You've chosen this book. Which probably means you're a marketer, you've heard of scenarios and you want to know what they can do for you. Can they help with everyday marketing issues like brands, channels and relationships? The answer is yes. Rooted in customer needs, scenarios bridge the gap between corporate strategy and marketing tactics. They are a weapon for perceiving the unseen and a framework for thinking the unthinkable. This book's wealth of case studies will show you how they've helped top companies like Pfizer, Nestle and Courvoisier to do just that, and its practical lessons will show how they can do exactly the same for you.

Gill Ringland and Laurie Young have gathered top-flight contributors to offer the first straightforward account of scenario planning for marketers. In readable chapters they show how, by integrating scenarios into the wider marketing toolkit, you can make your organization more customer-driven and consider a wider range of possibilities than your competitors. They explore how scenarios have driven creativity in a range of consumer marketing applications - even in FMCG sectors - and define their role in distribution, channel management, brand management and customer management strategy. Finally, they show how marketing scenarios can help to promote wider corporate innovation.

The rich pictures painted by scenarios have made business strategy more visionary and creative, and they're set to do the same with marketing strategy. Read this book, and make sure it's your organization holding the brush.

Scenario Planning is a classic work of business strategy. Its clear, inclusive approach to learning from the future distinguishes it from the competition, while its unmatched breadth of case studies make it an essential aid for managers seeking to implement scenario techniques. Key features of the Second Edition include a review of available methods and how to access them, detailed coverage of 'early indicators', and a wealth of new cases including Shell, Morgan Stanley Japan, and Finland's use of climate change scenarios. 'What happened next' sections for case studies from the first edition are also included. Packed with clear lessons and straightforward advice, Scenario Planning tells you what works, when it works and why. The book's overall message is that scenarios are not predictions or forecasts, but effective weapons in managing the uncertainties of the future. Since the first appearance of the second edition, global events have emphasised the effectiveness of scenario thinking in managing these uncertainties

Here be Dragons was written in response to requests from readers of Beyond Crisis (John Wiley, 2010), which introduced the "Cycle of Renewal". Readers wanted to know what the Cycle of Renewal looked like "on the ground"; how would you get started? How would you decide which tools to use? Who would do the work? What would it look like on a daily basis? And, most importantly, what impact would you see on business performance? Here be Dragons addresses these questions in two ways. The first, The Columbus Project, describes the journey taken by a fictional organisation (FutureParts Vehicle Supplies) which was set the challenge of renewing itself. The staff of FutureParts are entirely fictional, but they represent some of the characters and organisational structures that form the context for change in many organisations. The story illustrates some of the common hurdles and tools, so that business leaders may recognise some of the characteristics of what works and what does not as they spearhead organisational change. The second part of the book is a Pilot's Guide to the tools which the Columbus Project used to help the business renew itself. The tools are designed to enhance the ability to think long term while being effective in the short term - balancing the paradoxes leaders face on a daily basis. Both parts focus pragmatically on why each tool should be used, when and how they should be used, together with the results to expect and how each fits into the Cycle of Renewal.