Review by Choice Review
Malefyt (Center for Positive Marketing, Fordham Univ.) and Morais (Weinman Schnee Morais, Inc.) examine the workings of advertising agencies from the perspective of anthropologists. From taking a meeting with a client, building collaborative relationships, connecting with consumers, and creating brand identities, the authors consider the cultural behaviors and rituals that occur. Unlike academic anthropologists teaching in universities and doing fieldwork in exotic locales, business anthropologists explain how consumers use and relate to products and conduct their fieldwork in shopping malls and stores. As the book notes, "Anthropological approaches to consumers' lives take a holistic approach that incorporates the range of behaviors that people are involved in on a daily basis." Thus, by using the anthropologist's techniques, advertisers can learn how much time people spend preparing and eating dinner, talking on the phone or texting, driving to work, or stopping for a Starbucks latte. The authors emphasize that this anthropological view of consumers within a cultural context enables brands to connect with people's emotions. And, in so doing, a brand stands out, becoming the brand of choice. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division and graduate marketing and anthropology students, faculty, practitioners. P. G. Kishel Cypress College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
