go to where it actually happens

Genchi Genbutsu, Small Data & The Banana Color Guide
Human Centric, Small Data has the power to reveal the all-important clues that can unlock triggers for behavior change. Observing people’s behavior in-situ, by Genchi Gembutsu'ing' we can get closest to the truth. The approach of 'Genchi Genbutsu' aka 'Go and See', suggests that in order to truly understand a situation or a behavior one needs to go to ‘genba’ or, the ‘real place’ - where the action unfolds and observe it. Taiichi Ohno, creator of the Toyota Production System, it is said, would take new recruits to the shop floor and draw a chalk circle on the floor. The graduates would be told to stand in the circle, observe and note what they saw. Ohno was trying to imprint upon his future engineers that the only way to truly understand what happens on the shop floor was to go there and observe in-situ.  
 
Have you seen people buy bananas at supermarkets, and how they examine it? And have you observed the unsurety they experience of not knowing whether the banana is right for eating today? Or whether it would stay good till tomorrow? Observing people hunched over bananas anxiously, with each attempt to get pick the right one feeling like a gamble, was probably the inspiration behind the Singapore NTUC FairPrice, placing the Banana Color guide, next to the fruit, with a user friendly visual guide to not just how to pick the right banana, but also information on the nutritional facts that a layperson could understand, with even advise on what to do with the over ripe ones at home! Someone did observe real people, making real choices in store, to understand that when it comes to grocery shopping, confidence is the opposite of feeling unsure.
Going to the place where ‘it’ actually happens has always provided insights and breakthroughs that could never have been achieved otherwise.

If I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist. It was through observing people around their laundry that we discovered that most people lived by the logic that if you can’t see it, it doesn’t exist. So if the garment didn’t look visibly dirty, they assumed that it must be clean, and that it didn’t necessarily need a good wash. To change this behavior, we used the trigger of signals that focused on making the hidden germs ‘visible’. The resulting behavior change drove record sales for Tide, P&G.
The comfort of inconspicuous choice. Walking to the aisle where ‘anti-ageing’ products were shelved separately and exclusively was embarrassing and uncomfortable for many women. They didn’t like yet another reminder of ‘ageing’ in a public setting, and shied away from exploring the purchase in store, triggering an ‘anti-purchase’. Displaying the anti-ageing solutions along with the rest of the portfolio, with the fairness and moisturizing etc., ‘de-stigmatized’ ageing in the aisle and made it easier for women to shop in store. This observation was a key part of the shopper strategy that was developed for Olay across all of SE Asia. 
Is it a TV or is it a radio? 90% of the budget of a leading diaper brand was spent on TV, with the marketers relying on data that said that most of the brand’s target audience consumed Television as their primary media. Observing the audience in situ revealed that even though the TV was always switched on, the people were hardly ever watching it. They were, in fact, 'listening' to it as they went about their daily activities using it almost like a radio, highlighting the importance of designing auditory cues that could help trigger purchase versus just focusing on visual cues, as was the practice. 
 
When it comes to designing meaningful experiences for people – the best advice I have for all – marketers and their agency folks is to use whatever sources of intelligence & information they deem best for for their needs, but no matter what the category, the brand, campaign objectives – please Go Where It Actually Happens. Genchi Gembutsu your way to better marketing, communications & business decisions !