Practica Group is a partnership of anthropologists and problem-solvers who discover cultural insights that yield strategic outcomes.
Using an ethnographic lens, we translate the world into human terms and achievable business opportunities for clients and markets globally.
Our research expertise and industry experience includes a wide range of application-driven projects and training modules.
Let’s talk about how Practica can help you gain insights and innovate, whatever your industry or strategic question.
About Us
Senior partners at Practica bring experience that runs both broad and deep across markets, industries, and methods. We work closely with clients in all phases of a project, providing high touch client care and flexible customization.
When the project calls for it, we also partner with a global network of experts in participant recruitment, data collection, video production, design & product development, and many other area specialties.
As a distributed team that has worked virtually together since 2002, we can meet you wherever you and your customers are located. Based throughout North American time zones, our projects have taken us around the world, both virtually and physically.
Rita Denny, PhD
Partner
Rita Denny applies an anthropological framework to consumer behavior across the globe, calling on linguistic, semiotic and symbolic traditions for interpreting attitudes, perceptions and practices. Rita’s work supports strategic development of products, services and brands as well as communications strategies for Fortune Global 500 companies, government agencies and public institutions. Rita holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from University of Chicago. With Patricia Sunderland she is the author of Doing Anthropology in Consumer Research and editor of Handbook of Anthropology in Business. She is a dedicated Lake Michigan swimmer.
Michael Powell, PhD
Partner
Michael Powell is a professional cultural anthropologist and careful listener working at the intersection of research, business, and design. As a connector-of-dots and strategic thinker, he enjoys diving deep into unwieldy problems using ethnographic insights, cultural analysis, and creative thinking. A common thread across his projects are institutions of everyday life—from mobility patterns and grocery stores, to health care products and voting habits. After earning a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from Rice University in 2006, Michael has been working as an ethnographic consultant, with a project scope that includes UX research, design research, strategy consulting, branding, and startup cultures.
Erica Herman
Partner
Erica Herman specializes in depth research and strategic counseling for senior level business and public sector clients. She leverages her 30+ years of experience in diverse projects, such as living with chronic health conditions in the US, personal finance across four countries, regenerative travel, and the role of culture change in policy-building. Recognizing that focused, passionate fieldwork results in the discovery of new, often unexpected territory, Erica is committed to using those discoveries to illuminate resonant connections across innovation, systems, strategy, branding, and organizational culture. Her clients range from startups to multinationals, including Grassroots Solutions, Procter & Gamble, Got Milk?, Klarna, Oscar Health, Johnson & Johnson, and WNYC On the Media. She has lived in Brooklyn forever, deeply ensconced in a life of food, family, community, music and occasional guerrilla gardening.
Ed Bovich, PhD
Partner
Ed’s 25+ years in market research includes qualitative, as well as positions in product design / management in tech firms, agency planning, consulting, and even as a business school professor at the University of Michigan. His uniquely deep experience enables him to understand and unearth actionable insights driven by business objectives. He’s a specialist in B2B and thrives on complex, technical project challenges, but also has decades of consumer experience. He’s curious, above all, and driven to untangle the workings of business decision-makers’ hearts and minds. In spare time, he practices stonecutting, cycling, and his headstand. Ed has a Ph.D. in Marketing, a Psychology M.A., a B.B.A., and two years in the School of Fine Arts – all from U of M.
Charley Scull, PhD
Partner
Charley has worked as a lead qualitative, design and UX researcher, and key strategy partner in consumer insight spaces, across industries, for more than 20 years. Along the way, he has applied his background in cultural anthropology and visual storytelling to help clients better understand how and why their products and services move through the lived experiences of their customers in the ways that they do. In addition to working as a consultant and as an embedded team member with a number of innovation pods and labs, Charley spent more than five years working as a lead UX and pathfinder researcher at Meta Reality Labs, co-leading the internationalization team for consumer electronics. He holds a PhD in anthropology and an MA in Visual anthropology from the University of Southern California.
What We Do
We tackle questions lying at the heart of critical business decisions by bringing a cultural lens to the problems at hand. In our view there are always larger questions lurking in the smaller questions about everyday behaviors and taken-for-granted meanings.
We’re at our best working closely with client partners to advance your strategic goals. That might include product or service development, improving customer experiences, or building your brand resonance. We customize projects per industry, market, and research context.
While we’ve listed some common methods below, we’re well known in the industry as methodological innovators open to exploration. We’re also trainers and teachers, taking client organizations along on the research journey and sharing our knowledge.
Ethnography
Our core qualitative research method happens through interviews and observations of everyday life.
Cultural Analysis
Not just keen observers and listeners, we know how to make sense of culture and translate for your audiences.
Mixed Methods
Beyond qualitative methods, we also integrate a range of data inputs, including partnership with quantitative partners.
Semiotic & Brand Analysis
Semiotics decodes the meanings of cultural texts and evaluates their relevance in broader cultural context.
Training
We not only bring years of experience in doing research, but sharing insights and teaching colleagues at all skill levels.
Expert Interviewing
We’ve interviewed experts and leaders at all levels, translating their voices into actionable insights for your markets.
Past & Present Clients
Our creativity in delivering core business insights is reflected in the diversity of our clients and range of markets. Recent clients include:
“Practica bring the highest caliber skill set and broad academic knowledge, but they pair that depth with an ability to seamlessly bridge insights into opportunities for application. With Practica, we got more than just brilliant insights and storytelling; we got information we could use.”
Cheryl Dahle, Founder & Executive Director
