Insights are the New Hops.

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hopsIn craft brewing hops are the “it” thing. We’ve been hearing about them for years in beer ads, they are not new. But they have favored status these days in craft brewing. (Did you know Upstate NY was once the hops capital of the U.S.?) Some craft brewers are too heavy-handed with hops and the industry has gone a little hops crazy but we will get over it.

In brand planning, insights are the it thing. Insights never get old to the brand planner…they are just so tasty. A personal example: For a web start-up in the art gallery space, I presented an insight deck called the “thirteen conundrums.” Number 2 was:

#2 Art is personal and subjective, yet having people around with opinions (and credentials) adds value and a level of comfort.

We presented 8 conundrum/insights to the client but in the end we had lots of insights, no idea. To get to the idea we had boil down the insights. Insights are ingredients. Just like hops. You have to do something smart with them. You need to seek out a brand strategy both product-based and consumer desired. Something poetic, memorable and that which predisposes a consumer to buy.

I recently read a deck on SlideShare containing 30 or so planner definitions of the word insight. All were correct. Here’s mine: And insight is not a behavior, it is the observation of the cause of a behavior. Senior or director-level planners are the ones who look at 13 insights and see the operative one. The one to be spun into a brand strategy. Finishing off the metaphor, where the beer gets the credit not the ingredient. Peace.