Quick-Read Tweets Speed Clients’ Time-to-Know and Time-to-Influence

BETHESDA, MD, Jan. 13, 2011 – Playmaker Systems, LLC, today announced the debut of Playmaker Private Twitter, a first-of-its-kind market intelligence service that marries Twitter-length news bites with the Playmaker’s signature decision system of standard influence strategies.  (Click here for PDF version of news release.) 

Designed for marketing, sales, communications and social media professionals, the service delivers quick-read analyses by Playmaker certified consultants to increase a clients’ understanding of a market’s gamesmanship and recommend strategies for bending, blunting, complementing or accelerating ongoing developments.

“Twitter’s private feed feature helps speed our clients’ time-to-know and time-to-influence, “said Playmaker Systems CEO and founder Alan Kelly. “There’s no shortage of information and analytics to tell strategists what’s happening in a busy marketplace, but no other service tells a client more quickly what’s happening and what to do about – how to counter a rival’s threat or collaborate with a friendly initiative. It tells them what ‘plays’ are being run by rivals and allies, and what plays can be run in turn.”

Each Tweet – secure, private and never indexed by the search engines – includes a link to a story in the news, blogosphere or social media relevant to a client’s business, whether of a keen rival or a collaborative ally. Certified consultants deconstruct the source using the 25 unique stratagems on the Standard Table of Influence Strategies — all in 140 characters or less.

In addition to the influence strategy breakdown, consultants also prescribe counter-measures to bend, blunt and flip rival initiatives. If the marketplace setting is more collaborative than combative, consultants may prescribe accelerative measures to align the client’s initiatives with the developing play action.

The service has been successfully beta-tested by members of Playmaker Systems’ roster of Fortune 500 clients, including Austin, Tex.,-based Dell Computer. Said Andy Lark, vice president and general manager of large enterprise marketing: “This is the kind of service we require to navigate and engage relevant trends and ideas in our industry and to achieve interlock between the influence functions of marketing, sales, social media, PR and elsewhere.”

Below are two generic examples of what Playmaker clients receive and how they might act upon it:

• A client’s rival announces a product offering identical to what the client recently debuted. A certified consultant advises that the rival’s strategy is a Crowd, a pressing play designed to dilute the client’s first-mover advantage. The recipient can then click the online Crowd play flashcard, provided in bit.ly form, to ascertain best practices for countering that stratagem or contact a Playmaker consultant to discuss next steps.
• A third-party player, perhaps a journalist or a partner, previews an idea that will benefit the client. A certified consultant advises that the surrogate’s play is a Trial Balloon, a testing stratagem, designed to gauge marketplace feedback. The recipient can then click the online Trial Balloon flashcard, provided in bit.ly form, to ascertain best practices for accelerating that stratagem or contact a Playmaker consultant to discuss next steps.

About Playmaker Systems

Playmaker Systems is a management consulting and strategy services firm located in Bethesda, MD, 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, to marketers, salespeople, ad execs, public information officers, information warfighters, researchers and social media revolutionaries. Adopted by Fortune 500 companies, and taught at major universities, this breakthrough patent-pending decision making system depicts and predicts the games and gamesmanship of competitive marketplaces and battlefields. 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 which presents the first taxonomy of 25 irreducible influence stratagems, aka plays.

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Useful Links:

About Playmaker Systems: https://www.plays2run.com/
About Alan Kelly: https://www.plays2run.com/alan-kelly
About The Elements of Influence: https://www.plays2run.com/elements-influence-paperback
Publishable image of The Standard Table of Influence Strategies: https://www.plays2run.com/sites/default/files/The_Playmakers_Table.pdf
Publishable image of The Playmaker’s Glossary: http://www.plays2run.com/sites/default/files/glossary.pdf

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  

jkoval@plays2run.com

www.plays2run.com

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

jkoval@plays2run.com

www.plays2run.com