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The Elegance of Analysis
Did you ever read about someone's job and say to yourself, "You can get paid to do that?" Maybe it was an ice cream taster, or a person who tests games all day or someone who lives in an unspoiled national park.
I have a job like that - I get paid to solve puzzles and figure out what data is trying to tell us about a client's problem or opportunity. I like nothing better than diving into a great big pile of messy data and finding some order in it. It doesn't matter if it's a set of dense computer tables or pages and pages of transcripts. I just love making sense of what, at first, appears to be the chaotic ramblings of a mega-source-us.
Sometimes the skeleton of the answer appears almost at the beginning and the process is more like applying layers of decoupage to a 3-dimensional model I'm making. Sometimes I begin to despair that there's any answer in there at all.
But there always comes a single moment when my mind can actually hear the data click into place - and the solution becomes apparent. When that happens, other facts rush to fill in the details to make the answer full-bodied and robust. It is a very creative feeling to be able to say, "Yes, this is what happened here." "This is the answer you should follow and the steps you should take next."
I enjoy the process so much it doesn't matter what the problem is...I joke that I'll analyze any set of data, no matter where or when. And that's why I'm so happy that I found Advertising Research my senior year in college. I think I would have been a most unhappy copywriter!
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| Consumer Insights |
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We like to call this section of Ideas to Share our "Consumer Insights" section and to share with you something we've observed or heard in our encounters with consumers across the many studies we conduct in a given year. Perhaps our biggest learning this year comes to us thanks to a wonderful document shared with us by Beatrice Bickel-Deserable from Lactalis.
In this deck which was shared with participants in a Creations Stationssm exercise, Beatrice gave us this wonderful definition of a consumer insight...
A consumer point of view ... capable of creating a connection with my brand/my product. Its usefulness resides in its truthfulness (in the eyes of the consumer it rings true, sounds correct, resonates with preoccupations and beliefs) and its leverage (serving our strategies).
Characteristics of a good insight....It sounds right but it leaves some suspense and is likely to create consumer engagement. This provides a launching pad and inspires consumer action.
So, when you're listening to your customers, think about what is really a consumer insight - sounds right and leaves some suspense to create consumer engagement. These nuggets provide the essential building blocks of a good marketing strategy. |
