I have been going through a lot of consumer facing campaigns off late.
Brand Films, Corporate Communications, Movie promos, Newspaper editorials and what have you....
A casual analysis of all those communication pieces that have been well received by the consumers seem to indicate that the way the consumer is understood and his/her responses measured is remarkably different than what s/he would otherwise want us...
Why do I say that?
Nothing disturbes me more as much as the penchant and this almost blind pursuit of some agencies for something that used to be a cliche and is now becoming a farce...
They call it "insight"
In the last two years I have had the chance of meeting and interacting with a lot of global practitioners of the craft of marketing and consumer planning.
Barring a few almost everybody is of the opinion that trying to pigeonhole all the marekting thinking as having emerged from an insight is oversimplification at best and irresponsible at worst...
I have personally looked at a handful of consumer categories, and almost all of the key Insight platforms have been taken by Brands..of course over the years...
Similar is the situation with this thing called the USP...
In an age of Brand parity, I find it quite imaginative when somebody tries to peddle the product on tha basis of a USP.
Yes, some categories by their very dynamics (consumer tech for instance, high end automobile for instance, for categories that are very much design led) can have a genuine product based USP every now and then...
Some people might turn around and say that emotional USP is still valid...
I tend to agree, but I think an emotional USP is better defined as "the unique POV of the Brand to which the consumer subscribes"
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