An adversarial state had been moving migrants toward the border of a friendly nation, prompting border closures by the friendly nation's authorities since late 2023.
Throughout this period, the friendly nation has been portrayed in the adversary's media space as a military threat — typically as part of broader "Anti-NATO" narratives.
We took a holistic view of the macro audiences involved in this contested space — friendly nationals, adversarial nationals in the friendly border regions, and many more — and applied cognitive separation tools including Hofstede's, STEMPLES, A3E, and Shadeshift / Stakeholder Analysis to understand the needs, wants and desires of each audience.
All of this was underpinned by the TALK framework methodology to ensure firm analytical foundations. We then moved into the micro audiences, conducting TAA on key influencers and individuals who held sway and leverage with the wider macro audiences.
A core part of the process was developing a clear picture of the Information Environment — crucial to ensuring any recommendations would actually reach the Target Audiences identified as prime candidates.
Building the analytical foundations first significantly refined the process for more bespoke analysis of key individuals — establishing a repeatable pattern that strengthens every subsequent layer of targeting work.