The Significance of "Why": The Practice of Incorporating Anthropology within Market Research

Winter Calaway

For the past seven months, I have worked for a market research firm and (with the assistance of Dr. Hadder) was also able to use this time as an internship through my graduate program in the Department of Anthropology at Texas State University. Prior to this, I was knowledgeable that market research firms hired anthropologists and had already decided I was truly interested in this field because it combined qualitative research with customer service. These two things I believe I have skill in and personally enjoy. The reason I wished to use this time as an internship was to allow me an opportunity to get additional firsthand experience in qualitative data collection with the added benefit of having time to do my own independent reading about market research. But above all else, I wanted to find out whymarket research firms would want to hire anthropologists. Why not just hire business majors? Why are anthropologists different? More specifically, what doI have to offer to market research companies? I was able to find the answers through background reading, learning about a company that specifically hires individuals trained in anthropology, and reflection on my personal experiences working for that company. This report will be a summary of what I have read and of my experiences. It will include information on the company I have worked for, their specific approach to market research, the history of qualitative research in market research, and finally my experience using SmartRevnue’s data collection methods.

SmartRevenue and its Market Research Model

SmartRevenue is a market research firm that specializes in consumer research and whose clients are U.S. and international based manufactures and retailers. John Dranow founded the company in 2000 and, as of April 2014, was still the active CEO of SmartRevenue. Mr. Dranowapplied his unique background in fine arts and food service to his business approach by focusing on one-on-one customer service with clients and working to humanize customer research.The company has supported this approach by taking a unique approach to market research by mostly staffing the company with employees trained in anthropology, some in sociology, and a few in marketing. The company has done well considering that in 2004 SmartRevenue only contained ten full time employees, but had grown to nearly 40 by 2009 (Avery 2012).

SmartRevenue conducts practically all of its business online, since all of its staff are satellite employees. All the employees work from home or home offices and communicate via e-mail, video conferencing, and telephone (Avery 2012).The company has an unofficial home base in Stanford, Connecticut and there is a supply distribution center in Denton Texas, but none of these are regular meeting places for any of the employees. The employees only physically see each other when travel is needed for a project. This can be to present findings to a client or for directly managing rare specific projects. For example, I had the pleasure of working with a company employee who originally started working for SmartRevenuein 2009 while living in Texas but currently is based in Europe. As a contract field ethnographer, Ihave rarely ever communicated with any employees outside of e-mail or telephone. The company is not necessarily unique, as these "virtual workplaces" have become more common. In 2012, there were an estimated 1.4 million more telecommuting workers in the United States than in 2005 (Global Workplace Analytics). This distant work environment was new and sometimes confusing to me but I was able to utilize the limited one-on-one time with my supervisors by learning to consolidate work-related questions and be very detail oriented with paperwork and writing project reports.

It is common for clients to hire market research firms based on the market research model the firm chooses to specialize in. Much like theoretical perspectives used in anthropology, market research models are overarching ways of thinking about market research and directly affect which data collection and analysis methods are used based on the model preferred. SmartRevenue specializes in shopper insights, which is the combination of consumer insights and the umbrella model of shopper marketing. Consumer insights requires researchers to look into the motivations, moods, and impressions consumers have in relation to brands. Shopper insights is similar to this except it originates from the shopper marketing argument that consumers and shoppers should be differentiated. To better understand this, one can think of consumers as “users” and shoppers as “purchasers”. For example, a teenager that uses their cell phone is a consumer, but their parent that went to the store and bought the phone would be the shopper. Shopper marketing marketers would argue that the differentiation is important, as consumers tend to use certain brands, products, items, and services (whether it is due to personal preference, locality, or anyother reasons.) Shoppers, on the other hand, may be restricted within budgets, shopping for items of personal interest, or shopping with the needs of others in mind (Shankara et al. 2011).

SmartRevenue—developed from shopper insights—also distinguishes between in-store and pre-store decisions. The company argues that "most pre-store decisions are brand driven: the shopper has purchased the product in the past and will continue to do so in the future. In-store decisions, however, are often based on perceived value, merchandising, and packaging. As a result, promotions and displays are a good investment"(SmartRevenue). Shopper marketing proponents would argue that current changes in technology and media have made purchasing decisions increasingly in-store (or point-of-purchase) instead of at home. One example of the shopper marketing model in practice is the increase in gluten free sections in grocery stores, which not only makes it more convenient for shoppers who tend to purchase gluten free products to find what their looking for, but also more likely to purchase unfamiliar gluten free products that otherwise would have been located elsewhere. Using shopper insights, the company has its ethnographers carefully note shelf organization, signage, and display style. For the same reason, SmartRevenue's observational methods also include looking for who does and does not carry shopping lists, timing how long people look at shelving or directional displays, and notice where people are specifically looking in an aisle.

SmartRevenue, in a nutshell, is a virtual market research company that is headed by people who approach market research on a human level. They acknowledge that behind every purchase is a person with individual motivations and context. A key aspect to this approach is in their choice to hire employees from outside marketing fields. All of these factors make the company unique and a good place to begin exploring an anthropologists place within market research.

History: Qualitative Research and Market Research

The relatively long history qualitative research has had in marketing has been commonly ignored and unappreciated in academia and the private sector and has only gained limited attention within the last twenty years. Business anthropologists are not exception. Herselman (2008) has argued that business anthropologists have been stigmatized in the past—and arguable still are—by both academics and the corporate world alike. Academic anthropologists have often seen their colleagues working for businesses as sell outs and using their skills unethically. On the other end, the corporate world has a history of simply not taking anthropologists seriously. Anthropologists are generally viewed as impractical and their works, as Christian Madsbjerg put it, "notoriously difficult to understand" (2014: 82). This section is used to explore examples of market research organizations (from 1930 until the 21st century) that significantly involved qualitative research to show the natural place anthropologists have within the field of market research.

The roots of qualitative research and the corporate world working together begins in the 1930s with Paul Lazarfelds who has been called the "founder of modern empirical sociology" but perhaps should also be titled the founder of qualitative market research in the United States (Jeabek 2001).Lazarfelds, trained in mathematics and psychology, was an experienced statistician at the University of Vienna. In 1933 he moved to New York City and established a market research firm which eventually became the Bureau of Applied Social Research at Colombia University in 1944 (dissolved 1977). His firm is most credited with applying statistical survey analysis and mass communication research to marketing research and group interviews from social research with marketing. (Bailey 2014). Lazarfelds is also well known for writing an insightful pamphlet titled "The Art of Asking Why"(Dichter 1986, Bailey 2014). This organization eventually distanced itself from qualitative research but its original incorporation of qualitative research was a launching pad for future qualitative market research.

Lazarfelds was followed to New York by his student Ernst Dichter in 1937 and, through Lazarfelds help, got a job working at Market Analysts Inc. Dichter left the company to establish the Institute for Motivational Research in 1946, a market research firm that drew heavily from social research. Despite Lazarfelds warning to Dichter that he would never be successful in America because all the American companies "believe in are figures and statistics" (Dichter 1986: 15), the company did very well. The Institute had such notable clients as Procter & Gamble, Exxon, Ivory Soap and Chrysler throughout the 1950s (Dichter 1986, Bailey 2014). Dichter is particularly well respected within business anthropology for his efforts in drawing attention to the question of "why" by speaking at public events and on TV throughout the 1950s.

The momentum gained in qualitative market research methods during the 1950s grew during the 1960s, but eventually lost its surge in the 1970s. Dichter opened a London branch of his company called the Motivational Research Centre in 1959. He placed Bill Schlackman, a man educated in qualitative research and psychology, in charge of the new branch. Schlackman's branch was so successful that the William Schlackman Limited was established in 1962 (dissolved 2010). This chain of inspiration continued when Peter Cooper (inspired by his contract work at Schlackman Limited) created Cooper Research Marketing in 1969, which is well known for development in extended creativity group workshops. Successful endeavors such as these were eventually overshadowed by the growing qualitative vs quantitative argument that became prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s. As a result, qualitative research lost popularity and gained a reputation as not being as applicable and understandable as quantitative methods (Bailey 2014).

The lessoned trust and respect in qualitative market research has recently improved. The development of wider markets, from the expansion of neoliberal capitalism around the world, spired a greater interest in business anthropology. The growing open markets and increase in telecommunications created extremely diverse markets and a problem for companies called the complexity gap. The complexity gap is where businesses become separated from understanding the different areas and demands of consumers. This spurred interest into understanding why consumers bought certain items or used certain services (Madsjerg and Rasmussen 2014). During the 1980s that there was a minimal reemergence of business oriented qualitative methods, such as the increased use of in-depth interviews and design research (Graffam 2010). Writing in applied qualitative research increased in the 1990s which led to greater credibility for qualitative researchers going into outside fields (Bailey 2014). As for consumer insight, it is a relatively new approach developed my qualitative specialists that has been increasingly used by market research firms such as SmartRevenue.

History has proven repeatedly that both quantitative and qualitative research has had a place in business research. This is primarily in thanks to Paul Lazarfelds, who started an inspiration for future generations. This tradition should be continued by trained qualitative researchers since their methods have been dangerously taken over by the corporate world. It has become somewhat common for market research companies to hire staff unrelated to any humanities fields to gather their qualitative data. Beginning in the 1980s, it was increasingly thought that "an intelligent mind and a brief training in non-directive interviewing were most of what was needed to deliver an adequate product" (Bailey 2014: 171). This issue has taken a recent upswing but qualitative researchers should not let it be forgotten that they have a well-earned place in market research which should be continued.

Anthropology and Market Research

So what do anthropologists have to add to marketing? What makes us qualified in telling corporations where they should direct their business or who they should be designing their products for? This argument could get rather complicated but I provide here four interrelated reasons anthropologists are useful in marketing and the complexity gap. The first reason is the “why” dilemma which was previoulsy alluded to. Market researchers or quantitative researchers can count how many times people do something. You can give someone a Likert scale and ask them on scale from one to seven how much they like something. But these methods do not answer why those people did something or why they liked something as much or little as they did. What are at the roots of their behavior? Anthropologists strive to answer that very question all the time in their work and it is a question that should be equally important to market research groups.

The second reason anthropologists (or social scientists) are so helpful in market research is also why they are able to tackle the "why" question; they attempt to limit the effects of assumptions by being aware of their own preexisting knowledge on a subject . For example business anthropologists have stood out from their business research colleagues because they do not commonly provide hypotheses to their clients. One way anthropologists have assisted in curving problems with assumptions in market research is by assisting in the popular use of market segmentation models. Market segments is how firms divide large target consumer groups into smaller subsets. These segments are commonly divided by demographics including culture and ethnicity. The problem with the market segmentation model is that firms who use it assume that certain people fit together and act similarly but it is ethnocentric to assume that cultures or different ethnicities are mutually exclusive. Thus market segments are primarily designed by the preconceived biases of each marketing firm. (Herselman 2008). Market segments are a primary tool used in market research and will not be disappearing anytime soon. Having someone within the analysis process who would attempt at being aware of these sort of issues aid in curbing them. Or as Herselman more strongly stated "(anthropologists' have an) obligation to expose ethnocentrism and unethical behavior where-ever they are discerned. The anthropological perspective to marketing is thus critical" (2008: 46).

The third reason anthropology is useful in market research is because qualitative research is, by nature, exploratory. For example one such way anthropologists approach design research is by doing a form of "self-critique" on their client companies. They often interview not only the customers, but the employees and company heads to learn what is unique about their company which can reveal their clients strengths or market niches (Madsbjerg and Rasmussen 2014, Graffam 2010). Another reason the exploratory approach is so helpful is because it can tackle what Madsbjerg and Rasmussen (2014) calls the "big unknowns." An example of a “big unknown” could be when a company is doing poorly, have no clue why, and have exhausted all other options. Another example could be if a company is trying to "understand unfamiliar social and cultural contexts" (Madsbjerg and Rasmussen 2014: 87). These problems can appear overwhelming, without a starting point, but the exploratory approach is specifically designed to narrow down a problem. Anthropologists' previous work with Starbucks can be used as an example of this. Most market researchers would ask "How can we create a premium offering in coffee?" but an anthropologist would ask "What is a good coffee experience?" (Madsbjerg and Rasmussen 2014). The later question tries to limit assumptions about the problem and understand the customers from their own experiences. If a researcher was able to narrow down what consumers’ value and enjoy the most when purchasing coffee drinks, a market research team would then have areas in which to focus their work. The exploratory nature of qualitative methods allow for market research groups to explore areas of consumer studies that they would otherwise be closed off to and have the added benefit of guiding future areas of research.

Finally, and most importantly, anthropologists commonly work to humanize consumers. For example, design researchers make a point to design for people and not market segments (Graffam 2010). Anthropologists do this firstly by listening to the customers. In-depth interviews can show how people perceive a brand or product. Secondly, anthropologists reveal what people are unable to, or unwilling to, articulate by observing their behaviors. Additionally, the rapid integration of technology into people's lives is an important reason to humanize targets in consumer research. Technology currently has a significant place in society as people are extremely involved with their personal tech devices. As Graffram (2010) has stated, "technology is much more than a mere set of tools; it is a context in which things enable and constrain individual and group behaviors." Understanding how people interact with and perceive technology unveils information that cannot be gathered by numerical surveys. Acknowledging that behind every service or product being purchased and used are real people and that they have a variety of sub-contexts related to their lives helps companies obtain more realistic approaches to reaching them. Anthropology is (by literal definition) the study of people and therefor is quite useful in market research.