Method Behind the Madness: Inspiring Creative with Insights

Does your brand have a strong creative direction? I’m not just talking about catchy taglines or quirky ads. I’m talking about a messaging road map inspired by a really good idea. A campaign-inspiring, action-driving, research-based good idea. The kind of idea that comes from insight-driven creative.

As a Consumer Insight Strategist at Lawrence & Schiller, I know our target audiences like the back of my hand. My main role is to help turn that knowledge into impactful, needle-moving creative. Some of my favorite work happens when I get to work with our creative team and use research and insights to inspire and direct creative efforts. And how do I accomplish that? While using research to select markets and discover audiences is an obvious way to utilize data, the relationship between the Consumer Insights and creative team is stronger than you might expect.

Sure, data and research may not seem related to the creative process, but this is where the work of the Consumer Insights team differs from traditional research. While traditional research reports the “what,” our Consumer Insights team pushes further to explain the “why.” We find the story the research is telling and craft insights that inform strategy and direct how we reach our audiences.

The purpose of a good creative insight and background intel is not to tell the Creatives what to make, but to offer direction. We craft on-the-mark messaging by knowing our target audience’s interests, behaviors and emotional triggers.

I like to use an analogy to describe this process: A marketing campaign is like a road trip. An insight shows the creative team our destination. It lets the creative team find the route we will take to get there and the stops we should make along the way. Providing Creatives the story surrounding the audience and the “why” helps drive the strategic message while letting the Creative team do what they do best: create.

Insights and data lead to a clearer understanding of our audiences and what inspires them. The partnership between Insights and Creative is something you cannot overlook. When creative and insights work together, the delivery and execution of a product have the best odds to speak to our audiences’ needs and desires while providing real results.

So next time you have a project, make sure you’re getting a creative direction, not directionless creative. And make sure your Creative and Insights team are getting along.