Viva la France

I recently attended a seminar for a European non-profit organization in Ljubljana, where I was working as a simultaneous translator... When I went out to have a well deserved cigarette, I was happened upon by a interesting young lady, who could've been a member of any of the nationalities represented at the seminar... I asked her something in Slovenian, and she nodded half-heartedly. Assuming she was a foreigner, I asked her something in English... Parles vouz francais?, she asked... Sorry, but the four languages I already speak to varying degrees is enough for me for now... If I were to take up another language it would probably be Mandarin or Portuguese (the Brazilian kind)...

The French have always been proud of their language, and who can really blame them? I'll be the first to admit its harmonic notes and romantic connotations are quite appealing, but damn, how can any self respecting European professional NOT speak English? A few years ago, the French Culture Ministry even announced a ban on the use of the word "e-mail", to stem the incursion of English words into the French lexicon, wanting to force everyone to use the word "courriel", an artificial construct. But I digress.

The French have a long and lauded history, not least in relation to the US... A love and hate relationship if there has ever been one, without the assistance of the French, who entered the picture in 1778 (see this forum) the American patriots would most likely have never won the American Revolution against the British... meaning we Americans would still be drinking tea 5X a day and eating crumpets ;-) That's not to say that the motives of the French were selfless, far from it... The American revolution in turn, ended up being the main inspiration for the French revolution... In 1803, the US completed the highly controversial Louisiana purchase, doubling the size of the country overnight. In modern day relations, one need only think back to the infamous ''Freedom Fries'' incident, when as a sign of protest, the previously ''French'' fries in Congress cafeterias were renamed to express the Republican's displeasure at France's opposition to the Iraqi war. It was one of the most ridiculous political PR stunts ever, making Americans the laughing stock of Europe... Ironically, the doofus behind that whole debacle, US Rep Bob Ney, was sentenced a few years later to 30 months in prison for defrauding the US...

As for Slovenia's connection to France, many don't realize that this country was actually part of the Napoleonic French Empire during the early 1800's (as the Illyrian provinces, the name of the region under Roman rule). As for my own amoureuse with France, I've always wondered about my great great grandfather on my mother's side, who was said to have come to Slovenia right around the beginning of the 18th century from Toulouse, in the south of France... Ogrin, his last name, is quite common in Slovenia, however I find it hard to believe it to be a Slavic name, and thus voilà, my very own Francophone connection... Love them or hate them, the French are apparently here to stay, just don't expect them to speak English...

Health Care Diatribe

Most of you are by now well familiar with the recent effort by US President Obama to push through universal health care for all Americans... an effort that will undoubtedly fail, just like the Clinton effort spectacularly crashed & burned years ago, so I will spare you the details... So why bother talking about this? In a recent NYT article, Nicholas Kristof tells the story of Nikki White, an otherwise successful & happy young woman born with lupus, a disease that took its toll in the absence of treatment and claimed her life at age 32, despite being completely treatable. Kristof points out that had Nikki been 'smart' enough to commit a felony, she would have been entitled to free medical care while in prison and still alive today. Why didn’t she get preventative care? Because the US health care system is almost solely focused on treatment (emergency care is free), not prevention. And insurance is only affordable if you're healthy. Sound logic, right?

While comparing health care systems around the world can get tricky, and the methodologies used do differ, the last definite World Health Organization ranking puts the US at #37 in the world, right before Slovenia. So what, you might say... Well, it would be perfectly fine by me if the US wasn’t #1 when it comes to spending, meaning that Americans spend the most on health care as measured by GNP, but somehow STILL end up getting jipped. The US model is a highly complex and fragmented system that weakens the demand for health care with high administrative costs that benefit only the few. Luckily, the quality of our health care isn't the issue, considering moneyed citizens from all over the world come to get treated in the US every year...

What IS the issue is accessibility. Everyone should be entitled to preventative care and diagnosis of treatable illnesses, if for no other reason than that it makes common sense, lowering health care costs in the long run for society as a whole! And this is perhaps the strongest economic argument that I can make. As for moral arguments, I'll leave it to you to decide what's right or wrong (to all those conservatives marching on Capitol Hill protesting against ''socialism'', remember that Jesus loves you!), but to me 46 million citizens of the richest country in the world being without any form of health insurance is more than paradoxical... It's an all out scandal, something to be ashamed of as an American. Am I the only one who thinks so? All I know is that I’m glad to have options most Americans don't have... Slovenia’s health care system, while not without its flaws, enables me to be fully insured for around $30 out of pocket per month. As a final thought, you might be surprised to know that the Orwellian named ''Operation Enduring Freedom'' has cost America a fortune that could have otherwise easily guaranteed health care to all US citizens ($864 billion and counting). Even more ironic is that Iraq has recently passed a law guaranteeing universal health care coverage for all Iraqi citizens, financed by none other than US taxpayers! Mmm, the sweet taste of freedom...

A New Star is Born

(Editor's note: the press release below covers the new media company & website we launched on 9.9.09!)

Elevæte is a new media start-up in Central Europe representing an unbeatable synergy of marketing meets design. The agency plans to specialize in branding, multimedia and digital marketing, advertising & PR, market intelligence, translations and more. The young company with an edge will dedicate itself to helping companies brand themselves for success and increase profitability through innovative methods.

The new branding agency is the result of collaboration by two childhood friends, both educated and employed abroad in Italy and the United States, before returning to Slovenia. The founders of Elevæte have experience in marketing & design in a variety of industries and with a wide range of media to offer to their new clients, along with many references to demonstrate their competence. They look forward to helping foreign companies navigate the Slovenian market with their network of strategic partnerships.

Marketing Should Never = $$$ Down the Toilet

...otherwise, as I once told a CFO who ended up being the deciding factor in me getting a highly sought after job, what's the point of it at all? While in marketing, the return on investment (ROI) concept is slightly different than measuring ROI on a stock or bond share, the basic principle is the same. If you sink an X amount of money into a campaign to say, raise brand awareness or sales, will you cover your investment? Will you flush your money down the toilet? Or will you make your money back PLUS some profit? Here's an easy-does-it way to calculate marketing ROI for relatively simple marketing campaigns like e-mail newsletters or mail pieces...

In the current recession in which money is tighter than ever, the concept of ROI in marketing activities had gained a new found prominence. Although ironically, the type of advertising that marketers quantify as having the best ROI (Web 2.0), according to a recent survey, is also the hardest to measure. Go figure. Complicating the matter further, measuring for something like increased brand awareness is much less straightforward than for say, incremental sales.

Of course, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that marketing is moving online... A 2009 Promo Interactive Marketing Survey showed brands see more potential in digital media than ever, with the largest number of respondents rating interactive ROI as ''more profitable'' than other forms of traditional media. As our new media company prepares to open its virtual doors, the fundamental hope (and business case) is that we can help companies to increase their ROI and become exactly that: more profitable.

So what is this Enterprise 2.0 stuff?

Sure, almost all of us have heard of Web 2.0, but not a lot of us know much about Enterprise 2.0. The term was coined by Harvard Business School professor Andrew McAfee a few years back, as he realized the potential to apply Web 2.0 concepts & social networking tools to business (CIO Magazine). The problem: according to this article, a whopping 74% of companies don't really know what Enterprise 2.0 even is, much less how to use it...

In a nutshell, Enterprise 2.0 tools make it easier for complex organizations to share and organize information. One of the more interesting companies involved with this in Slovenia is NeoLab, a company whose founders (in the interest of disclosure) also happen to be very good friends of mine. So what are some of the benefits of applying Web 2.0 logic to business?

1. Improved collaboration and communication
2. Faster decision-making on the basis of current information
3. Immediate feedback from employees & customers
4. Improved employee morale & customer service
5. Scalable implementation that doesn't require experts

So if its so easy to use, cost-effective and valuable to modern-day organizations needing to make split second decisions, why aren't we all more familiar with it?

Nestrpno svetovljanstvo

Danes se mi je pripetil manjši dogodek z večjim naukom… Bil sem na pošti z namenom vsakdanjega opravila, ko sem pri oknu opazil nekega možakarja… Ne vem kako mu je bilo ime, ali iz katerih bivših držav Jugoslavije izhaja, ampak takoj me je preletel občutek da se ne znajde najboljše v naši prelepi, blesteči državici pod Alpam... Poštno referentko je spraševal o nekih bonbonih v polomljeni slovenščini, češ za kaj so koristni in ali so varni za otroke… Vse kar je dobil nazaj je humiliacijo, vzvišeno obnašanje in neke vrste zelo očitnega poniževanja. Kot da bi imelo znanje jezika (v tem primeru, slovenskega) kaj z inteligenco.

Mogoče se te male zgodbice ne bi niti zapomnil, če ne bi srečal prav istega gospoda ponovno v dvigalu mojega bloka… pravzaprav je moji nov sosed. Zgledal je žalosten, spregovoril ni niti ene besede... Jaz pa se nisem bil sposoben otresti občutka da mu je v tem trenutku prav žal da je pri nas… V razmislek… Kajti marsikateri Slovenec se rad ponosi s prav olikanem obnašanju v prisotnosti 'zahodnjakov'… Ampak, a kdo od nas kdaj pomisli, kako bedasto se pravzaprav zdimo mi, ko se obnašamo poniževalno do ljudi iz revnejših dežel? A nas je naša višja izobrazba pripeljala do ignorance dejstva da smo na znotraj vsi enaki? A je od marsikoga svetovljanstvo pravzaprav samo neke vrste prefinjenega hinavstva?

Ko smo že pri tem, trenutno je v Ljubljani zasledljiva ena ob bolj zanimivih oglaševalskih kampanj. Za več informacij se obrnite na http://www.multipladiskriminacija.si/. Biti 'Jugič' namreč še zdaleč ni najhuje kar se ti lahko zgodi v Sloveniji... Pravi svetovljani pa ne zaničujejo nikogar.

Branding & corporate identity trends for 2009

Apparently even corporate giants are re-thinking their branding approach, as the recession makes the challenge of standing out that much harder yet more important than ever... In their profound wisdom, designers at the behest of marketing experts are making logos softer, livelier, more colorful, one might say even cheerier... The screenshot at the left from a recent New York Times article exemplifies all of these trends best. Notice the not-so-subtle change from the large block letters and dark blue color of the Walmart logo, to the far more pleasing lower-case font in softer blue... Or the little design flourish in both (referred to as a ''twinkle'' in the NYT article). Happy stuff :D

In another article from Logo Orange, a branding agency based in France, I get the sense that the minimalism of the last year or two is giving way to a new artistic postmodernism, the retracing of our colorful past... Note the psychedelic backgrounds evoking the 60's or the geometric shapes harking back to the 80's (not that I've ever been a big fan of THAT particular decade). The point is that color is back, yesterday's less is more philosophy is OUT!

For a final point of reference, check out this article from LogoLounge Inc., experts on brand identity from America's heartland of Kansas... Not only have they noted an increase in color hues and photofill techniques, they've noted a distinct movement to logos that incorporate text into their visual imagery... Could we conclude then, that one of the new trends is the fusion of imagery and word? On a final note, if you look at nothing else, check out the 'Minor Trends' section at the bottom of the article - I dig on the half tone approach from an aesthetic viewpoint, not to mention the marriage of future to the past promoted by the Celtic style... Who cares what I think though, what do you think?