Deep, human insight in an automated world: Managing international brands on limited budgets with Distell International

The latest industry talk is dominated by messages about streamlining, fast results and the latest AI technology. Is there a risk with all of this that we lose sight of the real human beings? Great insights can come from the growing focus on getting things done, but the danger is that these insights can be too superficial, theoretical, conceptual and lacking in human cultural understanding, making it difficult for stakeholders to connect with the consumer. Without this connection it becomes difficult for teams to align behind a consumer voice.

To keep the voice of consumers alive within your business needs the right team. The right people, to make the connections between different sources and work streams, tell stories and build characters. Most importantly they must, apply what this means to the business issue. A central team will draw in the right resources which can include technological capability, the nuance of local cultural understanding and specialists in their fields. This creates a truly process agnostic approach and doesn’t need to come with a frightening price tag!

Treating the consumer as central to the insights removes individual preconceptions and harnesses a subjectivity which can remove the bias of stakeholders. As a result, it is the voice of the consumer which lands the key insights to drive effective decision making.

Key takeaways:

When working in a global function being methodology and team agnostic is necessary, as is leveraging the best people to get the required depth and local cultural nuance.
Building an approach that blends methodologies doesn’t have to cost the Earth.
Using techniques like AI as a springboard to learn and inspire rather than relying on it for the end result.