In time honoured fashion I did a 'what an insight is' presentation this morning, pointing out some of the great insights behind the work we've been doing at Proximity lately.
I also laid out a definition that I think is useful as a validation test. is it "A truth we can apply to a brand to create value".
This insight is validated by a Proposition which is "An applied expression of the Insight" to whatever the business problem is.
There is a fair school of thought that whatever an insight needs to be it needs to be a 'human truth' rather than merely a 'truth'. For me the latter encompasses the former, whereas the former excludes the latter, so I've plumped for the broader definition.
What do you think?
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7 comments:
What is a truth if it isn't a 'human truth'. Explain the difference.
This is just a gut feeling sort of thing, but I think it has to be a human truth, not just a truth.
Otherwise we'll be selling things because they're faster/bigger/better etc (a truth) not because they make a difference to our customers (a human truth?).
Is this possible? Do we still have to sell things because they're bigger/faster/better?
Also, human truths seem to be all about the 'why' and I like 'whys'. They're much better than 'wheres' and 'hows'. I even wonder whether we need to be aiming for a strong and clear 'why' in all our propositions. Why would customers believe us, why will they change their behaviour, why, why, why...
A Jamaican Proverb.
Truth and Lie went down to the river to swim, they left their clothes by the river bank. Lie snuck out while Truth was not looking and put on Truth's clothes. Someone saw Lie dressed as Truth and cried out: "It look like Truth!"... but a few seconds later Truth ran past without his clothes on, the man cried again: "But THAT is the nakedn Truth".
The moral?
We can't dress our own opinions as truth, we need to dig until we discover the naked truth - be it a brand, product, or consumer behaviour truth.
What sort of truth is there apart from a human truth? Where else in this known universe does the concept of ‘truth’ lie if not in the hearts and minds of humans?
Also instead of the definition “A truth we can apply to a brand to create value” shouldn’t it be: a pre-existing truth, intrinsic to the brand that we highlight – to demonstrate value. Can you ‘apply’ a truth? Isn’t an applied truth a bit of a lie?
Human truths are relative truths, because we construct them in relation to social conditions – our seen universe.
A Buddhist might tell you that ultimate truth is a state devoid of the transitional, ephemeral things we can find on our planet. This state of reality might lead you to the end of suffering – enlightenment, or the understanding that being attached to relative truths is the cause of all suffering.
I’d suggest that ‘energy is a factor of the speed of light in relation to the mass of the object in question’ is a truth, albeit not necessarily a human one.
I’d also suggest that you can take an insight and postulate a scenario by which it can be applied to a business problem, thus giving you leverage to produce a creative solution. Whether you call that, as Mark has, a ‘proposition’ or whatever, is beside the point.
Aren’t semantics fun?
"The truth is out there...."
Fox Mulder, FBI
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