270 to Win

Is there anything more fun in this world than being able to conjure up electroral swing-state blowouts for your candidate of choice? Well, with this nifty little link you can do just that: 270towin.com

I have Bush 279 and Kerry 259. But feel free to work up your own fantasy election night results!

Thanks to Greg Vennerholm for sending the link my way...

Letter to USA

Following up on David's last post, there is a great essay from David Warren entailing the state of the American media. Told from a Canadian perspective, the commentary is insightful and timely. If you don't have the time (or patience) to read the entire essay at least take this chewy nugget with you:

"If you want to know what John F. Kerry's campaign wants you to know, and nothing more, you read the big newspapers or watch the evening news on the established TV networks. But if you want to know something else, you turn to the Internet, or talk radio, or cable. The "old media" are the trains in this analogy: no longer competing locally on both sides, but now one big Democrat machine. The "new media" now offer the crazy quilt, within which one must look for the Republican messaging services."

Full essay: http://www.davidwarrenonline.com/Comment/Oct04/index255.shtml

Unfair and Unbalanced

From the good folks at the Media Research Council...
The 10 worst media distortions of this election year. So many from which to choose!

Re: Ultimate Clicker

That reminds me of the cover of a birthday card I received the other day. It read:

Things I've Learned: A "universal remote" does not, in fact, allow you to control the universe.

Making Data Dance

Virtually all non-profit org's have a database. But very few actually make the data they collect work for them. That's why a robust data-management tool is vital these days.

In a recent article, Ken Osmond makes the same case. The money paragraph:

"Data is not merely a tool from which to make tactical mailing-list selections. It also can influence your messaging and your brand. Data can help to create models and segmentation that make you more effective and better stewards of the task with which you have been entrusted. Knowing how to use data can enable you to make appeals to your donors and potential donors that speak to their needs, interests and tendencies, to help you stir a person's soul, inspire her--or at least reach the person where the odds of doing so are in your favor. At the very least, data management can help you stop trying to convert those who cannot be turned."

It's Alive! Aggressive Data Management Can Breathe Life Into Your Development Strategy

By Ken Osmond
Since 1999, the task of raising funds for nonprofits has become increasingly challenging. Among the factors that have contributed to the situation at hand: the tech stock bubble bursting, the gradual shift of high-paying jobs overseas, and the $600 billion dollars that left our economy following the events of Sept. 11, 2001. The aviation industry needed a $15 billion dollar bailout. Enron, Tyco and other business calamities have zapped pension funds and left thousands out of work and without retirement benefits. And the war on terror and a presidential election year have made 2003-2004 an even more competitive time for donations.

There is a lot at stake for nonprofits, and the resulting marketing and communications noise generated by so many institutions literally is drowning potential donors in information and requests for money. How can any nonprofit get its message out with all that competition and marketing noise? Even if you get your message heard, who's to say your appeal will be considered most worthy among all the others?

Data very well might be the answer. Most organizations view data as a lifeless and one-dimensional asset. Some don't even see it as an asset at all. The fact is, the more data you have at your disposal and the more willing you are to search for insight within that data, the more successful you will be.

Data is not merely a tool from which to make tactical mailing-list selections. It also can influence your messaging and your brand. Data can help to create models and segmentation that make you more effective and better stewards of the task with which you have been entrusted. Knowing how to use data can enable you to make appeals to your donors and potential donors that speak to their needs, interests and tendencies, to help you stir a person's soul, inspire her--or at least reach the person where the odds of doing so are in your favor. At the very least, data management can help you stop trying to convert those who cannot be turned.

Transactional and demographic data are a powerful combination that can give your research more precision, refine your message and reveal opportunities that might otherwise have been invisible to you before. A greater understanding of your donors enables you to detect your strengths and your weaknesses and quite possibly can give you an edge.

It makes sense for an organization to make the effort to get to know the people it's soliciting. After all, it's not likely that people will give your organization money until they know about you.

The difference in success can be made by accomplishing the following:
1. Know your brand and build it.
2. Get back on message and simplify your appeal.
3. Understand your transactional data and segment donors accordingly.
4. Gather demographic data that helps you understand the underlying pathology of the behavior exhibited in your transactional processes.
5. Conduct research to understand what motivates people to give you money (or pass you by).
6. Integrate what you learn from the analysis and modeling of data into your creative, your message, your brand, and your management approach.

Data is not a lifeless asset. It could very well be the lifeblood of your economic engine.

An Indispensible Web Site

A while back, our friend, historian and author, Stephen Mansfield, turned me on to a web site he finds very useful when researching books such as his best-seller, The Faith of George W. Bush.

Like him, I have found it indispensible. It is www.refdesk.com, the mother of all reference portals. If you find it useful as well, consider making a contribution as the site is free and fairly light on advertising.

Ultimate Clicker

Submitted for your approval: For the person who has everything may I present the ultimate control device... one that can rule any idiot box in its proximity. A simple little piece of human engineering that can force any modern TV in its sights to fall mercilessly silent.

It's just another step forward in, "The Gizmonic Zone."

Click here to read all about it.

Great News Headline (Fake)

POLL: AMERICANS EVENLY DIVIDED OVER WHICH POLL THEY BELIEVE
Gallup, Zogby in statistical dead heat

Email Still Effective

Apparently the daily avalanche of communcation from Nigerian royalty, con artists pretending to be your credit card company, professional matchmakers, hawkers of "enhancement" products of dubious efficacy, acceptors of mortgage applications you never sent, and magnanimous providers of free stock tips... hasn't killed email for the rest of us.

No, in spite of the growing blizzard of spam hitting our Inboxes, email (done properly) remains an effective communcation tool for organizations.

So says a recent report.

Shakespeare Insult Du Jour

"Thou craven boil-brained pumpion!"

Bonus Insult:

"Thou mewling rampallian ratsbane! "

A Picture: Offered Without Comment

View image

Read This, Then Share It with the Wavering

Tha Hanger is not ordinarily a political forum (although all of its inhabitants are like-mindedly passionate on the issues) but this column by Victor Davis Hanson must be read?and then shared with anyone still unsure about whom to vote for or whether to bother voting at all.

Here are the final three paragraphs...

"John Kerry is probably going to lose this election, despite the "Vote for Change" rock tour, despite Air America, despite Kitty Kelley's fraud hyped on national media, despite Soros's moveon.org hit pieces, despite Fahrenheit 9-11, despite the Nobel Prizes and Cannes Film Awards, despite Rathergate and ABC Memogate, despite the European press, despite Kofi Annan's remonstrations, despite a barking Senator Harkin or Kennedy, despite the leaks of rogue CIA Beltway insiders, despite Jimmy Carter's sanctimonious lectures, despite Joe Wilson, Anonymous, and Richard Clarke ? and more. You all have given your best shot, but I think you are going to lose.

Why? Because the majority of Americans does not believe you. The majority is more likely to accept George Bush's tragic view that we really are in a war for our very survival to stop those who would kill us and to alter the landscape that produced them ? a terrible war that we are winning.

When all is said and done, it still is as simple as that."

Shakespearean Insult of the Day

"Thou fobbing spur-galled miscreant!"

Thow Insults Like the Bard

Someone has taken the time to cull all the insults and put-downs from Shakespeare and put them in a database. The result? The Shakespearean Insult Generator.

Want an example? Well here you go thou...thou...

Thou loggerheaded motley-minded flap-dragon!

Poll: More Adults Rely on Internet for Political News

According to PRNewswire, a recent Harris Poll shows that just over half of online U.S. adults (52%) (i.e., 38% of all U.S. adults) say that they rely on the Internet for information about politics, political issues and elections.

This is a very significant number not just for news organizations but for political candidates as well. The Internet offers end users the ability to browse many more "outlets" than television and radio, and these news sources can be accessed 24 hours a day.

In the future watch big news organizations making moves to consolidate online news sources in order to control the information people are receiving. As we saw with the recent Dan Rather upheaval, CBS News began accusing the "blogging" community of creating the hype behind their forged documents. Big news organizations don't like no names on the Internet calling their bluff.

Click here for the full PRNewswire report.

A9 from Amazon

A9.com officially launched yesterday. Did you notice?

Well, Amazon.com is hoping that folks will begin to catch on to their newest endeavor - a search engine, powered by Google, called A9.

A9 actually does a good job of adding attractive features to the whole searching experience. Using your Amazon.com account to log into A9 gives you the option of saving all of your search history for future reference. You can also search web, books, images, movies, and personal history and bookmarks all at once.

Check it out for yourself: http://a9.com

Email Marketing Steps

A recent iMedia article discusses a few relevant steps for email marketers. Stressing conduct and adherence to CAN-SPAM compliance, the process described is a good reminder for anyone who is involved with sending out emails for an organization.

The three tips at a glance:
1. Publish your Sender Policy Framework Records (SPF)
2. Complying with CAN-SPAM
3. Filtering

Click here for the full article.

Perfect Gift Idea for the Rockefeller in Your Life

It can achieve 70 knots, has a flight duration of up to 24 hours, and carries a $10,000,000.00 price tag to boot.

Click here for more info. (Validity of net worth required)

Quote of the Day

"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true."
Homer Simpson