PIZZA Emails Global Intelligence Files
I unintentionally came across new #pizza related emails, while searching for .gifs in Wikileaks. Apologies to any researchers who have already uncovered this.
In going through past Wikileaks, I began searching for .gifs + pizza and found more pizza related documents.
These are in the Global Intelligence Files (gif).
Listed by Wikileaks as, "WikiLeaks began publishing The Global Intelligence Files, over five million e-mails from the Texas headquartered "global intelligence" company Stratfor. The e-mails date between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal's Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defence Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor's web of informers, pay-off structure, payment laundering techniques and psychological methods." [bold added]
Email ID: 1326067
"As of today we are able to test the new credit card landing pages
(Pizza). "
QUESTION: Why would a "global intelligence" company test a pizza website?
"Once you have the Pizza version You should be able to view all
campaign pages in the new version, even if you close your browser and come
back later.
Test server:
http://staging.stratfor.com
Testing Transactions:
At the moment, you can use your own credit card and any email address, but
also use this:
First Name: Pizza
Last Name: Testing
Email address to use: Anythingyouwant@elkinsspace.com
To check the emails you'll get when signing up login here:
URL: http://webmail.elkinsspace.com
username: catch-all
password: pass1010
*you will not be charged. CS will be voiding any transactions for Pizza. "
QUESTION: What is CS, as stated above?
"1) check old campaign pages for:
a. *fill out the form below* style language (please update these
campaign pages on the LIVE site to be "neutral" and make sense regardless
of the Pizza or Original version. Make sense? "
QUESTION: Why would a pizza company need language to be "neutral"?
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Because the language used is very specifically crafted, I think it's important to paste the entire email here so I can pick it apart in context. I am simply picking out and looking at their own language usage and word choice.
Everything in Bold is my commentary, everything not bold is copied as it is in the original:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
As of today we are able to test the new credit card landing pages
(Pizza).
This global intelligence company is testing payment systems for pizza, which they list in parenthesis. They are not testing the credit card landing pages of "a website" but the credit card landing pages...for (Pizza) itself.
We have until the end of the week to find as many bugs / errors / weird
stuff before launching to real visitors.
Real visitors. Launching the financial landing pages of (pizza).
Below you'll find a list of
questions I've come up with that i need your help in thoroughly testing.
These questions are tailored specifically toward your department and we
are relying on you to find any problems.
As you go through the different scenarios please take notes on anything
that seems weird or doesn't work.
Additionally, If you just notice something that doesnt make sense (even if
it's not on on your question list), make a note.
To reduce clutter, all feedback should be sent directly to me as soon as
possible. Do not open any new IT tickets.
New IT Tickets? What for? For a pizza website, which one assumes has a low level of complexity?
Or
New IT Tickets for the financial transaction pages for (pizza) the commodity, which one assumes has a high level of complexity?
Please use as many web browsers as you have available.
If you end up in the "Original" Credit Card campaign version, in order to
see the new version you'll have to clear your stratfor cookies and refresh
the page.
QUESTION: What is the "original version"?
Once you have the Pizza version You should be able to view all
campaign pages in the new version, even if you close your browser and come
back later.
Test server:
http://staging.stratfor.com
Testing Transactions:
At the moment, you can use your own credit card and any email address, but
also use this:
First Name: Pizza
Last Name: Testing
Email address to use: Anythingyouwant@elkinsspace.com
To check the emails you'll get when signing up login here:
URL: http://webmail.elkinsspace.com
username: catch-all
password: pass1010
*you will not be charged. CS will be voiding any transactions for Pizza.
Your Questions - Marketing Dept
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) check old campaign pages for:
a. *fill out the form below* style language (please update these
campaign pages on the LIVE site to be "neutral" and make sense regardless
of the Pizza or Original version. Make sense?
b. weird layout issues (title, offers, main content block)
Core Pages to check:
/campaign/sign_your_free_trial_b
/campaign/sign_your_free_trial
/join
/campaign/your_preview_week
QUESTION: Preview week?
/campaign/read_more_intelligence_3
QUESTION: "Intelligence"?
/campaign/new_subscriber_discount
/campaign/video_trial
QUESTION: Where can we find the video trial?
ALL FRONT MONTH LP
QUESTION: How does the term "Front Month LP" relate here?
Definition of "Front Month" from top hit in Google return: "What is a 'Front Month'
A front month is used in futures trading to refer to the contract month with an expiration date closest to the current date, which is often in the same month. In other words, this would be the shortest duration contract that could be purchased in the futures market. Contracts that are a month or more behind the front month contracts are referred to as back month contracts.
/campaign/facebook_signup
QUESTION: Where can we find the Facebook Page to look further into determining if this is innocent or not?
Winback?
QUESTION: What is a "Winback"?
“Customer winback” is becoming a common marketing practice in many businesses. The process is aimed at winning back disgruntled customers and then retaining them. Businesses restore the relationship with old customers through a combination of diligent investigations and follow-up, promotion and targeted improvements specifically addressing customer concerns.
Reengagement LP?
QUESTION: What is "Reengagement" as opposed to "Winback"?
Re-Engagement is, most often, a tactic used to improve email deliverability. When was the last time you removed addresses from your list that hadn’t opened or clicked in a period of time? Performing this kind of list hygiene on a regular basis ensures you stop sending to people who don’t want your email (thereby saving you money), and it ensures your emails make it to the inboxes of the subscribers who DO want your messages.
2) Types of campaigns to create and test with a purchase
QUESTION: What does "create and test with a purchase" mean?
a. With premium, with Shipping
Question: Who shipps pizza? How is this making sense in the context of pizza? Either way, "With Premium, with Shipping" appears to be the highest level.
Question: What does Premium actually mean? This explanation from Investopedia gives 3 different meanings.
Premium has multiple meanings in finance: (1) it's the total cost to buy an option, which gives the holder the right but not the obligation to buy or sell the underlying financial instrument at a specified strike price; (2) it's the difference between the higher price paid for a fixed-income security and the security's face amount at issue, which reflects changes in interest rates or risk profile since the issuance date; and (3) the specified amount of payment required periodically by an insurer to provide coverage under a given insurance plan for a defined period of time.
b. Without premium
Question: Does this mean, "one time buyer"?
c. With an expiration date
Question: Can we all agree that any "expiration date"=date of death or date of termination?
Question: Is this referring to the expiration date of the purchase, or the expiration date of the product?
d. With expiration date and pass-through URL
e. With only 2 offers
Question: Does offer mean "bid"?
f. With only 1 offer
g. With 3 offers
Question: Do more offers affect the "premium" (price)?
h. Pass-through link , coded in an email, and test sent
After test send, click email link, verify pass-through worked, & sign up,
to make sure offer is the right thing
3) Verify newly campaign pages look good in both Old and New versions
4) Verify when you sign up that the proper emails are sent out. (in
elkinsspace.com
Just to familiarize ourselves with what Stratfor's Presence is in the world, their twitter feed is a geopolitical crash course.
Interesting find... I can answer only one of your questions. CS is likely to mean Customer Service/Support. Makes sense in the context that they would void the test transactions for Pizza - which could just be a reference to the username of pizza. They could just be using that as an example product, i.e., widgets, but does seem suspect, once again, that the word pizza is used in a context referring to something other than something made from dough, sauce and cheese..