Persona Puzzle

Step 1: Setup

• Materials Needed: Persona cards detailing different customer profiles, product/service cards, large matching boards, timers.
• Room Preparation: Set up stations with persona cards and product/service cards distributed around the space.

Step 2: Briefing Participants

• Explain the game's objective: to match customer personas with the most suitable products or services.
• Outline the rules: each match must be justified based on the persona's characteristics and needs.

Step 3: Starting the Game

• Distribute a set of persona cards to each team, detailing demographics, interests, preferences, and challenges.

Step 4: Analysis and Matching

• Teams analyze their persona cards and discuss possible product or service matches, considering the needs and preferences outlined.

Step 5: Selection and Justification

• Once a match is decided, teams place their persona and product/service cards on the matching board and prepare a brief justification for their choice.

Step 6: Presentation of Matches

• Each team presents their matches to the group, explaining why they believe their choices best satisfy the personas' needs.

Step 7: Feedback and Scoring

• The facilitator and other teams provide feedback on the matches, discussing the strengths and potential misses in the logic presented.

Step 8: New Rounds with Different Personas

• Teams rotate persona cards, giving them the opportunity to work with new customer profiles and challenges.

Step 9: Final Challenge

• In the last round, teams handle more complex personas with overlapping needs, requiring careful consideration and strategic decision-making.

Step 10: Comprehensive Review

• Conduct a final review session where teams share insights gained from the exercise and discuss how this understanding can be applied to real-world marketing and product development.

Step 11: Debriefing

• Facilitate a debriefing session focusing on the importance of deeply understanding customer profiles in creating effective marketing strategies.

Step 12: Reflection and Learning

• Encourage participants to reflect on how the exercise will affect their approach to customer segmentation and product customization.

Step 13: Feedback Collection

• Gather feedback on the exercise's format and effectiveness to refine future sessions.

Step 14: Follow-Up

• Schedule a follow-up session to implement learned strategies and evaluate changes in marketing approaches based on the exercise.

Step 15: Celebrating Success

• Recognize teams or individuals who demonstrated exceptional insight and creativity in matching personas to products or services.

Step 16: Continued Practice

• Encourage ongoing persona-based exercises within teams to keep refining customer-centric strategies.

The Persona Puzzle game not only encourages a deep dive into customer psychology but also enhances strategic marketing skills by aligning product offerings more closely with customer needs.