Insights into Action: Why You Need a Playbook
The voice of the consumer is more important than ever, and CI teams are sharing their findings with an increasingly diverse array of internal stakeholders eager to understand consumer truths. Indeed, the need for actionable research is at an all-time high. But what does “actionable” really mean? Even the most strategic research report typically ends with a relatively brief “Implications” section with thoughtful, but general suggestions carefully worded to not step on any toes or over-reach with specificity or (gasp!) subjectivity.
That’s where a Playbook comes in. While a research report’s primary goal is to communicate consumer insights and offer broad implications, a Playbook’s goal is purely to prescribe, in detail, strategies, tactics, and “plays” which might include messaging tonality, marketing plans, brand architecture, style guides, or product concepts. The Playbook effectively starts where a research report ends and is designed specifically for non-research audiences who appreciate consumer insights but are more interested in the “now what do I do?” part. As we say at Momentum, the “Implications” section of a research report is our project brief.
If you are an insights person, a Playbook lets your work travel further. It is for your internal clients: for your marketing team, your creative agencies, your strategic planners. A Playbook takes the research and turns it into building blocks for campaigns, product development, and strategic roadmaps. Starting with the consumer truths surfaced in the research, it puts forth recommendations rooted in the reality of the consumer voice. The recommendations are not reverse engineered in service of creative. In fact, a Playbook is foundational to a well-informed creative brief. It is a document that you can hand over to your creative agency and let them have at it.
We have helped Fortune 100 clients make their research more impactful and most importantly, make it actionable.
Please reach out if you’re interested in seeing how a playbook can help extend the power of your research.