Conversations with the Marketplace: An application of Design Thinking and Sociodrama Action Methods in an Innovation Workshop

This paper describes the use of sociodrama action methods within a design thinking workshop created to support marketing planning for a new product innovation. Participants were a digital sector SME and researchers within a UK university knowledge transfer programme. The paper (1) discusses the theoretical foundations of design thinking and sociodrama; (2) presents a detailed case study of workshop co-development and delivery; and (3) reports the impacts for the client and the university. The authors assert that the discourse of design thinking enhances innovative, collaborative problem solving that improve exploration of possibilities for new product and service development as well as improved organizational business processes. Sociodrama methods assist facilitators by incorporating psychological, linguistic and biological elements to design thinking, leading to superior outcomes than simply from setting up a creative problem solving activity.