As announced at Sunday’s Volunteer Luncheon during The PPAI Expo, PPAI has published a draft of its Strategic Foresight Playbook, a step-by-step guide to implementing strategic foresight and operational excellence for promotional products industry businesses. Copies of the draft were distributed to volunteers who attended the luncheon for their review and comment. The final version will be available to PPAI members this spring in print, print-on-demand and online.

“The playbook is an integral part of how promotional products businesses can use engagement strategies, competitive intelligence and measurement when making decisions today while supporting and shaping our industry’s future for tomorrow,” says Paul Bellantone, CAE, PPAI president and CEO. “We expect this book to be an essential resource for promotional products companies in achieving their strategic goals. It includes not only an introductory overview of strategic foresight but also discusses many complex business issues and provides practical ‘plays’ for future success.”

The playbook includes a collection of activities to help companies spot emerging trends, prepare for disruption and plan for change and innovation to succeed in the future. It includes an overview of strategic foresight, a four-step process for company positioning and finding a market niche, as well as the plays—a group of useful tools and how-to approaches for planning, execution and investment measurement.

The publication represents the culmination of PPAI’s work with focus groups, and interviews with hundreds of promotional products distributors and suppliers, volunteer leaders—including the PPAI Board of Directors—and PPAI staff. It is designed to give promotional products industry business leaders information and tools on developing and implementing strategic foresight.

Developing and leveraging strategic foresight is one of the four goals in PPAI’s Strategic Plan.