An Insight on Insights

A few months ago I attended a string of lectures from brilliant account planners. Although I’m a copywriter, I was only present out of obligation, but it wasn’t a wasted experience by any means. After all, you can always gain something of value from any experience if you pay attention, and gain I did. Perhaps, my greatest insight from this experience came from one of the first lectures I attended; it was about insights, incidentally.

Insight: Insights are the kernel of truth behind every observation.

I know, it’s nothing to gasp at, especially if you’re already involved in the ad industry, but the above isn’t easily applied. Insights are arguably the most important element behind crafting a creative brief, yet the inexperienced account planner (or student) often mistake insights for mere observations.

Insights are not isolated facts, observations, or what happened. Insights are revelations or the “why” behind the “what”. For example, an observation would be “People are skeptical about donating to charity organizations.” That’s all well and good, but you can’t create anything compelling out of that. Why are people skeptical about giving money to them? A decent insight would be “People don’t give money to charity organizations because they think they aren’t actually making a difference.” Then you get this campaign below. Enjoy!

It takes a lot of research and brainstorming to come up with a solid insight, but in doing so, it can aid in crafting an inspiring brief, one that will ultimately bring out the best in any creative. Thank you, account planners!