If you’re a brand or agency looking to conduct your next ethnography project, where will you start?

You could head to one of the existing ethnography platforms already in operation. But they are prohibitively expensive because they rely on an already-existing user base.

Instead, agencies across the United States have started to use a range of new platforms, including Cinebody, to gather video for data, analytic and research purposes. This user-filmed data is proving essential, providing findings that have shaped everything from initial pitches to final creative work.

A platform for breakthroughs.

In ethnographic studies, the research team observes the world from the point of view of the subject. It is a research method that can “result in breakthroughs for brands, offering an insight into what people are really like, rather than what they want researchers to think they are like”.

So getting a subject to film their everyday life and interactions with their smartphone is the ideal way of gathering data.

Using Cinebody provides a hassle-free way to coordinate and collate footage from as many ethnographic subjects as possible. And because all the footage is automatically uploaded to the cloud through the Cinebody app, it doesn’t matter where the subjects are. They don’t have to be in the same state. They don’t even have to be in the same country.

Brand and agency strategists have also found that using Cinebody:

· Allows project managers to watch entries in real-time through instantaneous footage uploads, giving them the opportunity to ensure they are getting the material they need.

· Enables project managers to send real-time direction and follow-up questions to subjects through push notifications.

· Builds a ready-made user base for their next market research project – a key objective that can both streamline costs and make future projects faster and more efficient. This last point is huge, because it means brands and agencies can create and organize their own user base, rather than having to pay to access a pre-existing supply.

Reduced costs. More control. Real-time questions and directions. The future of ethnographies looks more exciting – and accessible – than ever before.