Let us first start by understanding what an insight is. For this let’s take an example.
Walk up to your boss in, say, two years from now and tell him: “Do you know all the guys in my college batch are making more money than I do? And watch his reaction. Our guess is he will say: “How very interesting. Perhaps you’re working in the wrong place.” End of the conversation.
But take your time carefully and say casually: “I guess you know boss that brand XYZ has increased its market share by 40 per cent because of that idea I had given a couple of months back.” He will be more interested and willing to speak to you as you are talking business and figures.
What is the point of this example? Think of your boss as your consumer. You want to be paid more – in other words take a price increase on the product - in this case the product being you.
The first statement, even though it could be a fact, gets you nowhere. The second will definitely make him listen to you because you are talking sales and business.
This statement is an insight. The insight is that “rewards” in a company come automatically to those who build brands. In advertising terms, a good insight is a relevant, deeper, specific, unique, and empathetic understanding of the consumer.
* Relevant to the product and how it fits into consumers’ life.
* Deeper means not what everybody already knows or believes.
* Specific means specific, not a generalised statement or a cliche.
* Unique means not an invention or a figment of the imagination, but a previously undiscovered or forgotten truth, sometime you did not know you knew.
* Empathetic means you understand the consumer so well, almost as well as I understand myself. Here are some of the types of consumer insights which we use for our clients.
This is by no means complete. However it will help us provide as framework to start with.
Human insights – Driven by the consumers’ feeling and thoughts about the time we live in. It expresses the way consumers feel and think within. Which is how, by themselves, they are capable of creating a preference and making a final buying decision.
However, a powerful human insight linked to a superior product with a good benefit can convince even sceptical consumers and works successfully in categories that need more convincing, for instance detergents.
Category insights - Driven by what the category stands for in the mind of the consumer. A category insight is generic to the entire category. Most of its power comes from the fact that the competition is unaware of it or has never used it.
At the very least, it can give you dos and don’ts. At best, it can lead to a very powerful new idea for a campaign. If it is unique and you own this territory from the very start, your brand has the potential to become synonymous with the category.
Performance insights - Driven by the way consumers actually experience the performance of a better product. Highly necessary in categories that need a lot of convincing.
Linked to a powerful human insight, it has the potential to build your brands over the years.
Experiential insights - Driven by the experience of a problem, the way the consumer experiences the product, etc.
CREDIT: The writer is the Account Director at Venture Communications.
