A Marketer's Instinct: Does It Have A Real Role Today?

In an era dominated by data, where every decision is scrutinised through the lens of analytics, a potent question arises: Is there still room for intuition in marketing? 

At the recently concluded BW Festival of Marketing 2024, industry leaders asserted a compelling narrative that intuition, honed by experience and expertise, remains an important tool in the marketer's arsenal, especially when we have creativity, innovation and technology to make quick decisions. 

Utsav Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer, Noise, said, “It's the marketer's ability to make decisions without necessarily having to sift through a lot of data. But how is that instinct formed? It develops over years of analysing data, which builds the insight or cognitive memory that allows you to recognise patterns of success. You can then draw on that experience to determine how data might be useful in similar situations. However, we often forget that with every business, setting, and situation, the variables change.” 

Malhotra also pointed out that taking calculated risks, even when the data is inconclusive, is essential for crafting campaigns that have never been created before, and have the capacity to stand out in a crowded marketplace. As per him, the data provides a foundation, instinct is often the catalyst that propels innovative ideas forward. 

Nimish Agrawal, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Niva Bupa mentioned that despite the evolution in how success is measured, the core challenge of marketing, of capturing consumer attention and driving engagement, has remained constant. Agrawal said that risk-taking is an inherent part of the marketing profession, particularly in sectors like health insurance, which he sees as primed for innovative marketing approaches. He argued that marketers must balance the ‘art’ of creativity with the ‘science’ of data analysis. In this balancing act, intuition plays a crucial role, enabling marketers to push boundaries and explore unconventional strategies that data alone might not justify. 

Talking about the innovation vs intuition debate, Vaibhav Maloo, Managing Director, Enso Group emphasised that intuition is vital for identifying opportunities that might be overlooked by data-driven approaches. Ganpati Subramaniam, VP & Head - Marketing, LT Foods furthered on it and weighed in on the interplay between intuition and data. He illustrated this with a real-world example, describing a successful marketing campaign that relied more on an intuitive understanding of consumer behaviour than on hard data. 

Marketers agreed that creativity in marketing sometimes requires a departure from data-driven decision-making. Connecting with consumers on a human level often means making choices based on what ‘feels right’ rather than what the numbers suggest. This approach, they argued, is where intuition shines, allowing marketers to craft messages and campaigns that truly resonate with their target audience. 

Sambhav Kumar

BW Reporters