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We explore the meaning and histories of favorite objects in two cultures using surveys and photographs. Favorite object attachment is differentiated from the possessiveness component of materialism and from attachment to other people. Meanings of favorite objects derive more from personal memories in the U.S. and from social status in Niger than from object characteristics. Since favorite objects serve as storehouses of personal meanings, gender, age, and culture reflect differences in object selected as well as reasons for selection. In the U.S., photographs show greater proximity to objects that are symbols of others or experiences than to objects enjoyed for their own attributes.

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The authors show how ethnography can provide multiple strategically important perspectives on behaviors of interest to marketing researchers. They first discuss the goals and four essential characteristics of ethnographic interpretation. Then they review the particular contributions to interpretation of several kinds of ethnographic observation and interview data. Next they discuss how interpretations are built from ethnographic data. They show how multilayered interpretations of market phenomena emerge through systematic analysis of complementary and discrepant data. Finally, the authors articulate three representational strategies that are used to link multilayered interpretations to marketing strategy formulation. They suggest that ethnographic methods are appropriate for apprehending a wide variety of consumption and use situations with implications for market segmentation and targeting; product and service positioning; and product, service, and brand management. Market-Oriented Ethnography: Interpretation Building and Marketing Strategy FormulationWe address the general question of how ethnographic interpretations of the consumption behavior of market segments can be developed and how they can be useful in formulating marketing strategy. The term market-oriented ethnography refers to an ethnographic focus on the behavior of people constituting a market for a product or service. We propose a systematic process for building market-oriented ethnographic interpretation and then describe how these interpretations are useful in formulating marketing strategy. Our premise is that studying and interpreting the subjective experiences of the market segments served by specific marketing programs is a useful step in establishing enduring, ef-•Eric J.

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