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About Us
Ethridge & Associates founder Steven C. Ethridge has over 30 years of marketing, communication, human resources and research consulting experience. The company was founded as a full-time venture in 1993 and is now in its 18th year of business. Over those years, Ethridge & Associates, L.L.C., has served over 400 clients in more than 184 sectors, in 23 major cities coast to coast from New York and Washington, D.C. on the east coast to San Diego and Seattle on the west coast, representing more than 750,000 consumer and business-to-business interviews.
Types of Organizations Served
The nature of our business requires the utmost in confidentiality. Thus, for reasons of confidentiality, we do not list the names of specific clients. However, the types of organizations we have served, and continue to serve, include the following:
- Advertising, public relations and publicity agencies
- Financial institutions (banks, credit unions and investment banking firms)
- Health care providers (hospitals, doctors’ clinics, insurance providers)
- Hospitality companies (hotels & resorts)
- Entertainment companies (theme parks, theater/drama, gaming)
- Tourism destinations (states, cities and specific attractions)
- Government and quasi-government agencies
- Trade associations/foundations (national, regional and local)
- Retail establishments (department stores, grocery stores, jewelry stores)
- Educational institutions (colleges, universities, private schools, public school systems)
- Media (newspapers & television stations)
- Utility companies (state & regional)
- Political candidates (at the presidential, gubernatorial, senate, congressional, mayoral, council/commission, and sheriff levels)
- Consumer packaged goods
- Churches and para-church organizations
For our new client prospects for which have requested a Customized Plan of Services, we will provide client references upon request.
Biography of Our Founder, Dr. Steven C. Ethridge
While we have a network of seasoned associates around the globe, the driving force behind our success is still our company founder, Steven C. Ethridge.
Ethridge is a nationally recognized strategic communication and research consultant, with over 30 years of research and strategy experience, 28 years of which have been in political polling and campaigns. Based in Cordova, Tennessee, a suburb of Memphis, Ethridge & Associates, L.L.C. (Ethridge) provides strategic communication and research in the areas of brand marketing, advertising, public relations, publicity, sales, fundraising, political campaigns, news media, and employee communication, as well as executive coaching, business coaching and individual life coaching.
Ethridge has an unprecedented track-record of applying strategic research to help clients increase their Marketing Return on Investment (MROI) from 25 percent to 300 percent of their previous base. These successes have reached dollar Marketing Returns on Investment between $29 and $46 to $1 in industries that previously averaged $4 to $1.
Ethridge has served over 400 clients in 23 major cities coast to coast representing more than 750,000 consumer and business-to-business interviews. His success spans more than 184 market sectors including banking and finance, health care, travel/tourism/hospitality, political campaigns, news media, governments, quasi-governments, nonprofits, education, consumer packaged goods, public utilities, law firms, ministries, and many others. Ethridge has also served as an expert witness in courts on the use of public opinion polls in legal cases in which public opinion reseach is admissable as evidence in the case.
Ethridge is well known, particularly in Memphis and the Mid-South, as one of the fastest, most accurate, reliable and ethical public opinion pollsters and strategists in the business (see our Testimonials page). He has unparalleled credibility in local and regional media, having served as public opinion pollster for Memphis area’s largest regional newspaper, The Commercial Appeal since 1995 and TV News Channel 3 dating as far back as 1991 on a number of public policy issues and political campaigns. Additionally, Ethridge’s polls have been cited and he has been quoted as an expert on public opinion in numerous national publications across America, including The New York Times, the L.A. Times, USA Today, The Polling Report, Real Clear Politics, Bill Hobbs Report, the Free Republic, and many others.
Ethridge has spoken as a marketing, communication and strategic polling expert at numerous industry conferences, including conferences for the American Marketing Association, the Public Relations Society of America, and the Travel and Tourism Research Association. Ethridge has also been a guest lecturer in graduate schools as several universities and colleges, including The University of Memphis’ Business School’s Department of Marketing, The University of Memphis’ Department of Communication, Memphis’ Rhodes College Department of Mathematics, the Fiji College of Theology and Evangelism and the Takamoa Theological College, Cook Islands.
Prior to founding the firm, Ethridge held senior executive marketing and research positions with The Gallup Organization, Inc.; Holiday Inns; the Promus Companies, Inc. (former parent company of Embassy Suites, Hampton Inns and Homewood Suites hotels); the retail department store chain Fred’s Inc.; the polling firm Marketing Insights, Inc.; the consulting firm Message Factors, Inc.; and the strategic business planning form Cliff Davis Associates, Inc.
Ethridge holds a Master of Arts in Communication from the University of Memphis. Before completing his doctorate elsewhere, he was admitted to the University of Memphis’s Ph.D. program in Communication where he specialized in doctoral courses in Rhetoric and later to the Ph.D. program at Trinity Theological Seminary where he specialized in Administrative Leadership. He also holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Mississippi with a major in Marketing; attended graduate studies in Marketing Management and Research at the University of Georgia; and holds the designation of Certified Marketing Research Professional from the University of Georgia. Ethridge also holds a Master of Divinity (Interdisciplinary Studies) from Trinity Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Philosophy from Trinity Evangelical Christian University. As well, he is a Certified Personal Development Life Coach and Licensed Corporate Trainer with 360 Solutions, Inc.
A life-long student of strategy, from the game of chess to business strategy, Ethridge also is a student of military strategy and martial arts. Ethridge is a Black Belt (Shodan) in traditional Japanese Shotokan Karate and is a member of Shotokan Karate of America. His knowledge and skill of martial arts is very applicable to the “marketing warfare” aspect of his business and political consulting.