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 11 years as a Principal/Co-owner of a market research firm preceded by 25 years with advertising agencies rising to Chief Strategic Officer. He has worked with Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, WD-40, Coca-Cola, Post Foods, Danone, Safeway, Wyeth, Johnson & Johnson, Dentsply Sirona, Freshpet, Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel hotel group, and many other corporations. His publications include the books Advertising and Anthropology; The Language of Branding; Ethics in the Anthropology of Business; Refocusing Focus Groups; Social Relations in a Philippine Town. His articles and reviews have appeared in Forbes, Advertising Age, Huffington Post, American Anthropologist, Human Organization, Culture and Organization, 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 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. Morais has been interviewed by The New York Times, CBS Radio, Bloomberg, Adweek, Brandweek, and the American Marketing Association, among others. Specializations: market research, business anthropology, mixed methods, consumer insights, advertising and marketing strategy, product innovation, business ethics.