Why Do Marketing Research with an Anthropologist?
Deep Research & Writing | Jessica Share | http://www.fixieedits.com
Hi. I’m Jessica. I’m a freelance writer who loves long-form pieces that include research.
Marketing copy + Love of culture = Better Connection.
You already work with writers…
Writers that ALREADY use participation, interviews, and A cultural lens to get insights
for you can be:white paper writerS, case study writers, AND
EVEN THE FOLKS THAT RUN YOUR FOCUS GROUPS
And you probably don’t want to overspend on agencies for campaigns that don’t get your client.
So let’s put the two together
FIGURE OUT MARKETING PROBLEMS WITH CULTURAL TOOLS
+ WRITE SMARTER
=CAMPAIGNS THAT WORK
What if you already knew what your product meant deep down in your client’s life?
It’s about lifestyle. How they interact.Where they go. What it means to them.How it fits into the cultures of their lives.
U.S. Companies wanted to know if Japanese style management was more effective than
american style management.
CORPORATE ANTHROPOLOGY IN THE 1980s
It TURNED OUT WE ALL LOVED BASEBALL.
AND THAT LOTS OF CORPORATE CULTURES COULD BE SUCCESSFUL. WELL, LOTS OF MARKETING
CAMPAINGS CAN, TOO. IF MARKETERS REALLY PLUG INTO THEIR AUDIENCES with better data.
How can your campaign benefit from getting culturally deep data ahead of time?
OUTSIDER PERK
S
1. Get an Insider & Outsider Perspective
Being with clients – not assumingUsing products Interviewing, surveying, data collectionParticipating in ritualsForging trustGetting at the root of marketing issues
INSIDER
SWAG
Stepping back and doing analysisSeeing contextDeveloping theories that lead to action stepsPutting the pieces together
It’s Harder to Lie…when the researcher is in your life and space.
Getting around clients means insight into the ways they really live, even if they don’t want to come out and say it, or they don’t really know why they do the things they do.
2. See clients from multiple perspectives
Cultural Knowledge is Key to Campaigns within the U.S.
3. Avoid Marketing Fails Cross-Culturally
• Deep Play + Deep Hanging Out = Deep Data
• Symbolic meaning• Insight that offers more than click
rate• Begins to build campaigns
4. Deep Data
There is no wrong way to connect.Unless you don’t.
An Example…• The culture of the U.S. Army is
hierarchical, structured, and disciplined (Altman & Baruch, 1998). Group cohesion and loyalty are values.
Altman, Y., & Baruch, Y. (1998). Cultural theory and organizations: Analytical method and cases. Organizational Studies, 19(5), 769-786.
Adding deep research can show…
• HOW TO CHANGE ORGANIZATIONS HEAVILY INVESTED IN TRADITION
• How loyalties are broken• Where ideology and behavior do not
line up• How individuals VS GROUPS interact
with their productS• WHERE BELIEFS ARE NOT COHESIVE:
FOR INSTANCE, IN SOME REGIONS, SUBGROUPS, OR JOB DESCRIPTIONS
Anthropology demandsThe open-mindedness with which one
must lookAnd listen, RECORD IN astonishment
THAT WHICH ONE WOULD NOTHAVE BEEN ABLE TO GUESS.
…Margaret Mead
Summary• These observer anthropologists and
journalists can…– Conduct and write up deep focus groups– Be part of product use and ritual– Identify cultural clashes in current products
and campaigns– Identify product place in clients’ lives and
plug into market– Brands + clients = communities of meaning
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