Comment - July 2007

As marketers we hold the fortunes of our customers in our hands. We help mould and influence the direction their products have in the market that will ultimately determine success or failure. Are consumer insights the answer to every marketer's prayer for success?  

If you are reading this article, chances are you are a marketer - be it from the client or agency side, in advertising, branding, CRM, etc. When we marketers make recommendations or for that matter offer strategic plans, is there a clear right or wrong path? The decision to even make cosmetic changes that might drastically alter the way a product is perceived is often not based on any clear evidence of real consumer needs.
 
To limit such risks, we invented ‘Consumer Insights'.  We started analysing what drives consumers' demands, their likes and dislikes, what they do and when they do it. We conducted campaign tests, gathered tonnes of data and continually refined our marketing approaches to optimise ROI for clients.
 
Has it been simple modelling customer attitudes into 0s and 1s? Does all this quantification help predict the future or their tastes more accurately? Although the TV series ‘Numb3rs' might try to convince us how statistics can be used to predict outcomes more accurately, perhaps such modelling is just utopian fantasy and too simplistic when applied to real life situations.
 
In my opinion, consumer insight is not the Holy Grail but a path that will eventually allow us to acquire it. Data and consumer insights are the same for everyone.  It is how and how much we use it that makes the difference.

We marketers still hold the key in our hands. The solutions lie in our minds.  

Consumer insights point us in the direction of the key to unlock the doors to consumer minds. In the past, these doors were not locked properly. With fewer options to choose from, consumers learnt to unlock the door themselves. Since they chose based on their tastes, consumer attitudes got internalised. Thus they eventually managed to lock their attitudes and protected themselves. We should to some extent be blaming ourselves now that it has become more difficult to reach inside them. With a plethora of similar products to choose from nowadays, consumers switch more frequently than ever before, are less brand loyal and most importantly have become more unpredictable.
 
Consumer insights are the keys that can help you gain access. But you still have to find the right combination, the right door and the right fit. The solution is in your hand but requires creativity, ingeniousness and somehow a little bit of madness.

Let's not limit ourselves and lock ourselves with those keys. Apple did not succeed with the iPod because of just customer insights gained through tried and tested methods. The customer will never be able to predict what they will like in the future simply because they do not know. You do...as you have the insight and a finely tuned sense of the market. Like Steve Jobs, you need to have the vision and then apply it to your company, your product and your campaign.

Use customer insight as an aid to your thought process, not as the definitive guide. We still hold the key of the future in our hands, through our understanding of the X factor that can never be accurately modelled - and that is why I still love my job.  It is an endless adventure to discover the Holy Grail.

Gregory BirgeRegional Client Lead Asia, Team Microsoft

General Manager Wunderman Singapore