Insight Generation in a simple 3 step process. This was originally presented to students at Oxford University's Said Business School as part of a two-part series on co-creation that we do every year.

1. Insight Generation
A co-creation exercise with MBA students at
Oxford University Said Business School

2. T hr ee step pr ocess
Capturing observations Personal
Sharing, enriching and Team
clustering observations
Generating insights that sit
behind clusters of observations Team
(template provided)

3. Capture observations
Each individual within a team captures
on post-it notes their observations from
the morning
The really important point here is that
this should be focused on ‘what I have
seen’ & ‘what I have read’ without
jumping to any analysis or
interpretation
All considered through the lens of the
specific target audience

4. Cluster observations
Each team member shares with the
others their key observations, and
post-it notes should be placed on a
flip-chart
Other team members are encouraged
to call out and add to observations that
are made, such that observations are
enriched, or validated by other team
members
The observations should then be
clustered & grouped where the teams
feel that there is common ground
TEAM:
T PER
OUTPU
d
Groupe This can either be done as the team
ations
observ Its goes along or can be done after all the
t
on Pos observations are shared

5. Getting to the insight
Working through each cluster of observations and identifying the
underlying consumer truth (the insight) that sits behind them
First of all it is worthwhile confirming why those observations sit
together, and coming up with a title for the cluster
WHY?
Then the most important thing is to relentlessly ask the question
‘why’ – why do people think the way they do or act the way they
do?
WHY?
WHAT IS THE UNDERLYING TRUTH ABOUT HUMAN NEEDS
OR WANTS OR ATTITUDES THAT DRIVES THE BEHAVIOURS
WE SEE
BECAUSE we are trying to understand WHY people do what they
do, or think what they think, very often an Insight has a BECAUSE
in it!

6. A simple example
“I heard that for Mum the
“I heard that for Maria she was
greatest pleasure she had was
at her most happy when her
seeing the smile on her
whole family were sitting down
children’s face when they were
eating a meal she had cooked”
eating an Ice Cream”
Pleasure in food often
comes
from giving
For mums the greatest pleasure comes from
providing food for her family BECAUSE it
makes her feel like a real mum and is a way of
expressing love for her family

7. Getting to the insight
Remember that an insight can take
many forms, it could sit on a very
generalised ‘human’ level, or it could be
more specific to an environment or the
category
But the most important thing in this
context is that it has some kind of
human dimension, and it relates to our
specific audience
At this stage it doesn’t need to be
beautifully or richly expressed; it
should reflect a basic human truth in a
clear and easily understandable way

8. Thanks!
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