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In the fall I presented an eth-nography seminar in Barcelona.

During the session, I relayed stories of media-producing eleven year olds, rap industry insid-ers who vehemently denied the validity of one client’s research, and stuffed animal nostalgia that offered insight into grown up identity. It was a mixed bag to say the least. But that’s what I do; I wade through the messy reality of contemporary life in order to find the nuances that offer opportunity and change.

Ethnography comes from an-thropology. It’s a kind of research writing where the author priori-tizes open discovery over proving a predetermined theory. The end product should take the viewer on a journey instead of providing the client with one big rational conclusion. Against most tradi-tional market research protocol,

subjectivity and flexibility is crucial to the value of this kind of work.My own history with ethnography emerged quite by accident. In 1999 after getting a degree in cul-tural studies from the New School with a thesis on Vogue Magazine and a few editorial jobs, I started a pre-blog era website called Girlonthestreet.com where I published an obsessive list of the deals swarming around the tech and media sector and combined those with observations from the streets of New York. I was driven

by a desire to connect the dots. Over time I amassed a following of likeminded creative young en-trepreneurial women and a social network. Marketing firms and ad agencies caught on. They hired me to dig for insights and trans-late them into business terms. Eventually I became an account planner at ad agencies and while

I gained the discipline to trans-form fresh insights into strategic positioning, it was a struggle to get the powers-that-be to give much credence to my immersive approach.It’s a tough sell, proselytizing free flowing research methods when the marketing department needs numbers, measurement, and proof; but that is precisely why ethnography is a discipline that serves marketing, development, and operations, all at the same time - and is a case for why these areas should work more closely together. Discovery leads to in-sights. Insights lead to action and measurable testing - much easier to do in small doses in today’s manufacturing and communica-tions environment - and in the end, all parties from the consum-er to the board of directors can gain clarity and renewed focus.The key three principles of this type of research, boiled down, are: become a participant; be aware of your own subjectivity; listen without prejudice.

Ethnography and communication

The key of This Type of research are: become a parTicipanT; be aware of

your own subjecTiviTy; lisTen wiThouT prejudice

Chau

ncey

Zal

kin

Derived from the discipline of anthropology, ethnography goes deeper to reveal real habits, unmet needs and new business opportunities like never before. Introducing a tool to cut through the maze of confusion in a new marketplace. Fotografía Lluís Bernat, BPMO photo Estilismo Rosa Baldrich

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abouT... chauncey Zalkin Chauncey Zalkin is an ethnographer, brand strategist, and freelance writer. She attended Bennington College and the New School for Social Research in New York and graduated in 1996. In 1999, she founded the Webby no-minated Girlonthestreet.com covering trends from the street while providing insights for advertising and marketing clients before becoming a senior brand strategist and resident trends expert at Crispin Porter + Bogusky and MFP, leading strategy on brands as diverse as Coca-Cola, Perry Ellis, Victoria’s Secret, truth, L’Oreal, and Louisiana Pacific lumber. What Women Make, www.whatwomenmake.com, is her newest project and an evolution of her continued dedication to showcasing female designers and creative entre-preneurship around the world. If you want to learn more, you can contact her at chaunceyzalkin@gmail.com.

might lead you to create a product like the guys at Jamba Juice did – a healthy delicious smoothie with energy boosters available at convenient, hip, and clean Jamba Juice locations all over the U.S. It’s a lunch you can have in transit or at your desk. Or you could create a food storage system with a chilled component, or compact healthy meals to eat on the go, and so on. Ethnography is a way to find out how people really live with existing products. Most often products have a second life not in-tended by the manufacturer. Keep your eyes open for discoveries. Then, and only then, is it really le-gitimate for you to start to develop your theories and test them. So how do we get there? How do we get inside? First you find the right people. Be as strate-gic about this process as any other. Not just any subject will do. Small samples are encour-aged. It’s quality and depth, not quantity and breadth, that count. Find insiders who are articulate, dynamic, and demonstrative. You

can find them through natural networks, through recruitment companies who will pinpoint the people leading purchases and cultural shifts, or through an eth-nographer who has the resources to do both. After you’ve found your group, open your mind and be humble. You’d be surprised how much people want to share with you if you show sincere curiosity and re-spect for differences. An ethnog-rapher goes in one end somewhat blank and comes out the other end full of new information.

The observer’s journeyWhen you embark on ethnogra-phy, make sure you are record-ing not only your observations, but also your changing thoughts and feelings. An ethnographer should be part of the research and be transformed by it. For a loungewear brand targeted to young women and older teens, I researched the role of stuffed animals because it tied into the iconography of the brand. I gathered a group of young trendsetters and opened up the exploration. What emerged was an interesting connection between childhood nostalgia and young adult romance. I explored how cuteness becomes sensual-ity and what that meant for the equity of the brand. This led to rich storytelling opportunities that lent depth to the brand.The purpose of ethnography is not to justify a preconception, nor is it to rationalize a company’s existence. If you try to push an agenda, it’s a waste of time. For a classic men’s fashion brand,

a trip around the U.S. brought out the insight that your average ‘Joe’ between the ages of 28-35 working in middle management with traditional expectations for marriage and job advancement is just not comfortable with the amount of pressure being put on him to be fashionable too. We looked at how this could be an opportunity to relate to men, however uncomfortable it was to present to the client. The result was a campaign unlike any other men’s fashion campaign out there, one that used the vocabu-

lary that was most natural for the group we spent time with.We’ve experienced a sea change in the way we live. As our frame-work continues to splinter into finer threads of communication and stimuli, we have to look at the market as an ever-flowing continuum of give and take. We have to stop thinking ‘us’ and ‘them’. That old divide no longer exists. We have to look at our consumers as the people they are instead of as the bottom line or a demographic that will re-spond to a message. The social network universe is an ideal place to start.

Expect the unexpected Take a highly successful teen anti-tobacco campaign for ex-ample. It had been awhile since they’d done any teen research and they weren’t sure they really needed to. Psychologically, teens are not that different decade after decade. But culturally, they absolutely are. I picked ten teens from around the U.S., boys and girls from 11 to 17 years of age. I asked the kids to keep a daily diary of all of their media and technology activities for one week and to observe two of their friends in the process. What I got back was robust, reve-latory, and visually rich material. First off, everyone was obvi-ously technology obsessed. The sixteen and seventeen year olds sent a lot of texts, downloaded a lot of music, and put pictures on Facebook. But it became clear that the younger kids were the most active producers of digital content. The boundary between producers and consumers was blurring and it was evident in just the span of one teen generation. The future is theirs.

Get honest insightsThe benefit of unfiltered observa-tion is that you can see things that people are simply unable to tell you about their behavior. For instance, someone in a focus group might tell you they sit down with a salad every day at noon but spend time with them, and before you know it they’re wrist-deep in a bag of french fries exiting a Mc-Donalds drive-through window. When people get comfortable, they start to be themselves. They might intend to eat a sit-down meal every day and really think that’s what they do but the reality could be far different. This insight

you’d be surprised how much people wanT To share wiTh you if you show sincere curiosiTy and respecT for differences