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Marketing Anthropology
Marketing anthropology involves the use of ethnographic data collection for marketing purposes. Using participant observation, interviews, surveys and focus groups, researchers help, for example, advertising agencies and their clients better understand consumer behavior. The key word to remember is 'context': ideas may look good on paper, but does the customer share your point of view? By observing people as they purchase products in grocery stores and Malls, as they use products in their kitchens and bathrooms, a social science researcher can help sellers:
To understand how consumers thought about and used Campbell's Chunky Soup, consumers were 'shadowed' in grocery stores and extensively interviewed in their homes as they used the product. Research techniques included: the recording and photographing of the contents of participants' food cupboards and refrigerators; extensive open-ended interviews; observing participants as they food shopped; observing participants as they prepared a meal. The agency had specific requirements regarding age, gender and the amount of soup consumed per month regarding their participants. When looking for key informants, I found standing in the soup aisle unrewarding. Once I started following carts and examining their contents, I was more successful and efficient with my time. In this way I could look for men or women as well as gauge the age of potential informants. I could also judge their soup consumption based on their grocery cart contents! Slots Anyone? A race track and casino operating 3500 slot machines was concerned about the prospect of growing competition. They were also looking to change advertising agencies. As a consultant, I was hired by the smallest of the potential replacements to beef up their pitch with 'marketing anthropology.' The casino gave permission for client interviews but was certain no one would turn away from their one-armed bandits to answer my questions about their gambling behaviors. I spoke with people in restaurants, at the bar, while they put coins in slots and washed their hands in the bathroom. Everybody talked. I found out there were problems with signage, with understanding the reward system and with finding a hotel room in the area. At the final pitch the casino owners remarked how they watched me collect information from their perch above the gaming floors and could not believe how many people paused for my interviews. The small agency won the contract. Why We Eat An Eastern Region fast-food chain was searching for a new advertising agency. I was hired by one advertising group to add pizzazz to their pitch. With permission to observe and interview clients while they ate their burgers and fries, I discovered an age and gender bias in the chain's clientele. While statistics and surveys can provide valuable macro-level information to sellers, recording what people actual do vs. what they say they do can give a more accurate picture of how consumers think about the products they purchase. Between good intentions and selective recall, people may not lie intentionally, but they do tell lies. |