When it comes to insights, the best creative strategist in the world is Jerry Seinfeld.
Any one of his bits can be made into the basis of a great ad.
He notices something strange about the world, the human condition.
Something missed, under-appreciated or taken for granted.
And then reframes it as something else.
That revelation, that truth makes us laugh.
Viscerally, involuntarily and memorably.
He calls it a joke.
I call it a great insight.
The best insights aren’t ‘smart.’
They aren’t intellectual.
They aren’t even necessarily difficult hard to find.
And they almost never comes from an ‘a-ha’ moment (groan).
Their magic lies in their articulation, not their fabrication.
An equivalency made between two seemingly incongruent thoughts.
A twist of concept.
A simple turn of phrase.
A bridge between contradictions.
Next time, you’re doing consumer research — hunting for that mystical insight — look for the ridiculous.
When consumers admit what they’re saying makes no sense, they just ‘know’ it’s true — you’re probably close.
When consumers giggle at themselves as they’re telling you — you’re probably close.
When consumers say to each other “You do that too? I thought I was the only one” — you’re probably close.
Find the silly in what consumers are telling you.
Better yet, write what you hear as a joke.
Then re-write it again. And again, again, again, until your mom laughs at it.
Life is funny.
Insights about it should be, too.
That joke, that laugh, that ‘huh!’ is the ultimate trojan horse for effective persuasion.
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