Governance

Who owns the brand

Every operator deploying Playbook RG should designate a brand owner – a person or team responsible for:

• Maintaining the guidelines and keeping them current
• Reviewing new content for brand consistency before publication
• Approving adaptations and exceptions
• Coordinating with legal/compliance on jurisdiction-specific messaging
• Training new team members on the brand system
• Managing the relationship with the upstream Playbook open-source project

Recommended ownership model

Cross-functional involvement

While one person or team owns the brand, these functions should be consulted:

Annual brand review

Conduct a comprehensive review once per year:

Quarterly regulatory check

Gambling regulations change frequently. Every quarter, verify:

• Jurisdiction-specific required messaging is still accurate
• Helpline numbers and URLs are still active
• Advertising rules haven’t changed
• Self-exclusion requirements haven’t been updated
• No new jurisdictions need to be added

Continuous updates

Content review rubric

Use this rubric when reviewing any new or updated Playbook RG content before publication. Score each dimension 1–3. Content must score 2+ on every dimension to ship.

Any dimension scoring 1 is a blocker. Fix before publishing. The content review rubric is a complement to – not a replacement for – the content approval workflow.

Post-deployment testing: The rubric evaluates content before publication. For testing how content performs with players after publication, see the Content Scorecard.

Semantic versioning

Playbook RG brand guidelines use semantic versioning (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH):

CHANGELOG maintenance

Every change must be documented in CHANGELOG.md:

## [0.2.0] - YYYY-MM-DD

### Added
- Jurisdiction module: Australia (ACMA requirements)
- Interactive content: Game IQ quiz framework

### Changed
- Updated UK helpline number
- Revised session reminder messaging per A/B test results

### Fixed
- Corrected contrast ratio for accent-on-white combination

Git workflow

1. Main branch contains current approved guidelines
2. Feature branches for proposed changes
3. Pull requests for review before merging
4. Tags for each version release (e.g., v0.2.0)

Content approval levels

Compliance sign-off

For content with jurisdiction-specific claims:

1. Draft content following brand guidelines
2. Cross-reference against the relevant jurisdiction module
3. Have legal/compliance verify regulatory accuracy
4. Document the review (date, reviewer, jurisdiction)
5. Set a review date in the jurisdiction module

Onboarding new team members

When someone new joins a team that creates Playbook content:

1. Read the brand book – at minimum, the Introduction (Chapter 0) and Voice and Tone (Chapter 4)
2. Review the glossary – understand preferred and avoided terminology
3. Walk through _brand.yml – understand how the configuration system works
4. Review existing content – read 3 examples that embody the Playbook voice
5. Write a test piece – draft a short piece and have the brand owner review it

Estimated time: 2–3 hours for thorough onboarding.

Ongoing education

• Share examples of good and bad player education messaging (anonymized)
• When guidelines are updated, summarize changes for all content creators
• Consider an annual brand refresh workshop
• Monitor industry developments and share relevant findings

Brand audit checklist

Conduct a comprehensive brand audit annually, or when onboarding a new operator. This checklist covers every component of the Playbook RG system.

Identity

• Logo is used in an approved layout and minimum size
• Color palette matches _brand.yml configuration
• Typography uses specified font families and weights
• Iconography follows the 2px stroke, rounded-cap style

Voice and tone

• All Tier 1 content passes the stigma-free language audit (8-point checklist)
• All Tier 2 content uses warm/direct tone – no humor, no playful elements
• Helpline framing is “for any question about gambling” (not crisis-only)
• No instances of “responsible gambling,” “gamble responsibly,” or retired phrases

Digital

• Content hub is accessible from primary navigation
• Helpline is visible above the fold on every page
• Footer strip present on all pages (logomark + helpline + age restriction + content hub link)
• All interactive elements are keyboard-accessible
• All content passes WCAG 2.1 AA contrast requirements
• Touch targets are 44x44px minimum on mobile

Print and environmental

• Print materials match digital design quality
• Helpline numbers are minimum 14pt bold
• QR codes link to correct URLs and have been tested
• Venue signage is readable from 3 meters

Governance

• Brand owner is designated and active
• Jurisdiction modules are current
• CHANGELOG is up to date
• Last quarterly regulatory check was within 90 days

Stewardship handoff process

When brand ownership transfers – whether to a new team member, a new department, or a new organization – follow this handoff process to maintain consistency.

Document the handoff. The CHANGELOG should include: date, outgoing owner, incoming owner, and any decisions or exceptions that were in-flight during the transition.

If you’ve adopted Playbook from the open-source repository and made improvements, consider contributing them back.

What to contribute

How to contribute

See CONTRIBUTING.md for the contribution workflow and content standards.

North star: Operator adoption

The primary success metric for Playbook as an open-source project is operator adoption – the number of operators who fork, customize, and deploy the system.

Downstream proof: Player engagement

For individual operators, the proof that Playbook works is player engagement with the content:

Qualitative complement: These metrics tell you what players do. For why – whether content resonated, what they remember, and whether cultural adaptations improved the experience – see the Content Scorecard.

Content performance

What NOT to measure

Playbook is not a clinical intervention. Don’t measure:

• “Problem gambling reduction” (Playbook doesn’t treat conditions)
• “Harm prevention” (Playbook prevents nothing – it informs)
• “At-risk player identification” (Playbook doesn’t diagnose)

Measure engagement. Measure adoption. Measure whether players find the content useful and interesting. That’s the standard.

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