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Gaining Insights in the most unpredictable places

One of the most challenging parts in the creation of a campaign is detecting the insight on which the main idea of the campaign will be based. Too often, either the importance of this task is underestimated or, the means of revealing a powerful insight are missing. The result in both cases, as we can see in alas, too many campaigns, is either a boring ad with an over-chewed message/claim, or a good creative idea which doesn’t affect consumers due to lack of relevance or credibility.

Personally, I regard uncovering insights as one of the most creative and crucial parts of any campaign. Like a creative idea for an ad, one is looking for something without knowing how this 'thing' looks.

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, a Nobel laureate biochemist, once said: "Discovery consists of looking at the same things as everyone else and thinking something different", and I think this is very relevant for insight digging as well.

But again, is there a method or are there really tools or rules for gaining insights? The answer will vary according to the person whom you ask. Here I would like to discuss an approach that you may find helpful in this regard.

Take a look at the Guinness ad and think what was the insight on which the campaign (which started some good 9 years ago or so) was based?

Not too difficult ah? Now take a look at this Marmite spot
YouTube - Toby Mace: Marmite

We can clearly see that in both cases one doesn’t have to go far away to look for the insight in those campaigns. Actually they were probably both mentioned already in the client's brief to the agency. Not as the insight but, most likely, as the main problem the campaign had to deal with!

It certainly requires some courage to admit the main problem of the brand in the campaign, as Guinness is doing when sharing with us in their ads that when you order Guinness you have to wait quite some time until the foam melts and you can actually start drinking it; or in the case of Marmite admitting to the whole world that many people actually hate the product! Yet, both brands enjoy immediately the trust of consumers, who recognize the truth of the situation (and isn’t it one of the powerful benefits of using a strong insight?) and can therefore listen further to what the brand may offer them.

Usually, the brief the agency gets from the client consists of a list of problems that has to be solved or addressed in the communication. And then we usually start to think how to hide these problems and promote the brand by saying something positive and attractive about it. However, those problems, which the client has mentioned in the brief may sometimes be, in and of themselves, the Insight that we are desperately looking for! If we are ready to look at them as such. This requires a shift in our perspective, or as Szent-Gyorgyi suggests to us "looking at the same things as everyone else and thinking something different". That is, to look at problems as the solution, or as an opportunity to offer a new solution and shift our perception and that of consumers.

By doing so we can have a fresh look at the marketing/client brief and ask ourselves which of the problems mentioned here can serve as an Insight? Which of the problems of the brand: its size versus the competition (remember Avis' "we try harder"?), consumption problems (such as having to wait long before one can enjoy a Guinness), or getting the product out from the package, like in this Heinz ad, can we see as an insight and the basis for

a new proposition for the brand?
So the client's brief or the problems of the brand may become a fertile ground for gaining insights, if we are ready to adopt this new perspective, and be courageous enough to admit the existence of a problem in the communication. Certainly, we need to have a client who is ready to go along with this, and it is not that easy to have such. Yet, we can remind ourselves and our clients as well, of Bill Bernbach's old yet pertinent observation-"one of the most powerful elements in advertising is truth".

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To learn more about the full range of creative tools and approaches for gaining insights, and how to create powerful ads by admitting a problem and telling the truth to consumers, see Creative Brief & Insights or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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