Israeli strategists open 'corona time' online consulting service

Due to the continued spread of the novel coronavirus, Klughaft and Shaked are spending their time grounded in Israel and Portugal without the ability to travel to meet with clients overseas.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Moshe Klughaft (right) and Sefi Shaked (photo credit: Courtesy)
Moshe Klughaft (right) and Sefi Shaked
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Two well-known Israeli political strategists, who helped the first woman get elected president of the former Soviet republic of Georgia, have opened a new virtual strategic consulting service, called Byfar.
The two – Moshe Klughaft and Sefi Shaked – have worked together on campaigns across the globe – in Georgia, Romania, Germany, Greece, Italy, Austria, Kosovo and more.
Klughaft, a well-known TV commentator, has worked on campaigns in Israel and was chief strategist for Bayit Yehudi. Additionally, he worked on a protest of reservists following the 2006 Second Lebanon War that helped bring the Right back to power, as well as a campaign urging the study of math featuring former president Shimon Peres. Shaked, who lives in Portugal, has worked on campaigns of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Shas chairman Aryeh Deri.
Due to the continued spread of the novel coronavirus, Klughaft and Shaked are spending their time grounded in Israel without the ability to travel to meet with clients overseas.
“The idea was born out of the large number of requests to help manage coronavirus crises in countries we used to work but could not fly to,” the two explained. “We started hesitantly doing Zoom calls and we discovered that it can be an effective tool for strategic consulting, both political and commercial.”
Klughaft explained that Byfar – www.byfarcampaigns.com – does focus groups now via Zoom. “We saved time on travel, costs on hotels and we can show the results of polls and trends while everyone is in their home or office.”
The new service and work model has attracted politicians who used to be unable to afford the cost of hiring international strategists like Shaked and Klughaft.
“We don’t know when flights will resume but in any case, this remote consulting service works and is effective,” Shaked said.


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