Sunday, March 25, 2007 • Workshops

Registration: 9:30 AM Workshop will begin at 10 AM and conclude at 4 PM.

In an ever competitive marketplace how do you stay one step ahead of the competition? You need to discover the nuances that pull at the heart strings of today's consumer and to strategically develop those into actionable insights. This workshop will help you make the most of your ethnographic experiences as you dig into the consumer culture.

An introduction to ethnographic practices and their application to the business world will start the day. This will give participants an idea of how this qualitative process doesn't detract from but actually strengthens and builds on a company's core research plan. Tools of the trade including examples of using digital video will show the power of storytelling.

As the day unfolds teams will be formed as they prepare for an observational excursion in the nearby Huntington Beach area (wear your walking shoes). Using scenarios that focus on specific youth segments, each team will be given a business challenge to address. You will be asked to make observations in the field, develop themes and come up with possible applications based on what you saw.

By the end of the day, you will have conducted the field work, completed the data synthesis and finally developed a call to action in which you will have used the day's learning (and your own strategic intuition and inspiration) to come up with a product or service solution.

Expert Facilitators:
Mary White, Mary White & Company

Randy Ferguson, Founder, WatchDog Research

About Mary
Mary White is a research professional with 15 years consumer packaged goods experience. While working at a fortune 500 company, Mary was consistently recognized for creativity and innovation in qualitative research methodology and application. She also built a strong background in new product development research and strategy.

In 1998, Mary was charged with creating expertise in ethnography for Consumer Insights at General Mills. This opportunity led her to pioneer the use of digital video as a data collection tool, allowing consumer and expert interactions to be summarized in a variety of short video stories. Her favorite projects: a video documentary celebrating Latino culture in the United States, and a series of 3 minute video shorts outlining morning routines for various consumer segments.

About Randy
Randy Ferguson is founder of WatchDog Research, a firm focused on uncovering consumer insights using a core ethnographic methodology. With his trained eye on the culture, Randy is able to bring life and color to traditional research and data. A degree in Sociology lit his passion to pursue the inner workings of the sometimes crazy and always unpredictable consumer mindset. A Masters in Business compelled him to apply those insights to the business setting. After five years with Target Stores and 5 years with General Mills in Marketing, New Product Development, and Consumer Insights, he knows the difficultly of being desk-bound while needing to know the consumer as if they were a best friend or next door neighbor. He also knows there are tools to make that process much easier.