Robert J. Morais is an anthropologist with a 35+ year career in advertising and market research, and a Lecturer at Columbia Business School. He has taught in the full time MBA, EMBA, and Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness in Latin America, Africa, and America programs. Morais was a Principal/Co-owner of a market research firm for 11 years, 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 (now Pfizer), Johnson & Johnson, Dentsply Sirona, Freshpet, Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel hotel group, and many other corporations.
His books include Advertising and Anthropology; Ethics in the Anthropology of Business; The Language of Branding; Refocusing Focus Groups; and Social Relations in a Philippine Town. His articles have appeared in Forbes, Advertising Age, Huffington Post, American Anthropologist, Human Organization, Culture and Organization, Journal of Business Anthropology, Teaching Anthropology, Philippine Studies, and Medium, 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, co-recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant, and co-recipient of a Columbia University Provost Grant.
Morais has been interviewed by The New York Times, CBS Radio, Bloomberg, Adweek, Brandweek, and the American Marketing Association. His specializations include market research, business anthropology, mixed methods, consumer insights, advertising and marketing strategy, product innovation, and business ethics.
