Sign of the times: Pricey watch repair
At Cartier Atlanta Boutique, watch repairs start at $170, so handing over your timepiece there is nothing short of a commitment. That hasn’t kept customers out of the Lenox Mall store. Something like watch repair, Blinkoff said, is “a representation of people’s values changing. People are starting to think of objects … not just as stuff you buy and then throw out, but things that you value in your life.”
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The 'American Dream' Hasn't Become Unreachable
Even in tough times, a majority of people in this country regard the "American dream" as an achievable goal for themselves. But polling indicates that this entails some sleight of hand as people redefine the terms of that dream. When the concept of the American dream is in flux, it's an important development in our society. "The idea of the American dream is deep, deep, deep in our psyche," says Robbie Blinkoff, principal anthropologist and managing partner of Context-Based Research Group...
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Consumers have a new way of thinking
General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt isn't the only head of a consumer-oriented company who has remarked on the potentially deep and abiding consequences of this recession. "The land of opportunity had become the opportunity to buy, and people are waking up to the fact that they had lost something in the transition," said Context-Based Research Group, which advises companies on marketing strategies.
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Economy breeds a frugal consumer
"People are at that higher level where they're saying something is wrong with the way we're spending and it has got to change," said Robbie Blinkoff, co-founder and principal anthropologist at Context-Based Research Group. In conjunction with the Carton Donofrio Partners Inc. advertising and marketing firm, it recently surveyed people about the economy's impact on their spending.
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The New Path -How the Crisis Is Changing You
Context featured in the May issue of Money magazine on an article about the economy. "We think what is happening now will be transformative," says Robbie Blinkoff, management director at Context-Based Research Group, which studies consumer behavior. "Consumers are surrounded by a lot of stuff that has no meaning, and they see that it hasn't made them happy," he says. Blinkoff believes we will also interact differently with financial providers as a result. "We're beginning to realize that our financial institutions enabled us to live beyond our means," he says. As consumers come to grips with that, they will start paying much closer attention to the details in their mortgage and other financial documents. They will also differentiate good borrowing (for, say, education) from bad borrowing (for a new Lexus or a Kate Spade handbag). They may still buy designer clothes and luxury cars, Blinkoff says, but only if they can do it without resorting to plastic or a second mortgage on the house.
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Brands pin hopes on east as western wallets close
Beijing's confidence has convinced global companies to open new stores in Shanghai, writes Jamil Anderlini...Context-Based Research, which sent its cultural anthropologists out to US cities in December, said it heard consumers talking of "community", "hard work", and "taking responsibility". Robbie Blinkoff, Context's principal anthropologist, says he expects to see the emergence of a new "reflective consumerism".
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Conspicuous Consumption, a Casualty of Recession
In just the seven months since the stock market crash, the recession has aimed its death ray not just at the credit market, the Dow and Detroit, but at the very ethos of conspicuous consumption. Even those who still have a regular income are reassessing their spending habits, perhaps for the long term. “Though the recession was always talked about in economic terms, we felt really strongly that, in fact, it was a crisis of culture,” said Tracy Johnson, research director for the Context-Based Research Group, a market research firm in Baltimore that views the recession as a rite-of-passage that will reorder consumer priorities...
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Generation OMG
IN 1951, Time magazine set out to paint a portrait of the nation’s youth, those born into the Great Depression. Today we are in a recession the depth and duration of which are unknown... Robbie Blinkoff, an anthropologist who runs a marketing consulting firm in Baltimore, hears both the anxiety and the potential in a class he teaches at Goucher College...
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Barbie in Our Culture
Love her or hate her, Barbie still casts an impressive shadow at 50. Nearly 1 billion fashions have been produced for her since Mattel introduced Barbie as a teenage fashion model in 1959."The interesting thing about Barbie is how she brings together two sides of our culture. On the one hand, and the issue that most people key into with Barbie is that her strikingly thin body signifies the repression and self-discipline that many young girls can put themselves through. On the other hand....
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Cultural differences: Economic values help explain why Chinese-owned businesses are faring better in the recession
The fortunes of a newspaper published out of a second-floor Chinatown Plaza office may give us insight into differing attitudes about money and ways of surviving tough economic times.Though these qualities may be found in people everywhere, there are definitely differences between the cultures, said Robbie Blinkoff, a Baltimore-based anthropologist who has studied Chinese consumer habits. “The Chinese rely more on what is known as a relational economy, compared to Americans, who function more in a ‘me economy’...
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The Ethnography of Marketing
A software tool allows researchers to study human behaviors and plot them along dimensions that reveal product and service needs. The new core competency is ethnography. Companies use it to gain insights into the culture and behavior of their customers.
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Corporate Ethnography
High-tech companies are deploying ethnographers and anthropologists by the score to study how people actually use technology.
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Anthropologists Go Native in the Corporate Village
Anthropologists Go Native in the Corporate Village, according to a recent article in Fast Company...
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Off with the pith helmets
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The Consumer Anthropologist
The problem with focus groups? They take consumers out of their natural habitat. So welcome the idea of ethnographic market research, which uses the anthropologist's tool kit of methods and theories.
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Corporate anthropology: Dirt-free research
The influx of corporate anthropology has grown in recent years as companies have tried to get more tactical about consumer research, evaluating increasingly technological products before their release.
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Consumer Input, Scientific Analysis Provide Foundation for MSN 8 Research and Innovation
MSN 8 represents the first intensive use of anthropological study to enhance the MSN client and bring the customer's voice into the product development cycle.
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How to Get Really Close to Teens' Lives: MTV's "Ethnography Study"
MTV has long emphasized market research to learn about its teen audience. But in the late 1990s it noticed its ratings were starting to slide. So MTV embarked on a new teen research campaign, the hallmark of which was its "ethnography study."
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THE HUMAN TOUCH
Companies that truly want to understand their customers are hiring social scientists -- such as anthropologists -- to bring their insights to the enterprise. Says Intel's Shane Wall, "When you compare it to the traditional marketing effort, there's no comparison."
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THE HUMAN EQUATION
As participants at an Intel conference on Human Centered Product Innovation learned, companies that really want to figure out what people want are turning to antropologists and social scientists for help.
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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS UNVEILS FINDINGS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH AT WORLD EDITORS FORUM
Global Study by Context-Based Research Group Finds Younger Consumers Struggle with News Fatigue but Yearn for In-Depth Stories. The Associated Press and Context-Based Research Group unveiled key findings from their global anthropological study at the annual World Editors Forum in Sweden. The study examines news consumption patterns of young adults between the ages of 18 and 34 in Britain, the United States and India.
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ROBBIE BLINKOFF OF CONTEXT-BASED RESEARCH NAMED TO FAST COMPANY MAGAZINE’S FAST 50 CHAMPIONS OF INNOVATION
Robbie Blinkoff, PhD, Principal Anthropologist of Context-Based Research Group, whose efforts have helped make Ethnography, or cultural anthropology, the fastest-growing segment of marketing research, has been named to Fast Company magazine’s 2003 list of the “Fast 50” Champions of Innovation – individuals whose achievements have helped change business or society.
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THE (R)EVOLUTION IS NOW: ‘THE MOBILES’ DEFINES AN EMERGING WIRELESS LIFESTYLE
A growing and vibrant international subculture has seamlessly integrated wireless products into their daily existence: The Mobiles. Context-Based Research Group's latest global study reveals a shift in human consciousness as wireless integration alters behavior, attitudes and etiquette around the world - as well as how business should adapt to this evolution.
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ROBBIE BLINKOFF NAMED ONE OF BALTIMORE BUSINESS JOURNAL’S 40 UNDER 40
The Baltimore Business Journal recently named their top 40 under 40 business people. Context Principal Anthropologist, Robbie Blinkoff was among them.
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CONTEXT-BASED RESEARCH GROUP HIRED BY WORKPLACE INNOVATOR HERMAN-MILLER
Herman Miller, Inc., the leading global designer and manufacturer of office furnishings recently selected Context-Based Research Group for an extensive ethnographic project.
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GLOBAL ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF WIRELESS USE REVEALS KEY LESSONS FOR COMPANIES MAKING WIRELESS PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Context's Wireless Opportunities study provides a new perspective on what consumers really want from wireless and what companies need to do if they want to close the gap between expectation and user experience that is keeping wireless from reaching its potential.
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ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF THE OLYMPICS UNCOVERS REASONS WHY AMERICANS HAVE OUTGROWN INNOCENCE OF THE GAMES
A Context study has found that the reasons Americans used to love the Olympic Games are actually alive and well in other parts of the world. The research, conducted through Context's network of 1,700 anthropologists around the world, also uncovered some of the reasons – beyond the tape-delayed coverage – why Americans aren’t connecting with the Games like they have in the past.
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CULTURAL OLYMPIC INSIGHTS FROM ANTHROPOLOGISTS AROUND THE WORLD PORTRAY WHAT THE OLYMPICS MEAN TO PEOPLE ALL OVER THE GLOBE
Using the powers of observation and cultural description that are the hallmarks of anthropological insight, Context’s network of 1,700 anthropologists around the world were asked to observe people and the media in their communities and provide global cultural analysis of the Summer Olympics.
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CONTEXT-BASED RESEARCH GROUP TAPS ANTHROPOLOGY DISCIPLINE TO GAIN TRUER INSIGHT INTO CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Context-Based Research Group uses ethnography to fuel innovation and help companies manage their brands. The firm's innovative approach features a global database of anthropologists and use of the Internet for real-time reporting of results.
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