The best reading about culture is Geert Hofstede’s Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. There, he talks about 4 manifestations of culture: Symbols, Rituals, Heroes and values which are most subjective. All of these can be effectively used when creating advertisements.

I did a masters in cross-cultural communication (MAIR) with an emphasis in online marketing. When I graduated, I thought I had simply spent 6 years of my life studying what I was most passionate about and wondered if companies would ever be interested in cultural studies.

Surprisingly, 2015 has been the year in which companies and marketers are beginning to understand that “culture” (group behavior) not psychometrics is what drives social media and most earned and content marketing.