DISCOVERING INSIGHT

FOR GROWTH & INNOVATION

INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION

Definition of insight

An insight is:
a very deep
understanding of the
Deep knowledge
motivation, attitudes,
beliefs, feelings and in the subject
frictions

seen in new light, Fresh new light

(provide a new point of view)

that when activated,

cause a reaction and Actionable
behavioral change
which will ultimately
for results
benefit the business.
INTRODUCTION

Process for insight generation

D - U - I Process

Data & Information

D Review important pieces of data, information on
consumers’ behaviors

Understanding
U Pick up cues, look for common threads, form
hypotheses to find out the underlying patterns

Insight
I Arrive at a high-potency insight, which the brand’s
role to resolve is strong and relevant
INTRODUCTION

The importance of insight

Can businesses operate

without insight? "
! Yes, in some cases (i.e. internet
service providers, basic commodities,…)

Yet, growth in these cases is:

- Diminishing over time
- Low value adding

It’s much better to have good

insight.

Good insight = GPS to point out

the direction
INTRODUCTION

The ultimate owner of insight

Who owns insight, and who is

responsible for the use of it? "
! Brand Managers (BM).
Because it is one of a few key
things BM uniquely owns alone
in the entire brand building
process.

Can brand agencies

challenge our insight? "
! Yes, they could and they should.
It’s a good check, and may lead
to new interpretation or
improvement in work.
AGENDA

DISCOVERING
INSIGHT

ARTICULATING
INSIGHT

TRANSLATING INSIGHT
INTO EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGNS
“Best time to plant a
tree is 20 years ago.
The second best time
is now.
Chiness proverb
DISCOVERING INSIGHT
STUDYING HABITS
Spot the patterns and its triggers
DISCOVERING INSIGHT

Studying Habits

The habit loop

The sign, the trigger What you do, your

that sets off a habit reaction to the cue

1 CUE BEHAVIOR 2

REWARD
The benefit you get
3 from the habit
DISCOVERING INSIGHT

Studying Habits

The habit loop: Why we use so much toothpaste

Putting paste over

Brush & Paste full length of the
brush and brushing
1 CUE BEHAVIOR 2

REWARD
Exceptional health benefits
3 after brushing
DISCOVERING INSIGHT

Studying Habits

& +
Freedom Well-being
,
Attractiveness Security

* -
Tradition Respect

) 15 UNIVERSAL %
Control
MOTIVATIONS Individuality

# $
Harmony Knowledge

' ♥
Leadership
! (
# Love

Fun Belonging
Self-indulgence
STUDYING
ANOMALIES
What’s odd? Why it happened?
 DISCOVERING INSIGHT

Studying Anomalies

Study of American students’

SITUATION academic performance
Poorer students outperformed rich
ANOMALY ones by large margin.
Why it happened?
Poorer students had to continuously
DISCOVERY do homework and practice exercises,
while rich kids could go on trips,
join other recreational activities,…

▸ Sometimes a bless is a curse

INSIGHT ▸ Material investment doesn’t
dictate success, but perseverance
and continuous practice.
 DISCOVERING INSIGHT

Studying Anomalies

Betty Crocker new cake mix

SITUATION included all ingredients for a cake,
and was expected to be a hit.
The sales was bad.
ANOMALY What happened?

Housewives felt “guilty”, like

DISCOVERY cheating, when using the cake mix.

By spending time and effort to bake

INSIGHT cake, housewives felt more like they
own it.

The company removed egg powder

SOLUTION from the cake mix.
DISCOVERING INSIGHT

Q&A

Is it a must for business and

brands to have insight before "
they can be successful?

! Not always; but it’s better to

begin with having one or a few
insights to improve chance of
winning in market place.

Why do we need so many

techniques and tools to solve "
the problem?

! Multiple tools allow better

understanding of problems,
enable development of more
effective solutions.
CONFLUENCE
When some noticeable behaviors
are results of multiple influences
DISCOVERING INSIGHT

Confluence

How combined trends influence each other’s and

people all at once:
Increase in
interracial marriages
in Vietnam

International integration Easier transportation

E.g. trade cooperation, regional E.g. more flights and cheaper
integration like ASEAN airline providers

Foreign language education Positive perceived images

E.g. language schools or online through entertainment content,
language courses at low cost e.g. Hollywood, Korean movies
are available in local language

Communication means
E.g. Facebook, Whatsapp, Viber,
Gmail… allow people to connect
despite global distance
A B

A B

UNDERSTANDING
FRUSTRATION
“As if” vs. “Should be”
DISCOVERING INSIGHT

Understanding Frustration

The birth of USB

?
DISCOVERING INSIGHT

Q&A

" Should we focus on heavy

users or non-users when we
look for insight?

- Non-users could tell us insight

about adoption barriers !
- Heavy users could tell us insight
about how to drive consumptions

" Could it be that different

insight finding techniques
yield different insights?

Yes, it’s possible.

Still, better use more than one !
technique as it allow us to later
choose which insight is more
impactful.
QUESTIONING
ORTHODOXIES
Asking “What if?”
DISCOVERING INSIGHT

Questioning Orthodoxies

“What if shopping cart can…”

1937 1946 1982

…be …carry
stacked? children?

…be returned to
the right place?

…scan …give
products? suggestion?

…replace
cashiers?
COMPREHENSION
OF THE EXTREMES
What made people do the extreme
behaviors?
DISCOVERING INSIGHT

Comprehension of the Extremes

Why studying the extremes may give you

better insight than talking to average consumers?

▸ Average consumers don’t know how to

express really what’s on their mind.

▸ Average consumers tend to give average

answers. Studying the extremes shows the
magnification of the insight’s impacts.

▸ Understanding extreme leads to more

impactful moves to convince of the market: if
the extremes are satisfied, so would others.
DISCOVERING INSIGHT

Q&A

" How do I know my insights

are right ones?

Final answer is if you see positive

impacts on your business once you !
make good use of those insights.

" Any other way to check the

validity of the insight?

Right insight allow creative and

communication planner to move !
forward with clarity of thoughts.
IMMERSION
Putting oneself through
consumers’ experience
 DISCOVERING INSIGHT

Immersion

Oral B asked IDEO to design

BRIEF
children’s toothbrush

TYPICAL ‣ Make smaller size version of

THINKING normal toothbrushes
‣ Use bright colors
‣ Add cartoon characters…
Those ideas were not working

Kids are not “smaller adults”, they

REASON have their unique challenges and
interest.
 DISCOVERING INSIGHT

Immersion

IDEO Watch kids brushing teeth, to walk

REQUEST through kids’ brushing experience

Really be there and observe with

IMMERSION undivided attention, experience
what kids go through.

Kids’ hand muscle, nerve, and motor

INSIGHT skills are underdeveloped compared
to adults. Hence, they lack the ability
to grab and making fine movements
of the brush like adults.
DISCOVERING INSIGHT

Q&A

What are the signals that you

have discovered a valid insight? "
! “AHA” experience:
a combination of surprise and
something familiar.

The feeling of “It’s me”,

“I thought I was the only one”:
relevance and familiarity

Tension: a need to improve an

existing situation
DISCOVERING INSIGHT

Q&A

" How long should I spend

identifying insights?

Spend as much time as you can.

Seeking to understand consumers !
should be an ongoing effort.

" What if I’m not sure that my

discovered insight is a good one?

Articulation techniques help

makes insight clearer: revisit !
your thoughts and rewrite
them in clearer fashions.
ARTICULATING
INSIGHT
ARTICULATING INSIGHT

The importance of insight articulation

High-potency insight
expresses the truth in inspirational
language which captures the imagination
of the audience

Low-potency insight
smothers the truth in complex, boring jargon
 ARTICULATING INSIGHT

What is NOT insight?

Numbers, facts
DATA
‣ Doesn’t explain WHY things happen

What anyone sees

OBSERVATION ‣
Doesn’t show how to reapply to other cases

CONSUMER What consumers say they need

NEED ‣ Doesn’t show why they need so

What brands wants to happen in

BRAND WISH
its favor
‣ Disregard consumers’ insights
ARTICULATING INSIGHT

Reintepreting universal truth

Giving “new point of view” towards what is already

generally known.

Example:
‣ Known: People are getting married later and tend to enjoy
life more than previous generation
‣ Articulation: 30 is the new 20

‣ Known: It’s hard to keep up with beauty standard brands

are showing me
‣ Articulation: Most beauty care brands are lying to me
ARTICULATING INSIGHT

Q&A

" Should I do the articulation

alone or should I do it in group?

It’s up to you.
Group articulation can bring more !
perspectives; or you can rely on
your own intuition and knowledge.

" What if my boss or boss’s boss

want to rewrite what I proposed?

Listen to them, while seeking to

understand their thinking and !
feelings too.
At the same time, you can press for
important aspects of your insight.
ARTICULATING INSIGHT

Dramatizing the obvious truth

Telling or delivering story like a play or movie”

Example:
‣ Known: Being mother is an unpaid duty, no break, loads of
pressures from every direction, life-time commitment that
you can never change (you can’t fire your kids). One of the
heaviest thing a woman can go through.
‣ Articulation: Motherhood is the best job in the world.

‣ Known: Having kids is tiring, it’s especially frustrating to

clean dirty cloth, restore dirty wall filled with colors and
doodles, clear up messy dining table caused by kids’ food.
‣ Articulation: It’s good children make a mess.

‣ Known: In any big party, usually, any of us is nobody.

‣ Articulation: You are (actually, want to be) a star in your
own right.
ARTICULATING INSIGHT

Evaluating insight articulation

A good insight:

‣ Explains why consumers think or do as what

they are doing

‣ Connects behaviors with emotions of consumers

‣ Pinpoints new aspects that bring greater value

consumers care about

‣ Give new perspectives, different point of views

to the fact
ARTICULATING INSIGHT

Q&A

" How far should I dramatize it?

Keep it in a sentence or two.

Keep the same elements from !
input, do not add in too many
new ones.

" Isn’t dramatizing the insight job

of creative agency?

Not yet.
Creative job is to dramatize the !
message created based on insight.
TRANSLATING INSIGHT
INTO
EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGNS
TRANSLATING INSIGHT INTO
EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGNS
What to do when presenting insight

‣ Give enough and easy to follow background

‣ Share information, assumption, methodology

‣ Prepare comparative examples/related

examples

‣ Have ultra-clear end in mind: “What is the

single desired behavior?”

‣ Be prepared for resistant, stay open, and

encourage Q&A
TRANSLATING INSIGHT INTO
EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGNS
Why being open minded helps earning
better results

‣ All of us have a change of being wrong

‣ It sets the mood for better collaboration

‣ If you fail, you have mental support to try again

TRANSLATING INSIGHT INTO
EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGNS
Q&A

" What are general mistake you

have seen the work regarding
work on insight?

Too much ego &lack of humility

= sure failure !
" How do we know our agency
friends makes good use of
our insights?

Good agency helps rearticulate

the shared insights. !
Also, a good campaign will lead
to desired response.
THANK YOU!