We’ve all heard about the watering down of ethnography lately. As a consumer anthropologist, I’m taking this opportunity to re-boot the value of anthropology in business. Here’s a preview of the deck I’ve put together to address the issue: Why Cannibals Get a Bad Rap…and Other Reasons Why Anthropology is Good for Business. Let me know what you think and if you would like me to take you through the full presentation.

1.
Why
Cannibals
Get
a
Bad
Rap…
and
other
reasons
why
anthropology
is
good
for
business.

2. Why do cannibals
get a bad rap?
Why is
understanding
culture so important
to your business?
How does
anthropology work?

3. The “culture”
problem? We’re all
The result? We can’t
“centric” about
understand why
OUR culture – “I’m
people do things
normal, you’re
differently.
not.”
(fyi -- culture = all
the shared
experiences people
live by.)

4. Eating people?
Really? We don’t
even try to figure it
out.
So…CULTURE is
the reason why (fyi…in some
cannibals get a bad cultures it was in
rap
very poor taste to
NOT eat your
dead.)

5. The same thing can
We can’t expect to
be said about
understand everything
understanding our
customers…
our customers
experience --
because…it’s cultural.
And today’s marketplace
AND technology makes
connecting with our
customers even more
complicated than ever.

6.
The solution?
Anthropology…
…to better understand
and connect with
customers in order to
provide more
meaningful solutions.

7. For a full version of this presentation, contact
Robbie Blinkoff, PhD at
rblinkoff@contextresearch.com 410.223.3589.
Robbie sharpened his anthropology
skills doing research in Papua New
Guinea and has been bringing cultural
& consumer insights to businesses
since 1999.