A revolutionary new business model to master the marketplace Playmaking is the essential skill for advancing ideas, controlling market discussions, positioning products, and beating all the competitors. In The Elements of Influence , pioneering strategy expert Alan Kelly lays out his groundbreaking system, the PlaymakerÂ's Standard. This new framework of twenty-five plays—teamed with breakthrough online web tools—shows readers how to outsmart an opponent, control spin, orchestrate word of mouth, mobilize coalitions, and manage brands and reputations. Drawing on examples from the black belts of business, politics, and pop culture, the PlaymakerÂ's Standard is a winning game plan to help CEOs and business leaders, strategists, marketers, PR professionals, political campaigners, bloggers, and activists alike gain and maintain the competitive edge. ALAN KELLY is a leading expert in competitive strategy and an innovator in the fields of communication, research, and technology marketing. He is the CEO and founder of The PlaymakerÂ's Standard, LLC, a consulting and software services firm based on KellyÂ's landmark system of easy-to-use strategy mapping tools, and the former CEO and founder of Applied Communications Group, an award-winning public relations and research consultancy whose clients included Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, and Sun Microsystems.