In this episode of Anthropology in Business, Robert Morais speaks with Matt Artz about his career as a business anthropologist in advertising and marketing and the work he is doing to advance anthropology in business.

Who Is Robert J. Morais?

Robert J. Morais is a business anthropologist with experience in advertising and market research, and a Lecturer in the Marketing Division at Columbia Business School. He is currently focused on advancing the application of anthropology in business through writing, teaching, and mentoring, and educating business students on the value of qualitative research.

Morais began his career at Grey Advertising and spent 25 years with advertising agencies, rising to Chief Strategic Officer. He then served for 11 years as a Principal and co-owner of market research firm Weinman Schnee Morais. He has worked with Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, WD-40, Coca-Cola, Post Foods, Danone, Hain Celestial, Safeway, Sabra, Pinnacle Foods, Star-Kist, Prestige Brands, Johnson & Johnson, Bayer, Dentsply Sirona, Wyeth (now Pfizer), Boehringer-Ingelheim, Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Freshpet, Benjamin Moore, and the Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel hotel group, among many other corporations.

His publications include five books and 50+ articles and book chapters. His books are: The Language of Branding: Theory, Strategies, and Tactics (co-author); Ethics in the Anthropology of Business: Explorations in Theory, Practice, and Pedagogy (co-editor); Advertising and Anthropology: Ethnographic Practice and Cultural Perspectives, (co-author); Refocusing Focus Groups: A Practical Guide (author); and Social Relations in a Philippine Town (author). His research articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in Forbes, Huffington Post, Advertising Age, Medium, American Anthropologist, Human Organization, Culture and Organization, Journal of Business Anthropology, and Philippine Studies, among others.

Recommended Links

- BusinessAnthro.com- Journal of Business Anthropology- EPIC

Watch the Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwBCnFn-qmE

Episode Transcript

Please note this transcript is an automated transcription and may have some errors.

Matt Artz:

All right. Well, thanks everybody for joining. This is Matt Artz of the Anthropology in Business video podcast, and I'm here today with Bob Morais. First let me say, thank you for joining me. I'm really pleased to have you because of, of all the people in the business anthropology community, you know, you're, you're one of those top ones that are really trying to build the brand of anthropology and really help all of us sort of a younger anthropologists succeed. So thanks for that first off. And so you're, you're a great guest to have on really for not only for myself to talk with, but for really all the listeners, you know, you have really impressive background that probably hardly needs an introduction, but, you know, you identify as a business anthropologist, you had 25 years in advertising ending with your chief strategic officer position, 11 years as a principal and co-owner of a market research firm, five books under your belt, 50 plus articles and chapters. You know, some of those being for Forbes, Huffington post, and really highly visible content that has made a big impact, especially that Forbes piece a year or so ago. And I think maybe more recently the business anthro.com website and community. And so, you know, really, it's a, it's a pleasure to have you here. And I think, you know, everything we talk about today will be a great value for all the listeners.

Matt Artz:

So can you, I know I gave a brief introduction there, but would you mind sort of tellin