Businesses, advertising firms turn to commercial ethnography

The Grand Island Independent

Eight O'Clock Coffee Co. wanted its advertising push to hit people right where they live: in their own homes, just waking up in the morning, craving that first cup of coffee. To get the right look, the company turned to an increasingly popular form of research known as commercial ethnography, which combines marketing and the kind of observations done by anthropologists.

Kaplan Thaler's director of strategic planning and research, Chris Wauton, says a milestone in developing commercial ethnography came in 1979 with a book written by anthropologist Mary Douglas and economist Baron Isherwood titled, "The World of Goods: Towards an Anthropology of Consumption." (no longer available online)

Found via Bits and Bytes by Fazia Rizvi who writes:

The (quoted) article goes on to add:

"It was difficult for some in the business world to turn from quantitative, survey type information to qualitative, interpretive research, she said."

This has probably been the biggest hurdle for me to overcome. I have over 15 years of qualitative research experience with people's use of the Internet and Internet technologies. I find my observations and conclusions confirmed and validated over and over again. But managers and executives usually only trust quantitiative data and it's hard to make the argument for directions that are informed by the qualitative approach."

>> Bits and Bytes: Businesses Wake Up To Anthropology (Link updated 28.1.2022, her new blog ishas moved to https://www.faziarizvi.net/blog/)