News
USC ANNENBERG ANNOUNCES FIRST-EVER COURSE FOR PLANNING AND MAPPING COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
January 13, 2008
Students Will Use 'Periodic Table of Influence' and Web Tools to Break Down and Prescribe Campaigns of Businesses, Politicians and Pop Stars
Plays for the Presidency to Debut on XM Satellite Radio
October 12, 2007
XM Channel 130, POTUS 08, Friday morning at 8:15 a.m. EST
Cracking the Code of Influence Strategy: A Standard-Setting Classification and Prediction System of Moves and Counter-Moves
October 10, 2007
Alan Kelly to Speak at The Association for Business Communication, 11:45 a.m. - 12:10 p.m., Wed., Oct. 10, Lexington Room of the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill
Flashcards Are Now Free!
May 2, 2007
Breakthrough Reference System Now Publicly Available
This week, we took the big step of opening up Playmaker''s Table and its flashcards to the general public. Until now, visitors to www.plays2run.com could access The Playmaker''s Table and, by mousing-over each play, read their definitions. Only our client-users and paid subscribers could click on the illustrated plays and access the wealth of information beneath them (i.e., examples, best uses, upsides, downsides, and the invaluable decoding and countering tips).
Now, for anyone on the Internet, this breakthrough reference is free.
So click here to view the flashcards or here to read more about this groundbreaking service, now free to the public.
The Elements of Influence -- NOW IN PAPERBACK!
September 25, 2007
Buy now from Amazon.com or your local bookseller.
How Exxon Plays Dodgeball PR
New Strategy Map Reveals Oil Giant''s Methods for Blunting, Bending Public Criticism'
Second in a Series of Media Microscope™ Studies
Washington, D.C., Oct. 30, 2008 – The Playmaker’s Standard, LLC, today released an illustrated analysis of strategies employed by ExxonMobil as the oil giant responds to persistent criticism of its corporate and environmental policies, notably by skeptical environmental groups, financial analysts, hostile foreign governments, and shareholder activists. (Click here for report.)
Based on The Playmaker’s Table™, a first-of-a-kind classification framework of 25 irreducibly complex influence strategies, the independent study shows how the Texas-based oil giant blunts and bends the agendas of its most dogged detractors to preserve and propel its preferred reputation and brand. Principal findings of the study:
- To manage public dialog and commentary, Exxon exhibits considerable strategic range across the playmaker’s spectrum, from evasive diverting plays, such as the Deflect and Red Herring, to provocative Call Outs and Preempts (see p. 6 of study for a glossary of terms).
- An exception is that Exxon relies on no luring plays to challenge or bait its critics, an indication of the company’s aversion to direct engagement of negative public issues.
- Two of every three moves by Exxon opponents are supported by high-interaction plays, particularly the Challenge and Call Out stratagems, which are typically employed to pressure an opposing market player.
- Exxon''s opponents are slow to employ high-profile surrogates to reinforce their claims – a delay that suggests comparably poorer command and control of their public campaigns.
- Exxon marketing campaigns tend not to involve the CEO, suggesting a strategy to insulate and de-couple executive leadership from public scrutiny of the company.
The map was created on StrategyMapper™, a patent-pending web-tool that illustrates patterns, sequences and trends of influence strategies in a defined marketplace. The result: unparalleled insight into the means and methods that corporations, the media, activists, politicians, governments and others employ to drive agendas, manage conversations and counter criticism. Data are aggregated using StrategySnapshot™.
The Playmaker’s Standard, LLC, based in the Washington, D.C. metro area, is a management consulting and web software services firm specializing in communication and competitive strategy. The company’s work is based on The Elements of Influence, a landmark book by CEO and founder Alan Kelly, which details The Playmaker’s Table, the first periodic table of influence strategy. Kelly writes two blogs: Playmaker’s Forum, a regular deconstruction of spin and strategy in business and pop-culture, and Plays for the Presidency, a non-partisan analysis and XM POTUS 08 iTunes podcast of the moves and counter-moves of the 2008 Presidential Election.
John Koval Associate, The Playmaker’s Standard
t: (330) 727-2223
Playmakers Announce New Pricing for StrategyMapper™
14-Day Trial of Online Strategy Mapping Tool Available at $29
Washington, D.C., Oct. 27, 2008 – The Playmaker’s Standard, LLC, today announced three-tier pricing for its signature web-based software, StrategyMapper™ (formerly known as Play Action Whiteboard™).
- 14-day trial subscription for $29.00
- 6-month student/faculty subscription for $99.00
- 1-year single-user professional subscription for $399.00, reduced from $575.00
StrategyMapper™ is an easy-to-use market intelligence tool that shortens the “time-to-influence” of decision-makers, particularly of mainstream and social media, by illustrating the underlying influence strategies of competitive marketplaces. Resulting maps help CEOs, marketers, communications and public affairs professionals, salespeople, advertising executives, scholars and politicos depict and predict the patterns, sequences, trends and tendencies of both competitors and collaborators. The result: unparalleled insight into the means and methods that corporations, the media, activists, politicians and governments and others employ to drive agendas, manage conversations and counter criticism. New additions to The Playmaker’s Standard website, www.plays2run.com, also include:
- Play of the Day at-a-glance feature of influence strategies in business, politics and pop culture.
- Playmaker’s Glossary defines the plays, classes, subclasses, and surrogates of the playmaker’s lexicon in an easy-to-print PDF-form.
- Strategy Map Library is an online repository of Influence Strategy Maps™ of seminal moments in influence strategy history, from Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” to General Motors’ use of influence strategies to revive its corporate reputation and promote the Chevy Volt.
- Improved Playmaker’s blogs, including Playmaker’s Forum, an analysis of the influence strategies of business, politics and pop-culture; and Plays for the Presidency, a non-partisan analysis with XM Radio podcasts of the 2008 Presidential Election.
The Playmaker’s Standard, LLC, based in the Washington, D.C. metro area, is a management consulting and web software services firm specializing in communication and competitive strategy. The company’s work is based on The Elements of Influence, a landmark book by CEO and founder Alan Kelly, which details The Playmaker’s Table, the first periodic table of influence strategy. Kelly writes two blogs: Playmaker’s Forum, a regular deconstruction of spin and strategy in business and pop-culture, and Plays for the Presidency, a non-partisan analysis and XM POTUS 08 iTunes podcast of the moves and counter-moves of the 2008 Presidential Election.
Inquiries:
John Koval Associate, The Playmaker’s Standard
t: (330) 727-2223
GM Runs Unconventional Plays to Drive Hybrid Agenda
Independent Analysis and Strategy Map Show How Auto Giant is Building Competitive Advantage Through the Media
First in a Series of Media Microscope™ Studies
Washington, D.C., October 10, 2008 – The Playmaker’s Standard, LLC, today released an illustrated analysis of the media strategies employed by Detroit-based General Motors Corporation. The independent study reveals how GM is using communications and media to build competitive advantage in the coveted hybrid electric vehicle market and generate interest in its much-anticipated Chevy Volt.
Media Microscope™ Study: GM Runs Unconventional Plays to Fuel Chevy Volt
Based on The Playmaker’s Table™, a classification framework of 25 irreducibly unique stratagems or plays, the analysis demonstrates how GM has recently portrayed new products and programs to both recast its embattled brand and counter detractors, notably skeptical environmental groups, financial analysts, and industry watchers. Principal findings of the study include:
- GM employs a diversity of influence stratagems (12 of 25 plays), reflecting considerable mastery by the automaker of influence and public opinion.
- GM executives, notably Bob Lutz, freely admit failure and fault, atypical of most large-company play-it-safe media practices.
- To that end, GM uses counter-intuitive strategies, defined in the playmaker system as the Disco, Bear Hug and Lantern. These high-risk plays have helped the car giant buy time in the hybrid electric market and re-earn the public’s trust and interest in its new-generation initiatives.
The analysis and companion PDF-printable map was created on StrategyMapper™, a patent-pending web-tool that illustrates patterns, sequences and trends of influence strategies in a defined marketplace. Data were aggregated using StrategySnapshot™.
The Playmaker’s Standard, LLC, based in the Washington, D.C. metro area, is a management consulting and web software services firm specializing in communication and competitive strategy. CEO and Founder, Alan Kelly, is a visionary business strategist, political commentator, and award-winning Silicon Valley CEO. He is the author of The Elements of Influence, the landmark book which details The Playmaker’s Table, the first periodic table of influence strategy. Kelly writes two blogs: Playmaker’s Forum, a regular deconstruction of spin and strategy in business and pop-culture, and Plays for the Presidency, a non-partisan analysis and XM POTUS 08 iTunes podcast of the moves and counter-moves of the 2008 Presidential Election.
Inquiries:
John Koval
t: (330) 727-2223
