Insight
In a Nutshell
An insight is capturing a meaningful truth about the target audience's behavior, emotion, or thinking. It forms the foundation of an advertising idea. In theory: a human truth. In practice: what everyone looks for but few actually find.
What It Really Means
Insight is one of the most used but most easily diluted concepts in advertising. Not every observation is an insight. Not every piece of data is an insight.
A good insight is where a person feels caught. It makes them say, "Yes, I experience this." A bad insight is just stating something already known, but more elaborately.
In agencies, the insight is often the most critical sentence of the presentation. Because the idea is built on top of it. If the insight is weak, the campaign sits on a weak foundation.
Insight is one of those rare moments when the brand centers not itself, but the human being.