Biography

Robert J. Morais is a business anthropologist with experience in advertising and market research, and a Lecturer at Columbia Business School. He began his career at Grey Advertising and spent 25 years with advertising agencies, rising to Chief Strategic Officer, and then served for 11 years as a Principal at 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, Dentsply Sirona, Wyeth (now Pfizer), Freshpet, and the Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel hotel group, among many other corporations. His publications include five books and over 50 articles and book chapters. His research articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in the Huffington Post, Advertising Age, Forbes, American Anthropologist, Human Organization, Culture and Organization, the Journal of Business Anthropology, and Philippine Studies, among others. Morais holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh and a certificate from a program for PhDs at NYU's Stern School of Business. He was a Fulbright Scholar, National Science Foundation Grantee, Mellon Fellow, and co-winner of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant as Co-Chair of the 2019 Global Business Anthropology Summit. A founder of the Business Anthropology Community (businessanthro.com), he has been interviewed by The New York Times, CBS Radio, Adweek, Brandweek, American Marketing Association, and Advertising & Society Quarterly. His specializations include market research, ethnography, mixed methods, consumer insights, advertising and marketing strategy, product innovation, ideation, organizational culture, the production of creativity, and business ethics.