But don't call people like Bell and Squires "coolhunters." Anthropologists are quick to point out the differences between themselves and the trendspotters who have garnered much media attention in the past few years.
"We steer clear of them," says Intel's Egido. "We find their work very ephemeral and short-lived, with no fundamental grounding in basic behaviors."
Big business' growing appetite for corporate anthropologists has traditional academics concerned. Marietta Baba, chairwoman of the anthropology department at Wayne State University in Detroit, says corporations may actually violate the anthropologist code of ethics, which stipulates that scholars not use their knowledge to promote products that are harmful or unnecessary.
"Anthropologists are really afraid that the well will be poisoned by people who haven't thought through the consequences of what they're advising," says Baba, citing retailers that have used suggestions for branding to sell clothes to inner city teenagers who can't afford them.
But Squires insists that the anthropologist's job is to advocate for the consumer from within the corporation: "It's better to help find products people need," she says, "than to convince them to buy something they don't need or want."
Still, it seems the corporate anthropologist has come full circle. Many colleges and universities are now looking for professors with business experience to help train what they're euphemistically calling "practicing anthropologists."
And Squires has gone back to her old title - even if her kind of digging still doesn't require a shovel.
