F&R
Strategy Group
Geopolitical Consultancy
for the 21st Century
About
Us
The F&R Approach
We combine knowledge with research, and intelligence with strategy, to offer the most effective solutions to your most challenging problems.
Our multilingual team is driven by the same passion: guiding our clients through complex geopolitical situations to meet the pressing demands of the modern world.
Who We Are
F&R Strategy group is a Cambridge-based geopolitical consultancy offering our clients a host of services at the intersection of politics and business.
Our team includes regional specialists in emerging market economics and politics, financial and risk assessment experts, as well as top of the line communications strategists.
Our
Commitment
We are driven by our commitment to execute engagements from their inception to execution, with the utmost level of discretion, efficiency and commitment to success.
With F&R, you can rely on a trusted partner to help you navigate the complicated waters of geopolitical strategy.
What
We
Offer
Cross-border issue
communications
Many companies already established in their home markets face issues when breaking into new unfamiliar markets abroad. On top of that, difficult to predict geopolitical crises often catch you by surprise and threaten the stability which you have worked so hard to establish. Our geopolitical experts make sure that your expansion into foreign markets is smooth and straightforward, so that you can focus on the issues that really matter. In times of uncertainty, our clients rest assured that their crisis communications are taken care of so that they can conduct business as usual and focus their limited time on their priorities.
Political risk and opportunity assessments
Awareness of the potential risks that your organisation may face when establishing a presence in new markets or further developing existing operations in already familiar locales, should be an integral part of everyone’s preparatory due diligence. Our geographical focused and language proficient geopolitical analysts can provide your organisation with a comprehensive and multifaceted understanding of the potential risks as well as opportunities based on thorough and sophisticated global risk analysis. This is conducted while bearing in mind the unique defining factors of your entity and with your primary strategic goals in mind. Employing adequate strategic foresight can help both protect you from unnecessary risks and strategically allocate finite human and financial resources.
Advanced influencer analytics and influencer mapping
Understanding what the forces shaping the conversation in your line of work are as well as how these function, are instrumental tools for success in today’s global environment. Past models of influence have been upended, with today’s world consisting of multi-level networks of thought leaders, influencers and elected decision makers often working in tandem to advance decision making processes. Our advanced analytics mapping projects, executed with the help of our unique methodology and proprietary cutting-edge software, can help you visualise and better understand who should be highest on your radar based on quantitative and qualitative measurements of influence.
Reputation management
In this day and age, social media and round the clock news coverage prevent any prominent figure - whether it be a politician or businessperson - from maintaining a low profile online. Sometimes, being in the public eye can be damaging to one’s reputation, or destructive to one’s legacy. Whether you are a politician reaching the end of your term in office or a business leader seeking to maintain a professional image, our reputation management team ensures that your image is developed and maintained in the light in which you would like to be seen.. Our social media analytics and public relations team are experts at shaping our client’s portrayal in conventional and social media sources and taking charge of the narrative so that your story is the one most prominently known and told.
Research supporting lobbying and direct advocacy
Having your voice heard in the right circles is essential to any business looking to make a real impact or any government looking to advocate for the benefits of their proposed policy. Making that voice heard, however, is a significant challenge. Our unique geopolitical expertise and networks cultivated in Cambridge and extending far beyond the confines of the United Kingdom, enables us to facilitate connections with those who matter and advocate for the issues that will help you succeed.
Economic analysis and political research
At F&R Strategy Group, we believe that knowing your constituents and the challenges they face is key to gaining their lasting support. In particular, understanding the economic issues of a given country is essential to garnering public support as well as conducting business. This is even more true in the dynamic environment that is emerging market countries. We design and conduct focus groups and polls on the ground in order to better understand opinions and diverse viewpoints, in addition to economic analyses using advanced data metrics. The findings are then used to determine potential weak points and build strategic campaigns that focus on supporting our research’s central findings
Integrated communications and public affairs
Allowing our team to develop your public affairs strategy, using unique integrated communication methodologies, can help accentuate your long term value in the eyes of your target market. By gaining an understanding of the political and economic forces shaping the global landscape today, our out of the box strategic thinkers can effectively guide you in identifying, developing and establishing the relationships you need to succeed in today’s highly competitive marketplace.
"Never mistake a clear view for a short distance"
Case Studies
African Legacy Campaign
An African politician reaching the final years of his term in office was eager to pass legislation and enact policy that would seal his legacy as a beloved and visionary leader. Our team built a on the ground strategic plan aimed at shaping the client’s image amongst citizens through a widespread campaign in traditional media outlets as well as on social media, while at the same time bolstering support for the politician in parliament. F&R’s team of writers crafted opinion pieces and ghost written articles in addition to speech writing for some of the client’s most significant orations. We similarly ran social media campaigns aimed at generating grassroots support and inculcating an understanding of our client’s legacy.
Eastern European Political Campaign
An opposition candidate in Eastern Europe needed assistance building a social media strategy that would amplify his popularity amongst young and undecided voters. F&R’s influencer mapping unit used advanced data analytics to determine which social media users could serve as effective influencers to shape the election and convert constituents into committed voters. With the help of these findings, we launched a campaign to deliver results and get him elected despite initial polls predicting lower popularity than the incumbent. Our work included executing initial polling to determine the segments in society when support for our client was weakest, with the advanced analytics project identifying potential support basis among these segments of the population.
Private Russian Businessman Requiring Reputation Management Services
The CEO of one of Russia’s largest multinational construction firms sought our counsel when expanding into new markets in the Caucuses. Understanding the potential danger that could be posed to his financial interests by inadvertently violating global anti-money laundering (AML) regulations as well as international sanctions regimes, the client engaged F&R Strategy Group. In our capacity as risk advisors, our Russian speaking analysts conducted a comprehensive Know Your Client (KYC) risk assessment, evaluating the financial and political risks involved in establishing particular business relationships in that complex region of the world.
Asian Multinational
An Asian telecommunications multinational firm purchased the exclusive rights to distribute a European entertainment product in Asia. Before trying to break into a new market, the client wanted to understand the risks as well as financial potential involved. We began by conducting an economic analysis to understand the market, determine price points and identify a potential audience through polling and focus groups. Using the findings, we built a strategy for the brand’s launch and then developed the brand new media and communications team from scratch, with the aim of converting millions of potential users into paying customers.
UK Big Pharma Advanced Analytics
A pharmaceutical company in the United Kingdom which recently developed a groundbreaking medication which it was interested in marketing across the European Union. Stringent health and safety regulations meant that this needed to gain independent approval from a host of national and European organisations. Our team was engaged to map out an exhaustive database of policy makers across the continent and conduct an advanced analytical analysis of whom our client would need to target in order to effectively further the approval of their groundbreaking product. This project also directly supported subsequent related lobbying efforts, particularly in the European Parliament and European Commission.