Communicators, Marketers, Salespeople, Reputation Managers Can Query System for Win-Win Influence Strategies

POTOMAC, MD, June 22, 2010 – Playmaker Systems, LLC, a management consulting and strategy services firm, today announced the addition of the Playmaker’s Collaborator Tool™ to its ground breaking online system of influence strategies. Now, all 25 stratagems of the Playmaker’s core framework, The Standard Table of Influence Strategy, can be queried for strategies (a.k.a., plays) that help and accelerate the programs, agendas and messages of like-minded partners and allies.

The feature is a welcome addition for communicators, marketers, salespeople and other influence professionals who seek win-win solutions, particularly in support of reputation management programs.

If a company, candidate, activist, lobbyist, lawyer or even soldier likes the play of a partner or ally, it can now consult The Standard Table of Influence Strategies at www.plays2run.com/table for options that help the aligned player. Below is a simple example featuring a popular pressing play called the Peacock, defined in the playmaker system as the unsolicited parading by a player of a novelty to generate attention in a marketplace.

With great fanfare, a startup discount airline announces a contrarian bags-fly-free policy for checked luggage. The play, designed to thwart its corner-cutting rival carriers, is a Peacock. In the original Playmaker system, a competing player (e.g., a strategist for a rival bag-charging airline) might query the online Peacock flash card (see fig. 1 below) and quickly learn how best to counter or dilute the opponent’s self-aggrandizing ploy. Expose the fallacies of the stunt by running a Mirror. Run a Recast to de-position the ploy as bad for the shareholders. With the standard countering tool, the gloves are off.

Figure 1. Strategies for hindering (i.e., countering) a Peacock play

Now, with the addition of the Playmaker’s Collaborator Tool, allies and partners can play too. Using the same example, a bags-fly-free supporter, perhaps a partner airline, can click on the Peacock play (see fig. 2 below) for strategies to help its ally. Issue a Challenge that invites other cut-rate airlines to join in the parade. Run a Screen play that enlarges the importance of the strategy – ‘Our partner has provided relief for the nickel-and-dimed traveler, an important provision in the air travelers’ bill of rights.’ Whichever strategy is chosen – there are several more not mentioned here – strategists now have options to support a play, not just to fight it or dilute it.

Figure 2. Strategies for helping (i.e., collaborating with) a Peacock play

About the Playmakers

Playmaker Systems is a management consulting and strategy services firm dedicated to the discipline of influence strategy. Our core innovation, The Standard Table of Influence Strategies, is the new essential system for managing the discussions, positions and campaigns of influence professionals – from CEOs and politicos, to communications and public affairs pros, marketers, salespeople, advertising executives, diplomats, public information officers, information warfighters, researchers and social media revolutionaries. Adopted by Fortune 500 companies and tested at major universities, this breakthrough patent-pending decision making system depicts and predicts the games and gamesmanship of competitive marketplaces and battlefields. The result: One standard, one team, speaking one language for faster time-to-influence and resulting competitive advantage.

Incubated in the world’s capital of innovation, Silicon Valley, and now headquartered in the world’s capital of influence, Washington, D.C., we help organizations and professionals achieve unparalleled insight into stakeholder communities, opportunities, crises, and emerging policies and issues. Our acclaimed online web tools, industry advisories, professional academies, workshops, strategy wargames and custom strategy maps are based on The Elements of Influence, the landmark book by CEO and Founder Alan Kelly that presents the first taxonomy of 25 irreducible influence stratagems (a.k.a. plays). To date, the company has conducted successful adoptions with Fortune 100 firms, notably SAP AG, Hewlett Packard, Abbott Labs, Dow Corning and Dell. The system has received praise from business, government and academic circles as a new and complementary theory to general operations and business strategy. For more information, visit www.plays2run.com or search “Playmaker Systems” on Facebook for our new business page.

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Reference links:

• Playmaker Systems’ official company website: www.plays2run.com
• The Standard Table of Influence Strategies: http://www.plays2run.com/table
• The Elements of Influence: http://www.plays2run.com/category/content-type/products/book-and-references
• Playmakers Facebook business page: Search “Playmaker Systems” on www.facebook.com

All images, indicated trademarks and supporting software are the property of Playmaker Systems, LLC. Patents Pending.
 

John M. Koval

Certified Consultant, Playmaker Systems

jkoval@plays2run.com

(t) 301-990-9406 | (m) 301-520-6236 | (f) 301-990-9507

www.plays2run.com | facebook.com/playmaker-systems