fact tackles insight – cause of provocation, undeclared.

by Erica

Our task is to investigate the difference between ‘fact’ and ‘insight.’  So, I had to start somewhere. That somewhere was with the dictionary.

Fact: |fakt| (noun) a thing that is indisputably the case

Insight: |’in,sit| (noun) the capacity to gain an accurate and deep intuitive understanding of a person or thing.

I guess things that I want to highlight here are a) indisputably and b) intuitive. Facts are bored in data. They’re indisputable – unable to challenged or denied. Insights are based in feeling without particular rationale. Beyond insights being exponentially cooler, (for reasons I will discuss), they’re more resonating with audiences, because they come from that weird and irrational place. I’ll use fashion here as my outlet to explain these key differences. Recently, I went through style.com’s runway photos for some of my favorite fashion labels’ Spring/Summer 2014 RTW pieces. Despite my day-to-day appearance, I really do have a thing for style. I noticed some things as I was meandering through these photos. Based on the conclusions I came to after viewing the collections of Tory Burch, The Row, Sass and Bide, Rebecca Minkoff, Rag and Bone, Rachel Zoe, Mulberry, Jason-Wu, J.Mendel, DVF, Chloe, Bagdley Mischka, and Alice and Olivia, I flew to Elle.com.

Elle likes to think of itself as a type of authority on fashion and style. In this long-winded metaphor, we’ll call ‘Elle’ the facts. The dictionary. The statistical data. Elle claims these facts about Spring/Summer 2014 to be the truth and nothing but the truth. Prepare for crop tops, overwhelming amounts of sheer panelling, white wide-leg pants, graphic black and white prints, fringe, embellished details, and the return of floral. A lot of my notes on my favorite labels resonated with these facts. However, because we’re in the business of fashion here we have to look a little deeper. All of these individual labels have personalities. As Chris Kocek says in his Practical Pocket Guide to Account Planning – brands (which these fashion labels essentially are) have to sell a world view. These labels are selling their consumers a way to viewed in the world. For example, Rachel Zoe – trendy, sophisticated, chic. Mulberry – neutral, local, organic. Rebecca Minkoff – edgy, trendy, on the cusp of something. Rachel Zoe, for instance, knows what type of people are buying her clothes – and why. Why do people wear those awesome Rachel Zoe fur vests? Because they want the world around them to see them in a certain way. Labels know this.

So, as I noticed, all these brands are following facts. They all have the fringe, the crop tops, the sheer (panels) in their collections. The insight comes in how they present it. Their insight comes in incorporating these ‘facts’ about a particular season and making it relevant to their particular consumers. Fashion labels famously use insight about their consumers. They take these industry facts and use insight to create relevancy. They use insight in knowing the way consumers want the world to view them while they wear their pieces – and they use it to keep the fuel going. To prove my point (or rather, a few of my points), I’ve compiled some pictures so we can compare. Besides, visuals are always nice. They really drive home a point.

Let’s take ‘sheer’ for instance:
All three of these pieces incorporate a sheer element, but how they do it differs based on the way the brand/label perceives itself.

Rebecca Minkoff, as a brand, is known for being exclusive, cutting-edge, and edgy (let’s be real here, her big selling point is her work with leather). Of course, there would be a risqué factor in the way that the sheer panelling is implemented in this top – accentuated with the texture of the floral print. It’s fun. It’s exciting. It’s something different, and this is how people want to be perceived while they wear this particular brand.

Chloé, on the other hand, is more utility-based. More practical. More eco-friendly. More calm. The way the sheer is incorporated here, accentuates this about the brand. It’s sheer, but not in a way that’s flashy. It’s there, it’s on trend, and it’s wearable – which is what Chloé, as a brand, is all about. Neutral.

And lastly, Alice and Olivia – which I view to be a pretty feminine brand. You have here the sheer mixed with some lace embellishments with texture. It’s feminine. It’s pretty. Alice and Olivia is big on big wide skirts with large prints – über feminine. This insight about consumers wanting that feminine, soft look is prominent here in the way they’ve used sheer.

While, this might seem long-winded. I think this very visually illustrates a difference between ‘fact’ and ‘insight.’ You’ve got something that’s known as a universal truth – what people are wearing for Spring/Summer 2014. The insight, or the irrational intuition, comes in knowing how this fact is relevant to your consumers. What does your insight tell you about who your consumers are, what their worldview is, what they’re interested in.