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Rethinking Insights and Representation

Color photograph of Jonathan Kenyon set on a bench with folidage behnd him. Jonathan is wearing a dark blue shirt and looking directly at camera.

The following article was originally published on Design Week as part of the 25 ideas for 2025 series, all of which can be read here.

Continuous representation for better insights and better work

Right now, the industry operates an outdated model. When you need to find out what’s relevant to community X, or demographic Y, you have an insights team working upstream.

They’ll often be a specialised service, speaking directly to people and diving deeply into what matters.

But then they pass the baton directly to the client or an agency. After that it becomes a game of telephone.

This is what was said. This is what we heard. Then you might have the client and agency interpreting the insights through their lens and bias.

There’s often a personal filter that comes in as well. Designers may be unduly inspired by trends and lose focus on the root of the insight.

And so the community at the heart of those original insights becomes lost in the process. That’s part of why everything starts to look the same: designers can unconsciously design for themselves, no matter what the insights suggest.

We need a new model. The most effective work includes true community representation throughout the entire creative process in a fluid manner, not just as an ‘input’ upfront.

We did a project for Smirnoff some years ago, initially destined to be a local Mexican variant.

We’re a New York and London agency. So, first off, our whole team was part of the insights process, working with specialists, going to Mexico, communing with local families, and spending the night in cemeteries to see the Day of The Dead celebrations first-hand.

Doing this, you go deep into the cultural semiotics, and what matters to people.

But what’s important is that you don’t then come back and think, OK, we’ve got this from here.

We integrated Mexican creatives, strategists, and insights throughout. We had local designers working with our design team.

We had this concertina approach where we went deep into the process and then opened it back out to get community input before narrowing it down again. This way, we’re constantly checking as you go that the process is developing in the way it should be.

This is more than just the right thing to do; it also creates the best commercial results. This project was the most successful innovation launch that Diageo had ever done.

Ultimately, you’re making brands more valued and visible within a community rather than just a tone-deaf push onto people.

This is more than just an approach for international markets. There are local differences within the same country, which are really important. There is such a nuance when bringing any community on board.

The biggest threat to this approach is short-termism. It requires more time, and a bit more budget. All while many clients are asking agencies to look at cost-saving efficiencies.

We need to be confident in saying to our clients – if you want these sorts of results, you need to invest in the best possible process.