I was meeting with an advertising agency and one of the team members talked constantly about new insights. After we explored his insight, it seemed to me he was talking about an observation not an insight.

I’ve seen the word on job descriptions, data aggregators claim to produce insights, clients request them and agencies claim to produce them.

The word ‘insight’ is a case of over-promising and under-delivering

One explanation for the insight inflation is organizational: The executives responsible for producing insights are often located in the research and data aggregation department, trying to find small gems that may affect marketing. This can be on the client side or done through planners in the agency.  The other reason is that people believe everybody can observe but not many can be insightful

So, what’s the difference between an observation versus an insight?

Determining that new homeowners are more likely to buy a new car is an observation.

Understanding that putting snacks at the checkout register will increase sales dramatically because parents want to calm down/reward their kids is an observation.

According to Dictionary.com, an insight is an instance of apprehending the true nature of a thing, especially through intuitive understanding. I’ve been working in advertising for more than 15 years and I haven’t encountered many insights. I don’t mind it because I’d rather reserve light bulb moments for science.

I worked with a global airline the last two years and they wanted to understand why they had problems attracting business class customers. We looked through all the data, did focus groups, interview prospects one-on-one. We had many observations and no insights. The breakthrough came when we observed passengers in the business class lounge. They were more concerned getting to the lounge than getting to the final destination. Once you’re in the lounge, you’re in the luxury bubble that protects you until you pick up your luggage. This observation led to an insight: If you can extend the luxury bubble from the usual airport to airport to home to hotel, business class passengers will be more willing to buy your product.

Observations are rooted in data. Insights are rooted in outside sources.

Insight is rare ,“apprehending the true nature of a thing”, since we often have to find a different way of expressing similar ideas to the competition. What’s the difference between Chase and Wells Fargo? Toyota and Honda? Goodyear and Pirelli? There’s no insight that can make a difference, the solution lies in how you say things, the advertising idea. Trust me, a lot of brilliant people try to find insights for these brands and markets, they are just as rare as hitting the $800 million jackpot.

There are some extremely rare planners and creative’s out there, hitting the jackpot once in a blue moon. Millions wait for jackpots, just to end up a few bucks poorer. Maybe it’s time to elevate the importance of observations. A great novelist makes a living with observations, stand-up comedians do. Just like observations bring a brand to life.

Google just rolled out a new product aimed at providing additional revenue for publishers. The new product, Google Customer Surveys, is being marketed as an alternative revenue model for publishers weighing whether to erect paywalls on their sites.

How does it work?

When users visit the web sites of Adweek, New York Daily News or the Texas Tribune, they’ll find some articles that are partially blocked. If they want to continuing reading, they’ll have to answer a question or two. Thank you, Google.

It might be questions like “What’s your favorite alcohol? Gin, Wodka, Beer, Wine or Whisky?” or “Are you planning to buy a smartphone in the next 6 months?”

Advertisers pay Google to run the surveys and gain insights, and Google pays sites 5 cents per response. Publishers can choose to frequency-cap or erect the survey-wall on all stories.

Will it work?

It’s increasingly hard for brands to gain insights through surveys. Too many of them and slim chances to win the all-elusive $10 Amazon card. People just stopped answering questions. While Social Media delivers actionable insights, many smaller or mid-size brands don’t have the money to pay for the luxury of social insights. In my personal experience, the first time I encountered the microsurvey, I was surprised. Still, since I wanted to read the content, I answered the questions truthfully. Within 2 days, my behavior changed dramatically. Whenever I go to an Adweek article, I expect the survey and my mind goes blank until I answered the questions without even reading them anymore. Even worse for publishers: Whenever I encounter a link from surveywall, I hesitate to even click on it because I know I have to do work to get to the content.

My expectation: You will see more of these microsurveys because they are a bit friendlier to users than strict paywalls. Over time, the survey results will become useless and the readership of the survey-wall sites will decrease. That will be the end of it. And the publishers bandwagon of finding new ways to monetize will move on.

They make me work harder.

They make me stay up really late.

They make me look at my contribution to advertising over and over again.

Because BBH rocks.

In their description for above video, they write:

“The pace of change in China is unique. It is tangible. It is visible. Johnnie Walker’s Yulu project presents 12 pieces of film using China’s most influential documentary film director Jia Zang Khe, and 6 of his directorial protegees. These films lay bare the aspirations, commitment and depth of a group of young Chinese people (businessmen, actors, entrepreneurs, musicians, etc.) who are committed to a new vision of progress in China. They are raw, vivid and gritty portrayals of the achievements of a sample of China’s ‘new progressives’. The story tell us that a really modern progressive China is so much richer, multi-faceted and surprising than the single-mined pursuit of wealth.”

Watch all the videos.

They will change your attitude towards China. Humanize the country. Bring the daily struggle to life. Make the Chinese experience more real.

It makes me want to go to China right now. Because we’re all humans who just want to make it to the next day. So lovely. So real.

Amazing work, amazing execution, amazing insights.

That’s why BBH is the worst agency in the world: They make me reconsider, rework, rethink everything I do and create.

Thanks for nothing.

And, congratulations to this amazing piece of work.

Since the financial crisis of 2008, the whole world is focused on muddling through it. Just ask the Eurozone, proposing new rescue packages almost every other day. Or the US government, tinkering here and there and everywhere. People are muddling through their lives, their careers, their daily life.

Are we muddling through because we’re stuck in the now?

All of us have become so caught up in the now that we’re forgetting important lessons from the past and losing the ability to develop long-term visions to work towards in the future. The constant documenting of the now, keeps us hand-cuffed to THIS moment, not the moment that passed or the moment we envision. In 2009 we said: “This is so 2008.” In 2012 we say: “This was so 2 minutes ago.”

What will we say in 2015: “That was so one second ago?”

The commercial is ridiculous because the benefits for having information 10 seconds earlier than others seem so trivial. But at the core of this commercial is one important insight: People value the “I said/heard it/wrote about it first” mentality. We are more focused on being the first to say something about the last 10 minutes that we are forgetting any lessons to be learned from the last 5,000 years.

We tend to forget that human nature hasn’t changed that much, just the way we communicate now and in the future is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Much of the financial crisis was caused by the focus on making millions today and not thinking about how to build wealth for the long term. CMOs have now 1-2 years to make a mark – why would they focus on long-term strategies?

We need to focus less on the short term and incremental changes. Instead, we need to be focused on building things for the long term. We need to implement important, business-driving measurements and be accountable to doing what is right and setting those BIG, HAIRY, AUDACIOUS GOALS. More importantly: We need to become better partners with our clients to move the business forward, not  just going through the motions.

We can accomplish so much more if we continue learning from the past and thinking past tomorrow for where we want things to go.

Muddling through or figuring it out just keeps us stuck in the now. Time to get unstuck.