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111-470: SCL Group (formerly Strategic Communication Laboratories ) was a private British behavioural research and strategic communication company that came to prominence through the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal involving its subsidiaries Cambridge Analytica and Crow Business Solutions MENA. It was founded in 1990 by Nigel Oakes , who served as its CEO. The company described itself as

222-571: A BBC documentary showing a poster of the INC in ex-CEO Alexander Nix's office went viral in India. However, some CA executives, including Nix, claimed that their business venture in India was unsuccessful and that they falsified claims about their projects to win other business contracts. Further, one of the co-founders of the Indian CA counterpart, Avneesh Rai, claimed that Wylie's documents were some of

333-475: A disqualification undertaking , accepted by Alok Sharma , the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 14 September 2020. The Insolvency Service commented that "Within the undertaking, Alexander Nix did not dispute that he caused or permitted SCL Elections Ltd or associated companies to market themselves as offering potentially unethical services to prospective clients; demonstrating

444-775: A "deeper knowledge of the target audience". The company used the Big Five model of personality. Using what it called " behavioral microtargeting " the company indicated that it could predict " needs " of subjects and how these needs may change over time. Services then could be individually targeted for the benefit of its clients from the political arena, governments and companies, providing "a better and more actionable view of their key audiences." According to Sasha Issenberg , CA indicated that it could tell things about an individual he might not even know about himself. CA derived much of its personality data on online surveys which it conducted on an ongoing basis. For each political client,

555-751: A "global election management agency". The company's leaders and owners had close ties to the Conservative Party , the British royal family , British military , United States Department of Defense and NATO and its investors included some of the largest donors to the Conservative Party. In 1990, Nigel Oakes , who had a background in TV production and advertising, founded the Behavioural Dynamics Institute (BDI) as

666-536: A CA employee said that his predecessor at the company had been found dead in his hotel room in Kenya while working on Uhuru Kenyatta 's 2013 campaign. The company claimed on its website to have conducted a survey of 47,000 Kenyans during the 2013 elections in order to understand "key national and local political issues, levels of trust in key politicians, voting behaviours/intentions, and preferred information channels". According to verified sources, CA worked with 360 Media,

777-409: A Hong Kong businessman linked to Erik Prince (founder of Blackwater ), Cambridge Analytica investor Rebekah Mercer , and Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix . In January 2018, Emerdata reportedly raised $ 19 million from international investors. Emerdata was widely discussed in the news media. It was portrayed as a potential successor to Cambridge Analytica. In May 2018, Nigel Oakes, founder of

888-400: A SWOT analysis, the strengths and weaknesses must be realistic. This is to help make improvements or adjustments that were not effective. The analysis will help get a better understanding of the business and will help plan and make the objectives more solid because it shows the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats the business is facing. This helps decide where the currently business

999-426: A business achieve its objectives; it also improves communication within the group. Everyone should be assigned a responsibility so that these strategies and tactics are met. Strategic communication is subject to multinational CD&E, led by the military, because communication is applicable to crisis management and compliance strategies. Across the spectrum of missions and broadly covering all levels of involvement in

1110-577: A civil-military, comprehensive approach context, the function of strategic communication and its military tool for implementation – information operations – have evolved and are still under development, in particular concerning their exact delineation of responsibilities and the integration of non-military and non-coalition actors. Three major lines of development are acknowledged as state of the art, with practical impact on current crisis management operations and/or multinational interoperability: (1) U.S. national developments, which one can argue have resulted in

1221-497: A clear objective for the business. The main focus is to achieve the objectives that were given out by the organization. Include detail behind those strategies and tactics named out so that there is a clear objective and what is needed to be focused on . Explain how it will be successful, how it is measured, the time frame and who will be responsible. Planning is essential to ensure things are successfully planned out and strategies and tactics are successful. Planning does more than help

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1332-718: A company called Strategic Communication Laboratories Private Limited, a venture of its parent company based in London, the SCL Group , and Ovleno India. Christopher Wylie , the CA whistleblower , tweeted documents that suggested that SCL India had been involved in at least six state elections in 2003–2012, including the 2010 state elections in Bihar , as well as the 2009 national election . He also suggested that CA's role in Indian elections

1443-420: A company formed by Simon Gicharu (founder of Mount Kenya University ) and Tom Mshindi (Editor-in-Chief of Nation Media Group ). 360 Media developed online campaigns in the 2017 Kenyan elections portraying "Raila Odinga as a blood-thirsty individual who is also sympathetic to Al-Shabaab and having no development agenda," whilst portraying the incumbent President Kenyatta as "tough on terrorism, and being good for

1554-526: A data set, which its parent company SCL bought 2014 from a company named Global Science Research founded by Aleksandr Kogan and his team present across the world who worked as a psychologist at Cambridge. During Boris Johnson 's tenure as foreign secretary, the Foreign Office  sought advice from Cambridge Analytica and Boris Johnson had a meeting with Alexander Nix in 2016. Dr Emma Briant , an academic at University of Essex had researched

1665-470: A desired effect." Strategic communication provides a conceptual umbrella that enables organizations to integrate their disparate messaging efforts. It allows them to create and share communications that, while varying in style and purpose, maintain an inner coherence. This can reinforce the organizational message and brand. Strategic communicators aim to prevent contradictory and confusing messaging to different groups across all media platforms. Communication

1776-585: A former director for Cambridge Analytica, was appointed director of Emerdata on 28 March 2018. Rebekah Mercer , Jennifer Mercer , Alexander Nix and Johnson Chun Shun Ko  [ zh ] , who has links to American businessman Erik Prince , are in leadership positions at Emerdata. The Russo brothers are producing an upcoming film on Cambridge Analytica. In 2019 the Federal Trade Commission filed an administrative complaint against Cambridge Analytica for misuse of data. In 2020,

1887-512: A glitzy exhibit" at Defence and Security Equipment International ( DSEI ), "the United Kingdom's largest showcase for military technology", SCL demonstrated its capacity in " influence operations ": "to help orchestrate a sophisticated campaign of mass deception" on the public of a big city like London. According to its website, SCL has participated in over 25 international political and electoral campaigns since 1994. SCL's involvement in

1998-756: A lack of commercial probity." Effective from 5 October 2020, Alexander Nix is disqualified for seven years from acting as a director or directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a UK company. Strategic communication Strategic communication refers to policy-making and guidance for consistent information activity within an organization and between organizations. Equivalent business management terms include integrated (marketing) communication , organizational communication , corporate communication , institutional communication, etc. (see paragraph on 'Business and commercial Application' below). Strategic communication management could be defined as

2109-632: A lawyer with the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani , advises Rebekah Mercer , Steve Bannon , and Alexander Nix on the legality of their company, Cambridge Analytica, being involved in Elections in the United States . He advises that Nix and any foreign nationals without a green card working for the company must not be involved in any decision making regarding any work the company performs for any clients related to U.S. elections . He further advises Nix to recuse himself from any involvement with

2220-481: A limited number of "likes", people can be analysed better than friends or relatives can do and that individual psychological targeting is a powerful tool to influence people. Psychological targeting describes the practice of extracting people's psychological profiles from their digital footprints (e.g., their Facebook Likes, Tweets or credit card records) in order to influence their attitudes, emotions or behaviors through psychologically informed interventions at scale. It

2331-692: A potential customer for Cambridge Analytica, hoping to help Sri Lankan candidates get elected. Video footage from this operation was published on 19 March 2018. From the footage, Cambridge Analytica executives say they worked on over 200 elections across the world. Alexander Nix was recorded in this investigation, talking "unguardedly about the company's practices". Nix said that his company uses honey traps, bribery stings, and prostitutes, for opposition research. For example, Nix offered to discredit political opponents in Sri Lanka with suggestive videos using "beautiful Ukrainian girls" and offers of bribes, even if

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2442-627: A press release denying the claims and calling the report and its sources " fake news ". Henley & Partners denied any wrongdoing. According to Henley & Partners, there was never a formal working relationship with CA. The Final Report by the UK Parliament 's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, published on 18 February 2019, took note of the Maltese Government 's submissions (including through PR agency Chelgate's services) but determined that compelling evidence shown to

2553-755: A private dinner with Dan Tehan when he was then the minister responsible for cyber security, and Liberal Party executives. The business name "Cambridge Analytica" was registered in Australia to the Lorraine Family Trust in June 2015. SCL Group, promoted Mr Lorraine online as its head of Australian operations. Alexander Nix spoke at an Australian data-driven advertising conference run by the Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising and met with Liberal Party officials. Cambridge Analytica

2664-412: A range of stakeholders to ensure that unsustainable practices are addressed’. Objectives should have a specific end points to provide an indicator of success. Understanding the consumer and the marketplace, he or she can design a marketing strategy. Having an understanding of what is happening around the organization will ensure that planning the marketing strategy will be easy because the vision ensures

2775-425: A research facility for strategic communication . The study of mass behaviour and how to change it led him to establish Strategic Communication Laboratories in 1993. Oakes thought that to shift mass opinion , academic insights as gained through psychologists and anthropologists at BDI should be applied, and would be more successful than traditional advertising methods. BDI became a non-profit affiliate of SCL. Among

2886-447: A result, Nix was suspended as CEO, and replaced by Julian Wheatland . The personal data of up to 87 million Facebook users were acquired via the 270,000 Facebook users who used a Facebook app created by Alexsandr Kogan called "This Is Your Digital Life". This was a personality profiling app and asked simple personality questions similar to other Facebook quizzes. Kogan was a scientist and Psychologist, also being an employed lecturer for

2997-816: A sample base of 3.5 million users Research discussed by Brendan Nyhan of Dartmouth College showed that it is extremely hard to alter voters' choice of candidate because many likely voters are already committed partisans; rather, it is easier to mobilize partisan voters. This is consistent with Wylie's claims, that effort was spent both encouraging voters who did not usually vote but were identified as likely supporters of CA's various employers, and also, to suppress voters among those likely to vote for opponents. Tufts University political scientist Eitan Hersh, who has published on microtargeting in campaigns, has expressed strong skepticism about Cambridge Analytica's methods and their purported effectiveness, saying, "Every claim about psychographics etc made by or about [Cambridge Analytica]

3108-479: A specific person or group. The responsibility is in their hands. This is to indicate the specific individual or group has an assigned direct preliminary objective. They will need to develop a range of possible strategies and tactics to achieve the objectives given to them. Brainstorm a list of potential strategies achievable for each of the objectives given out by the business and its customers, and have tactics that will support these strategies and objectives. Gather as

3219-507: A team to discuss the merits of each proposed strategy for the organization. The discussion must be about the strategies that will most likely be able to be used and those that are unlikely to be used. Some strategies will not be achievable, will be difficult, or no solution will be available for them so these will be crossed off the list. This shortens the list and helps to round up the best strategies left to be used. Collectively decide which strategies and tactics are going to be pursued to provide

3330-413: A type of communication that suits their needs. Mulhern (2009) states, ‘These changes mean that marketers are in a far more challenging competitive environment in attempting to fulfil customers wants and needs, while simultaneously seeking to develop long-term relationships.' Changes in communication will help communication goals, organization, and communication channels. This will measure the effectiveness of

3441-479: Is BS." In 2017, CA claimed that it has psychological profiles of 220 million US citizens based on 5,000 separate data sets. In March 2017, The New York Times reported that CA had exaggerated its capabilities: "Cambridge executives now concede that the company never used psychographics in the Trump campaign." Trump aides have also disputed CA's role in the campaign, describing it as "modest" and noting that none of

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3552-509: Is a process that supports and strengthens efforts to achieve objectives. It guides and informs decisions rather than the organization. Considerations of Strategic Communication should be integrated from the early planning stages and be followed by communication activities. (MCM-0164-2009). An alternative view of strategic communication is offered by Steve Tatham of the UK Defence Academy. He argues that while strategic communication

3663-420: Is and where it will be in the future. Planning is a continuous process that involves research, analysis, execution, and assessment. Success in this process requires diligent and continual analysis, which should be fed back into the planning and action stages. Communicate with stakeholders, audiences, and publics. Have interviews with the customers to learn their priorities and what goals they want to achieve with

3774-464: Is collected, stored, and shared while individuals are "left in the dark about [it]" and have no control. Significant backlash against Facebook came to light in March 2018, resulting in controversy as well as a $ 37 billion (~$ 44.2 billion in 2023) drop in the market capitalization of Facebook, as of 20 March. Due to the scandal of enabling monetization of Facebook personal data, one assessment

3885-640: Is defined by two interrelated components: (1) psychological profiling refers to the automated assessment of psychological traits and states from digital footprints, and (2) psychologically informed interventions describe the attempt to influence people's attitudes, emotions or behaviors by speaking to their fundamental psychological motivations. Research in fields such as psychology, marketing and health communication has shown that interventions aimed at influencing and changing human behavior are most effective when they are tailored to individuals’ psychological states and traits. A large amount of data can be extracted from

3996-431: Is desirable to bind and coordinate communications together, particularly from governments or the military, it should be viewed as something more fundamental than just a process. The "informational effect" should be placed at the center of command and action should be calibrated against that effect, which includes the evaluation of second and third order effects. Tatham argues that "strategic communication" (singular) refers to

4107-531: Is in violation of Facebook's policies. In 2015, Facebook indicated that it was investigating the matter. In March 2018, Facebook announced that it had suspended the accounts of Strategic Communication Laboratories for failing to delete data on Facebook users that had been improperly collected. Alexander Nix suggested that data collection and microtargeting benefits the voters – because they receive messages about issues they care about. However, digital rights protection groups raised concerns that private information

4218-412: Is owned by its parent company SCL Elections . In 2019 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an administrative complaint against Cambridge Analytica for misuse of data, while filing settlements with its former CEO Alexander Nix and app developer Aleksandr Kogan in which they agreed to delete illegally obtained data; the case against the company itself is still ongoing. In 2020 Alexander Nix signed

4329-539: Is strategic when it is consistent with the organization's mission, vision, values, and when it is able to enhance the strategic positioning and competitiveness between their competitors. As a result of this communication, strategic communication follows ‘the nature of organizational communication in general, and strategic communication in particular, is defined as the purposeful use of communication by an organization to fulfill its mission.' The Strategic Communications Framework uses an objective that aims to communicate with

4440-478: Is under threat from the influence of groups like Cambridge Analytica, and that she does not believe social media users are more protected from this than in 2016. During a committee hearing in March 2018 Christopher Wylie told UK lawmakers that AggregateIQ , a firm linked to Cambridge Analytica, helped the official Vote Leave campaign circumvent campaign financing laws during the Brexit referendum. Laurence Levy,

4551-572: The 2016 US presidential election and even now the proclaimed associated office in Cairo that opened during the global pandemic of COVID-19. In 2020 it was linked to the Bahraini company named Crow Trading ltd. that was founded by Dr. Mohamed Y. Abdelrahman, an Egyptian scientist in behavioral psychology. SCL claims that its methodology has been approved or endorsed by agencies of the Government of

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4662-591: The British Conservative Party , royal family , and military . The firm maintained offices in London, New York City, and Washington, D.C. The company closed operations in 2018 in the course of the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, although firms related to both Cambridge Analytica and its parent firm SCL still exist. Cambridge Analytica was established as a subsidiary of the private intelligence company SCL Group that

4773-512: The shell company registrar SDG Registrars Limited which has acted on behalf of nearly 4,500 companies. The latest director is Jacquelyn James-Varga who has previously worked at the Mercer Family Foundation . On 1 May 2018, SCL Group stated that it would be closing operations because of the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal . However, its website and staff continued to operate but have subsequently shut down. SCL group

4884-415: The 1990s, Cambridge Analytica focused more on the western world, including the United Kingdom and the United States; CEO Alexander Nix has said CA was involved in 44 U.S. political races in 2014. In 2015, CA performed data analysis services for Ted Cruz's presidential campaign . In 2016, CA worked for Donald Trump's presidential campaign as well as for Leave.EU (one of the organisations campaigning in

4995-602: The 2000s. SCL's involvement in the political world has been primarily in the developing world where it has been used by the military and politicians to study and manipulate public opinion and political will. Slate writer Sharon Weinberger compared one of SCL's hypothetical test scenarios to fomenting a coup. Among the investors in Cambridge Analytica were some of the Conservative Party's largest donors such as billionaire Vincent Tchenguiz , former Conservative minister Jonathan Marland, Baron Marland , Roger Gabb,

5106-667: The 2016 election, primarily in support of Ted Cruz . Cambridge Analytica is heavily funded by hedge-fund billionaire Robert Mercer , a major supporter of Cruz and then Donald Trump , and is now under investigation by both the UK and the US governments. The company has since been disbanded and was bought by Emerdata Limited. Emerdata Limited was established in August 2017, by many of the people involved in Cambridge Analytica . Emerdata

5217-412: The 2016 election, the company was employed both by Trump's campaign and Robert Mercer's Make America Number 1 Super PAC which supported Trump. While PACs are not limited in the amount of funds they can spend on behalf of a candidate, they are not allowed to coordinate strategy with the campaigns they are supporting. Nix's statements in the recorded video describe how the Trump campaign itself could "take

5328-484: The Associated Press, Data Propria , a data analysis firm launched May 2018, is run by former officials at Cambridge Analytica. A firm called Emic, set up by staff from the original SCL defence contractor were revealed in 2020 by Emma Briant to be continuing to work for governments. In December 2022, Facebook's owner Meta Platforms agreed to pay $ 725 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged

5439-574: The British Information Commissioner's Office closed a three-year inquiry into the company, concluded that Cambridge Analytica was "not involved" in the 2016 Brexit referendum and found no additional evidence for Russia's alleged interference during the campaign. US sensitive polling and election data, however, were passed to Russian Intelligence via a Cambridge Analytica contractor Sam Patten and Konstantin Kilimnik, who

5550-612: The British news program Channel 4 News had mentioned the existence of proof revealing ties between the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and Cambridge Analytica, suggesting a modus operandi similar to the one in the United States. According to Channel 4 News' Guillermo Galdos, CA worked for the PRI at least until January 2018. An investigation was requested. In 2017 the company had reached out to

5661-480: The Cambridge Analytica breach, involving the misuse of information from almost one million users in England and Wales. In Australia, Cambridge Analytica set up an office. Allan Lorraine, a friend of Alexander Tayler who was a former director for Cambridge Analytica and later appointed director of Emerdata , set up SCL (the parent company of Cambridge Analytica) in Australia. Representatives of Cambridge Analytica had

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5772-558: The Committee confirmed that "SCL certainly had meetings in Malta, that Christian Kalin of Henley & Partners was introduced by SCL to Joseph Muscat in 2011, and that Christian Kalin met with both political parties before 2013". The Maltese Government later issued a further denial decrying the use of " unnamed sources " and " confidential documents ". After the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal , Forbes published that

5883-482: The Conservative Party's largest donors such as billionaire Vincent Tchenguiz , former British Conservative minister Jonathan Marland, Baron Marland and the family of American hedge fund manager Robert Mercer . The company combined misappropriation of digital assets , data mining , data brokerage , and data analysis with strategic communication during electoral processes. While its parent SCL had focused on influencing elections in developing countries since

5994-526: The Grenadines, St. Kitts & Nevis, and Trinidad & Tobago. While the company initially got involved in elections in the United Kingdom, after 1997 it only engaged non-election campaigns because staff members did not exhibit the same "aloof sensibility" as with projects abroad. In 2013 it established the subsidiary Cambridge Analytica that worked on the Ted Cruz and Donald Trump campaigns during

6105-520: The INC maintained that no transaction was made. India was in the list of ten most-affected countries in the 2018 Cambridge Analytica data leak. 335 Indian Facebook users installed a CA associated app, exposing the data of their friend networks—in total leaking the data of 562,455 users. After the data leak allegations became public, the Indian government took down the local website of SCL India and began formal investigations. CA ran campaigns in secret during Kenya's 2013 and 2017 elections . In 2018,

6216-541: The Multinational Information Operations Experiment (MNIOE), led by Germany. Intensive discussions involving civil and military practitioners of strategic communication and information operations - with a view on existing national and NATO approaches to strategic communication - have questioned whether an updated approach and definition of strategic communication is required. Consequently, a reorientation of CD&E efforts

6327-484: The PRI, Mexico's ruling political party, in order to bolster the party's presidential campaign during the largest-ever political elections of 2018 . The party decided that it was sufficiently equipped to mess with the election on its own, but still paid Cambridge Analytica to prevent it from working with rival parties. Defunct Many donors to the UK Conservative Party reportedly have connections to

6438-512: The SCL Group, Cambridge Analytica's British affiliate, acknowledged that Emerdata's intent had been to acquire Cambridge Analytica and SCL, but said that these plans had been abandoned and that Emerdata and its partly-owned subsidiary Firecrest Technologies Ltd., which had been set up by former Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix , would be wound down. In July 2019, it was revealed that Emerdata "fully acquired" those companies, "has been footing

6549-595: The SCL companies' legal bills amid bankruptcy proceedings, investigations, and lawsuits on both sides of the Atlantic", and "also paid millions to acquire what remained of the companies while they [were] being liquidated". As of March 2018, the company had four directors: Roger Michael Gabb, Alexander Nix , Nigel John Oakes and Julian David Wheatland . The company was first incorporated at Companies House on 20 July 2005 as Strategic Communication Laboratories Limited, using

6660-847: The U.S. government context, strategic communication has been defined as "focused United States government efforts to understand and engage key audiences to create, strengthen, or preserve conditions favorable for the advancement of United States Government interests, policies, and objectives through the use of coordinated programs, plans, themes, messages, and products synchronized with the actions of all instruments of national power." The approved NATO Policy defines strategic communication as "the coordinated and appropriate use of NATO communications activities and capabilities – Public Diplomacy, Military Public Affairs, Information Operations, and Psychological Operations , as appropriate – in support of Alliance policies, operations and activities, and in order to advance NATO's aims" (SG(2009)0794). Strategic Communication

6771-626: The UK Parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee noted that it is believed that CA, or its associated companies, worked with the Labour Party in Malta , on the 2013 Maltese general election campaign. Several sources claim that CA had close relationships with Henley & Partners who would immediately after the election introduce and run a lucrative Citizenship by Investment Program in Malta. The Maltese Government issued

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6882-556: The UK's 2016 EU membership referendum and Trump's 2016 US presidential campaign with Robert Mercer 's backing of Donald Trump being key. They also discuss the legality of using the social data farmed. CA is pursuing legal action over the claims made in Cadwalladr's articles. No campaign contributions, in cash or in kind, by Cambridge Analytica were reported to the UK electoral authorities. Both CA and Leave.EU refused to comment on any donation of services. On 23 March 2018, it

6993-550: The United Kingdom and the United States federal government , among others. SCL formed Cambridge Analytica to participate in the election process in the United States. It entered the U.S. market in 2012, and was involved in 44 U.S. congressional, US Senate and state-level elections in the 2014 midterm elections. In 2015 it was disclosed that the company had entered the Republican Party presidential primaries for

7104-427: The United Kingdom's referendum on European Union membership ). CA's role in those campaigns has been controversial and is the subject of ongoing inquiries in both countries. Political scientists question CA's claims about the effectiveness of its methods of targeting voters. In March 2018, media outlets broke news of Cambridge Analytica's business practices. The New York Times and The Observer reported that

7215-516: The United States; its operations would be illegal in Europe with its stricter privacy laws . While Cruz was outspoken about protecting personal information from the government, his database of CA has been described as "political-voter surveillance ". Regarding CA's use of Facebook users, a speaker for CA indicated that these users gave permission when signing up with the provider, while Facebook declared that "misleading people or misusing information"

7326-462: The University of Cambridge from 2012 to 2018. Alexander Nix claimed they had close to 5 thousand data points on each person who participated. They also gathered information through other data brokers ending with them acquiring millions of data points from American citizens. By giving this third-party app permission to acquire their data, back in 2015, this also gave the app access to information on

7437-443: The abstract concept, while "strategic communications" (plural) refers to the actual process of communicating, which includes target audience analysis, evaluation of conduits, measurements of effect, etc. In "DoD Principles of Strategic Communication," Robert T. Hastings Jr. (2008), acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, described strategic communication as "the synchronization of images, actions and words to achieve

7548-625: The audience/organization. The application of the specific content will help achieve the business goal clearly. While communication is something that happens in the organization, businesses that implement strategies impacting the effectiveness of their business communications can achieve measurable results. Technological advancements have been a factor in such business because information can be communicated through various channels and media. The growth of technology has accelerated communication and allows customers to connect and communicate with others. This can make it easier for them to reach each other through

7659-571: The campaign, and its funder Arron Banks company Eldon Insurance for unlawful marketing involving repurposing of data. In November 2020, the Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham wrote that she "found no further evidence to change [her] earlier view that SCL/CA were not involved in the EU referendum campaign in the UK." She also said she found no evidence of Russian involvement in the referendum. Following

7770-476: The communication tactics used in a business for their audience. To have an object, the first thing to do is have a plan for the business to communicate how the business is formed and to see how strong its core is. Ensure that alignment with the organization's understanding of where it is currently at. An approach that could be used to determine the current state of the objective, is to do a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis. When using

7881-626: The company "ran all of (Donald Trump's) digital campaign". In response to the media reports, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) of the UK pursued a warrant to search the company's servers. Facebook banned Cambridge Analytica from advertising on its platform, saying that it had been deceived. On 23 March 2018, the British High Court granted the ICO a warrant to search Cambridge Analytica's London offices. As

7992-425: The company had acquired and used personal data about Facebook users from an external researcher who had told Facebook he was collecting it for academic purposes. Shortly afterwards, Channel 4 News aired undercover investigative videos showing Nix boasting about using prostitutes, bribery sting operations , and honey traps to discredit politicians on whom it had conducted opposition research , and saying that

8103-566: The company improperly shared users' information with Cambridge Analytica. CA's data analysis methods were based on those originally patented by Facebook. While Facebook did not publicly disclose the accuracy of this method, it was studied by Michal Kosinski . In 2008, Kosinski joined the Psychometrics Centre of Cambridge University where he then developed with his colleagues a profiling system using general online data, Facebook likes , and smartphone data. He showed that with

8214-667: The company's efforts involved psychographics. According to an aide and consultant for Ted Cruz's presidential campaign, their campaign stopped using CA after its psychographic models failed to identify likely Cruz supporters. The Cruz campaign ceased access to all of Cambridge's data after the South Carolina Republican primary on 20 February 2016 when Cruz came in third after Trump and Rubio. The use of personal data collected without knowledge or permission to establish sophisticated models of users' personalities raises ethical and privacy issues . CA operated out of

8325-462: The corporate advertising created by Nix and others that displayed the independent work of Rai and others as CA projects. Rai further claimed that several of Wylie's claims were false, and alleged that his partners and contractors held an anti-INC party ideological bent. In early 2018, CA pitched a 50-page proposal potentially costing INR 25 million for the INC campaign in the upcoming 2019 general election in India and "crucial" state elections, but

8436-404: The digital data has limited value over time as the preferences of voters change. While studies have shown that personality does impact political preferences, some political scientists still believe that it is hard to infer political values from personality traits. On the other hand, a paper by Stanford professor Michal Kosinski and colleagues confirms that it can have a significant impact with

8547-542: The downfall of Cambridge Analytica, a number of companies have been established by executives who had also been involved with Cambridge Analytica. In July 2018, several former Cambridge Analytica staff launched Auspex International , a company intended to influence politics and society in Africa and the Middle East; another company called Emerdata also had substantial overlap with Cambridge Analytica. According to

8658-598: The early 1990s, and has engaged in psychological warfare in military contexts as a contractor for the American and British militaries during the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War . It performed data mining and data analysis on its audience. Based on results, communications would then be specifically targeted to key audience groups to modify behaviour in accordance with the goal of SCL's client. In 2005, "with

8769-572: The economy." After the revelations in March 2018, where CA staff boasted of their power in Kenya, opposition figures called for an investigation. Norman Magaya, an official of the National Super Alliance , accused CA and the ruling Jubilee Party of committing a crime and called for an investigation. The Jubilee Party downplayed CA's role, saying it had hired the firm's parent company, to assist with branding. In its Disinformation and 'fake news' inquiry, published on 29 July 2018,

8880-626: The family of American hedge fund manager Robert Mercer , and Steve Bannon . A minimum of 15 million dollars has been invested into the company by Mercer, according to The New York Times . Bannon's stake in the company was estimated at 1 to 5 million dollars, but he divested his holdings in April 2017 as required by his role as White House Chief Strategist . In March 2018, Jennifer Mercer and Rebekah Mercer became directors of Emerdata limited. In March 2018 it became public by Christopher Wylie , that Cambridge Analytica's first activities were founded on

8991-592: The firm and the parent company SCL interviewing employees as part of her research on political propaganda and her 2015 book 'Propaganda and Counter-Terrorism.' During the revelations she published evidence through the British Parliament's Fake News Inquiry indicating that Cambridge Analytica did work for the UK's LeaveEU Brexit campaign during the 2016 EU Referendum which they denied. The Information Commissioner's Office decided in February 2019 to audit

9102-419: The firm would narrow voter segments from 32 different personality styles it attributed to every adult in the United States. The personality data would inform the tone of the language used in ad messages or voter contact scripts, while additional data was used to determine voters' stances on particular issues. The data would get updated with monthly surveys, asking about political preferences and how people get

9213-683: The high road" and "stay clean", while the negative attacks were handled by the firm and the Super PAC, in a way which makes it "unattributable, untrackable". These statements potentially suggested unlawful coordination between Trump's campaign and the PAC, although Cambridge Analytica has denied this. Some political scientists have been skeptical of claims made by Cambridge Analytica about the effectiveness of its microtargeting of voters. They believe that access to digital data doesn't provide significantly more information than from public voter databases, and

9324-464: The information they use to make decisions. It also covered consumer topics about different brands and preferred products , building up an image of how someone shops as much as how they vote. Channel 4 News , a news programme broadcast by the British public service Channel 4 , conducted a four-month investigation into Cambridge Analytica starting in November 2017. An undercover reporter posed as

9435-665: The investors in SCL were banker Paul David Ashburner Nix, whose son Alexander Nix was to become a close associate of Oakes. One of the former directors is Lord Ivar Mountbatten . Among the investors in the company were Jonathan Marland, Baron Marland and Roger Gabb , a major Conservative Party donor who was registered as having significant control over the company as of 2018. After an initial commercial success, SCL expanded into military and political arenas. It became known for alleged involvement "in military disinformation campaigns to social media branding and voter targeting ". SCL began targeting elections in developing countries in

9546-470: The media channel, and the audience. In business and commercial settings, strategic communication is communication aligned with the company's overall strategy to enhance its strategic positioning. Strategic communication, sometimes known as public relations , is a conscious, planned, and ongoing effort made by organizations. The goal is to create a receptive environment for improving cooperation, reducing conflict, and marketing products or services. In

9657-504: The most mature concepts for both strategic communication and information operations so far; (2) NATO concept development, which in the case of strategic communication is very much driven by current mission requirements (such as ISAF in Afghanistan), but also has benefitted from multinational CD&E in the case of information operations; and (3) multinational CD&E projects such as the U.S.-led Multinational Experiment (MNE) series and

9768-399: The news segment was broadcast, the board of Cambridge Analytica suspended Nix as chief executive officer, and Julian Wheatland became the new CEO. The company also released a statement that the allegations did not represent the ethics of the company, and an independent entity would investigate Nix's statements. The investigation also raised questions regarding campaign finance law. During

9879-425: The objectives are SMART . Objectives are the intended goals of a business campaigns, to show what is achievable. The objectives are effective when using SMART goals: they need to be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-sensitive. Have assignments for individuals or groups so the responsibilities for each of these objectives are already set and no adjustments are needed because they have been assigned to

9990-487: The opponents did not accept the offers. He also said he uses "Israeli companies" to entrap political opponents with bribes and sex, the Wall Street Journal confirmed that it was referring to Psy-Group . Zamel signed a memorandum of understanding for Psy-Group with Cambridge Analytica on 14 December 2016. Cambridge Analytica said that the video footage was "edited and scripted to grossly misrepresent"

10101-426: The organization. Having a good understanding of the business issues, this will allow the organization to offer effective solutions that will help the objective. Ask questions to see what the customer's aim is, with the main goal to focus on what needs to be achieved and done and not what he/ or she wants. ‘Sustainability calls for a value chain approach, whereby firms need to take wider responsibility and collaborate with

10212-608: The parent company of Cambridge Analytica. CA became involved in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum (Brexit) supporting "persuadable" voters to vote for leaving the European Union (EU). Articles by Carole Cadwalladr in The Observer and Guardian newspapers, respectively published in February and May 2017, speculated in detail that CA had influenced both the Brexit / Vote Leave option in

10323-611: The political world has been primarily in the developing world where it has been used by the military and politicians to study and manipulate public opinion and political will. It uses what have been called "psy ops" to provide insight into the thinking of the target audience. SCL claimed to be able to help foment coups. According to its website, SCL has influenced elections in Italy, Latvia, Ukraine, Albania, Romania, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Mauritius, India, Indonesia, The Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Colombia, Antigua, St. Vincent &

10434-529: The previously reported onset-of-alert at December 2015. In December 2019 the Federal Trade Commission also filed a complaint against Cambridge Analytica for its practices, while filing settlements with CEO Alexander Nix and app developer Aleksandr Kogan. In 2020 the BBC reported that the group Facebook You Owe Us had filed a lawsuit against Facebook for failing to protect users' personal data in

10545-594: The record of the trace of almost every step we take online — a digital footprint of human behavior. Whether it is our Facebook profile, Tweets, Google searches or GPS sensor, our digital footprints create extensive records of our personal habits and preferences. CA would collect data on voters using sources such as demographics , consumer behaviour , Internet activity , and other public and private sources. According to The Guardian , CA used psychological data derived from millions of Facebook users, largely without users' permission or knowledge. Another source of information

10656-434: The recorded conversations and company's business practices. Nix said that he had "entertained a series of ludicrous hypothetical scenarios", but insisted his company does not engage in entrapment or bribery. In the third part of the series, Nix also said that Cambridge Analytica "ran all the digital campaign" for Trump. Nix stated they used communications that would be self-destructive, leaving no incriminating evidence. After

10767-410: The systematic planning and realization of information flow, communication, media development, and image care in a long-term horizon. It conveys deliberate messages through the most suitable media to the designated audiences at the appropriate time to contribute to and achieve the desired long-term effect. Communication management is process creation. It has to bring three factors into balance: the message,

10878-446: The user's friends network; this resulted in the data of about 87 million users, the majority of whom had not explicitly given Cambridge Analytica permission to access their data, being collected. The app developer breached Facebook's terms of service by giving the data to Cambridge Analytica. On 1 May 2018, Cambridge Analytica and its parent company SCL filed for insolvency proceedings and closed operations. Alexander Tayler,

10989-610: Was neocolonial in nature. Both leading national parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress (INC) denied contracting SCL India for any elections, and each accused the other party of having hired the firm. An INC spokesperson admitted that it was possible that party leaders might have merely met with the firm—yet, the SCL website listed their 2009 Bihar election campaign in its display of past projects. A clip from

11100-428: Was a British political consulting firm that came to prominence through the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal . It was started in 2013, as a subsidiary of the private intelligence company and self-described "global election management agency" SCL Group by long-time SCL executives Nigel Oakes , Alexander Nix and Alexander Oakes , with Nix as CEO. The well-connected founders had contact with , among others,

11211-557: Was active in military and political arenas. The men who ran Cambridge Analytica and its parent SCL were described as having close ties to the Conservative Party , royalty, and the British military. Cambridge Analytica (SCL USA) was incorporated in January 2013 with its registered office in Westferry Circus, London and just one staff member, its director and CEO Alexander James Ashburner Nix (also appointed in January 2015). Nix

11322-442: Was also the director of nine similar companies sharing the same registered offices in London, including Firecrest technologies, Emerdata and six SCL Group companies including "SCL elections limited". Nigel Oakes , known as the former boyfriend of Lady Helen Windsor , had founded the predecessor SCL Group in the 1990s, and in 2005 Oakes established SCL Group together with his brother Alexander Oakes and Alexander Nix ; SCL Group

11433-447: Was established in 2017 by the chief data officer and chairman of Cambridge Analytica's parent company SCL Group, which closed operations on 1 May 2018. Its headquarters in London is in the same building as Cambridge Analytica. The company was noted as appearing to offer similar services as SCL Group and Cambridge Analytica. Emerdata's board of directors included Frontier Services Group officer Johnson Chun Shun Ko  [ zh ] ,

11544-408: Was indicted during the affair. Publicly, parent company SCL Group called itself a "global election management agency", Politico reported it was known for involvement "in military disinformation campaigns to social media branding and voter targeting". SCL gained work on a large number of campaigns for the US and UK governments' War on Terror advancing their model of behavioral conflict during

11655-582: Was lying. In my opinion I felt like we should say, 'this is exactly what we did'". The following day, it was reported that the company claimed that it would be able to affect the outcome of the Referendum and that it had produced a 10-page document headed "Big Data Solutions for the EU Referendum", claiming it could single out 'Brexiteers' among voters, donors, politicians and journalists. In a 2019 interview with France 24 , Kaiser said that democracy

11766-513: Was reported that a former employee, Brittany Kaiser , who was the company's former director of business development, revealed that the company misled the public and MPs over its links with Leave.EU and the analysis of data which had been provided by the UK Independence Party (UKIP). She said she felt she had lied by supporting Cambridge Analytica's company line that it had done "no paid or unpaid work" for Leave.EU. "In my opinion, I

11877-643: Was scoping both political as well as commercial work in Australia. Cambridge Analytica's managing director of political operations said in a video recorded by Channel 4 that "We've done it in Mexico, we've done it in Malaysia, we're now moving into Brazil, Australia, China." More than 310,000 Australian Facebook users were among the millions globally who may have had their information improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, to be sold and used for political profiling. Cambridge Analytica functioned in India through

11988-529: Was suggested, focussing on "Integrated Communication," which reflects the shared baseline assessment with a broader scope, including but not limited to strategic communication: This change should prevent false expectations of potential customers of resulting concepts who currently are reluctant to engage in CD&;E on the implemented subject of strategic communication. Cambridge Analytica Cambridge Analytica Ltd. ( CA ), previously known as SCL USA ,

12099-504: Was that only 41% of Facebook users trust the company. On 26 March, the US Federal Trade Commission announced it is "conducting an open investigation of Facebook Inc's privacy practices following the disclosure that 50 million users' data got into the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica." In March 2019 Facebook acknowledged it had concerns about “improper data-gathering practices” by CA, months before

12210-589: Was the "Cruz Crew" mobile app that tracked physical movements and contacts and according to the Associated Press , invaded personal data more than previous presidential campaign apps. Today in the United States we have somewhere close to four or five thousand data points on every individual ... So we model the personality of every adult across the United States, some 230 million people. The company claimed to use "data enhancement and audience segmentation techniques" providing " psychographic analysis" for

12321-461: Was the parent company of Cambridge Analytica. former Conservative minister and MP Sir Geoffrey Pattie was the founding chairman of SCL; Lord Ivar Mountbatten also joined Oakes as a director of the company. As a result of the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, Nix was removed as CEO and replaced by Julian Wheatland before the company closed. Several of the company's executives were Old Etonians . The company's owners included several of

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