Tadaaa: A brand analysis of the presidential candidates’ brand association that was concluded using a survey by conducted Landor Associates and Penn, Schoen & Berland in the beginning of October.

Look through it, now it’s clear why people went for the Obama-Biden ticket, right?

Starbucks, BMW, Mac, Target, Google, Marriot, iPhone, iPod - I could identify with it. · Picture by Landor Associates and Penn, Schoen & Berland

If you spin this a little further and move from brands to everyday products, what would this survey be like? Animal associated with Obama: puppy. Animal associated with Palin: a moose. Now, isn’t this funny?

“We’ve got to make sure that people understand the choices that are at stake.” (Barack Obama)

Obama 2008 Presidential Campaign · photo by Barack Obama on flickr.com

With this clever quote I wish you an exciting last couple of days before an election that will make history, no matter how it turns out… So do you understand what’s at stake for you, lieber Reader?

It happened. Accident. Emergency. A la Patrick Wolf

And to start of your final days for the elections, I suggest not to deal too much with the mud fighting candidate(s) (It’s rather sad to see Mr McCain struggle so hard, isn’t it?), but to check out these pages:

• Top Ten Sarah Palin Excuses For Spending $150K On Clothes (Youtube)
• Letterman top 10 messages on Sarah Palin’s Answering Machine (Youtube)
• Tina Fey on how to do an Palin impression - “Corn Maze” (not Youtube obviously)
• any further suggestions? (comments, pleaase)

An please Americans, if I got to choose between the two women depicted above, I’d still go for Fey. Not just because Palin couldn’t convince me of her being able to see Russia from her house.

Update: Is it just me or why do I crack up every single time TIna says “I think she thinks there’s oil in these Rs”

Update 2: I was shocked not everyone knew this great video… 

“Have we been pranked?!”

Update 3: Palin joke material seems to be growing exponentially in the final days of Electathon: Two French speaking Canadians placed a prank call on Sarah Palin. The comedians keep dropping hints, but somehow Palin doesn’t quite get it. 

Your company wants to start exporting its products to the US. You have little experience of the paperwork and procedures involved in exporting, so you decide to hire…

• a carrier
• a freight-train driver
• your sister’s boyfriend’s wife
• a forwarding agent

I’d tick my sister’s boyfriend’s wife since I am absolutely convinced of her expertise concerning the coping with export procedures, wouldn’t you?

What’s our lesson of this? I before E except after C.

• Event A) Just before the Wiener Linien (Viennese public transport operator) redesign of line 1 and 2 (they used to go in circles clockwise and counterclockwise around the Ring) came into effect, the trams driver made an announcement he thought would be a brilliant joke to tell on the last ride of the line 2. I am not going to recite every bit he said; that, you can watch on youtube. He basically shouted in a mocking Hitler voice that the place, that they were going to circle one last time, was a historical place where historical moments happened. Then he ended the announcement with “Sieg Heil” (Hail Victory), a common pro-Nazi greeting, similar to “Heil Hitler.” After being confronted by someone (thank you very much, Mister) he said he was “sorry” and claimed it was a “joke” and asked the passengers for confirmation. Confirmation he did not get to an entire degree (and that fact disgusted me as well). — Well, Wiener Linien fired the Nazi tram driver the day after. Good to know, isn’t it?
• Event B) Austrian’s third national council’s president has been voted Martin Graf. Not only he openly supports a right-extremest fraternity, called Olympia but also does not deny the connection of the fraternity activities to violence promoting ideology.

Event A and B made me come to a conclusion C: Austria has a funny (funny as in weird) understanding of its past. The way people treat the fact that Austria engaged in Nazi activities is more than unsettling. Why don’t people understand, or rather why don’t people want to understand that national-socialist movement is dangerous? Trust me, it is and therefore Nazi jokes, little side remarks and shout-outs (made by politicians - what country would allow politicians like we do in Austria?*) should not be looked away from and labeled as insignificant…

This dark chapter in our history books (that people should read thoroughly) is getting more topical than ever with outer right parties gaining points in recent elections. We need promotion of awareness, we really do. Now, more than ever.

Events like this don’t seem to be as big as compared to the deal of next weeks US-presidential elections, but somehow do matter as well. Go vote, America.

* Winter, Westenthaler, Strache, Graf, Haider (I crossed out a comment right there, because I am being decent here)… Should I go on with this list? It would leave you staring at the screen in disbelieve. I betcha.

Guess what compared to the size of the average daily “problem,” this nebula somehow gets to blow things out of proportions (citing The Joker from Batman The Dark Knight)….

So if the Eagle Nebula doesn’t humble you, maybe you really are in a pickle. A pickle larger than this whole star-creating massive aggregation of matter, that is.

The Eagle Nebula (M16): Peering Into the Pillars of Creation (A nearby star-forming region about 7,000 light years from Earth.) · photo by Smithsonian Institution on flickr.com

America votes · by Wonderlane on flickr.com

It seems like everybody is talking about it. The US presidential election 2008. Whereas most of discussions is wrapped around whether or not you support Team John McCain or Team Barack Obama, most people do not entirely understand the election system that was first established when the Founding Fathers were around and has not changed dramatically ever after. 

When you come across with an item of the US elections you often stumble upon - yeah, let’s call it - vocabulary that Europeans are not quite familiar with. Note that the election system is quite different from what we are au courant with in Europe. 

Read this guide for basic information on the US Presidential Election.

A major characteristic of US elections for president is that it is an indirect election process. Indirect elections basically intend to have a third entity between the people voting and the final result of what candidate made the race. By voting indirectly people rather choose a delegation who will make the finial decision in lieu for the broad masses based on the people’s will. Usually this sort of election mode is used when choosing a president in countries with weak presidencies like Germany and Italy.

In the president’s power: A limousine, an aircraf, an intelligent service, the White House, what else?

By US law the president is in much more power than, for instance, the Austrian president who takes a rather representative and passive role in Austrian politics. The President of the United States is the head of state and government (the head of the executive force) and enjoys several benefits (White House as a home and working place, airplane Air Force One, limousine Cadillac One, protection of the Secret Service up to 10 years after being out of office etc). The president of the United States is considered the highest official measured by recognition and influence.

Eligible voters (18+) in America are invited to go and give their vote on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. In 2008 it will be November 4.

The next paragraph should lay out the main difference from “usual” election modes that we are used to in Europe.

Electoral Vote vs Popular Vote

The Winner Takes It All

Once people cast their vote, all the votes within their states are counted and whoever wins the majority is entitled to take all the electoral votes. The allocated number of electoral votes is determined on the basis of the states population. If the candidate manages to win the state, he/she gets ALL the electoral votes. The most populated state California has 55 electoral votes at stake whereas Wyoming, one of the less populated states has only three. Also Washington D.C., the union’s capital city, has a say in the election weighed as strong as the smallest state (3 electoral votes like Wyoming).

There is a total of 538 electoral votes at stake in the election for the US president.  These 538 votes make up the Electoral College.

Electoral votes assigned to each state for the 2008 election (by wikipedia.org)

California’s 55 electoral votes likely to turn all democratic

Example:

California is very likely to turn out to support the democratic candidate in an US election. Let’s assume…

Popular Vote Results: Barack Obama 53.8% - John McCain 38.7% - Others 7.5%.

Electoral Vote Results: Barack Obama 55 - John McCain 0 - Others 0.

The popular vote is what people actually have voted for, whereas the electoral vote is the number of electors who will vote for the president in the Electoral College meeting within their state. This meeting takes place on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. In 2008, it is going to be December 15.

The result are then sent to Congress. On January 6, the electoral votes are collected to check if a candidate gets more than 270 votes. Only then, the result is officially stated. If no majority can be found for either candidate, the election for president will be left up to Congress.

What It Takes To Make The Race

High on the list of must-haves in order to gain the US presidency is an inexhaustible funds. Enormously huge funds will help finance the expensive campaign trail a candidate and the self-chosen vice president have to walk down for more than a year or two. This includes prime-time TV commercials, branded give-away products and other means to raise awareness and convince people that no one else is more fit than the candidate himself/herself. I’m your man!

Since you have a lot of spendings to cover, a candidate relies on donations of the broad masses, lobbyists and the party’s presidential campaign funds. Who is going to pay the bill for that prime-time commercial?

Being omnipresent on media (the internet has gained importance) is key and might be as important as how you perform in the presidential debates broadcasted all over the country. These debates can make or break the deal for you.

Charisma can also be very important while racing for the presidency. American people tend to make their decision not only on the basis of their political opinion but also on basis of trust. They wouldn’t want to support a grumpy old man, would they?

Criticism

Critics of the electoral voting mode claim that this sort of system is highly undemocratic. States that tend to be rather Democratic or Republican will only represent the political party that wins the majority. That neglects the votes of the opponents including the other big party and several independent candidates who try to run for president. So it is technically possible for a candidate to win the majority of electoral votes without gaining the majority of popular votes. This happened in the 2004 election of Bush versus Kerry. Highly undemocratic, isn’t it? See this abstract example.

Swing states suck in all the attention and the money

As a result of this, there is a number of states that doesn’t have an overwhelmingly strong support for either candidate of the Democratic or Republican party. Ergo, both parties will put a lot of effort to win over votes in these so called swing states or battleground states. In these states the chance of gaining electoral votes is the best. Since swing states decide who will come out as a winner in an election, the undecided states get the most attention from the running candidates.

At left, each waving hand represents a visit from a presidential or vice-presidential candidate during the final five weeks of the election. (Candidates' visits to their own home states are not counted.) At right, each dollar sign represents one million dollars spent on TV advertising by the campaigns during the same time period. (by wikipedia.org)

If one hasn’t got the party’s (full) support, one cannot seriously run for president since it is nearly impossible to get enough attention, money and media coverage. Thus, only the two main parties (Democratic and Republican party) nominate their candidates (plus the vize-presidential candidate - in short VP). There is no room for a 3rd, not to mention a 4th party. A very static system.

So after all these aspects, you ought to ask yourself why not consider the popular vote more? You have to know that this electoral election system has been around since the very beginning. In these days the electors have been a whole lot more popular than they are in fact today. Back in the days the president has been a man they hardly know and because of different speed of transportation (a nice way to put it) never got to travel around and talk to the people. So the electors spread around in all states and run campaigns instead of the president. Also gathering all the votes was more complicated and facilitated by electoral votes. But nowadays it is not so much of a problem anymore. However, members of the Senate haven’t yet seriously attempted to challenge this outdated system.

Please help me make my approach of explaining the presidential election accessible and easy to understand. Any questions? Suggestions?

Vote!

My final shout-out to all the people out there enjoying the right of democracy. Go vote!

In beta.

My “dictionary of choice” has been dict.leo.org for quite a while. Also I used to look up words on pons.de a long time ago, but I was really not enjoying the user experience.

But what do I find out now? Pons was entirely overhauled and revealed a new approach to online dictionary (compared to the sloppy thing they had before). Now, pons.eu/dict/search (in Beta status, how trendy of them) offers registered-user only suggestions and contributions,pronunciation assistance (mp3 format) and a unique display of words that groups results according to their meaning (something I definitely miss on dict.leo.org).

I can’t wait to check out the new old kid on the block* and see how it will fit my daily use with looking up words. Is it going to replace dict.leo.org? I’m undecided, but really attracted…

*Mini Lingo Bingo: The new kid on the block is a phrase to describe someone who has just appeared or is new. It is not only used for new people entering a social circle, often used in context with a company entered a new market. The german equivalent is “der/die Neue sein.” An example: Google’s Gear browser solution is the new kid on the block and will be tested really hard. - Google’s Gear Internetbrowser ist der Neue und wird hart beurteilt werden.

by xkcd.com - click to enlarge

Ich bin die Mutter, die mich verhätschelt [...] Ich bin mein Freund Klaus, der mich besser kennt als ich selbst (WTF?) [...] Ich bin die kleine Schwester die mich dafür hasst (even more WTF?!) [...] Ich bin Maria [...] etc.

Remember my notes on the acquisition of One by Orange? Whereas their spots have sort of refreshed the Austrian “Werbelandschaft” (DE, commercial landscape), I call out for a little change of their slogan which will cause a sudden urge of identification in several additonal Austrians’ minds. Instead of “Zusammen sind wir mehr” (DE, together we are more), I’d go for a “Together, we’re schizophrenic.” I came up with this idea in an interesting state of mind during the Indie Club in Avalon, Krems. Heard “In Five Years Time” and the people surrounding me simultaneously went “Ich bin Klaus.”

My mommy (I) and me (also I)... I am pretty much everyone. Take that!

How about that? Also I wonder what Freud would say about the above quoted statements of the guy who claims to be several personalities he came across with in life and further people he will encounter later in future. Maternal issues? Guess so (since the ad starts with his mother coddling him).

Final note: A lot of German youngest come to Austria to study. No news in that, but I saw dozens of German accented people in the Bim (AUT: tram) babbling on their orange square branded cell or at least talking about signing this plan since it will save multiple Euros.

0600 in the morning...

It’s been quite a while since I was blogging about brands and our perception on them (more: search my blog for tag: brand). Here is fairly interesting guide to the usage of color in creating brands. Here’s an overview of popular brands connected with the basic color and the feelings and associations it stands for: A Guide To Choosing Colors For Your Brands by usabilitypost.com.

The color you use in your brand not only serves as eye candy but can also portray on what track your company is on (A fresh green to show environmental concerns, a matt blue for freedom). Also who you want to address as a target group (young dynamic blue or green to attract young people). Whether you are modern (lively orange), conservative (dark red or brown to show that you don’t give up on old values - especially long established brands) or liberal. What your company and what kind of services stand for (a saturated red for passion, a warm orange for an inviting atmosphere). And so much more. The color suggestions for the before mentioned notion are chosen by me and do not represent a strict set of rules.

Colors in Brands

Additional Note: Why Color Matters (via swissmiss) 

Research reveals people make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment, or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing and that between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on color alone.

Is there a color that you automatically associate with a feeling served by a specific brand?

She connected with me. With this debate scheme. Unbeatable. Like Oh My Goshhh.

Found via swissmiss via adennak.com.

Been there, done that. Here is what Dan Barham adds to his picture: We spent $200 on cardboard boxes for our impending move. Of course, I did what any self-respecting person would do and built an awesome fort.

Plus, don’t miss the new announcement for philsblogging.com at the end of the post. My newly acquired marketing skills make you read the whole post. Jump, do it.

Moving requires this little I call boxing up your life. It includes all the things we wouldn’t miss if you where on a seven-month travel through some country, but would want to be part of our new everyday life in the new place we are going to stick around for a while (who knows how long, thouhg?!).

I’m talking about the things that make your new home a home, make it feel cosy, make it a place you look forward to going after a night out. I’m sure you know what I am talking about. Think of 3 things you would also take to a deserted island and wouldn’t want to miss in my new place; among other essential things that’s what I took with me. My Macbook, a fine assorted collection of books and DVDs (I know that will boost the “3 things you take on a deserted island, but I thought I could trick you with the singular “a fine assorted collected” - I know, I’m manipulative and back-stabbing) and last but not least my favorite Dr Pepper PJs most of you envy and wish you could jump in and wedge day in day out.

So here’s my take on what Vienna can hold for you if you make the most of it. Now, exclusively dedicated to my fellow university starter-ups.

Now part of the moving into and adjusting to a whole new place is the sniffing your surroundings. Vienna is really huge, I can see that. Coming from a village where nearly everybody knows everyone and everyone greets everyone when passing, the city vibe can hit you hard. You’re just one in a million. However, I’d rather interpret the city’s vibe as dynamic, interesting and a vibe offering new possibilities. It’s going to be a new chapter in life; a new passage for your lifetime stories. So the best thing you can do about it is embrace it, seize it making the most out of the opportunities you only get in a city like Vienna. Museums (Mumok, anyone?), art collections (Van Gogh at the Albertina), movie theather (English original soundtrack movies at the Burgkino or Hydnkino) and bars at the Guertel and pubs (Irish pub at Waehringer Strasse). There are plenty of things to do in Vienna, so don’t you dare crawl up in a corner and whine about how “at home, everything used to be better and more familiar”.

Also, and some might not like that crucial fact, there are new responsibilities (With great power comes great…). If you move out of the cosy mom and dad driven household, you’ll soon see that the shopping is not done by mom anymore and Dad won’t fix things at the snap of your fingers. Nopes, you’re on your own and it’s a good thing. Because it’s time to grow up. Sorry to burst your bubble there. Don’t hesitate to take a step closer to independence (like possessing a washing machine and therefore can look down on the kids who go home on weekends with their trolleys filled with dirty clothes).

Check out Vienna Metblogs

So I look forward to how I do in the new pond. And therefore I would like to make an announcement about a novelty in terms of my blogging habits. Vienna related topics will from now on be posted at the Vienna Metroblogging network that I happened to be invited to. Of course, you, lieber Reader will get a notification here as well. For all the hardcore fans out there, subscribe to the Vienna Metblog feed here. I am afraid some freaks are out there. Did you just see my sarasm blinker going on and off?

The post title “Boxed up my sieben Zwektschken” is a mini Lingo Bingo. Sieben Zwetschken is a Austrian Mundart (~dialect) term for your belongings, your things that you need to pack up to, for example, go some place. Litterally translated it means seven plums.

So stay stoked. So what’s your take on moving from point A to B? What is so exciting about leaving behind things and embracing the new? What makes some of us feel weary about it?

As seen from my apartment I just moved into.

“In all beginnnings dwells a magic force.” (Herman Hesse, German-Swiss Novelist)