Presenting Ethnography

a cultural approach

to marketing and development

Chauncey Zalkin © 2009

What is it?

How does it work?

Some Examples

Now you do it

The new core competency is ethnography. Companies use it to

gain insights into the culture and behavior of their customers.

But the demands of business are different from those of an

anthropologist doing field research. The most obvious is speed.

– Business Week 6/06

an·thro·pol·o·gy / •

n.

the study of humankind, the

comparative study of human

societies and cultures and their

development

Antropología: estudio de los

seres humanos desde una

perspectiva biológica, social

y humanista.

Observation

And participation

Ethnography

Both a method and a product

What is the difference between

ethnography and classic qualitative

market research?

Ethnographers enter the natural

habitat

adapting to their surroundings

Using an array of story-telling tools

they immerse themselves

Traditional Focus Groups

Verification vs. Discovery

What I say

What I do

What I didn’t know I needed

The world is changing so rapidly

How can ethnography help us in the

business environment?

To gain insider information

To explore emerging and unmet

needs

Test developing theory

Revise as you go

Find out how people live with existing

products

You never know what you will learn.

Stop guessing.

So how do we do this?

Choose who you want to speak to

Find a way in

Day-in-the-lifeAccompaniedpurchase

…

Mystery ShoppingObserved Product Usage

And in our case, quickly

Guerrilla/blitzkrieg ethnography

Investigation ofcultural artifacts

Open-ended Cultural studies

..Other methodologies and parameters

Interviews / Videography / Journaling

Method: observed product usage in private settings

Method: observed purchase or mystery shopping

Synthesize. & Discover deeper insights.

Case study; digital ethnography: Pink

Case study; Journal Ethnography:

truth®

checks and balances

Now you be the subject

Now lets try it on one of your current

challenges

THE CHECKLIST

Substantive Contribution: Does the piece contribute to our

understanding of social-life?

Aesthetic Merit: Does this piece succeed aesthetically?

Reflexivity: How did the author come to write this text.

Was there adequate self-awareness and self-exposure for

the reader to make judgments about the point of view?

Impact: Does this affect me? Emotionally? Intellectually?Does it move me?

Expresses a Reality: Does it seem ‘true’—a credibleaccount of a cultural, social, individual, or communalsense of the ‘real’?

-Laurel Richardson, Professor Emeritus Sociology, The Ohio State University

Some tips

The End