Sponsor Impact report This means using techniques that highlight where to lots of different people at Haleon so they could feel some of those disparities are and call for more what was going on in each market, says Oliver Sweet, triangulation, more talking to client teams about their head of ethnography at Ipsos. The work informed the expectations, attitudes and behaviours, and making creation of the companys HCP pledge, designed to be direct comparisons between these and what the a human way to connect with HCPs. This includes seeing customer does. InSites has done work along these lines the person, not just the white coat, and helping to foster with the Co-op, which has businesses spanning grocery, powerful moments between experts and patients. funeral care, insurance and legal services. More organisations need to undertake such exercises. Within insight and research, its our job to bring real Theres a need to raise self-awareness of insight gaps, to people into the business to inspire and challenge ensure people are at the heart of the process. stakeholder thinking enabling them to understand Empathy gaps need to be overcome, says InSites our customers, members and colleagues deeply, Consultings Child. Part of it is still that age-old beyond simply seeing them as a sales problem that the people designing products, prospect, a number on a spreadsheet or in services and experiences dont look a lot a chart, says Sarah De Caux, lead like their customer base. How do we burst analytics and insights manager (customer, that bubble for them? member and colleague research), Co-op. The answer, according to Child, lies in As agencies, we could We spend loads of time engaging with techniques that bring about closeness, get a lot better at seeing stakeholders to bring these human which equates to time spent with real our role as championing insights to life and were immensely proud people in real-world scenarios. That may the human condition of how we are influencing our culture and span from self-recorded video and audio to organisations nurturing a customer, member and ethnography to live chats and face-to-face colleague-centric mindset. This is meetings. Finding ways of bringing particularly important now, during a period of humans into direct contact with the teams will be transformation for us, against a backdrop of really important, he continues. As agencies, we could challenging trading conditions and when so many of our also get a lot better at seeing our role as championing the customers, members and colleagues are facing a human condition to organisations. We need to be cost-of-living crisis. ambassadors of what the human condition is. Burst the bubble and get up close with people Its a clich but sadly an accurate understanding what matters by 360-degree human perspective. We one to say that marketers live in ourselves is not enough. We must can move seamlessly from a passive a bubble. They often assume they enable stakeholders to come on the interaction to a more active think and act like the consumers journey with us, from where they are collaboration. they are trying to appeal to, and now to greater connection, immersion they make assumptions based on and empathy with their end users, journey, we help clients to not just their own experiences and buyers and prospects. Understanding collect, observe or witness human perceptions. As a result, they might comes when organisations put real behaviour, but also to activate the struggle to understand the people at their heart. subsequent insights within perspective of someone with a We know that some businesses are But wherever a business is on its organisations and ensure that different opinion, which can prevent at the start of this journey, while others meaningful, focused changes occur them from developing empathy are further along. Technology helpfully as a result. We tell the stories that for the real people that make up a lowers the barrier to entry to matter, to the people who can make target audience. consumer insight on this journey, a difference, to inspire change. Our role as insight professionals is to offering direct access to and Stories make us human. Regardless help organisations and their interaction with people through online of research methods, we have to find leaders marketers and market discussions, video diaries or self- those stories to help clients to act. researchers understand what ethnography. As the experience and Only when we act upon our matters. We believe this starts by needs of a business evolve, we can understanding can we help people stepping into the real world. Only then guide our clients from the safety of make decisions that matter. can we see, feel, hear and digital research into the wilderness experience how people really are, and itself, where immersions and safaris Laura Hunt, senior business director, start to close the empathy gap. Yet provide a more holistic, 3D, InSites Consulting 28 Impact ISSUE 40 2022_pp22-29_Report.indd 28 13/12/2022 11:35