Other VoicesConfederation & Partnerships

Goal of Other Voices Concept

To add value for STRATFOR readers by providing them with serious outside analysis and opinions.

To give status and add value to our confederation partners and other partners by allowing them to showcase their work and access a largely US audience

To increase the exposure of an international audience to STRATFOR for potential future marketing and sales opportunities

OVERVIEW

Other Voices Content would consist of:

Op-ed pieces from confederation partners and other serious think tanks and experts/scholars

Analyses on topics of prime interest to our readers - judged by initally by intelligence- complemented by reader surveys- feedback from marketing efforts- use of topic suggestion links from the OV page

FORMAT

Other Voices pages should be under our control and part of STRATFOR (not links to other sites)

Other Voices should be visible on Home Page

In order to add status and value Other Voices should be for members only

Recommend we create a partnerships/confederation section and display links and logos of partners on our site and have confederation partners do the same with STRATFOR link and logo

WHO RECEIVES OTHER VOICES?

Other Voices will add value and status and should be available for STRATFOR members only

Other Voices should be used in marketing to incentivize purchasing STRATFOR and having access to “one stop shopping” on major issues

Should market to free list and to prospective institutional/ government members

SELECTING OTHER VOICES CONTENT

How do we select Other Voices contributions?

Confederation partners should have priority– include in new MoUs -- actively request contributions from current partners

Invite select serious scholars and experts both in US and globally to contribute

Oversight and selection process by intelligence

PROBLEMS TO ADDRESS

Branding - will it negatively impact our brand? - will need disclaimers clearly stating these are not STRATFOR’s views

Need to select opposing views on topics so as not to be seen as lobbyists or proponents for any one viewpoint

Creation of Other Voices pages needs to be done by IT – what is their timeline?

HOW TO MARKET?

• Create partner section on website and around this create ad opportunities, and organize events

• Showcase our partners in weekly newsletter highlighting partnerships

• Recommend it be an enterprise only product

• Can advertise it’s existence to the free list but sales people can use it when selling enterprise level and above

Timeline

Month 1 & 2 - collect material

IT time needed to build pages?

Month 3 – launch Other Voices pages

Month 3-6 – collect feedback and data on OV

Month 6 - decide whether we want a forum for reader comments

CONFEDERATION PARTNERS

Current Partnerships

Turkey – SABAH Hurriyet Daily News (in English)

Georgia – The MessengerAzerbaijan – Azerbaijan Press Agencey

News.AzUkraine – Kyiv PostRomania – MediaFaxSerbia – B92Colombia – El EspectadorPakistan – AaJ TVChina - Caixin

PENDING PARTNERSHIPS

Pending partnerships include

Czech Republic – MediaFaxBaltics – The Baltic TimesBulgaria – Sofia News AgencySlovakia – Slovak SpectatorMoldava – Jurnal Trust Media China – The BundMalaysia – MalaysiakiniArgentina – La NacionMexico – El UniversalNigeria – The NationKenya – Daily Nation