THEFUTUREISTO COMPANIESWHO UNDERSTANDTHAT‘ ACTIVATING’ INSIGHTS AND‘ RENEWING’ YOUR KNOW LEDGEABOUT THEWORLDAROUND YOU CONSTANTLY, IS ASIMPORTANTAS‘ ACQUIRING’ NEW INSIGHTSAND KNOW LEDGE.
THROUGH‘ HARVESTING’
W ECOLLECTINSIGHTS FROM INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS
observations, andresultedin13 potential internal projects identified by the crowd. The new strategy was shared among employeesand turned intothe # welovecooksmeme.
Toturnaninsightintoameme, insight professionals need to moveawayfrom thetraditional research modeland shifton 3 levels to establish the‘ MemeficationofInsights’:
1.1. From reporting to involving(# experience): W hile 92 % of insight professionals believes theirresearchgeneratesinsight worthsharing withcoleagues, only 65 % extensively shares them withtheirorganization.
Furthermore, only 1 in 5 researchers organizes interactive workshops to discussresults( Schilewaertet al, 2014). Altoooften, MRtakes such an individualistic approach where executives need to identify their own actionswhenreadingresearch reports. However, to trigger meaningful actions, insight professionals need to bring insights to life through interaction. Therefore, wehave identified 4 building blocks when marketing insights; harvesting, seeding, activating andcolaborating.
-Through‘ harvesting’, we colect insights from internal stakeholderswhicharealready known.-Secondly,‘ seeding’ enables insights managers to spread insightsviakeyambassadorsin a relevant way through the organization.-‘ Activating’ the triggers stakeholders to not only discoverbutalso interactwith insights.-Finaly, the‘ colaborating’ connectsstakeholdersto work togetherand turninsightsinto actionsandnew futureprojects,
At Unilever R & D the combination ofthese building blocks lead to 640 involved employeesofthe1000invitees, which triggered more conversations about their consumers on the work floor, measuredwithanincreasefrom 12 % to55 %.
2. From teams to the organization(# reach): In traditionalMR, consumerstories and insights are often discovered and owned by the MR department. However, in order to trigger meaningful actions, theinsightneedstobe co-owned by al employees. Firstofal, wewantextendthe MR reach from executives to managementto enable higher managementtotakelong-term decisions with a consumer contextinmind.
Secondly, we involve the front-lineemployees, whoare in almostdaily contactwith consumers, to shape their consumer feeling and ultimately improve their performance. Finaly, ininvolvingalotheremployees that have a rather indirect relationship with the consumer creates a beter understanding of the consumer context of the business, making them more motivatedasanemployeein general. TheextensionofMR reach cals for a layered approach, likewedidforthe Belgianbuscompany‘ DeLijn’ where involved their whole organization with consumer insights about their Gen Y passenger. We seeded the top 10 insights during an internalconferencewith200 top managers, weorganized a speed date forexecutives tomeettheirconsumersand finaly we activated al stakeholderstoplaytheGen Y passengerquizto interact withthekeyinsights.
3. From projects to habit creation(# structural): For most employees, working withconsumerinsightsisnot a routine. If you wish to trigger meaningful actions andenableemployeestoturn the insightinto a meme, it is of great importance that consumer relevant inspirations are integrated into their daily jobs. By identifying the employees’ motivations and behaviours, we can betertriggerwhen and how to use consumer insightsonaregularbasis. If we learn to shift towards habits, we wil be more successful in triggering meaningful actions and