In this first interview by the VIA Task Force on Consumer Insights, we engage with the market about how they are using the Maturity Model.
The mission of the VIA Consumer Insights Taskforce is to help marketers use insights intelligently in developing marketing and communications strategies. One of the tools they have developed to do this is the "Model of Insights.
To investigate whether the model is achieving the desired effect, the task force is engaging with several peers.In this interview, task force members Youri Harmsen, Strategy Director at Springbok, and Martijn Jaartsveld, Strategy Director at STROOM, talk with Esther Overmars, Strategy Lead at Springbok (formerly Dawn), and Maurice Barten, marketer with nearly 20 years of experience in digital, e-commerce and retail at Bol.com, Albert Heijn, Marktplaats and Jumbo, among others.
Maurice's working life involves a lot of collecting (the right) data and interpreting it to get the best out of marcom channels. Esther, on the other hand, uses interpreted data much more to make a difference at the brand level and campaign communications. Since both roles are essential in the marcom chain, it is fascinating to hear where their insights align and where they do not.
To get right to the point: what do you guys think of the model? Does it bring overview, is it useful?
MB: The reason for the task force article makes sense to me. With all the data available today, it's important to know what you're looking for. "From scarcity you get smarter" they sometimes say. I think that applies to working with insights as well.
With all the data out there now, it's nice to structure. A model can help with that. If you want to work with insights now, you really have to describe very precisely what you would like to know and what you are looking for a solution for. If you immediately start looking for insights in breadth, you will not get to where you want to be. It just starts with smartKPIsand saying what you want to achieve. You can translate that into data needed to create the KPIs. This data can tell you if you've succeeded or not, but you need context to come up with real insight that you're going to use to interpret everything correctly. It's good for our profession that we continue to evolve in this.
EO:I think the model shows well how different understandings are viewed from our profession. The model is a simplification of the truth. It shows how things relate and how different specialists in our industry can look at the same data. I think the model helps us understand each other's language better.
That is indeed one of the ideas behind the model. Learning to understand each other better. The definition of an insight is not the same for everyone. The meaning of an insight we use as a task force is: `Placing linked information in relevant context which gives direction to a solution.' In your view, what is an insight and what does it have to meet?
EO: What strikes me is that facts and insights are often seen as the same thing, but to me they are not the same thing. You get a fact from research, from data. For example, a fact is that 75% of the target audience finds the current ideal of beauty unrealistic. An insight comes after you start questioning a fact. What does that beauty ideal do to the target audience, and why does it do that to them? A fact describes something that you can perceive that way. An insight is about understanding something on a deeper level.
And how does data relate to insights?
MB: Data is basically nothing. It's stuff you have to add context to, only then does it become information. From that information, you can create insights again. When you start a campaign, you start with a hypothesis. To validate that hypothesis, you collect data. You add context. Context that, by the way, really doesn't have to be based solely on facts. To develop a successful campaign, you always have to bring together feeling and reason. In my opinion, what is often underestimated is the knowledge and experience of people who have been in the business for years. Their knowledge is incredibly valuable. It enriches your data and thus the insights you derive from it.
Do you have a practical example of that?
MB: At Jumbo, we worked a lot with marketing mix models. We built our own model and one thing we know for sure is that it is not the truth, but it is better than what we had. I always realize that data are neither perfect nor perfect, but the best I can have at that moment. If you say "perfection is not my goal" either, the Model of Insights can help you make better decisions than you did yesterday.
EO: The campaign of outdoor retailer Beaver, there is a powerful insight underneath. They built their entire campaign on the idea that not everyone is an outdoorsman, but no one is an indoorsman either. Thinking from this angle opens up a world of possibilities. You basically say: our store is for everyone who goes outside. Whether that's walking the dog or climbing a mountain.
I also find the insight on which our own campaign for de Baak is built strong. De Baak is a training institute where you can develop personally. Self-development is extremely hot, of course. Just look at the proliferation of books, podcasts and coaches. Those are the facts. But we also saw something else: fatigue and even cynicism about self-development. From there came the insight that all these coaches and gurus increasingly make people feel inadequate if they don't participate in them. Not exactly liberating, since we already have so much to do in this performance society. There lay the opportunity to be truly relevant. De Baak had to start giving space. So in the campaign we call for people to simply stop.
Good advertising that has become part of culture often has a very good insight behind it as well. But, it is the creative translation that adds magic to that. I sometimes see campaigns where, so to speak, the insight literally ends up in the voice-over. I think that's a missed opportunity creatively. For example, something like "did you know that 40% of entrepreneurs don't have proper accounting?". So a missed opportunity.
When you start working with insights, is there a roadmap?
EO: I always look first at what the commercial challenge is. How are we going to address it? What do we need for that? What is going on in the market? From there I start thinking about what communication can contribute to address that challenge. And eventually an insight follows from there. That also has to be an answer to that commercial issue. That's why I like the example of Bever so much. It is that insight that provides the opening to broaden the target group considerably and thus grow commercially. They attract the whole 'outside' category to themselves.
Maurice, you have a lot of experience in the supermarket/retail industry. Are certain insights particularly important to you there?
MB: It depends on where in the funnel we are campaigning. If you're doing a brand campaign, you look much less at the checkout hits and what's happening directly in sales in the stores. But if bread is on sale this week, you do look at bread market share versus the competition. That's the needle you want to move.
But whether you work in the retail, supermarket or FMCG industries, the challenge of arriving at good insights is the same for everyone and starts everywhere with data collection. Collecting data in itself is easy, but collecting good accurate data is quite difficult. I think more digitally oriented marketers have a slight edge here. Those have grown up with data, asking questions, KPIs and things like that. Most - traditional - marketers still need to take some steps in that area. With them, the realization has yet to grow that it is not only about the process, but also about the product and its result.
Do you think the Consumer Insights Maturity Model can help the "traditional marketer" in this regard?
EO: In any case, it can certainly contribute to it.
MB: Whether the Consumer Insights Maturity Model can help the "traditional marketer" depends on several factors. Among them are the level of maturity of their current drive in terms of data and insights and how open they are to change and growth. But if they want to stay `in the game' they have to. Consumer needs and expectations are evolving so rapidly. Gathering insights is then essential for companies that want to be and remain successful.
This interview previously appeared on Adformatie