The Economist has a pretty cool promotion on their website that allows the entire World to vote in the United States Presidential election.  They created an electoral college for each region of the globe.

Go vote by visiting The Economist online.

Not surprisingly Barack Obama & Joe Biden have a huge advantage over John McCain & Sarah Palin.  In fact it looks like Obama might sweep the World, besides maybe Colombia.

No word yet on whether The Economist will do this same promotion again, allowing us Americans to vote in elections around the World.

The Economist is worth subscribing to.

They say the true mark of a leader is how they handle a crisis.  The theory goes that anyone will look good when thing are smooth and easy, but a true leaders are the one’s that you turn to in a crisis.  As the 2008 election approaches this is a principle that people need to keep in-mind.  We need leadership that isn’t afraid to lead, which means someone who can make a tough decision and delivery unpopular news.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman nails this concept in his Sunday column.  Friedman offers some really good advice to both candidates, becausely saying they need to do what is right instead of what they think will be popular.  To help the economy, to resolve the situation in Iraq, to regain people’s confidence in our government.  I only hope that someone is listening, that his words won’t fall on deaf ears.

Miller Lite is going back to their roots to help boost sales of their classic beer; Miller will bring back their classic “great taste, less filling” tag line.  The famous tag line made its debut in 1974 and propelled Miller Lite into the national limelight.  The ads, designed by McCann Erickson Worldwide, featured groups of ex-jocks arguing over what is the secret behind Miller Lite; its “great taste” or “less filling”.

Here is one of those classic Miller Lite “great taste, less filling” spots:

It’ll be interesting to see if this classic tag line can help to revive the Miller Lite brand.

I decided to change the name from FilltheMezz to BrandDunk.  Enjoy the site.

Reprinted with permission by marketing guru Seth Godin.

What Every Good Marketer Knows:

• Anticipated, personal and relevant advertising always does better than unsolicited junk.
• Making promises and keeping them is a great way to build a brand.
• Your best customers are worth far more than your average customers.
• Share of wallet is easier, more profitable and ultimately more effective a measure than share of market.
• Marketing begins before the product is created.
• Advertising is just a symptom, a tactic. Marketing is about far more than that.
• Low price is a great way to sell a commodity. That’s not marketing, though, that’s efficiency.
• Conversations among the members of your marketplace happen whether you like it or not. Good marketing encourages the right sort of conversations.
• Products that are remarkable get talked about.
• Marketing is the way your people answer the phone, the typesetting on your bills and your returns policy.
• You can’t fool all the people, not even most of the time. And people, once unfooled, talk about the experience.
• If you are marketing from a fairly static annual budget, you’re viewing marketing as an expense. Good marketers realize that it is an investment.
• People don’t buy what they need. They buy what they want.
• You’re not in charge. And your prospects don’t care about you.
• What people want is the extra, the emotional bonus they get when they buy something they love.
• Business to business marketing is just marketing to consumers who happen to have a corporation to pay for what they buy.
• Traditional ways of interrupting consumers (TV ads, trade show booths, junk mail) are losing their cost-effectiveness. At the same time, new ways of spreading ideas (blogs, permission-based RSS information, consumer fan clubs) are quickly proving how well they work.
• People all over the world, and of every income level, respond to marketing that promises and delivers basic human wants.
• Good marketers tell a story.
• People are selfish, lazy, uninformed and impatient. Start with that and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you find.
• Marketing that works is marketing that people choose to notice.
• Effective stories match the worldview of the people you are telling the story to.
• Choose your customers. Fire the ones that hurt your ability to deliver the right story to the others.
• A product for everyone rarely reaches much of anyone.
• Living and breathing an authentic story is the best way to survive in an conversation-rich world.
• Marketers are responsible for the side effects their products cause.
• Reminding the consumer of a story they know and trust is a powerful shortcut.
• Good marketers measure.
• Marketing is not an emergency. It’s a planned, thoughtful exercise that started a long time ago and doesn’t end until you’re done.
• One disappointed customer is worth ten delighted ones.

• In the googleworld, the best in the world wins more often, and wins more.
• Most marketers create good enough and then quit. Greatest beats good enough every time.
• There are more rich people than ever before, and they demand to be treated differently.
• Organizations that manage to deal directly with their end users have an asset for the future.
• You can game the social media in the short run, but not for long.
• You market when you hire and when you fire. You market when you call tech support and you market every time you send a memo.
• Blogging makes you a better marketer because it teaches you humility in your writing.