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Ronald Kurtz

Member since April 2014

Ron Kurtz is a retired C-level executive with experience in the cruise, hospitality, and airline industries. He was the founder of The American Affluence Research Center, which specialized in market surveys and mailing lists of the truly affluent. Established in 2001 and with an exclusive focus on the affluent market for almost 20 years, the American Affluence Research Center was a recognized authority and a credible source of reliable insight and marketing information about the values, lifestyles, attitudes, and purchasing behavior of America's most wealthy consumers. Ron has held the positions of president and chief marketing officer of companies in the cruise and resort industries. He earned an MBA from The Harvard Graduate School of Business and a BBA from The University of Texas. Ron was a frequent writer for trade publications and speaker at industry functions and was the author of the book Market Research: Strategy and Techniques, published by the American Management Association.

Articles by Ronald All articles by Ronald

  • Mail Surveys Are Good Source Of Essential Research in Engage:Affluent on 03/16/2015

    In part 1 of this series, we looked at big data and how it is the focus of much content in business and marketing media. There is no question that big data can be very useful, but big data can only provide a portion of the research that marketers of high end products need in order to understand and effectively market to the affluent and luxury consumers.

  • Research Data Needed To Understand Target Market in Engage:Affluent on 02/11/2015

    Marketers are inundated with data of all sorts from many different sources. It is vital to have a clear vision of what data is really needed to design an effective marketing strategy and plan. And then one must be careful to find an accurate and reliable source of the data that is considered essential.

Comments by Ronald All comments by Ronald

  • Trump's Brand Graveyard by Steven Rosenbaum (Media Insider on 09/21/2026)

    Steve, glad I could support you. 

  • Trump's Brand Graveyard by Steven Rosenbaum (Media Insider on 09/21/2026)

    Rosenbaum has done an excellent review of Trump's business failures and the impact on investors, employees, and vendors he has hurt and bullied. Steve has also done a good job of responding to the defensive retorts of the apparently gullible Trump supporters who fail to see Trump;s policy  bungles and self serving corruption are a risk to our country and instituions. Trump is an impressive snake oil salesman (always promising he will make things better and rarely delivering). He was well known to have run his business as an authoritarian who accepted no disagreements from his employees. He is trying to run our government and country in the same manner. He is obviously not smart enough or really concerned about the welfare of our people. 

  • Canada-U.S. Rift Continues To Deepen by Tanya Gazdik (Marketing Daily - Top of the News on 09/13/2026)

    What a big shame and strategic blunder that Trump has caused such a needless mess with Canada. 

  • Canada Is The Canary In America's Coal Mine by Gord Hotchkiss (Media Insider on 08/25/2026)

    Hopefully the Canadians understand that Trump's words and deeds ref Canada reflect the sentiment of only a very small portion of Americans. Once we are rid of Trump, we should try to re-establish the strong relationship we once had. It is important to understand that Trump is following the coward/bully playbook: pounce on the weak (e.g. Venezuela and Cuba) and avoid conflict with the strong (China, Russia, and North Korea). He received a big suprise when Iran turned out to be less weak than he thought. Canada has the potential to pose a similar surprise. 

  • A Paramount-WBD Deal Could Include CNN Sale by Wayne Friedman (Television News Daily on 08/13/2026)

    CNN's content has deteriorated to such a point that I wonder if anyone would want to buy it. The producers seem to lack a clear definition of their target audience and mission/product. 

  • Republicans Despair Voting Is Easier Than Getting Bottomless Pasta At Olive Garden by Tanya Gazdik (Marketing Daily - Top of the News on 07/22/2026)

    It is pathetic that GOP must resort to misdirection in effort to gain support for their legislation. Just shows they have no meaningful evidence that a problem exists with current voting proecess. 

  • The Bullshit Pulpit by Joe Mandese (Red, White & Blog on 07/17/2026)

    Seems the key issue is not the relevane of legacy media but rather that a very large number of Americans lack the interest and ability to understand and correctly disect the BS spewed by POTUS , who has acknowledged his belief that repetition of lies will cause many people to beleive thay are the truth. POTUS is the ultimate disaster created by a malignant political system created by the evasive and non-responsive words and actions of the career politicans in both parties. 

  • Microsoft Accused Of Browser Abuse by Laurie Sullivan (MediaDailyNews on 07/15/2026)

    Microsoft seems to always be introducing new ways to trick people into using their products. Very irritating. 

  • Walmart's Price Cuts Get A Presidential Assist by Sarah Mahoney (Marketing Daily on 07/07/2026)

    Given Trump's history of obviously flagrant falsehoods and exaggeration, why would anyone ever believe what he says?  He is the king of "fake news". 

  • Want to Know The Future Of Consumerism? Ask My Fridge by Gord Hotchkiss (Media Insider on 06/30/2026)

    Gord is right that as consumers we are being poorly treated. But we are only partly at fault. Industry consolidation has led to less competition which means fewer brand and product options for us. Consolidation also contributes to informal collusion and sameness among brands. 

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