WHO WE ARE

OVERVIEW WHAT IS ETHNOGRAPHY

Over 16 years ago, PortiCo Research was practicing in-depth, in-home qualitative research before the term "Ethnography" came to be associated with market research. Our research is rooted in ethnography, an anthropological research methodology that studies subjects unobtrusively in their natural environments. Our customized research projects consist of in-home and on-site qualitative studies that reveal consumers' personal feelings, attitudes and values towards a product (or service) while observing the product in use, and putting its use in the context of the rest of their lives. We videotape all interviews, as we find this medium is a powerful tool. Video captures subtle messages and lends itself to vivid presentations. While in the field, we often try to interview significant others- partners, spouses, and family members, creating a dynamic that exposes the product's unique value to each individual and demonstrates how the family unit is organized around the product.

Applications of Ethnography

• Exploratory Research
• Identifying, understanding and defining segments
• Consumer profiling
• Marketing and communication strategies
• Product positioning
• Brand equity evaluation
• Exploring and understanding Media and New Media usage
• Developing and testing concepts
• Identifying consumer-relevant imagery
• New product development and innovation
• Understanding stakeholder communication needs
• Understanding the complexities and dynamics of service relationships

We believe that to generate truly provocative insights about consumers, we need to understand them in their full complexity. We integrate the following dimensions in a comprehensive analysis, designed to provide actionable learning enabling you to better understand and connect with the target:

• Social psychological dynamics:
  We talk to family, peers, and co-workers, to reveal the social environment, including family dynamics. We examine communication, negotiation, co-operation, social roles, and physical interaction.
• Emotions:
  We reveal the intimate side of individuals, their "felt experience", their motivations and defenses, the symbolic alongside the logical.
• Culture:
  We examine the role of cultural meanings in shaping individual responses, how cultural values influence the interpretation and importance of individual life experiences.
• Behaviors:
  We observe physical environments and behaviors in their real life context to understand the unspoken patterns that shape individuals’ experience.
• Brands:
  We examine the equity of brands in the marketplace. We challenge ourselves to uncover marketing opportunities and communications angles that are actionable for the client and relevant to the consumer.
• Products:
  We explore the usage, imagery, expectations and unmet needs for consumer products within their real life context.