Biography

Robert J. Morais is a business anthropologist with experience in advertising and marketing research. He began his career at Grey Advertising and spent 25 years with advertising agencies, rising to Chief Strategic Officer. He then served for 11 years as a Principal at marketing 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 50 articles and book chapters. Morais holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh and a certificate from NYU's Stern School of Business. He was a Fulbright Scholar, National Science Foundation Grantee, and Mellon Fellow, and co-winner of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant as Co-Chair of the 2019 Global Business Anthropology Summit. A Fellow of The Society for Applied Anthropology, Morais is a founder of the Business Anthropology Community (businessanthro.com). He has been a guest speaker at numerous universities and conferences and been interviewed by The New York Times, CBS Radio, Adweek, Brandweek, American Marketing Association, and Advertising & Society Quarterly.

His specializations include qualitative marketing research; hybrid anthropological/psychological methodologies; ethnography; advertising and marketing strategy; product innovation; organizational culture; ideation; the production of creativity; business ethics