. The quality of the insights he could generate from qualitative research was second to none.'

A graduate of Vanderbilt University, Weylock lived in Los Angeles and is survived by his three brothers, and Walter, his wheaten terrier (pictured).

Rather than sending flowers, donations to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation are welcome - click here.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.