This thesis was designed and written with advertising stakeholders in mind.
The aim of my thesis is to illustrate how listening to and understanding the
behavior and voices of consumers from the perspective of a trained anthropologist
can improve advertising strategies. My instruments for conducting this research
include an in-depth investigation of 28 consumers who use organizing devices (e.g.
personal digital assistants and paper-based organizers) and a qualitative analysis of
two print ads from Palm, Inc.
In the first phase of my research, I employed ethnographic techniques and
analyses to shed light on the usage-based benefits consumers realize by using
organizers. In the second part of my research, I reveal my analysis and
interpretations of print ads from Palm, one of the world's largest producers of
organizers.
My research culminates with the placement of the Palm advertisers'
decisions in a critical framework. I do this by illuminating the consonance and
contradiction between the ways in which I found consumers using organizers and
the ways in which they are promoted in the advertising.
Among other things, my research found informants using their organizers as
a means to escape the tedium of commuting to and from work; I also found
informants using their organizers to extend their memory capacity and create
solutions to problems. In the end, my interpretations lead to pragmatic conclusions
that potentially make advertising strategy more efficacious: Palm advertising
should create scenes in which people are actively using their organizers to achieve
benefits (e.g. memory, entertainment, etc.) they seek. / Graduation date: 2003
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/31496 |
| Date | 02 August 2002 |
| Creators | Whiddon, Jeremiah J. |
| Contributors | Rosenberger, Nancy R. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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