Brand planning insights can come from anywhere and anyone. Planners have good ears. They possess the ability to cull through the din for the right set of words. In a recent assignment, I was with a number of financial IT folks participating in a Lunch and Learn with a hardware manufacturer. While the hardware guy, a sales engineer, was introducing his PowerPoint slides he said “let’s skim over the marketing and get to the good stuff.” Insight Alert. This statement helped form the strategy.
But planners need a good eye as well as a good ear. While the ear may pick up the thoughts, biases, feelings and emotions, the eye picks up the deeds. Deeds being behaviors, activities, actions and the process leading to them.
Many planners spend more time on the verbal than the physical. More ear than the eye — and that diminishes balance.
A third, less utilized component of planning, often referred to as semiotics, is the study of signs and symbols. It works best when you have fieldwork to support your spoken or written information. So, let’s skim over the theory and get to the good stuff. Open your eyes and ears, get out of the building, and go find a sales-motivating insight. Peace.