Robert J. Morais
Biography
Robert J. Morais is an anthropologist with a 35+ year career in advertising and market research, and a Lecturer at Columbia Business School. He spent 25 years with advertising agencies, rising to Chief Strategic Officer, and 11 years as a Principal/Owner at a market research firm. He has worked with Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, WD-40, Coca-Cola, Post Foods, Danone, Hain Celestial, Safeway, Sabra, Pinnacle Foods, Sunny Delight, Dentsply Sirona, Prestige Brands, Wyeth (now Pfizer), Freshpet, and the Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel group, among many other corporations. His publications include five books and 50+ articles and book chapters. His books are: Advertising and Anthropology (co-author); The Language of Branding (co-author); Ethics in the Anthropology of Business (co-editor); Refocusing Focus Groups (author); Social Relations in a Philippine Town (author). His research articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in Forbes, Advertising Age, the Huffington Post, American Anthropologist, Human Organization, Culture and Organization, the Journal of Business Anthropology, Teaching Anthropology, and Philippine Studies, among others. Morais holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh and a certificate from a program for humanities and social science 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. A Fellow of The Society for Applied Anthropology, he is a founder of the Business Anthropology Community (businessanthro.com). Morais has been interviewed by The New York Times, CBS Radio, Adweek, Brandweek, American Marketing Association, Bloomberg, and Advertising & Society Quarterly. His specializations include market research, ethnography, mixed methods, consumer insights, advertising and marketing strategy, product innovation, the production of creativity, and business ethics.