General Mills Chairman & CEO Steve Sanger '68 on the 'Science of Shopping'

September 7, 2004

September 7, 2004, Greencastle, Ind. - "I think [ethnography] is absolutely vital to have meaningful information about consumers over time," Steve Sanger, chairman and CEO of General Mills and a 1968 graduate of DePauw University, tells the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "The more we develop deeper insights into lives of consumers, the better the chance we have to deliver something of value to them."

The article examines how General Mills and other consumer product companies are utilizing ethnography to learn more about their customers and improve sales. Thomas Lee writes, "Three people silently trailed Carol Gutt as she wandered the aisles of a Festival Foods supermarket in Ham Lake. One, armed with a video camera disguised as a small, black box, recorded Gutt's every move. Another furiously scribbled notes. Finally, one of the men suddenly approached her. Why, he asked, had Gutt spent more time in the soup aisle than the bread aisle? As it turned out, Gutt's followers worked for a company hired by General Mills Inc. of Golden Valley. By observing and recording Gutt's shopping habits, the researchers hoped to gain insight into consumer behavior that could help General Mills develop a new product or a marketing campaign."

The text continues, "Ethnography -- the social science of observing people or animals in their natural environments -- once was the almost exclusive province of academia. But today, giant consumer product companies such as General Mills, Procter & Gamble Co., Kimberly-Clark Corp. and Unilever hire anthropologists to study consumers in their homes, workplaces and favorite grocery stores."

Access the story at the Star Tribune's Web site (a free registration is required) by clicking here.

Stephen W. Sanger received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from DePauw on May 23, 2004. Read more and access a video clip by clicking here.

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