A brand is a sign that triggers a field of meanings in the consumer's mind. By harnessing the myth behind these meanings, strong brands move beyond the codes governing a product category and enter the personal space of the consumer where they enhance, complement or transform the consumer's world. By tying brands to consumer myths, we deconstruct the category and position brands at the cutting edge of consumer trends and global consumer culture.

Case Studies
Using Ethnography to Track Global Brand Awareness in Shanghai
Laura Oswald traveled to China in 2001 to develop research protocols on women’s lifestyles in Shanghai. I interviewed housewives and university students about the effects of modernization and consumer culture on their lives. I conducted in-home interviews with three middle-aged, working-class housewives, and a three-day observational and discussion study with five M.B.A. students at Tong Ji University. With the help of an interpreter, I focused on the personal care rituals of the housewives and their perceptions of brands in the personal care category, including shampoo, soap, and body lotion. With the M.B.A. students, all in their early twenties, I discussed changes in the perceptions and experiences of being a woman in the “new China.”

Our trend studies include in-depth secondary and media research into the current lifestyle and behavior of consumers in a segment. Data includes both the work of experts and samples from popular culture, including TV shows, film clips, and magazine stories. In addition to a written report, we bring findings to life by means of Cultural SignScapes that map cultural trends in collage and video-montage format.

Branding the American Family
Our study of the American family for J. Walter Thompson contrasted the contemporary family with families forty years ago. We drew particular attention to the way these contrasts emerged in the popular culture, in advertising imagery in particular. Findings had surprising implications for the ways marketers develop and promote products targeted to families.

[Published as “Branding the American Family: A Strategic Study of the Culture, Composition and Consumer Behavior of Families in the New Millennium,” Journal of Popular Culture. Vol. 73, No. 2, November, 2003.]

Health Watch
In order to develop corporate programs dedicated to public service, we conducted trend research for major global corporation order to understand attitudes toward diet and fitness in the United States. By reviewing not only works of experts but also the social discourses on diet from popular American culture, discourses made evident in the language and imagery of advertising, entertainment, and retailing, we drew attention to ways public media send conflicting messages to consumers about appropriate lifestyle choices. In the United States almost one in three individuals is obese, and an increasing number of both adults and children suffer from obesity-related diseases such as diabetes. However, advertising and sales promotions emphasize the value of buying in bulk, eating super-size meals, and getting “bigger” and “more” of everything. Written analysis was supplemented by collages, photographs, and a video, Health Watch: the State of Food, Fitness, and Well Being in the United States. The video, which has been presented at professional and academic conferences, is a compilation of music, consumer interviews, clips from TV shows and films, and stills of ads, books, and other artifacts of popular culture. Shot in mini-DV and Super VHS, this video formed part of a larger study that was to become the platform for public service advertising for promoting a healthy lifestyle. Attention was paid to the rhetorical force of sounds and images in order to drive home to the viewer findings developed fully in the written report from the study.

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