Using humour to uncover consumer insights: the new way to gather intelligence?

by Benson Agoha | Business

Ever wondered what lay hidden in humour?

We may not know it, but there is an element of truth in things that make us laugh. At least if Tom Yortom's claim that "Things are funny when they are true" and that "we find this is a great way to get to those kernels of truth, of what people really reel about different topics.  It engages the brain differently." holds true.

In his latest article, Nigel Hollis disclosed how Firefy Millward Brown (Brand intelligence provider) teamed up with a comedy troupe called Second City to produce a "Consumer Theater" that monitors theatre goers reaction to what they heard and analysis it further.

This radical new way, ignores the formal creative process, to unearth consumer insights using just humour and its derivative feedback. "Sometimes, a little humour is all you need to transform your understanding", he says.

The collaboration Nigel Hollis said is designed to apply the philosophy of improvisation to generating and developing consumer-generated ideas and works by ideas being gathered from real life consumers that are recruited to take part in a consumer theater session.

So based on what they hear, members of the Second City cast then create and improvise skits in response to the consumer feedback. When the consumers are quizzed on their reactions, the feedback is used to develop the new program further.

Immediately afterwards, a final phase builds in the observations and reactions from client and agency team members who attended the Theater session.

According to the developers, the system uses empathy, humor and the power of improvisation to uncover deeper insights more quickly for idea creation and development.

And it is a highly engaging experience that includes client and agency stakeholders, creative consumers, a strategic Firefly moderator and improvisational actors from The Second City.

It can be employed very early in the creative development process– after brand positioning is established, the say.

It isn't a very simple method but it is still in development. And of course, its adoption will depend on the consistency of its results.

Otherwise technology and big data may yet have to carry on.

What do you think?

See also: Millward Brown uses humor to uncover consumer insights by Nigel Hollis.