Editor's note: Doreen Mole is president of Doreen Mole Qualitative Research, Ltd., Sag Harbor, NY. The author wishes to thank Conrad Lokanis, research manager, General Motors, for contributing the case study portion of this article.

In November of 19891 took a trip to Italy. Pompeii, the archaeological site of the summer homes of the ancient Romans was one of the stops on the itinerary. As we all know, Pompeii was buried when Mt. Vesuvius blew in 79 A.D. Because the volcano erupted so quickly, catching the residents unprepared, the area has been excavated nearly intact.

The day I visited the weather was overcast and drizzly, creating a blue gray light that had a mystical quality. As I followed our guide, I learned about the lifestyle of these early Italians. Looking at their artifacts, I began understanding their beliefs and values on a deep, visceral level. These artifacts brought me closer to them, gave me a fuller sense of who they were and how they lived. The highlight of the day was a mural that was in mint condition. It told the story of a family. At that point, I realized I had been truly transported into the lives and times of the Romans.

That experience stayed with me. It led to the development of a qualitative technique that I call Commercial Anthropology. The technique is an anthropological approach to understanding underlying consumer attitudes and the more sophisticated brand and brand user imagery.

It is based on the principle that contemporary artifacts often reflect brand user beliefs and value systems. For example, the types of shoes women have in their closets reveal their activities and therefore attitudes toward life. The "toys" men are drawn to show how they perceive themselves in relation to the world. The art that people surround themselves with and the environment they create represent their attachments, desires and fantasies.

As Sidney Levy wrote in the Harvard Business Review in 1959, "Brand choices are made because one object is symbolically more harmonious with our goals, feelings, self-definitions than another."

Projective technique

The objectives of Commercial Anthropology are: to ferret out the multifaceted levels of attitudes, belief systems and motivations of your consumers and those of your competitors; and to discern psychological segments/ typologies with user groups.

It is a projective technique that is used in conjunction with other projective techniques. Projective techniques are commonly used in the field of psychology. They usually involve some storytelling, either in reaction to a photo or a picture or from a print ad. The idea is that by projecting feelings onto an object from outside themselves, respondents have the freedom to express themselves onto the image they've selected without inhibition. A playful atmosphere is created in the group and respondents answer on levels they either may not have been able to or were unaware of without the aid.

Commercial Anthropology is a flexible technique that can be used either in mini focus groups or individual interviews. It uses a deck of artifacts in an artifact sort, much like a child's activity of playing with cut-outs. The technique begins with a photo, drawing, or print ad depiction of the perceived brand user. Respondents then outfit the "user" with the artifacts that he or she would have. The selections stimulate discussion that provides inroads into a user's psyche and belief system. Ultimately, a person's possessions tell you where they are at, where they are coming from and sometimes where they are going.

Case study

General Motors sought to uncover the underlying emotions that differentiated purchase of one specific brand of automobile from another in the "sporty" car market segment.

Quantitative research indicated no brand user imagery differences. All information pointed to engine size as the rationale for purchase. However, the car maker's design group needed to understand differences that would influence their work on design points.

Four mini focus groups were conducted among men and women, 21 to 34 years of age, who owned either of the automaker's sporty cars. The men and women were addressed in separate groups. The groups were further broken out by engine size ownership, either V8 (Uplevel) or V6 (Base).

The groups began with a photo sort. Respondents were first asked to separate photos of perceived car owners into piles. One representative photo of the owner of each car was then selected. In fact, the imagery differences were so strong that a consensus was not difficult to achieve. (Ordinarily, forcing a consensus does not serve the objectives of the research.)

Respondents were questioned about the attitudes and lifestyles of the two owners. Related imagery was also gathered. When discussion about the photos was exhausted, the artifacts were dumped onto the table and respondents were asked to "outfit" each owner with "stuff."

Clear distinctions

For the sake of brevity, only the results with males will be addressed here, although similar results were collected among the females.

Clear psychographic and product distinctions were found between user imagery of the Base car (V6) owners for the two brands. The Brand A user was perceived to be slightly older, more sophisticated and more upwardly mobile. His artifacts, such as a home computer and exercise bike, indicated that he was considered to be organized, orderly, and very goal oriented. They also showed that he was considered to be health-conscious and interested in his diet and appearance. This thread carried over to his attitudes about his car as he exhibited more concern with vehicle looks than actual performance.

The Brand B user was considered to be younger, on no real career path and into speed and thrills. His artifacts showed an adolescent attitude toward women and life in general. To this "engine head" (as shown by the tool belt in his collection of artifacts), the engine was more important than the looks of the car.

Male owners of the Uplevel cars (V8) produced a very different result. In this case, brand was not the differentiator, as this group saw themselves set apart more by whether they owned the Uplevel car versus the Base car.

V8 owners perceived themselves as "macho men" possessing driving superiority. Their artifacts were "manly," for example, a rifle with a scope, a football, a chain saw, and a grill. The mirrored sunglasses indicated another facet of masculinity. The V8 owners were patriotic to the manufacturer, and engine power and styling were seen as extensions of masculinity.

V8 owners perceived V6 owners as "housebroken," domesticated males who were practical, economical, compromising and had interests that centered around the family not the car. Their artifacts were softer, non-combative toys such as golf clubs and a tennis racket. The softball equipment depicted their involvement with the family, and the power drill communicated a do-it-yourself practicality.

The benefits derived from the use of the technique were threefold.

1. The data collected in this study supported psychographic information that had been collected in earlier studies.

2. The visual nature of the methodology allowed the data that was collected to provide clear brand differentiation within the larger body of information. The artifact sort broke out detailed brand user attitudinal distinctions that were previously unknown.

3. The pictorial nature of the results made the data more believable and concrete, and therefore, easier to communicate to the creative community, i.e., the automobile designers and clay modelers and the advertising agency.

Because this data provided a graphic depiction of the target customer, these exhibits were displayed in the design studios to give the designers and clay modelers a clear understanding of the customers this product was being directed toward.

These pictures, especially those that showed the possessions of the people in this market segment, were used in some cases to assist in designing the interior features of the vehicle. That is, should they be sophisticated or more gadget like? This was also true in answering questions regarding their approach to the exterior design. Should it be sleek/streamlined or more muscular/bold?

This information was also used to develop creative executions for advertising, especially those ads where depicting the lifestyle of the owners was an integral part of the message.

Another off-shoot of this data is the capability of better understanding what products to enter into for joint advertising efforts. This was apparent from the specific items and artifacts, even brand names that were mentioned and clearly associated with various owner types.