Get Smart

The term “market research” conjures all sorts of business tropes: focus groups, phone and email surveys, secret shoppers, test markets for new products ... more focus groups.

Rodney Kayton and Rob Illes, co-founders of Tampa-based Study Hall Research Inc., take a more scientific, creative and high-tech approach to market research. They do all of the above — but they also do a lot more, and their clients are rewarding them for it. The eclectic client list ranges from McDonald's to Microsoft, with Publix, First Watch and a host of others in between. The firm has 10 employees, a figure that shifts based on projects.

The company's slogan, “Smart Kids All Grown Up,” reflects Kayton and Illes' light-hearted approach to the serious work of helping companies make more money by better understanding their customers. “You know, back when you were in school there were always those really smart kids, and sometimes you wonder what happened to those people,” says Kayton. “We're sort of those people.”