Our Founders
Ben Morris
Kristal Morris
Ben Morris
In 1982, before the internet, Ben founded MQ&C as a traditional advertising firm. When digital arrived on the scene, MQ&C brought “big data” files in house and started applying big data analytics to the millions of impressions even a modest digital campaign can deliver. The result was a proprietary bid strategy platform for campaigns by key word, geography, and bid price. Today, Ben focuses on better understanding and integrating all sources of traffic–offline and online–into a customer value feedback loop. This means understanding how customers rely on radio, TV, print, direct mail, outdoor, sports, and digital ads as they make their buying decisions. Ben uses his Film Theory and Criticism degree from the University of Texas at Austin to develop stories that resonate with target customers.Kristal Morris
After spending a few years as a make-up artist at Saks, outside sales at Xerox, and a stint in the marketing department of the San Antonio Spurs, Kristal Morris started her own company, Kristalytics, to provide data analytics and digital marketing services. The rapid growth and success of Kristalytics in the next decade allowed Kristal the opportunity to purchase a majority stake in MQ&C Advertising in 2015.
Today, as one of the two owners of MQ&C, Kristal serves as President. Her current areas of interest within MQ&C are daily operations, corporate culture, agency marketing, graphic design, and data analytics.
Over the last four years, Kristal has driven the initiative of establishing MQ&C as a completely virtual company able to function at the highest level without regard to geography. Her goal is to attract the very best talent and subject-matter-experts without requiring anyone to move or live somewhere because of their job. The result is a talented team that would never have come together with a “be-in-office-five-days-a week” mindset.
Taking over as President of a company that had existed since 1982 also gave Kristal a chance to change a very traditional corporate culture to a modern, positive, collaborative environment. This environment with a flat reporting chart encourages strong interaction, learning, and genuine friendships between all team members, regardless of tenure or title.
Kristal is married to agency co-founder, Ben Morris. They and their 5 year old son, Marsden, divide their time between Austin, Texas and Aspen, Colorado.
Outside of MQ&C, Kristal is the family’s lead on real estate investments and has a strong interest in interior design, hiking, biking, and spending time with her family.
Kristal Morris graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2001 with Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing.