20,000 Insights under the Sea
A frequently heard phrase for market research executives (from their clients) is… “We need more insights!”. Indeed, many a young researcher has found himself lashed to the crow’s nest of a larger brand tracker for months looking for site of these elusive beasts.
In Jules Verne’s classic 19th century novel, 20000 Leagues under the Sea, Professor Aronnax and master harpoonist Ned Land, spend many fruitless months searching for a mysterious monster, believed to be a giant narwhal.
On finding the ‘monster’, their ship charges into battle. During the fight, they are stranded on the “hide” of the creature, only to discover to their surprise that it is a large metal vessel: Captain Nemo’s submarine, The Nautilus.
A much over used word it maybe, but the need for “insight” is about to get ever more important.
Information has gone from scarce to superabundant. Monstrous amounts of customer data are appearing around the World. There is an unimaginably vast amount of digital information which is getting vaster ever more rapidly. What is scarce is the ability to extract wisdom from it, to extract the insight.
It is not uncommon in a market research report to read such statements as: “35% of busy moms listen to morning radio” or “Busy moms live time-pressurized live”. All too often these reports are full of basic data observations or superficial descriptions of the obvious.
Insights are often described rather vaguely as flashes of inspiration, brainwaves, and moments of genius. We define an insight as a piece of knowledge which enables a business to unlock more growth or value.
There are four ways to capture value:
- Increasing share
- Capturing more margin (raising price)
- Growing the market
- Reducing costs
Insights can come in many forms, for example:
- A weakness in competitive product performance
- A barrier in the minds of consumers regarding your brand
- Untapped or compelling belief or practice
But to capture value we need to change consumer behavior, and to change behaviour we need to know what motivates people. What are their needs, frustrations, desires, and wishes? And as we know now from neuroscience, the more emotional the better.
An insight needs to be based on an understanding of attitudes and beliefs, which connect at an emotional level with your customer:
For customers it provokes the response – This brand understands me! That is exactly how I feel! When leveraged, it has the power to change consumer behavior.
This is an insight:
Wet shaving is a far more masculine than using an electric shaver; it gives me that sense of complete control and focus throughout the shaving process which seems to be missing with an electric.
This is not an insight:
Modern razor blades are actually impossible to really cut yourself with, folding up harmlessly if pressed firmly against the skin
Flawed or flawless? Wrinkled or wonderful? Dream woman or real woman? What exactly is real beauty? That was a controversial challenge from Dove. Rather than show unrealistic images of beauty Dove showed women and realistic body shapes. It championed real women.
The insight was that stereotypes of beauty existed which created appearance anxiety for women globally. Many societies had become obsessed with appearance and the pursuit of perfection.
More importantly, they found that women were passionate about wanting to change this dynamic for future generations expressing a strong desire to create more positive education and discussion for young girls on beauty and body image.
Dove based their campaign on this insight and found the campaign to be its best ever and remains committed to pursuing the notion of real beauty as much more than just an advertising campaign. It has become a customer driven brand vision.
Products are now commoditized and customers are in control of markets. They are the lifeblood of your organisation. Customer insights will be the main source of competitive advantage in the future.
In summary: an insight is an observation or understanding, about consumer motivations, which can be applied to unlock business value. In other words – to get people on your side, exhibit empathy and show them you have their best interests at heart.
