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Corporate Anthropologist

Location:
West Palm Beach, FL
Posted:
July 29, 2021

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Resume:

WHITNEY C MILLER, PhD

917-***-**** • adnyou@r.postjobfree.com

CAREER PROFILE

Corporate Anthropologist

Experienced in quantitative, qualitative, consumer and B2B research as well as cultural trends, ethnographic research and media tracking to uncover actionable consumer insights across of variety of industries: consumer package goods, retail, telecommunications, financial services, travel and entertainment both online and offline by leveraging the power of culture that will impact anything from product and service design to marketing communication and editorial content across traditional and innovative platforms that drive results for brands and have meaning for consumers

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

T@sk Insights West Palm Beach, FL

Brand, Strategy & Consumer Insights Expert 2018 - present Developed and implemented a brand audit to determine a popular 1980’s sunglass brand’s new corporate identity and reposition strategy, brand voice, architecture and messaging to rebuild brand equity. Partnered with web design team conducting UX/UI of a new corporate website that launched in February 2019. Reporting directly to the CEO of a real-estate development company, led all strategic initiatives cross-functionally by utilizing various business intelligence tools combined with consumer insights and data to help shape and define the company as a leader within the industry. Responsible for devising new product development roadmap and corporate communication strategy of OTC pain and itch topical solutions that are made of completely natural compounds

Casper Sleep New York, NY

Head of Customer Insights 2017 – 2018

Casper was interested in adding new senior leadership to drive major strategic marketing and new product decisions through customer insights. Using a variety of methodologies including both strategic (e.g., brand strength monitoring, customer segmentation, person development, and tactical (e.g., pricing, NPS, CSAT, Cart abandonment and tracking of marketing etc.) campaigns across the different channels), my primary objective was to bring the ‘voice of the customer’ into the company and develop insights into how consumers make decisions throughout the entire purchase journey (online and in-store). I developed a strategic/analytical framework providing me with a North Star to help set metrics and goals determined by initiative(s) to drive prioritization and increase ROI. Both the founder and leader of this centralized consumer market research division within the company, my responsibilities included, but were not limited to: cross functionally and leading all strategic initiatives which increased sales by $43.5 million, directly impacting the company’s overall growth. I also developed rich customer profiles/personas for targeted messaging by using internal and external data sets and predictive models, as well as provided senior management with recommendations to maximize acquisition, engagement and retention performance based on how consumers behave and interact with Casper. I oversaw all day- to-day research requests, owned the survey design and approval process, and reviewed analysis of quantitative and qualitative research data results and supervised the reporting and presenting of findings and actionable insights, in addition to managing a team of researchers. Additionally, I partnered with the design teams to provide insight on new product development and innovation SFX Entertainment New York, NY

Head of Audience Insights 2014 - 2017

The past year at SFX has been a story of building the airplane and flying it at the same time. As the creator of the Audience Insights group, my objective was to become the premiere resource for insights and analytics as key tools to deliver increased ROI for all business units within the company. Utilizing theories, tools and social sciences to uncover the rational and emotional drivers that influence consumer perception, I introduced an insights-based ideology on how brands should connect with today’s consumers (Millennials, Gen Y, etc.), integrating primary research with business analytics and behavioral based data by creating an online customized proprietary platform, a cultural hub, where consumers can interact with one another using the same tools they already use to communicate with in everyday life – i.e., emoticons, social networking, Snapchat, ‘Selfies’, etc., we’re able to glean deep insights into the Electronic Culture and festival-goers. Overall, my goal was to reinvent SFX as a thought-leader in the marketplace. And we already did! Thanks to the research I conducted for SxSW, our initial claim ‘it’s not just dance music, it’s about music culture’ was validated. Now the entire industry refers to it as EMC

(electronic music culture) vs. EDM (electronic dance music), which I included in the company’s first whitepaper: Electronic Music, Technology and Youth Culture. Other responsibilities included: conducting Usability Testing (in-depth interviews with 55x DJs) and User Experience research for Beatport, an online retailer for DJs. Lead team of 7 direct reports and managed a $1M+ budget annually to deliver high impact learnings that link sales and insights. I was also responsible for hiring/on-boarding and developing my audience insights team. Think Passenger New York, NY

Director of Consumer Insights 2013 - 2014

Drawing from my background and expertise in cultural anthropology, I developed the company’s Thought Leadership Tool Kit, Innovation techniques and Best Practices. I also strengthened and focused the company’s new product development efforts by overhauling ‘what’ the company innovates against, and ‘how’ we approached it – process, methods, structure and governance. I also Initiated and developed a standardized automated data reporting which resulted in a 40% cost reduction. In addition, to leading, managing and mentoring a team of 9+ market researchers and insights professionals in New York and LA offices, I was responsible for the quality of all strategic outputs and deliverables for multiple clients such as: Mercedes-Benz, Altira, adidas, Mastercard, Blue Cross Blue Shield, etc.

Hudson Rouge New York, NY

Brand Futurist 2012 - 2013

Led ideation sessions to drive strategic initiatives in the rebranding of the Lincoln Motor Company both domestic and international (i.e., China) as it related to brand strategy, brand identity, brand voice, brand positioning, strategic and tactical communications and innovation efforts. Uncovered and developed psychographic and behavioral segmentation to gain a deep and holistic view of clients’ new target audience. Continuously assessed new business opportunities (‘white space’) and alternative models/paradigm by measuring and tracking health of brands with key insights/actions. Viacom Media Networks New York, NY

Senior Manager of Consumer Insights 2010 - 2012

Responsible for overseeing all primary research for digital ad sales across premium brands including: MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, and Spike. Created 15,000+ member online proprietary consumer panel providing deep insight into the VMN fan, while at the same time, providing clients

(only those spending a minimum of $325K on media buy) such as Wrigley, Unilever, AT&T, Bing, etc. to have direct access with our fans in order to measure sponsorship impact, ad effectiveness and cross- media ROI. Utilized the panel to successfully build and manage the first Product Sampling Program at a foundational level where none had existed before within the company. Today, it is still included as a product offering for the Sales team. Also, created and led department’s first in-house Usability Lab, where we assisted clients such as Dannon, Sony, Chase, T-Mobile, Flipboard, etc. in measuring and improving the experience of their online customers. Example research methods include: one-on-one usability studies (remote and in-person), eye-tracking, online and in-person user experience focus groups and ethnographies (i.e., ‘A day in the life …’) mobile device testing, card sorting, heat- mapping, and quantitative benchmarking studies. Managed team of 3 direct reports and all vendor relationships, negotiating contracts and pricing.

Hall & Partners, USA New York, NY

Qualitative Consultant, Senior Account Executive 2007 – 2009 Recruited to develop ethnographic division within company by applying anthropological expertise to guide strategic business thinking in brand strategy, strategic development, messaging/positioning, creative/campaign development, innovation and new product development, packaging and naming exploration, target illumination, and in-store shopper marketing for brands such as: Microsoft, Merck, Target, Knoll, etc. Executed all phases of qualitative research process including: design, recruitment, discussion guide development, moderation: focus groups, in-depth interviews and ethnographies, data analysis, report writing and presentation of findings to senior management. Also identified new business opportunities by researching market and industry trends and competitive consumer dynamics and presenting key insights to prospective clients. EDUCATION

Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Cambridge, MA Doctor of Cultural Anthropology; GPA 3.9 2003 - 2007 Master of Arts, Regional Studies – East Asia; GPA 4.0 2002 – 2005 Associate Professor, Cultural Anthropology – two-years into tenure-track 2004 - 2007 Fulbright Scholarship Kyoto, Japan

12x month study scholarship 2001 - 2002

University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA

Bachelor of Arts; Double Major: East Asian Studies & Theater Arts; GPA 4.0 May 2001 Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Golden Key Society SKILLS

Working knowledge of HTML, Qual/Quant research methodologies and analysis, Consumer Panels management and moderation, Social listening tools, SPSS/MarketSight/Qualtrics/Google Consumer Surveys, MRI/Ipsos Mendelson/Nielsen Scarborough, comScore/ Omniture/Google and YouTube Analytics, Forrester/Mintel, IBM Business Intelligence (BI)/Tableau, Photoshop, Salesforce and WordPress, Fluency in Japanese – reading, writing and speaking, as well as advanced-intermediate in Mandarin.



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