Anthropologists in the boardroom by Judie Lannon
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When I discovered that the discipline most closely related to branding was not psychology or sociology but anthropology, I also discovered that in the UK, anthropologists were still busy investigating primitive tribes in New Guinea. Some qualitative researchers with an instinct in this direction incorporated insights from anthropology in the reporting of meanings that brands carry but they approached it in a fairly dilettante manner. Then I discovered a goldmine of anthropologists plying their trade in the modern commercial world and to my amazement discovered they were almost all Canadian. And all excellent at their job. (By the way, Malcolm Gladwell is a British-born Canadian citizen)
I guess the reason is obvious: if your society’s institutions and the origins that shape your culture are British but you live cheek by jowl with the big brash confident propagandising United States, you are in an ideal position as an outsider to see what insiders can’t.
The top guru is Grant McCracken who published a great deal as an academic anthropologist until he turned to commercial teaching at Harvard and now MIT. I came across him years ago and was delighted to find he had just published a book called ‘Chief Culture Officer’ in which he describes how companies would benefit enormously from anthropological insights. Brands, after all, are cultural artefacts carrying meanings that are essential to their survival.
For a taste of what an anthropologist thinks about, check out his article in this issue of Market Leader: The enemy within: Philistines in the contemporary corporation. One of these ‘Philistines’ is the CEO.
As an example, he relates the story of Doug Ivester who was CEO of Coke for a (perhaps not) surprisingly short time. R&D produced a vending machine that adjusted the price of Coke according to the temperature. Entirely logical: as the temperature goes up, demand for Coke would go up so why not charge extra for it? He thought it was a great idea until finally talked out of it. This is clearly a man with no understanding of the brand he presides over and its relationship with its users. Think of the damage this exploitation would have undone to years or reputational good work the company had poured into Coke. A more imaginative response would have been to calibrate the machine to reduce the price when people are hot and desperate.
A Chief Culture Officer in every boardroom may not happen tomorrow but all companies need ‘outsiders’ like the Canadians looking at Americans to interpret what the culture is saying; how meanings change and how brands can absorb and use them.
Do you agree with Judie? Why not leave a comment and get the debate started?
Posted: November 9th, 2010 | Author: Glen Dower | Filed under: Makes You Think, Market Leader | Tags: chief culture officer, Grant McCracken, Judie Lannon, Market Leader, PR, the marketing society | 3 Comments »
The rise of social media – and particularly the new patterns of consumer behaviour it is encouraging (self expression, collective action, subversion etc.) – is best understood from an anthropological perspective
Hi,
As an anthropologist learning the ropes I am glad to see the discipline given such acknowledgement. Ten years ago I had a hard job convincing the marketing establishment to take its potential seriously when representing consultancies led by anthropologists to the industry and media. Outside of the marketing establishment, business organisations and media were more receptive but tended to focus on the novelty of the (100 year old) methodology at the expense of the insights obtained.
Here are a series of observations:
It may interest you to know that there are revealing studies of brands in far away places, which say as much about ‘us’ as they do about ‘them’ (e.g. Coca-globalization : following soft drinks from New York to New Guinea by Robert Foster).
Applied anthropology can do so much more than reporting meanings that brands carry. By examining the symbolic space in which brand and category meanings are created we can also understand broader cultural issues (cultural assumptions, symbols, values, metaphors) and challenge the status quo to not only produce more thought provoking advertising for example but even change mindsets. Sunderland and Denny (in the excellent ‘Doing Anthropology in Consumer Research’) show how Nike ads have contested definitions of femininity in the US.
Malcolm Gladwell can’t really be described as an anthropologist: to split hairs he draws much of his inspiration from social psychology. Certainly, anthropologists have taken issue with his key theories: see this article for Pascal Boyer’s response to ‘The Tipping Point’ http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2008/01/tipped-over-social-influence-tipping-point-theory-debunked.ars
Although I can’t resort to figures, I would hazard a guess that Canada isn’t disproportionately represented in the ranks of commercial anthropologists. One of my reference points is the attendee list of EPIC conferences
Anthropology is defined by its methodology more than by its subject or the location of study. Anthropologists have been busy understanding aspects of home cultures at least since the ‘Chicago School’ in the 1920’s, so distance from a phenomenon isn’t crucial: A skilled anthropologist can make the familiar strange (as well as the strange familiar). ‘Ethnography and the Corporate Encounter’ by Cefkin is another excellent resource if anyone is interested in such issues.
A great video to check out if you are interested in the anthropology of social media bit.ly/cstrHm