Closer to the Consumer

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER: Lynne Robinson’s home in Bellevue is like any other — ringed in flowers and shrubs, full of the sounds of a happy family of four.
But inside, an experiment is unfolding.
They call it reality marketing — a deliberately provocative term that evokes Big Brother as much as any tawdry reality television show.
But in the Robinson home, as she bustles around her cheerful kitchen, two Ph.D.-holding sociocultural anthropologists watch her quietly, smiling and chatting when it seems appropriate.
Their mission? Observe the family’s eating habits, up to a maximum of nine months, jotting down notes, compiling video clips, examining neurolinguistic word maps.
In short, they’re “deconstructing everything,” according to Michelle Barry, one of the research study leaders who works for a Bellevue-based market research firm, The Hartman Group Inc.
Since 1989, The Hartman Group has advised companies such as Whole Foods Market, PepsiCo and Campbell Soup Co. on issues about health and wellness and how to get close enough to the consumer to figure out what they want.
Tonight’s special: Reality marketing [SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER]