International Immersion

Before I started my Masters in Art in Advertising program, I took three course prerequisites for admission into the program. In addition to Introduction to Advertising and Media Planning, I took an Advertising Research course with Christopher Owens from The Richards Group. Initially, the course was full so I was resigned to the fact that I would take the course during first semester of grad school. However, after a week of waiting, I was enrolled in the course and the next day I arrived to our 7 p.m. class bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

My first day of class with Christopher was confusing. Here I thought that this course was going to be another dull and dry course based on library research and surveys. Instead, Christopher was talking about “ethnography” and “qualitative research”. He he showed us mini-biographies on audiophiles and video recordings of focus groups. Each class meeting he would expound upon the importance of account planning in the advertising industry and his passion was infectious.

Our final project consisted of a ten page paper and a presentation of a qualitative research project that sought to figure out why particular people liked something you despised. I chose horror film enthusiasts and I had a great time working on the project. I walked away from Christopher’s class with a new-found understanding and appreciation of account planning and research. I thought I had a strong grasp on ethnographic studies and consumer research. And then I went to India.

According to Hy Mariampolski’s Ethnography for Marketers: A Guide to Consumer Immersion, there are Ten Commandments for Great Ethnography. These include:

1. Be an observer first.
2. Respect the site protocol.
3. Be objective.
4. Love your respondents unconditionally.
5. Follow the stages of a site visit.
6. Everything counts as data.
7. Ask questions fairly.
8. Probe positively.
9. Don’t change what you’re watching.
10. Take good notes.

While I read Mariampolski’s book throughout my travels in India, I realized that the work that Christopher and other account planners do isn’t just a job – it is an art form. As I tried to follow Mariampolski’s Ten Commandments, I realized it is really difficult to navigate a cultural immersion project without breaking these rules on a daily – if not hourly – basis. I had to give myself a little bit of grace seeing as this was my first time traveling internationally. However, it was hard not to feel like a failure time and time again because what seemed so easy proved to be a rigorous mental and emotional experiment.

Within my graduate admission prerequisite work and my first year of the MA in Advertising program, I have developed an academic respect for account planning. However, after my two-week trip to India, I’ve grown to truly appreciate the remarkable work account planners do to be advocates for consumers worldwide.

 

Wieden + Kennedy: Power for Ethnography

In our visit to Wieden + Kennedy India, Sunaina Gupta started out her presentation with an overview of the issues facing the advertising industry in India. Through her observations of Indian advertising, Gupta contends that Indian advertising agencies are utilizing research that reflects achievement and relies on assumptions. Gupta went on to argue that the reasons why Wieden + Kennedy’s advertising in India works is because of its ability to understand the sub-culture (or counter-culture) within India.

Perhaps a more powerful observation on W+K’s remarkable sub-cultural research is the opportunity that it presents as pointed out by Hy Mariampolski in his book Ethnography for Marketers: A Guide to Consumer Immersion. According to Mariampolski, “Whether to tailor mass-market products to an identifiable niche sharing common tastes and predilections, or to use an evocative promotional cliche in communicating with a subgroup sharing a separate language or argot, marketers have affirmed that brand loyalty and product trial can be strengthened by effective appeals to subcultures”.

The strength of W+K’s qualitative research has resulted in wildly successful advertising campaigns. Take for example Nokia’s “Made for India” campaign:

 

The Nokia phone hanging off the rear view mirror evokes the cultural insight of chili peppers and lemons hanging from the mirrors of Indian transportation vehicles to ward off evil spirits. Because this insight taps into a ritual that is deeply engrained within Indian culture, W+K has produced an advertisement that is relevant and well-received as indicated by the 8000 plus phones sold in one day after this television commercial ran.