Point of View – ‘The Value of Insight’

Stacey Knight, group head of sales at IGN Entertainment, comments on Claire Myerscough’s Claire Myerscough – The value of insight article, which was published last week… 

“As Claire Myerscough states “The importance of insight and the role it plays in the advertising process can never be underestimated” and arguably neither has it really ever been.

Indeed as the technology curve increases (Blu-Ray increased sales, game consoles such as Microsoft’s recent announcement of project Natal, the proliferation of the iphone and next generation mobile) so in tandem does the sophistication by which we target consumers.

In our business, we not only provide the tools to target consumers in certain mindsets, but also by relevant content and the flow through site and beyond.

What does this deliver? Hyper targeting in its most sophisticated form, instigating a heightened state of curiosity and thus driving engagement. And this is engagement on a cognitive and emotional level. Emotion is a key driver.

As Kevin Roberts of Saatchi’s fame says: “In a world that is supposedly ruled by cool rationality, metrics, and game theories, humans are actually powered by emotion, not by reason.”

Dorothy Parker said the same thing, only perhaps a little more succinctly: “The cure for boredom is curiosity, there is no cure for curiosity.”

I wait with interest (and curiosity) the results of NI’s Consumer Eye and the insight it will inevitably deliver, it will be interesting to see how this information will dynamically be used to shape the commercial business.”