Strategic Leadership

Seeing the Shifts. Shaping the Strategy.

Framework & Process Development

SAVERS™ Insights Matrix

Portfolio overview

The Need

Education savings decisions take place within a changing landscape of economic conditions, technological innovation, household priorities, beliefs about education, policy developments, and information habits. Teams needed a structured way to understand how these forces interact and connect broader changes with the everyday realities, concerns, and aspirations of the audiences they hoped to reach.

What I Created

The SAVERS™ Insights Matrix: a strategic tool that organizes research across six dimensions to inform education savings marketing and outreach. It brings together external forces and audience signals, helping teams connect a broad research landscape with practical communications decisions.

My Contribution

Framework Development: Reece Quiñones

SWOT and PESTEL offered useful starting points, but the 529 landscape called for a more focused structure. SAVERS grew from that need, organizing research around the societal, audience, education, policy, channel, and savings factors most relevant to education savings decisions. The work connected national trends with a Maryland-specific perspective and translated those considerations into implications for audience segmentation, messaging, channels, and creative strategy.

SAVERS matrix: Societal Attitudes and Behaviors; Audience Shifts; Value of Education Trends; External Policy and Environment; Reach and Channels; State Trends and Savings Behaviors.

Select the matrix to view it full-screen.

The Six Dimensions

S	Societal Attitudes and Behaviors	Beliefs, Cultural Shifts, And Household Priorities.
A	Audience Shifts	Changes In Demographics, Household Composition, And Audience Perspectives.
V	Value of Education Trends	Evolving Perceptions Of Education And Pathways To Success.
E	External Policy and Environment	Developments Affecting Education Funding And Savings Options.
R	Reach and Channels	How And Where Audiences Seek And Encounter Information.
S	State Trends and Savings Behaviors	The Local Context Surrounding When, Why, And How Families Save.

From Research to Strategic Direction

The method begins with a broad view of the education savings environment, then considers what those changes mean in a specific state and audience context. Organizing the evidence by dimension helps teams identify questions, opportunities, and barriers that can inform segmentation, message development, channel planning, and creative discussion.

Documented Result

The State of Education presentation documents the SAVERS framework, its six dimensions, and its application to Maryland 529 planning. It provides a shared structure for connecting research with strategic recommendations. This case study focuses on the method and its documented application.

From Analysis to Action

What the Analysis Makes Possible

Challenge Assumptions

Examine whether existing audience definitions and messages still reflect families’ circumstances. Identify what needs further research before carrying familiar assumptions into the next campaign.

Set Strategic Priorities

Distinguish changes that warrant a response from those that need monitoring. Focus the team on the barriers, opportunities, and audience needs most relevant to the work.

Connect Evidence to Execution

Use the findings to guide messaging, channel choices, and creative development. Make the reasoning behind recommendations clear so teams can revisit those choices as conditions change.