Journey of Insight

Last month I met a friend over a cup of chai. A well-known film writer it was simply wonderful meeting him. The steaming cup in our hands and some interesting anecdotes from his world made me wonder why we did not meet often.

He narrated to me excerpts of the story he was developing. Suddenly my marketer’s hat stood up much like iron man suit as I asked him his source of all these story ideas.

His answer was simple: story ideas are all around us. Everything we see, touch, smell, hear, and taste has the story seed which has the potential to blossom into a full-fledged story.

For most of us, a full story idea isn’t something that springs up like a ‘Eureka’ moment. Instead, the idea emerges after the “seeds” is watered, nurtured and has flowered.

Ladies & gentlemen! What insights are to a marketer are same new story to film writer. Both have the imagination to think beyond and to see the unseen. In that sense, the intangible nurturing process defies attempts to be described or squeezed into a bullet list.

As Sudhir Sitapati mentions in his book “The Ceo Factory” ‘Insight come in all sizes and shapes and are useful not just in marketing’. When I connect this statement to my friend’s statement I had ‘aha’ moment.

My comprehension from this is that every marketer is like a film writer who is in search of a perfect story (perfect insight) for the next blockbuster.

So how do you find insight?

In my quest of excellence, I began learning design-thinking. The most important aspect to learn is the art of empathy. Insight or understanding is one of the foundations of design thinking.

To have a good judgement you need to be empathetic; you need to relate to everything under the sun. Design thinking does not usually come from reams of quantitative data that can be measured and converted into percentages to adorn pie charts.  

A better starting point is to go into the world and observe the actual experiences. Get into the local and chug along with the harried commuters, speak to college students and show compassion for their concerns, reach out to the office goers and so on.

The psychologist Jane Fulton Suri, one of the pioneers of human factors research, refers to the myriad “thoughtless act” that people perform throughout the day.

As a seasoned marketer I strongly back this view. I have personally experienced this on numerous occasions that people go about their lives in a mundane routine manner. These very people, who are my end consumers are fixed in their humdrum lives. However, their behaviour can provide us with invaluable clues about their range of unmet needs.

In one of our meeting, Sudhir had interestingly mentioned that whenever we went on our marketing tour especially to a region where language was an issue, we should not take an interpreter with us.

Why, you may ask?

He wanted us to immerse ourselves and get into the ‘shoes’ of our consumer. I tried it in TN. My understanding of my consumer was far better as I began to relate more to him on a humane level than as a brand manager. Instead of meeting six consumers, which was the plan, I spent the entire day with that one person. He gave me my ‘aha’ moment. I bonded with him. I empathized with him.

Empathy is an attitude which moves us to think of people more than just a standard deviation.

If we are to ‘borrow” the lives of other people to get new ideas, we need to recognize that their seemingly inexplicable lives are an illustration of different strategies.

As design thinker, it’s not about “us versus them” or even “us on behalf of them”. Instead, it is “us with them” – What a brilliant idea on how to find insight.

As Sudhir write ‘Framing insights requires three ingredients. The first is observation (it can be people, nature, or digital). You need to be a reader (after reading 500+ books in a span of 15 yrs – my view is simple: ‘Life without reading is an error). Try and strike a conversation with interesting people (those who are not from same the field). The most important is the ability to make lateral connections between disparate observations.

Lastly is the ability to make the insightful statement (sadly people confuse sagacity with observation). Wise, stirring statements should give you goose-bumps.

Take for example the pandemic we all are reeling under. I believe that corona-virus has come to teach us all a lesson. The pollution levels which were hitting the roof have as of now drastically decreased, people are spending time with their families, and the dignity of labour – today everyone, high flying executives included are taking their turn to help with house chores.

Few interesting insight so apt as mankind go thru some massive challenge!

Jo Darr Gaya Samjho Marr Gaya - Sholay

 Do not panic. Do not be afraid. These are testing times. Face the pandemic bravely. Every cough is not Corona. Do not die of a heart attack even before Corona gets you

“Haar ke Jeetney wale ko baazigar kehte hai” - Baazigar

Come on world, we will fight this pandemic and win

School keh bahar jab zindagi imtehaan leti hai to subject wise nahi leti - Hitchkii

This virus episode has truly explained the above insight – life takes your exam in all form and size. There is no option of preparation than mental prepration.

Kahin par pahunchne ke liye kahin se nikalna zaroori hai

We all are fighting this pandemic and all our goals are now like halted from all aspect but common on we all need to move out of this to reach our destination.

Great Product always win – To be continued…..

#stayinspired