Unlock Prospective Thinking to Change Behavior with PlayFULL Insights®

Introducing a Play-Based Behavioral Approach


To influence—and potentially change—consumer behavior, companies need to fully understand their customer’s mindset. Then they can target moments of decision making and use knowing the goals and motivations in those moments, and the hopes, fears and aspirations that impact decision making.

PFI makes consumers’ imaginations and client teams’ collective knowledge accessible through play. Insights that emerge provide an innovative way to inform product development, marketing strategies and brand positioning.

Energize Your Qualitative Research with PlayFULL Insights®

PFI is an application of the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methodology—a facilitated thinking, communication and problem-solving technique where participants use LEGO® bricks to build a story in response to carefully-crafted questions. This “hands-on” method focuses on the building of 3-D models using metaphorical thinking and incorporates authentic storytelling and deliberate reflection. This allows participants to share inner, subconscious truths that, in turn, deliver comprehensive and insightful answers to research questions.

The Benefits of PlayFULL Insights®

  • Participants feel relaxed and playful, so they are comfortable going deep and taking risks to answer your research questions. 
  • The group questions the model not the participant, enhancing trust and communication, which in turn provides more candid insights for you. 
  • People’s hands become a search engine for their whole brains, tapping into their subconscious for thoughts and feelings below the surface—and by uncovering the subconscious, innovation is informed in a whole new way. 
  • Individuals easily explain personally-created metaphors enhanced by 3D visualization to make thoughts tangible and facilitate insightful communication.
  • Research teams also get “hands-on” by using PFI to bring new perspectives to on-site conversations and debriefs, with equal airtime and mutual respect.  

Uncovering Subconscious Prospective Thinking for Greater Depth of Insight

How are the insights found through PFI different from those gained in other qualitative methods? By using PFI to delve into “prospective thinking”, you can deeply explore one of three ways to make decisions identified by cognitive psychologists as System 3 thinking. Prospective—System 3—is decision-making where consumers imagine their desire to possess, hope for a positive outcome or fear for a negative one, and intrigue about what might or might not happen. PFI goes beyond System 1 (fast decision-making using intuitive, more impulsive mental processes) and System 2 (slower decision-making using cognitive, rational processes) thinking to unlock System 3 thinking for greater depth of insight.

By uncovering prospective thinking, you gain a deeper level of understanding to apply to your business challenges, direct from the consumer’s mind. The best way to experience this unique approach is to actually do it.

“Too often, in this age of technology overload, we think of innovative research methods as tech-driven, rather than creativity-driven.
PlayFULL Insights® is a great example of how looking at research from a different angle, utilizing tools as simple as LEGO® bricks along with storytelling skills, can lead to breakthrough innovation.”

— Kristin Luck, Growth Strategist, Luck Collective

Case Study


Where can PlayFULL Insights® advance your research?

Imagine how stories can emerge where a team envisions and embraces a path forward together to address opportunities in innovation or marketing.

Fuzzy Front End Concepts

Innovation & Product Development


Brand Positioning & Messaging

PlayFULL Insights was awarded Next Gen Market Research (NGMR) Disruptive Innovator Award—an award that recognizes the demonstration of harnessing disruptive innovation to drive research industry progress.