Consumer Insights
Some truths may be self-evident, but why people buy isn't one of them

Imponderables abound in marketing. Like, the reason low-income shoppers abhor generics, why Alka Seltzer will not die, what sells SUVs to city boys and why a cover shot of a woman spilling out of her dress will attract both men to Playboy, and women to Cosmo.

When marketers want to know these things they can go by hunch, history and various kinds of research. That’s a given. The hard part is to transform the findings to effective advertising ideas. That part is creative.

But here’s the rub. A great gorge separates the kinds of people who are at home with the print-outs of research responses, and those who occasionally leap on a table and burst into, “Gotta dance.” And therein lies the most essential talent of agencies.

Agencies know how to build bridges between right-brained and left-brained people. It’s an attribute client organizations have never been able to duplicate and probably never will.

Agencies can keep the most diverse types of people buzzing in harmony.

Advertising agencies know how to cater to, reward and revere those non-numerical, disorganized and sometimes counter-culture people who can turn a strategy into an emotional communication that can open eyes, ears and purses.

How do they do it? Not by gritting their teeth, but by smiling. Agencies devote great energy to creating the roles and means of intramural synergy.

One such role goes by the title of Account Planner. An AP has one foot planted in Research and the other in Creative. It take special training and a good deal of talent to play this part well, but when it’s done right, the rewards are right on the money.

The AP knows how to interpret data and re-issue it in the form of Consumer Insights. And when the creative team gets its incisors into a meaty Consumer Insight, creative ideas begin to flow. Here are a few Insights that made things happen:

“It’s an orange, no a lemon. Hey’ I’m cured!”

An OTC antihistamine: The brand had languished for years until the AP found that many people realize their airways are finally clear when that they can smell food again! The “blindfold/smell-spot” turned the brand around.

For an SUV: What can sell SUVs to urban buyers? The names “Explorer”, “Pathfinder” and “Blazer” tell it all. But the AP added topspin by steering the creatives to Paul Hogan, AKA Crocodile Dundee, who took Subaru from obscurity to the big time.

For lawn fertilizer: Scotts and Toro don’t sell products, they sell pride. And APs know that the flip side of pride is envy. The most effective spots in the fertilizer and mower category involve neighbors admiring the genius of the guy who uses the product.

For a medical equipment store: “Now I can go shopping.” Everybody knows that the worst thing about being sick is confinement. With walkers, crutches or scooters, patients can get out and visit people. APs saw beyond that and knew that the most effective incentive is that they can go shopping again!

But Account Planners don’t have a lock on observing people. With a few simple truths, you might be able to see beyond the surface and find Consumer Insights on your own. Here are some things to keep in mind.

1. A Consumer Insight is NOT about the product, it’s about the consumer.
2. It’s a hint, a belief, (sometimes a fear) that the consumer has about the product.
3. Here’s a sure-fire sign. It will make creative people say “AHA! Now I know what it will take to make that target say ‘YES.’”

At that point, you have but to smile inwardly and quietly step out of the way.

Dennis Altman is an advertising consultant and a UK Professor of Advertising and Public Relations

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