Ever struggled with generating stakeholder interest in a research topic that seemed a little mundane even if the data was surprising? Most of us have been there at one time or another, and it isn’t always clear how to bridge the gap.
Take the topic of tomato sauce. There is overwhelming agreement – the world likes tomato sauce.
- Compared to all other sauces, tomato sauce has retained “most searched” status on Google globally year-after-year since 2004.
- The global market for tomato sauce is projected to grow a 2.9% CAGR from 2022 to 2030 to reach $26B.
You may be thinking, “great, but why should I care about this?” Our point, exactly. Read on.
While these data points provide support that consumers have a desire for tomato sauce, they don’t deliver the full picture as to why people like tomato sauce – and they don’t inspire stakeholders to take action, either. So the data on its own is just not that useful.
A more insightful approach to understanding consumer preference for sauce is found in Malcolm Gladwell’s famous essay The Ketchup Conundrum.
Aside from the great writing, his journalistic approach provides a roadmap of key principles for building sticky insights regardless of the topic (even ketchup):
Include multiple sources.
One of the most crucial aspects of Gladwell’s approach to understanding a topic is that he casts a very broad net to capture information. Building a strong conclusion involves exploring multiple approaches and synthesizing a broad spectrum of data.
Each source unveiled a different aspect of why tomato sauce – and specifically ketchup – is so loved: In-homes reveal product opportunities; sauce surveys point to portfolio strategies; sensory evaluations expose flavor insights; taste tests demonstrate brand resonance; and expert interviews add case stories with supporting rationale.
Bring stakeholders along on the journey.
Gladwell also stokes our curiosity as he brings us along on his path of discovery: we meet the owner of World’s Best Ketchup at Zabar’s, we eat lunch at Savoy, we observe a professional ketchup tasting at a university, and much more.
As passengers with a first-class seat on this intellectual guided tour, at each stop we get to experience a new layer of learning which increases our anticipation for the next stop.
Build tension before resolving it.
The anticipation for what’s next creates a tension within us to understand and see what happens at the end of the story, and it’s important to know how to build it with each new idea. A plot twist, withholding information, backstory – all of these are examples of tools to leverage.
Early on, Gladwell introduces the Moskowitz rule – the notion that inventing multiple flavors to satisfy varied tastes is more important than having a single, perfect product. But at the end of his essay he debunks this idea when he introduces the insight that “sometimes happiness can be found in having what we’ve always had and what everyone else is having.”
Crafting sticky insights by including multiple sources, bringing stakeholders along on the journey, and piquing curiosity through the use of tension are all necessary components to build a compelling narrative. They’re also some of the primary building blocks that we at Quantum Leap employ in our work with clients.
In our experience, the research initiatives that ultimately provide the most value not only answer questions but also help teams recall information by building true curiosity. No matter the topic, we work collaboratively with client teams to create sticky insights that are crafted to support data-driven outcomes.
If you’d like to learn more about how a journalistic approach to insights-building can create stickier insights that provide more value for your team, drop us a line and we’ll find a time that works for you to discuss ideas.