Monday, November 06, 2006
Big ideas from the Idea conference
Alex Bogusky from Crispin Porter. Ann Saunders from Starbucks. And the guy that built Second Life...they were all there to exchange ideas and "ideate" further at AdAge and Creativity Magazine's first ever Idea Conference.
AdAge has a list of the 18 Big Ideas to come out of the conference, and curiously #2 and 17 conflict just a tad. One of the big ideas to come out, which we hear every, say month or so (and do believe in, incidentally) is to "trust your gut and not research." What we believe about this is that great advertising resonates the most with the people who create it - and many times those creators are not inspired by a research deck, charts, and graphs, etc. - but by a human truth that resonates among the team creating it. Great ideas are met with a collective "ah-ha!" and typically applauded for their simplicity. Ever seen a brilliant ad execution ("Got Milk" kind of a thing) and said to yourself, "that's so simple - I could have thought of it?" That is a brilliant idea formed by the team's knowledge of human truths. And was it "tested" with consumers? No! Because brilliant ideas don't need to be validated - they just are. So on one hand we agree wholeheartedly with the notion that a team must trust its gut.
But number 17 on the Big Ideas list illustrates how a designer working on IKEA found inspiration by following a child around for a day and observing life from his vantage point. This led to fresh, eye-opening insights that had a direct impact on new product development. THAT, my friends, is research - not the kind of statistically-based research our clients often think of because their reference point is their quantitatively-driven marketing analytics department - but the kind of research that leads us to human truths that make emotional connections between people and advertising, and people and products.
So when your client objects to doing consumer research, citing a silly reference like "96.8% of statistics are made up" - be sure to point out that research takes all forms - and that the insights we look for in advertising - human truths - have at their core the desire to find the "ah-ha" moment that resonates with us all. Trusting our guts is positively always a good thing - but sometimes we need to be inspired with new ideas and insights to elicit the desired reaction.
Alex Bogusky from Crispin Porter. Ann Saunders from Starbucks. And the guy that built Second Life...they were all there to exchange ideas and "ideate" further at AdAge and Creativity Magazine's first ever Idea Conference.
AdAge has a list of the 18 Big Ideas to come out of the conference, and curiously #2 and 17 conflict just a tad. One of the big ideas to come out, which we hear every, say month or so (and do believe in, incidentally) is to "trust your gut and not research." What we believe about this is that great advertising resonates the most with the people who create it - and many times those creators are not inspired by a research deck, charts, and graphs, etc. - but by a human truth that resonates among the team creating it. Great ideas are met with a collective "ah-ha!" and typically applauded for their simplicity. Ever seen a brilliant ad execution ("Got Milk" kind of a thing) and said to yourself, "that's so simple - I could have thought of it?" That is a brilliant idea formed by the team's knowledge of human truths. And was it "tested" with consumers? No! Because brilliant ideas don't need to be validated - they just are. So on one hand we agree wholeheartedly with the notion that a team must trust its gut.
But number 17 on the Big Ideas list illustrates how a designer working on IKEA found inspiration by following a child around for a day and observing life from his vantage point. This led to fresh, eye-opening insights that had a direct impact on new product development. THAT, my friends, is research - not the kind of statistically-based research our clients often think of because their reference point is their quantitatively-driven marketing analytics department - but the kind of research that leads us to human truths that make emotional connections between people and advertising, and people and products.
So when your client objects to doing consumer research, citing a silly reference like "96.8% of statistics are made up" - be sure to point out that research takes all forms - and that the insights we look for in advertising - human truths - have at their core the desire to find the "ah-ha" moment that resonates with us all. Trusting our guts is positively always a good thing - but sometimes we need to be inspired with new ideas and insights to elicit the desired reaction.
