Business ethnography can be used as a key strategy when an international brand expands into a new market. It is paramount for the business to understand well how its brand can become relevant to the consumers of the country or region. When penetrating new markets, two critical mistakes seem to repeat themselves. The first mistake involves thinking that because it is already a big and recognizable brand, its potential consumers will be overwhelmingly impressed when the products becomes available in a new market. The second mistake is for the business to think that solely relying on macro-economic data and quantitative research methods will suffice to understand the aspirations and needs of its consumers.

If a brand builds its consumer insight on data derived from an endless list of questions, it will help little more than to re-affirm pre-conceived notions. Fortunately today, smart brand executives are becoming increasingly aware of the potential value in a more thorough use of ethnographic research. A meaningful market research today is build on immersive studies combining participant-observations with social behavior analyses to build a holistic understanding of the consumer based on patterns of behavior.

What is Business Ethnography

Ethnography is a social science discipline with roots in anthropology. Literally, ethnography is the study of mankind. Also known as participant-observation, ethnographic methods include entering a subject’s own environment: in the modern world, this includes their living room, school, the supermarket, the beauty parlor, or the streets – settings of their daily existence. Ethnographers observe what people actually do and how they explain their actions. By documenting actual behavior, this research approach offers valuable insight into the meaning people attach to each action and activity. After a period of fieldwork and data-collection, findings are interpreted and analyzed in the context of people’s actual lives – including relations to family, community, local subculture, and the larger society.

When ethnographic research is taken into a business context, it can be used to gain insights into patterns of behavior that help businesses thrive. Unlike a traditional market researcher, who asks specific, highly practical questions, anthropological researchers visit consumers in their own environments to observe and listen, and interview in a non-directed way. Qualitative methods, including focus groups and open-ended survey questionnaires, have proven to be valuable strategies to delve deeper into the relationship between the brand and those who buy or use their products. By listening, observing, and interpreting, we can access many meaningful layers that help clients better understand the true aspirations of their customers.

This observational method may appear inefficient and time consuming; however, it provides a valuable insight about the context in which customers would use a new product and the meaning that product might hold in their lives. These techniques also allow potential customers to express their opinions about a brand using their own words, rather than those of a brand executive. In an increasingly competitive economic landscape, a more hands-on approach involving face-to-face dialogues with consumers is essential for a brand to differentiate itself and succeed in new markets, not least in growth markets such as Brazil, India, and China.

Corporate Ethnography for International Brands

Corporate ethnography is central to gaining a full understanding of customers and the appropriate business strategies. Over the past years, I have been helping international brands to delve deeper into the mindset of their customers, particularly in emerging markets. Each project has been different in terms of respondent’s location, age, income level, but one thing encompass my findings in all these projects: With an open-ended, ethnographic research approach, the client gained valuable insights about their brand that surpassed the expectations of their traditional approach to market research. The best research has been those that were initiated with as few assumptions as possible; it is an approach that allows the consumer to shape the brand.

As noted in previous articles, to sustain and accelerate growth in new markets, companies have to tailor their response to fragmented regional cultures and sub-cultures by constantly launching customized product and service offerings. They also need to understand perhaps, subtlety, the dreams and aspirations of its consumers as these influence their behavior to invest in the product or service. In many ways, success in emerging markets will depend in large part on how quickly companies can understand and respond to differences in attitudes, spending behavior, and preferences among the increasingly affluent consumers.

Within the context of a business partnership, a trained ethnographer will contribute a deep understanding of cultural and social theory to the analysis process of entering new markets. This goes beyond casual observation and rather, will pull together a web of intimate field research and best practices that make visible underlying structures of why people do what they do. For this reason, any analysis should always work within a framework grounded in social sciences. Analysis takes time, but the results will include models of behavior and practice, experience frameworks, design principles, and cultural patterns that enables those involved to build long lasting relationships. Once the data has been analyzed and crafted into something meaningful, the research team will be able to provide a rich story with a clear set of genuine discoveries. In the end, the goal of getting closer to the consumers is to better understand their cultures and behaviors, and in the process develop aspiring and meaningful products and services relevant to their lives.

What does a modern, informed teenager from São Paulo have in common with his New York counterpart? Probably more than with another teenager from his own country but from a smaller city like Manaus, the capital city of the state of Amazonas and Brazil’s seventh largest city. Ethnographic studies show that culture and consumer behavior across the world capitals are more comparable than within a country’s capital and its second- and third-tier cities. This does not suggest that the average, middle class teenager from Manaus has everything in common with another from a place like Hyderabad (India), Chongqing (China), or Krasnoyarsk (Russia). However, it does imply that they are all witnessing an incredible economic development of their countries, and together, with the rest of their generation, they are in fact the driving force behind it.

During the past 10-15 years, the economic growth in emerging markets has lifted millions of people out of poverty and into a new, global middle class. The development is driven by both rural migration and urban population growth. As income and opportunities increase, the standard of living, lifestyle, and consumption patterns shift from basic necessities towards increased expenditure on discretionary products and services.

The rise of the new middle class consumer in emerging markets is not growing incrementally, but rather exponentially. It is the fastest-growing segment of the world’s population, and for the first time in history, the middle class now accounts for more than half the world’s population.

In the coming decade, the development will intensify as another 700 million people enter the new middle class. According to a 2009 report by the World Bank, the number of middle class households, defined as having an annual disposable incomes of US$5,000-15,000 as a percentage of total households, was estimated to be 31.7% in China, 14.6% in India and 35.7% in Indonesia. By 2020, these percentages are expected to reach 46.2% in China, 41.1% in India and 58.3% in Indonesia.

The growth in emerging market countries is significantly outpacing those of the developed countries such that in the next 15 years the global economic landscape will be completely altered.

Lessons Learned, At a Price

This rapid economic development has been called the world’s largest growth opportunity for international companies specializing in consumer goods. The new class of consumers have created a vast market, such that, for instance, in 2008 alone, the number of cars sold in emerging markets, for the first time, exceeded the number of cars sold in America. In a similar vein, by 2007, India had more mobile-phone users than America, with China having more than twice as many by comparison. By the end of April 2011, the number of Chinese mobile phone subscribers reached 900 million against 300 million in the US.

Traditionally, the strategy for multinationals to penetrate into emerging markets involved building a single presence in the capital city and offering existing or downscaled products at a reduced price to the local market. To simply transfer existing consumer goods from developed countries to new markets have proven an inadequate strategy, and for some, a costly lesson.

A classic example is Kellogg’s attempts to introduce its cereal products to India’s consumers. Kellogg’s launched Corn Flakes as a premium brand in India in 1995. But without the proper strategy, the product failed miserably. It achieved less than 20% of its initial sales target.

The predominant faux pas was the firm’s inadequate research and understanding of the local market and its insufficient knowledge of Indian consumption patterns and culture. Kellogg also underestimated the competition from domestic brands, as well as a misjudgment of consumers’ willingness to pay a premium price for an unknown, foreign product, particularly since as a culture, Indians were unfamiliar with the consumption of processed foods.

Additionally, Kellogg’s lack of cultural consideration prior to marketing its product meant they missed the mark with their consumers: Indians typically start the day with a hot meal, but by contrast, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes required cold milk – using hot milk the cereals turned soggy. In essence not a pleasant way to start the day and no one would be keen on eating it.

Because of the inadequate research into its consumer base behavior, Kellogg’s struggled in India for years. It was only after revamping its products and making a cereal suitable for hot milk that Kellogg’s became profitable in India. Today, Kellogg’s has a market share of over 75% in the breakfast cereal category in India, a success that can be partly attributed to knowing your consumer base behavior.

Managing Director of McDonald’s India, Vikram Bakshi clearly articulates the point that “When you go into any country, very clearly, you have to understand the culture; you have to understand how you intend to be relevant to the consumer in that country. I don’t think any brand, no matter how big it is, can take the market lightly. And I think the biggest mistake is when you think you have a big brand and that everyone is overwhelmed by it. Because whatever the brand, it has to be relevant to the consumer of that country”.

Pockets of Growth in Emerging Markets

Until recently, international brands concentrated their emerging market efforts in places where a metropolitan culture with western exposure prevailed – typically in the capital city. But it is becoming increasingly evident that a much bigger potential for growth is hidden in smaller areas among second and third tier cities. The sum of consumers in these areas far outnumber, without comparison, the number in capital cities. Today, 717 emerging market cities have populations of more than 500,000 and an additional 371 cities will reach this size by 2030. As a market, even though these second and third tier cities are relatively poor, the large population provides the incentive to offer consumer services cheaply but in also increased volumes of sales.

A successful retail innovation in emerging markets is Casas Bahia in Brazil. Due to careful research of its consumer base, it is now better aligned to its customer needs. It has made home appliances affordable to low-income consumers by having a large assortment of products, fast delivery services, convenient store locations, and a reasonable pricing scheme through installment plans that feature low payments over long periods of time. People who could previously not afford a washing machine, a refrigerator, or a flat-screen TV can now purchase it with no down payment, and pay back over a year’s installments with little or no interest rate. Proving hugely popular, the retail chain even ventured to open a store in Paraisópolis, one of São Paulo’s notorious favelas.

Consumer products giant Proctor & Gamble’s (P&G) CEO, Bob McDonald, also sees emerging markets as key growth areas. Last year, he announced his ambition to add another 1 billion consumers from emerging markets within five years. In a place like China, where they currently reach about 60 percent of the population, P&G’s goal is to reach 100 percent. The plan is to extend its distribution network and product offerings into rural areas where stores and economies don’t currently exist today. Some of their targeted consumers get by with as little as a couple of dollars a day. Furthermore, P&G is investing heavily in R&D, to understand consumer behavior among people with very limited discretionary income.

Some of the consumer studies commissioned by P&G include tenacious details of potential consumers. For instance, observing how a woman from a poor, rural family, washes her hair without having access to running water in the house. P&G has a large team of consumer behavior researchers who travel to distant locations to document this kind of insights. Understanding these new consumers is so crucial for a company like P&G, that sometimes even a high-ranking executive participates in a case study of new middle class consumers. Based upon their extensive studies, they innovate products specifically tailored to the new consumer group.

Reaching Consumers in Fragmented Markets

To sustain and accelerate growth in the emerging markets, companies have to respond well to fragmented regional cultures and sub-cultures by constantly launching new, customized offerings. They also need to understand perhaps subtlety, the dreams and aspirations of its consumers as these influence their behavior. In many ways, success in emerging markets will depend in large part to how quickly companies can understand and respond to differences in attitudes, spending behavior, and preferences among the increasingly affluent consumers.

When developing products for the potential consumer, international brands have for too long relied solely on macro-economic data, and simply offered existing products or services without considering the nuances of the local market.

In order to succeed in these new market economies, brands needs to use qualitative methods to discover what their customers think about their products and services. Qualitative techniques including focus groups and open-ended survey questionnaires, have proven to be valuable strategies to delve deeper into the relationship between the brand and those who buy or use their products. These techniques also allow potential customers to express their opinions using their own words, not the words of a brand executive. In an increasing competitive economic landscape, a hands-on approach, and face-to-face conversation with consumers is essential for becoming successful in emerging markets.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve specialized my work into a field of photography called visual ethnography. Visual ethnography is using photography as a tool in qualitative research, also know as participant observation. Through a growing number of qualitative research projects, I’ve documented youth culture and consumer behavior in developing countries. Typically, I work as part of a small team of field researchers contributing to the project with an engaging visual narrative. Our respondents can be town- or country-dwellers, and we usually cover a variety of economic, social, political and ideological dimensions.

With a background as photojournalist and editorial photographer, I enjoy the fieldwork of meeting and documenting respondents’ everyday life and identifying patterns of development over time. Our findings have proven to be extremely valuable for international brands aspiring for growth opportunities in growth markets. Collectively, the visual ethnography projects I’m working on are putting a face on a new generation of global consumers and brings to light the differences and similarities across the world’s biggest, and fastest growing emerging markets, who collectively stand poised to be the world’s super-powers of tomorrow.

To sustain and accelerate growth in emerging markets, international brands have to respond well to fragmented regional cultures and sub-cultures by constantly launching new, customized products and service offerings. The three examples below, show how visual ethnography can help international brands tap into their new consumers.

The Brazilian Dream

Brazil has jokingly been called “the country of the future and always will be”. But provided by a decade of economic growth, today it has reached an unprecedented moment in its history: the moment where it stands as a major world player. ‘O Sonho Brasileiro‘ (The Brazilian Dream) is an extensive, qualitative study of the young Brazilian generation, who is the first to live in a hyper-connected world, and in a period of significant economic growth. The focus for this study is to understand this generation, its values, dreams and desires.

The study is based on 1,200 interviews with 18-24 year old Brazilians across the country and from all social groups. I contributed to the project with visual ethnography from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife and Porto Alegre. A pivotal part of the commission was a documentation of the 25 case-studies. I followed the respondents over time, and documented their lives in their own environments, including at home and with their families.

See more images from the project here

The BRIC Project

The world’s biggest and fastest growing emerging markets are Brazil, Russia, India, and China, collectively known as the BRICs. Based on extensive qualitative research of the burgeoning middle-class in these four countries, the ongoing BRIC Project seeks to identify and understand the young, middle-class consumer. Ultimately, the project will provide a comprehensive insight and strategic analysis of youth culture and consumer behavior for international brands. Our mission is to provide a long-term, multi-media and digitally empowered platform for delivering business generating insight and understanding.

Visit The BRIC Project here

Nike Football Culture in Latin America

This 400-page report produced for Nike, a sportswear and equipment supplier, focused on football culture among teens across Latin America. The visual ethnography project sought to capture how football as a sport greatly influence the daily lives of teenagers in both urban and rural settings, and helped the client strengthen its understanding of and relationship with its consumers. The report was commissioned as a unique and unconventional ethnographic study of football obsessed teens in Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil, to generate findings and insights which improves the way Nike’s marketing team engages with its consumers.

Read more about the Nike football research report here

See more examples of visual ethnography projects here

For more information about Visual Ethnography for International Brands, please contact the studio on this page.

The medical industry is virtually on the verge of a major shift, as a new branch of genomics, known as Personal Genomics, is becoming increasingly popular among both consumers and companies. Though remotely related to traditional population genomics, Personal Genomics is basically an analysis of individual genomes or the mapping of individual DNA. It is done by using some sophisticated bio-informatics tools for pinpointing those diseases, which are closely associated with loci and gene. One of the main reasons to the increased interest among consumers, is the disease risk prediction capability based on genetic markers. (more…)

Migration from rural areas to the mega-cities in search of food, job and security is a natural process. But every city has its limitation; it has its own saturation point and if exceeded, a city might falter while providing basic facilities to its residents. As modern mega-cities are now choking with the pressure of ever growing population, scientists fear that in near future these cities might have to face an acute food and water crisis.

(more…)

The economic boom and the subsequent double-digit GDP growth achieved by some of the world’s emerging economies, such as Brazil, India and China, have led many to believe that poverty, inequality and other associated issues could be eliminated even without government intervention or active participation. But a new report by ActionAid, a UK based charity organization, is somewhat startling and to some extent unexpected. In the report, released to coincide with UN World Food Day, ActionAid has listed a number of developed, less developed and developing countries based the efficiency of their programs initiated to give legal, constitutional and social protection to those who need them the most. (more…)

On Tuesday, January 12th, 2010, a massive, 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti near the capital of Port-au-Prince. The damage to buildings is extensive. The confirmed death toll from Haiti’s devastating earthquake has risen above 150,000 in the Port-au-Prince area alone, while an estimated 1.5 million people have been left homeless.

As a global nation, we have all been profoundly horrified by the devasting earthquake and by the news and images that comes out of Haiti. Now is the time to stand together and act collectively. In a country where 80% of the population lives on less than $2 dollars a day, each of us can find ways of helping the Haitians tremendously. Already, the world community has gathered significant sums of money for aid, which amid some delay are helping immensely. Aid agencies say Haiti is quite simply one of the worst disasters they have ever handled.

One of the main challenges now for the medias, and anyone with influence, is to make sure to keep the catastrophy and rebuilding of Haiti frontpage news. Not just for a week or a month, but for as long as it takes, until the situation is healthy and stable. Just like as in the case of the war in Dafur and Hurricane Katrina, it is important to keep it part of the collective consciousness for as long as it takes to rebuild.

It is important to understand that each of us can contribute with a little effort or creativity. This is why we’ve decided to donate a portrait of Danish director, journalist, poet, and friend, Jørgen Leth in order to collect money for the aid organization Hope For Haiti Now. Mr. Leth, 72, has lived in Haiti for the last 20 years and has a profound relationship to the ill-fated country. His old house in Jacmel collapsed and was completely destroyed by the quake. He made it out alive by chance, but has lost everything. He is now in the Dominican Republic and it is with his blessing we are conducting this relief benefit print sale.

In an effort to raise money for Haiti, we’re am printing a limited, special edition of Jacob Langvad Nilsson‘s portrait of Jørgen Leth, photographed in Jacmel, Haiti in 2002. The C-type Prints measures 20 x 24 inches (50 x 60 cm). Each print costs USD 250,00 including international shipping.

The complete revenue will be donated to the organization Hope For Haiti Now.

Donations to Hope For Haiti Now will support a wide range of relief activities in Haiti, from emergency food and clean water to medical supplies and basic health care. 100 percent of all donations to Hope For Haiti Now will go directly to relief organizations operating on the ground in Haiti. No administrative costs or other program expenses are charged by Hope for Haiti Now. Donations made to Hope for Haiti Now will benefit these nonprofit organizations to provide Haiti earthquake relief: The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, United Nations World Food Programme, Oxfam America, Partners in Health, Stay With Haiti, Red Cross, UNICEF and Yéle Haiti Foundation.

C-type Print – Jørgen Leth, Jacmel, Haiti 2002
20 x 24 inches (50 x 60 cm)
USD 250.00

Thank you for your consideration and support,

Jacob Langvad Nilsson / JLCO Group

The number of Internet devices has already crossed the milestone of 1 billion units, but this achievement seems negligible when compared with its future prospects, which is no longer a distant vision. Trillions, a new video by MAYA Design, aptly shows how computing technology can redefine the future of digital world by crossing the boundary of number or by touching the magical figure: 1 trillion. This simply means the presence of computing technology will become ever more pervasive and powerful and is likely to be followed by a string of new challenges and opportunities. (more…)

When car manufacturer DaimlerChrysler‘s Research department wanted to develop a new era aerodynamic, safe, comfortable and environmentally compatible car they turned to nature for inspiration. By doing this, the new The Mercedes-Benz Bionic Car has much resemblance with the box fish in terms of shape and body structure. Despite its boxy, cube-shaped body, this tropical fish is in fact outstandingly streamlined and therefore represents an aerodynamic ideal. The result was a 20 percent lower fuel consumption and up to 80 percent lower nitrogen oxide emissions.

(more…)

On November 3, 2009, Al Gore, the world climate crisis crusader and former US Vice President, published his new book. The new book is titled “Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis” and promises to come with both intriguing new questions and solutions to the global climate crisis. “Now that the need for urgent action is even clearer with the alarming new findings of the last three years, it is time for a comprehensive global plan that actually solves the climate crisis. Our Choice will answer that call,“, according to the press release. (more…)