Anthropologists at Work in Advertising and Marketing PDF

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Chapter 22 Anthropologists at Work in Advertising and Marketing Timothy de Waal Malefyt Timothy Malefyt brings his years of professional experience with advertising into this chapter, beginning with a thoughtful and insightful discussion of what advertising is today, and how it differs from the past...

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Anthropologists at Work in Advertising and Marketing Timothy Malefyt A Handbook of Practicing Anthropology

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Chapter 22

Anthropologists at Work in Advertising and Marketing Timothy de Waal Malefyt

Timothy Malefyt brings his years of professional experience with advertising into this chapter, beginning with a thoughtful and insightful discussion of what advertising is today, and how it differs from the past. He then goes into detail about how and why anthropological training is an advantage in this environment, while at the same time highlighting the significant differences between the work of practitioners in advertising and the work of their academic colleagues. Malefyt then spends some time looking at how practitioners can get started in the field, and concludes with some thoughts on where advertising and marketing are likely to go in the future.

As an anthropologist who has worked in advertising for over 15 years, I share my experience and observations of working in the trade in hopes of encouraging interested anthropological practitioners and students to pursue a satisfying career. In this chapter I will discuss the vast changes underway in marketing and advertising that increasingly call for a more consumer-centric understanding of consumption, which is well suited to an anthropological approach. I will also discuss how anthropologists might likely break into this field, what everyday work in advertising is like, what one might expect on the job, as well as compare and contrast the similarities and differences between academic colleagues and anthropologist practitioners and other non-academic professionals. Finally, I will discuss the future direction of a burgeoning new field called business anthropology, which calls for more anthropological input into marketing and advertising practices that help focus corporate responsibilities on fair and equitable marketing practices toward consumers, as well

A Handbook of Practicing Anthropology. First Edition. Edited by Riall W. Nolan. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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as the ethical issues anthropologists may face and the ways they can increasingly shape corporate discourses to achieve better practices for consumers today.

Vast Changes in the Marketplace Advertising and marketing are intrinsically related, but there are marked differences. Advertising is the communications component of the broader mix in marketing, which includes brand and product pricing, packaging, brand innovation, and promotions. Both advertising and marketing have become more important in the age of branding, writes Naomi Klein, where their role has changed from delivering simple product information to building an image around a particular brand-name version of a product (2000: 6). Indeed, even in the last decade, since Klein noted the rise of the brand, marketing and advertising have experienced vast sea changes. With the advent of the Internet, online blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and mobile apps, information about products and brands circulates in record time, and consumers who purchase products and brands have greater awareness of social issues. Consequently they can exercise greater control by turning off or tuning out advertised brands and marketed messages they don’t like. The old ways of advertising and marketing, such as fixating on messages that push products to consumers, are no longer sustainable. Rather, new approaches call for building lasting relationships with consumers. The focus in marketing is on providing people with products and brands that add value to their lives, rather than just selling goods. This means that for marketers the emphasis has shifted from one-way terminal interactions, to establishing ongoing “dialogues” that extend and continue relationships with consumers (Lury 2004; Arvidsson 2006; Malefyt 2009). Advertising is also more effective when it doesn’t “preach” to the consumer, but rather includes them in a relationship of mutual meaning-making. Advertising account planner Jon Steel writes that the best and most effective advertising involves consumers, both in the communication of advertised messages and in the subsequent development of marketing campaigns. He asserts that Advertising works better when it does not tell people what to think, but rather allows them to make up their own minds about its meaning. They participate by figuring it out for themselves. (Steel 1998: 6)

In other words, advertising is stronger when it does not arbitrarily “push” the manufacturer’s intended “meaning” of products and human situations that an advertiser or marketer prefers, but rather builds on and expresses both consumer-derived and manufacturer-intended meaning. This kind of interaction develops relationships with consumers by accurately representing target users or a relevant situation that consumers can identify with, in concert with the communication of a brand benefit. Without accurate consumer representation, advertising can miss an opportunity to build relationships with consumers. In ethnographic work I conducted on the Cadillac automobile brand, we found that iconic Led Zeppelin music, along with dramatic driving scenes,

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matched to a tagline of “Break through,” resonated more with boomer consumers in the United States, rather than the calm, tranquil scenario of the new Infiniti luxury automobile. This comparison is illustrated in an article comparing the successful Cadillac automobile advertising campaign in the early 2000s with a failed Infiniti automobile advertising campaign in the 1980s (McCabe and Malefyt 2010). Increased emphasis on building relationships with consumers means that corporations also have to be more transparent with their advertising, product effectiveness, and quality. Marketing experts Philip Kotler and John Castilone argue that transparency in business is no longer an option, but a necessity to maintain integrity: “honest and authentic behavior in a company’s business dealings are now one of the most important factors in gaining and maintaining customer and stakeholder loyalty” (Craven 2009: 2). Companies cannot get away with coercive business practices or poor product quality and survive. For instance, most recently, the esteemed Apple corporation has come under scrutiny following reports that its suppliers in China employ sweatshop conditions, forcing Apple to respond by revealing its long guarded manufacturers’ identities and calling for investigations into fair working conditions (Porter 2012). With changes in increased corporate transparency and consumers seeking more information to confirm their choices, the post-purchase cycle of consumption is far more valuable today. What consumers feel and say about a brand to their friends and colleagues after buying something is much more likely to affect a brand than persuasive advertising alone. For instance, more than 60 percent of consumers of facial skin care products conduct online research about the products they buy, and discuss with others their feelings after they purchase them (Edelman 2010: 67). Advertising and marketing seek to pique the interest of interested buyers so that they pursue additional ways to invest in a brand or product, and perhaps persuade others to do the same.

The Anthropologist’s Advantage How might an anthropologist fit within this environment and how do they add particular value? As mentioned, corporations produce the products or services that, it is hoped, consumers desire and buy. Much of what anthropologists do in advertising and marketing is develop research that gives shape, voice, and image to how consumers use brands in their lives. Anthropologists conducting ethnographic research for marketing firms or in advertising agencies are particularly adept at understanding the multiple ways in which consumers derive unspoken satisfaction from the brands and products they use. Anthropologists employ a holistic approach to understanding culture that is especially useful in this regard. When corporate anthropologists take a broader view of consumers and apply this to the network of cultural systems and relations in people’s lives, they help make sense of seemingly disparate actions by consumers in terms of a larger whole. For instance, in a study we conducted on cooking for a soup company, we discovered that when consumers, such as mothers in families, express creativity by making daily decisions of what to feed their families for dinner, we noted the interconnections between the ways they

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rely on their cell phones, Internet, and mobile devices to keep track of family wishes, changes in individuals’ schedules, coupon offers, and last-minute recipe searches. While brand categories in an advertising agency or a marketing firm may keep brand and client categories distinct – in this case, a food company and a telecommunications company – the integration of these experiences into a seamless whole is how consumers naturally live their lives. This is why an anthropological perspective, which cuts across arbitrary marketing categories and reveals the way people normally behave, is such an advantage in business. Furthermore, because of their holistic perspective, anthropologists in business can explain the meaning behind consumer behavior that often appears contrary or paradoxical. Consumer insights are not always easy to discover, since consumers cannot always articulate what they want and need. But anthropologists, by training, have learned to observe and to listen closely for broader patterns of behavior, and to look for a unifying logic between apparent contradictions in what people say. For instance, during another project conducted for a packaged goods client, I interviewed a staunch environmental supporter in her home. She discussed her passion for “green” products which she was keen for others to share. Yet I was surprised to observe that she also drove a large, gas-guzzling sport utility vehicle, which was apparently at odds with her environmental concerns. Probing further, I tried to discern a unifying logic. The respondent said that she used her vehicle to car-pool her own and other children, and admitted that she felt most “protected” in a large vehicle. Her passion for the environment was also expressed in generalized concerns of “protection for the planet” as well as for her family. Anthropologists notice such apparent contradictions and look for the internal logic that connects two separate domains into a unified whole. As cultural experts in a business organization, anthropologists also bring together broader cultural perspectives within specific ethnographic assignments from clients. There is great value in anthropologists conducting research that connects current cultural trends with specific client goals in ethnography. This leads to what Grant McCracken (2009) proposes as greater integration of cultural leadership in corporations. This is a critical advantage that corporate anthropologists can offer advertising and marketing enterprises. Anthropologists can help investigate and interpret trends and consumer perspectives to better inform corporations, for example, about consumers’ attitudes to and beliefs about health and wellness, in order to improve the marketing of a corporate food product. For instance, the slow food movement today is a trend that arose in reaction to the growing propensity for eating fast food mindlessly. It is also a movement about slowing down in general, raising social awareness, and encouraging consumer activism to keep traditional food ways intact outside the control of multinational agribusiness (Hamilton 2009). Health and wellness is a consumer trend that converges with other cultural movements, such as concern over global warming, diet and obesity, fair trade, energy consumption, fair labor practices, and so on. These movements spread rapidly through social networking on the Internet and politicize the call for better food practices from manufacturers. Anthropologists attuned to these

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cultural movements can better inform corporate agendas and business practices, so as to align the marketing of food with consumer trends. Thus, in conducting consumer research on eating habits anthropologists may incorporate how food choices in restaurants and home cooking are shaped by larger trends, even as respondents may not explicitly mention these trends or even be aware of the choices they are making. As companies seek to develop closer interactive relationships with consumers in order to achieve product improvements, anthropologists in advertising agencies and market research firms have greater influence in shaping corporate discourses and marketing practices to meet consumer expectations. Thus, recognizing the value of anthropological fieldwork in identifying and explaining culturally significant domains and trends is a vital first step toward improving the knowledge practices within advertising agencies and corporations, now and in the future. Anthropologists can have a greater impact in shaping corporate marketing plans when they work alongside corporate clients within advertising agencies than they do when working externally, as consultants or hired vendors. Anthropologists working as insiders have substantial responsibility for shaping corporate ideologies and consumption agendas toward more beneficial ends.

Everyday Work in Advertising Is Different from Academia Everyday work for anthropologists in advertising means focusing on the client’s brand and the business of the companies. Anthropologists may conduct ethnographic research for various clients on what motivates consumers to use these brands; they may investigate current trends, such as food movements or social activism among different populations such as among teens or boomer couples; they may contribute to strategic thinking in an advertising pitch; they may help manage staff and develop client relationships. Since the marketplace is always in flux with new consumer trends, the launch of competitive products, and changes within a particular corporation, each day brings new challenges. Corporate anthropologists carry out their daily assignments by working closely with other members in an agency, such as account planners (the research part of agencies), account supervisors (the client relations side of agencies), and occasionally writers themselves (the talent who develop advertisements). As such, a corporate anthropologist’s day-to-day responsibilities are distinct from those of their counterparts in academia. University professors often occupy specialized domains of expertise. Academic anthropologists typically work on their own. They choose a topic of interest, investigate their people, and write a report (book, paper, or article), which they then present to a mainly academic audience. In addition, academic anthropologists in colleges and universities conduct ethnographic research through observations, interviews, and taking field notes, which are later formulated into narrative documents that provide a testament to their work. George Marcus explains the academic

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process: “Textualization is the heart of the ethnographic enterprise, both in the field and in the university setting” (Marcus and Fischer 1986: 264). Even when academics gather collectively at conferences, they read papers to one another. The text is the primary means of communication and representation of others and of ideas in academia. In contrast, most communication and representation for corporate anthropologists in advertising and marketing takes place discursively in meetings. Anthropologists working in advertising and marketing frequently attend workshops and meetings where they listen to, or present to, others (Malefyt 2003). They work on new business, as in crafting and delivering a pitch, and maintain current client relations, for example by preparing research reports, debriefs, and briefings (Moeran 2006). While meetings may function to disseminate information, they also present a frame for strategic interaction and performance. For instance, ad agencies continually try to impress other corporations (new and current) by managing impressions in presentations (Goffman 1959). As Brian Moeran states, frequent presentations are not so much like theatrical performances, but rather more of an organizational behavior (2006: 70). Performance in presentations helps to manage and deliver the two most important elements of the relationship that agencies have with clients: handling the everyday concerns of a corporate account and delivering new creativity. These two vital aspects of agency life often require special internal rituals in meetings that help resolve conflicts and maintain the status quo (Malefyt and Morais 2012: 35–46). Another area where corporate anthropologists in advertising and marketing differ from their academic counterparts is where difficult, even ethical, issues arise in their daily work. For instance, working on a lemon-lime soft drink project for a global beverage company, we developed a marketing and advertising strategy based on associating the benefits of the soft drink with fulfilling the longing for connection and security.1 We conducted ethnographic interviews with young men and women in their twenties who were heavy users of the brand, to better understand their emotional connection to the lemon-lime soft drink category and this brand in particular. We focused on the transitory life stage of this audience. Our research hypotheses suggested that humor and laughter played an important role in young people’s lives, easing their anxieties about transitioning to adulthood. We then used these insights about the importance of “stress relief ” in humor and laughter to develop an advertising campaign for the brand. We formulated a marketing strategy that aligned the brand’s “light-hearted” lemon-lime features – bubbly, clear, and sweet – with imagery associated with overcoming difficult situations, using humor as a suggested means for consumers to lighten up, feel de-stressed, and move forward in life. As an anthropologist I questioned the ethics of using people’s insecurities and ambivalences in facing life transitions for the purpose of a marketing campaign. American consumers are free to choose; they can accept or reject marketing messages based upon their evaluation of the advertising promises made (Beeman 1986). Nevertheless, is it ethical when marketers and researchers draw on people’s emo-

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tional sensitivities in clever, light-hearted ads to promote their product, which in truth cannot replace real human relations? Advertising increasingly seeks to position brands using emotional imagery rather than by providing rational information, to make messages more personal and less subject to popular criticism (Malefyt 2007). Ethical issues such as this are common in marketing and advertising, and never present themselves in simple black-and-white choices. And for this very reason anthropologists can make a difference by working within these structures of power to help shape and mold discourses that affect consumers in their daily purchases.

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