The main purpose of the war games approach is to have “live” debates between two counterparts that are really fond and loyal to their options. So, this type of approach is relevant for markets with strong brands in competition.
The underlying idea is that confrontation situations awaken emotions (which are usually unconscious, hidden, suppressed) and we can test how strong they are connected to a brand or another, how much emotional investment is made.
The main requirements for this approach to be successful:
very good recruitment process
2 moderators trained in war game methodology
2 rooms and sufficient time