From Anthropologist to Adman Anthropology as Preparation for a Business Career

Abstract

An anthropologist who became an adman and worked as a copywriter for a large Japanese agency describes what he learned by pursuing a non-academic career in advertising. He then applies what he learned to a comparative analysis of three approaches to promoting business anthropology in China: the Southern School's latest-thing, import-oriented approach, the Northern School's locally grounded domesticated approach, and the globalized, creative approach of Rhizome, a Shanghai-based research firm with transnational clients.