Have You Heard? Using Place‐Based Ethnography to Construct a Word‐of‐Mouth Campaign in the Bottom of the Pyramid

Abstract

The “bottom of the pyramid” concept has promised companies that they can simultaneously create wealth and social impact when serving the world's poorest customers. In reality, companies have faced multiple challenges when trying to acquire and retain customers in the “bottom of the pyramid”. This case study captures the journey of one such company that is operating low‐cost private schools in slums and remote villages in an African country. Despite delivering a solid educational quality, the company was facing retention issues, and was struggling to maintain a healthy student population. Leadership diagnosed that a word of mouth marketing campaign would be important to increase acquisition and retention; but it did not know where to start. By designing a place‐based ethnographic approach, ReD was able to gain the customer centric insights needed to design a new value proposition and engagement model that tapped into and leveraged word‐of‐mouth social dynamics.