Created by a Human (c). On music and qualitative marketing research

Sometimes you turn on music - the technique is flawless, everything seems perfect, but nothing happens inside you. No emotions, no sensations, no 'goosebumps'... Or you read a report or listen to a presentation - perfectly formatted slides, professional terminology, but the value is zero! Or you watch an ad, you understand the client's intent, but nothing stirs inside, nothing touches you, nothing makes your 'mouth water'...

Why? I think about this often... and I notice that we’ve driven ourselves too hard - further, faster, more; we’ve begun to rely too much, and often mindlessly, on science and technology. The skill of delegation has played a cruel joke on us, transforming into a desire to do nothing and take responsibility for nothing ourselves. No, we like to think we are creating something great by delegating the routine. But often, this is a false impression

Do you know what was missing in that music track, report, presentation or video reel? There was no deeply lived human experience. You couldn't feel that 'friction' that arises when a person walks the path step by step: making mistakes, swearing, wiping away tears, correcting, searching, enjoying... and, what is also extremely important - interacting with the listener, the audience, the consumer

Music is not just correctly chosen and precisely played notes

It is a very subtle, sophisticated and deep communication between the musician and the listener. When a composer creates not a commercial track, but music from the soul, they don’t just select sounds - they live the moment, reproducing a certain state. When a musician performs a piece, they put their fatigue, their pain or joy, their morning today or poignant memories into every movement of the bow or touch of the keys... And the listener feels it. Listeners don't listen to the frequency of the sound; they feel the lived experience of the artist

This cannot be delegated to an algorithm, because an algorithm doesn’t know what it’s like when the heart sinks...

Yes, we know many scientific patterns of how music affects emotions: from major and minor keys to 'entrainment'', where the listener's heartbeat and breathing sync with the tempo of the music. But even scientists admit: if you gather all this knowledge into one track mathematically, you won’t succeed in influencing the listener exactly as intended. Science is of immense value to us, but on its own, it is no guarantee of success

By the way, I highly recommend reading Musical Emotions Explained by Patrick N. Juslin on this subject. And I also suggest visiting us at the Insight Home to listen to music a bit differently than you're used to. I promise it will be, at the very least, a new and interesting experience

Qualitative research is not 'they told us – we did it'

In marketing in general, and in qualitative research in particular, there is also a great temptation now to automate everything. Speaking of marketing research, indeed, there are methods (e.g., quantitative research) and tasks where AI is very helpful. But the value of qualitative research specifically lies elsewhere; namely, in the process of close interaction between people (consumer-researcher-client). And this is something that will never be accessible to algorithms

In qualitative research, as in music, the devil (and the genius) lies in the small details and subtle nuances throughout the entire process

Clients come to me when they don't know, don't understand, don't feel, don't believe... Qualitative research is a continuous search with a mass of unknowns that cannot be programmed

In true qualitative research, as in jazz, there is a key theme and a basic foundation, but beyond that - complete freedom, endless and often unpredictable improvisation

In qualitative research, a result that is effective for business is born precisely in the process of obtaining, reflecting upon and discussing what was seen and heard. It’s not about 'input data – export report'. It’s about hearing, asking again, thinking, sleeping on it, discussing, thinking once more and, finally, waiting for that moment when you are struck by an epiphany

Yes, qualitative research is not 'on the fly'. It is for adults who understand the value of the time to think

Many theories and frameworks are popular now, from CustDev and JTBD to CEP. We know about 'thinking fast and slow' and rejoice in the development of neuroscience. BUT even if we cram all this knowledge into AI at once, we won't be able to 'calculate' an insight. Because it comes when the researcher, in close cooperation with the client, passes everything seen and heard from the life and experience of the target audience through their own knowledge and understanding of context, their accumulated years of human experience, intuition, feelings and empathy

In qualitative research, science and algorithms are not a panacea. You cannot 'cut corners' here. You either walk the entire path on foot, feeling every pebble under your feet, and open a new path for the client; or you hand over another formal report that will be put in a folder on a server and forgotten...

Understand me correctly, I am not against technology. I happily use AI where possible (Gemini, by the way, has been a great help over the last two weeks in helping me recover my leg after a ligament sprain. It also helped me to translate this article into English). But there are things where it is important not to overdo it with delegation and to give yourself time to live your own experience. It’s no wonder we increasingly see IT professionals sitting down at musical instruments, and marketers becoming fascinated again with in-person home visits...

We have cars, but we know we must also walk. We have AI, but we must understand that there are things that should not be delegated

Perhaps one day marketing will be exclusively algorithmic. But I wouldn’t want to live in those times... Because I want bread kneaded by the hands of a baker; music created by human genius; and brands that didn’t catch me with an algorithm, but sank into my soul