CHIFF: Richard Tait And Whit Alexander

After leaving Microsoft in 1997 Richard Tait and Whit Alexander began development of Cranium. The board game consists of various activities that allow both left and right brained players to excel at different activities. Their slogan became, “Dedicated to restoring the brain to its rightful status as the body’s most popular organ”. Attention to detail and careful research became an important characteristic of Cranium’s strategy. To ensure that Tait and Alexander’s vision was always fulfilled they created CHIFF CHIFF stands for “clever, high quality, innovative, friendly, and fun”. CHIFF set a standard for all aspects of the company. Therefore, quality could be controlled more efficiently because everyone understood the goals of the company and therefore made consistent choices. It also served to create a culture within the company and set expectations for everyone. Therefore, there is no need to micromanage. Creating a clear consistent set of standards by which everything within the company is judged ensures efficient use of resources. It encourages accountability at all levels of
This strategy allowed the game to be accessible for many different groups of people. For example, both Playboy and American Woman magazines claimed that Cranium was a perfect game for their readers. While the game did have wide appeal, the initial target market consisted of educated, affluent, 25-35 year old yuppies. This choice of target market went along with CHIFF since most games would probably choose to market themselves to families and kids. More importantly, people within this age group typically spend a lot of time with friends and are looking for new ways to connect with one another. Engaging in a game that gives everyone the opportunity to experience ‘moments’ of brilliance is an excellent and memorable way to connect with