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 SwissĂ´tel 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.
Teaching
Spring 2022
Fall 2021
Market Intelligence: The Art and the Science
(MBA)
Spring 2020
Generating Marketing Insights with Social Science
(EMBA)
Fall 2020
Market Intelligence: The Art and the Science
(MBA)
Spring 2019
Qualitative Marketing Research
(MBA)
Fall 2019
Market Intelligence: The Art and the Science
(MBA)
Spring 2018
Qualitative Marketing Research
(MBA)
Fall 2018
Marketing Research 360: From Discovery To Decisions
(MBA)
Generating Marketing Insights with Social Science
(EMBA)
Fall 2017
Qualitative Marketing Research
(MBA)
Generating Marketing Insights with Social Science
(EMBA)
Columbia Caseworks cases
All Nutrition: Market Research to Drive Customer Segmentation
(2019)
Coauthor(s): Kamel Jedidi, Robert J. Morais, Yegor Tkachenko
Research
Journal articles
Inspiring Brand Positionings with Mixed Qualitative Methods: A Case of Pet Food
In Journal of Business Anthropology
(2020)
Coauthor(s): Robert Morais
Proceedings of the 2019 Global Business Anthropology Summit
In Journal of Business Anthropology
(2019)
Coauthor(s): Timothy de Waal Malefyt, Robert Morais
The Brand Language Brief: A Pillar of Sound Brand Strategy
In Journal of Brand Strategy
(2019)
Coauthor(s): Robert Morais, Dawn Lerman
Ethics in Business Anthropology: Crossing Boundaries
In Journal of Business Anthropology
(2014)
Coauthor(s): Robert Morais, Timothy de Waal Malefyt
Opinions: What Business Anthropology Is, What It Might Be, and What, Perhaps, It Should Not Be
In Journal of Business Anthropology
(2012)
Coauthor(s): Robert Morais
Creativity, Brands, and the Ritual Process: Confrontation and Resolution in Advertising Agencies
In Culture and Organization
(2010)
Coauthor(s): Timothy de Waal Malefyt, Robert Morais
How Anthropologists Can Succeed in Business: Mediating Multiple Worlds of Inquiry
In International Journal of Business Anthropology
(2010)
Coauthor(s): Robert Morais, Timothy de Waal Malefyt
Conflict and Confluence in Advertising Meetings
In Human Organization
(2007)
Coauthor(s): Robert Morais
Books
The Language of Branding: Theory, Strategies, and Tactics
(2018)
Coauthor(s): Dawn Lerman, Robert Morais, David Luna
Ethics in the Anthropology of Business
(2017)
Coauthor(s): Timothy de Waal Malefyt, Robert Morais
Advertising and Anthropology: Ethnographic Practice and Cultural Perspectives
(2012)
Coauthor(s): Timothy de Waal Malefyt, Robert Morais
Refocusing Focus Groups: A Practical Guide
(2010)
Coauthor(s): Robert Morais
Social Relations in a Philippine Town
(1981)
Coauthor(s): Robert Morais
Chapters
Advertising Anthropology Ethics
In Ethics in the Anthropology of Business: Explorations in Theory, Practice, and Pedagogy
(2017)
Coauthor(s): Robert Morais, Timothy de Waal Malefyt
Introduction: Capitalism, Work, and Ethics
In Ethics in the Anthropology of Business: Explorations in Theory, Practice, and Pedagogy
(2017)
Coauthor(s): Robert Morais, Timothy de Waal Malefyt
In Pursuit of Strategy: Anthropologists in Advertising
In Handbook of Anthropology in Business
(2014)
Coauthor(s): Robert Morais
Web-only articles
Rethinking Design Thinking
In Medium
(2020)
Coauthor(s): Robert Morais
Business Anthropology on the Road
In Anthropology News
(2019)
Coauthor(s): Robert Morais, Elizabeth Briody
Business Is Booming for Business Anthropology
In American Anthropological Association
(2018)
Coauthor(s): Robert Morais, Elizabeth Briody
Standards of Practice for Ethnography in Industry
In EPIC Perspectives
(2015)
Coauthor(s): Allen Batteau, Robert Morais
The Anthropology of Mad Men and Women
In Huffington Post
(2012)
Coauthor(s): Robert Morais