Marketing Insights: Definition, Examples & How to Find Them

At the heart of an effective creative philosophy is the belief that nothing is so powerful as an insight into human nature, what compulsions drive a man, what instincts dominate his action, even though his language so often can camouflage what really motivates him.
Bill Bernbach

Of course, you could also use Briefly to synthesise an insight from all of your brand's documents and research.

What is a marketing insight?

A marketing insight is a non-obvious truth about your customers, your market, or your brand that can be used to make more effective marketing decisions.

Understanding what customers want and need is crucial for creating successful marketing campaigns. Marketing insights provide valuable information based on data about the people a company wants to reach. They're different from raw data because it's not just numbers; it's the useful conclusions marketers can draw from them. These conclusions help them decide things like the best time to do business or which groups of people are most likely to be interested in their products or services.

It's worth being clear about the difference between data, analysis, and insight:

Data is what you collect - numbers, survey responses, click rates, sales figures
Analysis is what you do with it - identifying patterns, comparing segments, spotting trends
Insight is what it means - the "so what?" that changes how you act

A spreadsheet full of purchase data is not an insight. "Sales peak on Fridays" is analysis. "Our customers treat Friday evening as a reward moment, and our product is part of that ritual" - that's an insight.

📍 A note on terminology: marketing insights, advertising insights, campaign insights, and consumer insights are often used interchangeably. They all describe the same thing: a non-obvious truth about people, markets, or brands that drives better creative decisions. Throughout this guide, we'll say "marketing insight" but everything applies equally whether you're writing an advertising brief, a campaign brief, or a product marketing plan. The label on the brief matters less than the quality of the thinking behind it.

Types of marketing insights

Not all insights are created equal, and it helps to know which kind you're looking for. Generally, marketing insights fall into five categories - and most briefs draw on more than one.

Consumer insights

Consumer insights are truths about the people you're trying to reach - their behaviours, motivations, fears, and desires. These are the most common type used in creative briefs and are usually what people mean when they say "insight."

Example: Parents don't buy healthy snacks because they think they're good for their kids - they buy them to feel less guilty about all the unhealthy snacks they also buy.

Dove's "Real Beauty" platform is a textbook consumer insight in action. The brand realised women didn't just dislike beauty advertising; they felt actively excluded by it, and would reward a brand that finally let them off the hook. Two decades on, the idea still drives the work. For more on how this shapes messaging, read our guide to writing key messages.

Market insights

Market insights are truths about the broader category or industry you operate in - how people shop, what drives switching behaviour, where growth is coming from. These are closely linked to your market segmentation.

Example: In the energy drink category, 70% of purchases are made by people who didn't plan to buy one when they entered the shop.

Oatly built a whole brand on a market insight: the dairy alternative category was full of apologetic, earnest products behaving like they were lucky to be there. Oatly realised there was space for a loud, self-aware, slightly rude brand that acted like it belonged on the shelf. That market-level read shaped packaging, tone of voice, and even their out-of-home work.

Brand insights

Brand insights are truths about how people perceive and interact with your brand specifically - what associations they hold, what they think you stand for, where the gaps are between your brand's intent and reality.

Example: Customers trust the brand for quality but don't think of it as innovative - even though R&D spend is three times the category average.

IKEA's long-running "Wonderful Everyday" work sits on a brand insight of this kind. Customers loved IKEA for price and practicality, but the brand risked being seen as purely transactional. By reframing the ordinary moments their furniture supported - family breakfasts, first flats, quiet evenings - IKEA closed the gap between what the brand meant to people and what it stood for commercially. Pair a brand insight with a clear value proposition before you brief.

Cultural insights

Cultural insights are truths about the wider social, political, or generational shifts your audience lives inside - the context that shapes what people find resonant, embarrassing, or urgent right now. They're what stops a campaign feeling dated the week it launches.

Example: Gen Z shoppers increasingly judge brands by what they refuse to do, not just what they claim to stand for.

Patagonia's "Don't Buy This Jacket" campaign is the gold standard here. The brand read a cultural moment - rising guilt about overconsumption - and leaned into it rather than hiding from it. Telling people to buy less from a clothing retailer only works if the cultural read is genuine and the brand behaviour matches.

Competitive insights

Competitive insights are truths about what your competitors are doing, where they're winning, and where they've left gaps that you can exploit.

Example: Every competitor in the category advertises speed and convenience - but none of them talk about the emotional relief of having one less thing to worry about.

Starbucks' early UK growth was powered by a competitive insight of this kind. High street coffee was transactional and rushed; Starbucks realised no one was selling the "third place" - somewhere that wasn't home or work, where people could linger. Decades later the positioning still holds, even as competitors chase them. Pressure-test your own competitive angle against your market segmentation before you brief.

Insight vs observation: what's the difference?

An observation is what you see in the data; an insight is what that data means for behaviour. Teams mix the two up constantly, and the confusion is expensive - a brief built on an observation gives an agency nothing to work with, because there's no tension to pull on.

The cleanest way to see the difference is to walk through a real example. Dove's 2004 global beauty study produced one of the most cited numbers in modern advertising, and the journey from data to insight went something like this:

Observation: only 2% of women around the world described themselves as beautiful.
Analysis: women systematically underestimate their own beauty, and the gap between how they see themselves and how others see them is enormous.
Insight: beauty advertising has trained women to find fault with themselves - so a brand that refuses to play that game will feel radical, liberating, and worth talking about.

The observation is true but inert. The analysis is sharper but still just describing the world. The insight is the one that forces a decision: act differently, or don't.

🧠 The "so what?" test: if a statement doesn't change how a brand should act, it's an observation, not an insight. Read it out loud, then ask "so what?" If you can't answer, keep wringing.

Why marketing insights matter

You might be wondering whether all this insight-hunting is really necessary when you could just get on with making the ad. Fair question.

The short answer: campaigns built on genuine insights consistently outperform those that aren't. Research from the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) has shown that campaigns rooted in a strong consumer insight are significantly more likely to deliver large business effects than those driven by product features or creative flair alone.

Here's why:

They sharpen your targeting. An insight tells you not just who to talk to, but what to say that will actually resonate. Without one, you're guessing - and guessing is expensive. Read more about defining your target audience.
They inspire better creative work. Agencies love a good insight because it gives them something real to build on. A brief that says "tell people our product is great" is a dead end. A brief that says "our customers secretly feel judged for their choices" is a launchpad.
They create competitive advantage. Data is available to everyone. Insights are what you make of it. Two brands can look at the same research and draw completely different conclusions - and the one with the better insight wins.
They keep everyone aligned. When your team, your agency, and your stakeholders all agree on the underlying truth, there are fewer arguments about creative direction and fewer rounds of feedback. The insight becomes a shared anchor.

What kind of insight do I need for my marketing brief?

You might be thinking that it's your agency's job to come up with the insight for your campaign. And you'd be right. Your agency should come up with a creative insight. But before they do, you need to provide an insight of your own.

A creative insight (the one your agency will provide) is about turning truth into conceit. It makes for interesting and compelling advertising.

The insight you're looking for is about truth itself - smart observations of the real world that make for effective advertising.

Example: BrewDog's Stout Launch

When BrewDog launched a new stout as a competitor to Guinness, their market research showed that Guinness drinkers were so loyal to the brand that BrewDog could never hope to convince them that their stout was better through advertising alone.

Their creative agency, Saatchi & Saatchi, built upon this insight, realising that the explosion of craft beer had made 'trialling new beers' an essential part of the beer drinking experience, except for in one corner of the market - stout.

So, their campaign would need leverage beer drinking's 'trial culture' to get Guinness drinkers to try a new stout, just once.

BrewDog's Black Heart campaign example BrewDog's eventual launch campaign for their new stout, Black Heart.

If you're interested in how your agency might approach their creative insight, check out this brilliant article from Mark Pollard.

What makes a good marketing insight?

Before diving into how to find insights, it's worth knowing what a strong one looks like. A good insight should be:

True - It's grounded in real data or genuine observation, not wishful thinking
Non-obvious - If everyone already knows it, it's not an insight - it's common knowledge
Actionable - You can do something with it. It should suggest a direction for your campaign
Human - The best insights connect to a real emotion, tension, or behaviour
Simple - If you can't explain it in one or two sentences, it's probably not refined enough

If your insight passes all five of these tests, you're in good shape. If it only passes two or three, keep wringing it.

How to find an insight for a marketing brief - with examples

The Observation

An insight that isn't based on fact is at best a joke, and at worst a lie. So start with all the research you can get your hands on. Understand your customers, understand your products and brand, understand the parts of culture both your customers and brand sit within and engage with. There is no template to follow here - just go and get some information, and capture it in bite-size nuggets. Check out our article on summarising key info; the same skills you use there will help you here.

Sources of Insights

Digital analytics

There are a number of sources you can draw on to understand your audience and their digital lives and habits:

Meta provide tools to understand more about your audience's interests and attitudes, or their reactions to products and campaigns
Google search analytics enables you to understand what your audience is looking for, and the journeys they take to get there
Your own website analytics - buyer journeys, basket sizes, and more
Social listening tools (like Brandwatch or Sprout Social) can reveal how people talk about your brand and category when they think no one's watching

Primary market research

Any form of direct consumer feedback is a great way to collect market insights:

Commissioning surveys to understand broader attitudes and interests
Follow-up surveys after a purchase or engagement
Direct conversations with your audience (often least-used but most valuable)
Focus groups - useful for exploring emotional responses and group dynamics

Insights aren't all about representative data, or high sample sizes - understanding the specific problems your audience face can be the best unlock for your next marketing campaign.

Secondary and syndicated research

You don't always need to commission your own research. There's a wealth of existing data out there:

Industry reports from sources like Mintel, GWI, Kantar, and Nielsen
Academic research and published case studies
Government data and census information
Trade publications and industry bodies

Public information

Thanks to the internet, companies now have access to seemingly endless amounts of data, a lot of which is available to the public. Companies can use data about:

Consumer spending habits
Financial statuses
Current state of their industry
Economic indicators

Customer service and CRM data

Some of the richest insight sources are ones you already own:

Customer support tickets and common complaints
CRM data on purchase frequency, churn, and lifetime value
Reviews and ratings - both yours and your competitors'

The Twist

Now really wring your observations. Try to elevate them beyond facts and turn them into truths. Again, there's no real formula here, so we've come up with a few examples to show you what the thought process might look like. The aim is to take an observation of the real world, and turn it into an 'evergreen' truth. Something that you could say at any dinner party to unanimous nods and murmurs of agreement.

Example 1: California Milk Processor Board's insight

The Observation
People buy milk when they run out of it.

The Twist
There's nothing worse than needing milk and having none in the fridge.

The Campaign
Got Milk?

Example 2: Dove's insight

The Observation
Women don't like the majority of beauty product ads.

The Twist
Beauty companies make ads that feature women who don't look like 95% of actual women.

The Campaign
Dove's Real Beauty

Example 3: Lynx's insight

The Observation
Searches like "can men wear pink" or "is it ok for guys to do yoga?" are on the rise amongst young men.

The Twist
Young men still feel pressure to live up to classic masculine ideals and labels.

The Campaign
Lynx's "is it ok for guys..."

The Jump

This is where your creative agency will usually take over. But if you're working directly with a production house, or if you just really want to guide your agency, there's just one word you need: but.

Great insights often come from tension. They should be true - but a little uncomfortable. You should look at it thinking, "Huh, I don't really know how I feel about that." So take your observation and your twist, and add "but" to the end.

California Milk Processor Board

There's nothing worse than needing milk and having none in the fridge. But that's an exaggeration - people really don't care about milk all that much.

Dove

Beauty companies make ads that feature women who don't look like 95% of actual women. But most women don't see themselves as the kind of person who would appear in a beauty ad.

Lynx

Young men still feel pressure to live up to classic masculine ideals and labels. But they choose to seek relief from the people and brands that only reinforce those ideals.

Creating and writing insights is difficult. It's a skill that needs honing and constant practice. But if you do your research, wring your findings, and refine the end result, you'll be in a stronger position than most other marketers.

Once you've got your insight, you're ready to put it to work. Learn how to set clear marketing objectives that build on it, or jump straight into writing a marketing brief that gives your agency something genuinely useful to work with.

Of course, if you want to make writing a great brief easy, you can always try Briefly

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a marketing insight?

A marketing insight is a non-obvious, actionable truth about your customers, market, or brand that helps you make better marketing decisions. It goes beyond raw data or surface-level analysis to reveal why people behave the way they do - and what that means for your next campaign.

What is the difference between data and an insight?

Data is what you collect (numbers, survey responses, click rates). An insight is the meaningful conclusion you draw from that data - the "so what?" that changes how you act. For example, "basket sizes drop 15% on weekdays" is data. "Our customers see our product as a weekend treat, not a weekday staple" is an insight.

What is an example of a marketing insight?

One classic marketing insight: parents buy healthy snacks for their kids not because the kids want them, but because the parents feel less guilty about the unhealthy snacks they also buy. The "so what?" is that healthy snack brands should market to parental guilt, not to children.

A few more worth stealing the thinking from:

Got Milk? - people don't think about milk until they run out of it, so remind them at the moment the fridge is empty.
Dove Real Beauty - women don't see themselves in beauty advertising, so a brand that shows real bodies will feel like a relief, not a gimmick.
BrewDog Black Heart - Guinness drinkers can't be convinced to switch, but they can be convinced to try once, if the ask is small enough.

Notice how each example moves beyond a neat data point into a behaviour you can brief against.

How do you find a marketing insight?

To find a marketing insight, start with the data you already have - CRM, survey, social listening, sales patterns - look for surprises or contradictions, ask "so what does that mean about behaviour?", and stress-test with the "so what?" test. It's less about new research and more about reading the data you already own with fresh eyes.

A simple four-step walkthrough:

Gather broadly. Pull digital analytics, customer service transcripts, sales data, reviews, and any syndicated research you can access.
Hunt for surprises. Pay attention to the numbers that don't match the story your team tells itself. Contradictions are where insights hide.
Ask "so what?" Turn each observation into a statement about behaviour. If it doesn't change what a brand should do, keep going.
Pressure-test. Run the insight past a colleague outside marketing. If they shrug, it's not sharp enough yet.

What is the difference between a consumer insight and a market insight?

A consumer insight is a truth about the people you're trying to reach - their motivations, fears, and behaviours. A market insight is a truth about the broader category or industry - how people shop, what drives switching, where growth is coming from. Both are valuable, but consumer insights are more commonly used in creative briefs.