Gigi Taylor, Ph.D.
Gigi Taylor is a qualitative consumer researcher based in Austin, Texas. She holds a Ph.D. in Advertising from the University of Texas with an emphasis in consumer behavior, media studies and research methods. It was this cross-disciplinary education that inspired Gigi's professional interest in the application of qualitative media research to account planning. Her dissertation was an exploration of media usage among college students. As an account planner at Hal Riney in San Francisco, she continued her interest in the combination of account planning and media planning. Together with the director of the media department, Gigi introduced the notion of a “media creative brief” on the Saturn Vue account.
After leaving Hal Riney, Gigi returned to academia as an Assistant Professor of advertising at Texas State University. She introduced and created the Account Planning class within the advertising sequence while also teaching media planning. Gigi brings to Practica the analytical framework of media studies plus the experience of using media insights to inspire both creative and media strategy.
Since leaving full-time teaching, Gigi has used her qualitative research skills to advise clients on branding strategy, website creation, advertising messaging, logo development, new product design, and retail merchandising. Some of her clients include Dial, SC Johnson, McKinsey and Partners, Acer, Whirlpool, The University of Texas, Fjord Design, and Anheuser-Busch.
Gigi's previous ethnographic research experience includes exploring notions of desire and scent with young women; understanding the meaning of beer among young Mexican-Americans men in California; observing life in the kitchens of Mexican families to understand food, cooking and cultural identity; plus shop-along observations for cars, shampoo, washers and dryers.
Gigi's publications on media, account planning and ethnographic consumer research include Account Planning: Add the Consumer's Voice and Stir presented at the American Academy of Advertising; A Cross-Media Study of Audience Choice: The Influence of Media Attitudes on Media Repertoires presented at the American Academy of Advertising; Being Mexican and American: Negotiating Ethnicity in the Practice of Market Research coauthored with Patti Sunderland and Rita Denny, published in Human Organization-Journal for the Society for Applied Anthropology.
Gigi grew up in a bicultural/bilingual American-Mexican home and conducts research in both English and Spanish.