Insight.
It’s a word that has been bastardised in so many ways.
Well to be fair, the word hasn’t, but the meaning has.
I get really upset when I hear what some people pass off for ‘insight’ these days – but I’ve banged on about that so many times that I won’t waste my breath and your patience.
However I want to write about how you get it.
Of course there’s the classic disciplines … exploring, interviewing, reading, talking, dissecting, watching, living … however there’s another approach we’ve continually used that has proved to be very beneficial over the years …
Comedians.
No, I’m not talking politicians or bankers, I’m talking about the buggers who are paid to purposefully make you laugh.
Now there’s a couple of reasons for this …
1/ Many of them are experts in human observation and have an innate ability to express it in a meaningful and thought-provoking way.
2/ When you are working on a project that is literally sucking the life out of you, they can make you laugh – ensuring you don’t find yourself accidently repeatedly brushing a razor across your wrists.
Now I am not suggesting this could/should be done instead of the more classic approaches to insight development – god no – but what I am saying is that often they can provide either some ‘food-for-thought’ interms of how/why people act in specific ways OR give you inspiration as to how this can be expressed in a creatively interesting way.
There’s many ways you can do this, you can sit down and watch shedloads of comedy DVD’s – which is good for future ideas – or you can, as we have, go out and make friends with a bunch of funny guys and then, when appropriate, approach [and pay] them to hear their views and observations about particular issues or habits.
In all honesty, this method has helped us develop quite a few interesting things … from the ‘You Can’t Watch This’ campaign for SONY Bravia [based on Billy Connolly’s comment that ‘TV manufacturers were mad using TV advertising to show how good the picture was on their new TV’s because if it looked good on the set the viewer was watching at home, why the fuck would they bother going out to buy a new one?] through to proposing to GIO Insurance they become the official ‘life insurance’ company of the Jackass crew.
Now I know the 2 examples I’ve just given, don’t exactly represent core insight – more idea expression – but in all honesty, you’d be amazed how often we’ve found a comedian make an observation that opens up new doors both interms of strategy and creativity.
Look, I know this approach is nothing new or ground breaking – but when you look at the state of so much advertising today, anything that can drive more interesting yet resonant and relevant thoughts is worth exploring.
To get you started, have a look at this …
… or for a more American view, the brilliant George Carlin …
… so next time you watch a comedian, don’t just piss yourself laughing – write some of their human observations down [I mean literally, write them down. In a book or on your computer] because you have no ideas when they might come in handy.