The starting point for human-centered design is always insight work (=customer understanding). Behind strategy and creative design, there must be information that connects closer to people, their needs, wants, and dreams. Insight work is essential for moving organizations (and brands) forward. Genuine customer understanding helps to improve current practices and opens up new perspectives.

In the complexity and rush of today's world, insights are easily just scratching the surface – simplified observations that are applied with an unjustifiably broad scope. For this reason, many brands over-promise and under-deliver. Proper research work can feel heavy as a project without justification, which is why trend reports are used to satisfy information needs, offering only bland generalizations of individual truths. It is critical to let go of one's own assumptions and avoid relying solely on intuition. The aforementioned leads to the bubbling of one's own thoughts, for which marketing people can be rightfully criticized.

Smart brands strive to understand people. Although there are many ways to build understanding, research work should primarily get at real life and signals of meaning. Of course, research should not be an end in itself. Understanding is needed to interpret and utilize the results. Brand and customer experience strategies formed from customer understanding lead the development of concepts, products, and services in a unified way.

Individual insights based on intuition are often quick wins, and they are not used to build a brand or experience in the long term. Alarm bells should be ringing if the basis for planning is generic descriptions of target groups, the market, or competitors, sugar-coated with marketing jargon. This should be a moment for introspection for those responsible for the brand as well as for agencies in the field – when was the last time you sat down with your end customer and got to know their life?

This spring at 358, we have worked on many insight projects. Most recently, we found out for our client Moilanen what things people considered important in the category of gluten-free baking products, and what expectations they have for gluten-free brands. Based on the insight work, we reviewed Moilanen's strategy and repositioned the brand so that it would better meet people and their future needs. More on this soon. In the meantime, you can send a message, and we can talk about what kind of customer understanding your brand would benefit from.