HOW TO CREATE A SUCCESSFUL INSIGHT
We had the pleasure of having Ravid Kuperberg, the trainer of
Mindscapes as the keynote speaker of weCAN’s last annual meeting. Ravid was talking about the secret of how to create truly successful insights, which, in his own words, make a difference, not just make sense. The Mindscapes team analyzed award-winning campaigns and came to the conclusion that most of them follow certain patterns. This finding led them to differentiate three different patterns that can be identified as the foundation stone of many of the most famous campaigns from the last years.
Ravid pointed out that an insight is not a single revelation or Eureka moment but a chain of events encompassing three phases: observation, understating and the articulation of a new perspective about the brand. The campaign that
Procter & Gamble run during the London Olympic Games focused on Olympic athletes’ mothers. The observation here was that behind every great athlete there are moms (the actual target audience of P&G) who put a lot of effort so that their kid would succeed. But their almost superhuman efforts usually remain unnoticed and they don’t get the credit they deserve – which is the understanding element of the insight. The articulation of P&G’s new perspective is that the brand helps Olympic athletes’ moms to gain the recognition that they should receive. The insight resulted in a successful campaign because it was connected to the brand message and brand values while created a new perspective.
The first of the three recurring patterns that Ravid presented is the use of
internal or external conflicts. Conflicting desires and emotions result in inner tension or guilt that brands can offer a solution for. That was the pattern behind Spike Jonze's commercial for
IKEA that contrasted the desire to get something new and the attachment to something old.
Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches campaign was built on the discrepancy between the desire to feel beautiful and strong self criticism. Identifying these conflicts and offering a solution is what made these campaigns great.
Supporting a cause is another thinking pattern which can gain consumers’ sympathy and create an emotional bond between the brand and the audience.
Honda was fighting to save the Drive-In culture in America, a
Danish travel agency wanted to help Denmark's falling birth rate by promoting holidays, and the
Dela funeral insurance company inspired people to tell their loved ones how much they love them before it’s too late. The same pattern was followed by
Always’s #LikeAGirl campaign that aimed to keep girls' confidence high during puberty and beyond.
“The most powerful element in advertising is truth,” said Bill Bernbach, founder of DDB. Admitting that a brand has a weakness can actually turn the shortcoming into strength, if it’s done creatively. It takes a 119.5 seconds to pour the perfect pint of
Guinness, but good things come to those who wait. Australians were thinking that the four big local banks were in bed together to crush competition, so the
National Australia Bank broke up publicly with its competitors. A
dog shelter in Costa Rica promoted the adoption of mixed mutts depicting them as unique breeds. In all these cases the pattern was the
creative use of a problem – brands bravely faced a weakness, communicating it in a surprising or humorous way.
It is profitable to adopt this approach considering that 85% of Cannes award winners follow some pattern. It does not mean a lack of originality but a structured way of thinking, which is a great tool when it comes to creating insights.
Márton Varga, Marketing Manager, Café Communications
