Insight is not what is in our sight but what is outside our sights. Probably in observations

I watched revolutionary road yesterday, it touched the deepest core of my heart. I went to bed and still couldn’t get out of the scene where Leonardo is running away from himself. WHY? Because in many ways, I saw myself my life in the life of the ‘wheelers’ (couple in the movie).

What the writer observed and penned in 50s is still true for in 2008 even in my part of the world. WHY? He observed human emotions deeply. Deep enough to the last core.

I am sure if I’ll put people in a focus group, they’ll never ever say what we saw in the movie. May be they don’t want to or may be because they themselves wouldn’t know about it.

The same theory holds true for consumers. Most of the times they don’t even know why they like something and why they want something.

Hence from today onwards, I’ll add a section called observatory in my blog. To see exactly how and why people around me do certain things. May be one day I’ll apply these to advertising. Who knows.?

The right way to a wrong insight or the wrong way to the right insight

Once we were working on humorous route for a telco client. While working on commercials we realized that humor is the most difficult to crack in advertising. You never know when people stop laughing with you and start laughing at you.

And today I received a joke on sms and I realized how easily we crack the jokes daily but when it comes to adverts we run short of jokes, why?

I just read the joke and an Ad came to my mind
Once a sardar watches an english movie and disscusses about the film the next day with his friend SARDAR: saala kal raat maine 3 ghannte ka ek english picture ki CD dekhi ,na koi scenes dikhe na koi awaaz sunni ,
FRIEND:picture ka naam kya tha?????
SARDAR:" NO DISC INSERTED"

Why it can’t be an ad of awesome plasma “This TV doesn’t need a movie” (and this scribble is made using PowerPoint)




There are so many jokes on woman cant drive, how about a car that even a woman can drive perfectly. There are jokes about dumb blondes, how about products that say ‘And you thought only blondes are dumb, have you ever read the fine print of your insurance policy?”

The reason why we run short of jokes and mostly insights in commercials and other communication is simple. In real life, we find an amusing fact and laugh it out but in offices when it comes down to ideas we sit down with stats, graphs and presentations. We make it complicated to justify our charges. And thus we do everything right to get the wrong insight.

Insights dont dwell in numbers they live and breath in the air around us. if you need 120 slides to prove your point, trust me you are better off without that point.

Insight:- I have myself

You are what you are
It was, what it was
The world didn't end
The world never does
I wake up alive
From habit I guess
Yes, I can survive, one
love more or less
And sometime,
somewhere, somehow

I laugh all my laughter
I've cried my tears now
I want my years now
My years
I've nowhere to go

That I have to be
There's no one I know
Who's waiting for me
There's so much inside
I still have to give
So much to be tried
A life time to live
And sometime,
somewhere, somehow

I'll have my tomorrow
Today won't stop me
No way to stop me
Not now
The world still holds me
I want what's due now
If not with you now

Then someone, sometime, somehow

Insight: The most priceless possesion that one owns, is one's own self

The Future

I am sure all of you have seen this before. But still this is something I cant afford to miss out.

Insight: Love thyself

I have written that earlier as well…!! Who the lover love the most himself of the beloved?

My answer is himself…! I don’t know what you think…!

Love is also a selfish emotion covered in the wrap of selflessness.

However, how very bitter the reality may be here is a cute video reflecting the selfishly cute love



Insight: Love me, to make me love you

De-beers used this insight and created ‘right hand ring’ . There is certainly more room for exploration here.