BALTIMORE (February 18) – 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.
“Including Context as part of the Fast 50 shows that ethnography has moved past ‘fad’ to become part of every savvy company's approach to understanding consumer behavior,” Dr. Blinkoff said. “Ethnographics has joined demographics and psychographics as the accepted three-pronged approach to consumer research.”
The Fast 50 will appear in the March issue of Fast Company, the nation’s leading magazine for management innovators, hitting newsstands on February 18. The list includes 50 exceptional achievers selected from online submissions by Fast Company readers. This year's list was selected from more than 1,400 entries submitted by individuals in 30 countries and nearly every state in the union. These entries generated more than 20,000 comments online from readers.
Profiles of the Fast 50, as well as all reader submissions, may be accessed online at the special Fast 50 Website at www.fastcompany.com/fast50 .
“The Fast 50 had the vision to see ways of improving our world – and the persistence to accomplish their goals,” said Fast Company co-founder and co-editor William C. Taylor. “At a time when our nation is rediscovering what it means to be a hero, the Fast 50 recognizes 50 individuals who are each courageous in their own way.”
Selected by Fast Company editors, the Fast 50 includes executives, activists, marketers, designers, scientists, engineers and other leaders from a variety of backgrounds. Some are solo entrepreneurs and researchers. Others come from wide range of organizations – from large corporations to non-profit groups.
Individuals in the Fast 50 are divided into the following categories:
* Trendsetters: Marketers and designers whose sense of style and powers of persuasion change what our world looks like.
* Leaders: Senior executives who create value through the power of their ideas, the depth of their commitment, and the authenticity of their character.
* Change Agents: Activists at every level who are determined to challenge the status quo and to make a positive difference for the future.
* Disrupters: Scientists and engineers whose breakthrough advances transform our sense of what's possible and rewrite the rules of competition and performance in business.
* Social Entrepreneurs: Dedicated innovators who are determined to tackle some of society's deepest challenges by embracing new ideas from business.
Dr. Blinkoff, named in the Trendsetters category, co-founded Context-Based Research in 1999 with Chuck Donofrio, the Chief Executive Officer of Baltimore advertising agency Carton Donofrio Partners.
In four years, Context-Based Research Group has become the monster.com for anthropologists, employing a network of 3,500 anthropologists world-wide, who literally go where people live, work and play to observe their behavior and analyze it for clients. It has adapted an academic discipline so business can better understand the consumer.
“Teaming up with my long time friend Robbie Blinkoff has had an incredible impact on our company,” Donofrio said. “We have become the largest ethnographic research firm in the world, and our advertising and web work has improved dramatically, all because we know what people actually do rather than what they say they do.”
The business world has come to recognize Context as a bridge, one that facilitates connections between the expertise of cultural insiders and companies willing to pay for that expertise but do not have the resources or connections to seek it out on their own. In this way, Context has helped the discipline of Ethnography mature, because the firm has been able to put Ethnography into a bottom line perspective for decision makers who subsequently realize its positive implications for business.
“The Fast 50 is about honoring people who are changing business for the better, and that’s Robbie Blinkoff,” Donofrio said. “He’s a true visionary, a good friend, and a transforming presence in our company.”
About Fast Company
Founded in 1996 and published monthly, Boston-based Fast Company (www.fastcompany.com) covers ideas, trends and individuals devoted to innovation and managing change in today’s economy. The magazine is owned by Gruner + Jahr USA, one of the top-ranked magazine publishers in the U.S., reaching one of the largest readerships in America. Gruner + Jahr USA also publishes Inc, Child, Family Circle, Fitness, Parents and YM.
About Context-Based Research Group
Context is the world’s leading ethnographic research company. It helps clients learn the truth about what customers actually do, not what they say they do. Context employs a global network of more than 3,500 anthropologists, who work as cultural insiders in their native culture and language and observe people’s day-to-day experiences at home, work and play. Context clients include Fortune 500 Companies like Adobe, American Express, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Campbell’s Soup, Kodak, Fisher-Price, Guinness, Herman Miller, Johns Hopkins University, Procter & Gamble and Microsoft. Context is a business unit of Baltimore marketing communications agency Carton Donofrio Partners. For more information, go to www.contextresearch.com
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