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Activating and embedding insight ' Feeling is believing

Posted by on 26 May 2016
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By:
John Sayers
Insight communication has an increasingly
important role in the research process and in the business world in general. It
is no longer acceptable for the responsibilities of a research agency to stop
at the debrief, more often than not, that is when the real work starts. It is
also when the work begins in earnest for the client.
Insight needs to be supported on its
journey and given wings, so that greater value, impact and understanding can be
gained from it. This makes the role of research more valuable and the wider
industry more of a partner of the business than simply a supplier, cementing it
as a transformational role, rather than a transactional one.
There are all sorts of ways to communicate
insight and bring research to life, from the simplest infographic to a fully
immersive experiential event. Using internal poster campaigns, digital
platforms and apps or events and installations. The possibilities are endless,
budgets and creativity (or lack of them) are the only limiting factors. However,
it is important to choose the right tool for the job. Insight recommendations
need to be influencing not just the influential within a business but sometimes
everyone, connecting them with the customer, making the means of communication
vitally important.
For example, Virtual Reality films are an
extremely effective option for customer immersion. They can bring a sense of
immersion that is game-changing in terms of bringing real people and their
needs and issues into the board room. Unlike a traditional customer connect
program that is a moment in time never to be repeated and very often only
reported afterwards via a few PowerPoint slides or word of mouth, VR films are
reusable and easily transferable around a business via an app and a VR headset,
like HTC's Vive or Google's $15 Cardboard. They are memorable and create a buzz
within an organisation. They can put the viewer right there in the room, at the
moment of insight, so they can 'experience' the lives of their customers. It
creates a level of empathy and understanding for a person or situation. Feeling
is believing'and empathy is key to feeling.
Socialising insight within a business is
important, be that bringing understanding and familiarity with a segmentation
or highlighting a real customer issue or tension to a service design team. It's
possible to deploy tactical, current, topical streams of information at the
right times and in the right channels, so they are easily picked up by
employees without having to be searched for, it helps align understanding and
thinking. For some employees, it could be the first time they have ever 'met' a
customer.
There are exciting times ahead - clients
are demanding more engagement and ROI from research and, by bringing customer
based insights to life, research is becoming more integral to the internal
dialogue within the business, really moving them towards the customer
centricity they often speak of and long for.
Insight communication employing the
creative use of new technologies (along with some old and established ones) is
perfectly placed to drive this increasingly important role. It's a whole new
discipline, a whole new industry, energising research output, making it more
human and ensuring businesses have both an "inside out" and
"outside in" approach for both their customers and employees.
About
the Author: John comes from an advertising background having previously been a
designer, art director and creative director. For the last decade, he has been
the Creative Director of Firefilms and has focused his attention on the capture
and communication of insight using film, while also developing award-winning
methodologies.
He
has also just launched Insider, which deals solely with the communication of
insight in creative ways using film, print, digital, events and experiences. John can be reached on Twitter @InsiderInAction and via his website www.InsiderInAction.com.

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