Market Segmentation is the winning game all brands must play.

It isn’t difficult to imagine a typical Indian family of the 80s sitting down to a game of monopoly after a leisurely Sunday lunch.

The New Rulebook

Times have changed. Board games face stiff, perhaps unfair, competition from their digital cousins. A digital game can be played on a choice of console, alone or with strangers online, and it is infinitely more stimulating. In comparison, the low-tech board game moves at a snail’s pace and requires the participation of many willing players.

So when a client who had designed a worthy board game asked us to help segment the market, we decided to focus on the ecosystem in which the board game will either thrive or perish. The specific question we asked ourselves was: which households are capable of creating joy around a piece of cardboard?

Games Parents Play

Our primary research helped us identify two distinct types of middle and upper-middle class households that were the result of two distinct styles of parenting.

A Winning Move

While it was never easy to be parents, it’s safe to say that it has never before been so tough. Expectations from society, family and self can make every parenting decision a moment of self-doubt. Against this social backdrop, it became evident that the Calm Parent would not only have the time to play a board game with their children, they would also create lasting memories out of this seemingly unproductive activity.

Unlike a digital game, where the ignominy of defeat might be suppressed by an unseen grimace and a quick reload, board games require the participant to face defeat squarely in the face, which is sometimes more difficult in the presence of loved ones than strangers. The Calm Parent would be around to teach the child to win and lose with dignity.

So we helped our client market board games as a meaningful meandering of the stream of life. The Calm Parent received the message with joy.

Read another case study on Market Segmentation here.