Brains don’t create in survival mode

Play Studio helps ambitious teams step out of pressure, reclaim their thinking, and build culture-defining ideas that cut through.

The Play Studio is a science-backed creativity and culture partner for ideas-driven teams who want sharper thinking, braver ideas, and sustainable performance, without burning out.

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PLAY STUDIO

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PLAY STUDIO ☆

Does this sounds familiar?

Your team is talented but tired.
They’re still delivering, but urgency has quietly replaced electricity.

The work is good, but not culture-shifting.
It’s polished and on-brief, just not brave enough to travel.

AI is speeding things up, but something feels flatter.
Output has increased, but conviction hasn’t.

Imagine if instead

✔ Your team felt energised by ideas again.

✔ Psychological safety was visible in how people challenged and built.

✔ Creative risk felt possible, not dangerous.

  • Jess naturally cares, cares about the work and cares about people, consequently she always encourages those around her to listen to their gut instinct, and build their confidence in their thinking and opinions.

    Imo Gowen | Comms Planner, Leo Burnett

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Why Play?

Play isn’t a perk, it’s a design principle. When work is structured around constant urgency and evaluation, the nervous system shifts into protection mode, narrowing thinking and reducing risk-taking.

Playful work design does the opposite: it lowers threat, increases cognitive flexibility, and creates the psychological safety required for original thought.

By intentionally designing moments of curiosity, experimentation, humour, and low-stakes challenge into how teams brief, brainstorm, and collaborate, we widen the brain’s capacity for insight and connection.

Play isn’t the escape from performance, it’s the condition that makes sustainable performance possible.

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The Play Method

  • Interrupt Survival Mode

    When teams are under constant demand, cognition narrows.


    We interrupt urgency patterns and create psychological space.

    Because brains under threat optimise for safety, not originality.

  • Reclaim Human Judgement

    AI can synthesise.
    It cannot care.
    It cannot feel culture shifting.

    We sharpen taste, perspective and strategic discernment,
    the human edge that makes ideas resonate.

  • Embed Play as Infrastructure

    Workshops inspire.
    Infrastructure sustains.

    We integrate play into briefs, feedback, leadership behaviours, and team dynamics, so curiosity, courage, and experimentation become normal again.

    Not as an event.
    As an operating system.

Modules

  • We begin by reframing the real problem. Chronic pressure narrows thinking, reduces risk tolerance, and shuts down the prefrontal cortex- the seat of insight and originality. This module introduces the neuroscience of stress and positions play as a biological and strategic antidote to burnout.

    Outcome: Teams understand why brilliance feels harder, and how to restore it.

  • Rediscovering natural creative strengths

    Creativity is not one-size-fits-all. This module helps individuals identify their natural play style, from The Imagineer to The Architect, building confidence, psychological safety, and more intelligent collaboration across teams.

    Outcome: Stronger self-awareness and less creative friction.

  • A repeatable method for better ideas

    A five-step, applied model for solving real briefs and business challenges:

    • Purposeful Reframing
    • Ludic Constraints
    • Agonistic Challenge
    • Yes-And Integration
    • Operational Next Steps

    This is where play becomes structured strategy.

    Outcome: Braver, sharper, more commercially intelligent ideas.

  • Embedding play into everyday work

    Play isn’t an event. It’s infrastructure. This module focuses on integrating play into leadership rituals, onboarding, feedback, creative review, and team dynamics, transforming the “space between meetings.”

    Outcome: Sustainable creative culture, not temporary inspiration.

  • We introduce micro-rituals, behavioural nudges, and “Play Sprints” to prevent relapse into survival mode. This is about maintenance, not momentum spikes.

    Outcome: Teams stay energised without burning out.

Signature Packages

Full Day Immersion

A high-impact, in-person experience designed to interrupt survival mode and rebuild creative capacity from the inside out.

Ideal for:
• Agency resets
• Leadership offsites
• Culture recalibration
• Major brief kick-offs

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✔ The Serious Cost of Seriousness™
✔ Play Persona activation
✔ PLAY/ON™ applied to real business challenges
✔ Psychological safety calibration
✔ Actionable cultural commitments

Half Day Immersion

A focused intervention designed to widen thinking and introduce structured play into live briefs or team dynamics.

Ideal for:
• Stuck teams
• Campaign development
• Innovation sprints
• Department-level refreshes

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✔ Nervous system reset
✔ Reframing tools
✔ Play-based ideation
✔ Immediate implementation techniques

Keynote Talks

A 30–60 minute talk designed to shift perspective and introduce the science and strategy of play.

Ideal for:
• Conferences
• Internal learning programmes
• Industry events
• Creative summits

Signature talk:
Cortisol Kills Creativity: Why Play Is Your Brain’s Best Kept Secret

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