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Our Guiding PhilosophyWe believe in working smart, being relevant, and keeping both the 'social' and the 'science'in 'social science'.We Know How To Do Some Very Complex Things, But We Will Not Dumb Things Down When Presenting Them To You.We respect our clients and will take whatever time and effort is necessary to help you understand the how and why of everything we do. We teach this stuff all the time to students and other professionals. No Wizards Behind Curtains here.There Is No Such Thing As The Best Methodology Or Statistical Analysis.Remember, all methods are flawed. All our varied techniques as a discipline are tools, and as such, different tools are needed for different jobs. If a company tells you there is only one way to do something regardless of the nature of the job, it's probably because that's all they know how to do. As the saying goes, if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.One Key To Understanding And Therefore Predicting Behavior Is To Get Over The Belief That People Are Perfectly Rational And Make Perfectly Informed Choices At Every Step.Given this, it is important for companies to figure out what people actually do and think as opposed to what they should be doing or should be thinking. This is not to say that people act randomly. Far from it, people are guided by their cultures, processes, beliefs, and values. When all of these are properly considered and assessed we can get a lot closer to making the real patterns of behavior discernible.Anecdote Can Be Powerful, Gut Feelings Persuasive, But If You Want To Know That Something Works Or Does Not Work, You Need Sound, Empirical Research.One of the most telling quotes made by an early master of retailing happens to also be over 100 yrs old. "I know that 50% of my advertising is wasted. I just don't know which half," is the famous quip made by John Wanamaker in 1886. We see example after example of companies and business engaging in marketing, advertising, and product development routines on a pro forma and precedence basis with surprisingly little solid research to back up their efforts and directions.In The LimelightThe Otter Research BlogOur WorldBrent ScarcliffEvocative Places Community, Destination, and Tourism Brand Consultants Extra Meaning Brand Communications, Product Placement, and Public Relations Consultants Fresh Meaning Brand Naming Consultants Joy Salvador Otter Brand, Consumer, Culture, and Market Research Consultants Resounding Success Company and Product Naming Consultants Rich In Meaning Book, Game, Movie, Music, Show, Television, and Themed Entertainment Consultants Rich With Meaning Lifestyle and Luxury Brand Consultants Savaiki South Seas Lifestyle Company Savory Characters Food, Beverage, and Restaurant Brand Consultants Scarcliff Salvador Cultural Branding and Naming Agency The Brand New Meaning Blog The Cultural Riches World, Pop, and Brand Culture Video Blog The Earthy Language Lexicon The Genetic Linguistics Blog The Names We Love The NBA Player Nicknames Blog The Pop Language Blog The Richly Evocative Thesaurus of Semantic Spheres The Scarcliff Dictionary of Branding The Scarcliff Directory of Branding The Take My Meaning Dictionary of Aphorisms, Proverbs, Quips, and Quotations The Titles We Love The Wildly Colorful Wildlife Photography Blog The Wonderfully Evocative Dictionary of Expressions, Figures of Speech, Idioms, Phrases, and Sayings The Words We Love Otter ResearchCultural Research ConsultantsCopyright© 2009 Scarcliff Salvador Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |