East meets West

Here’s the link to my presentation,

http://chaoglobal.wordpress.com/2013/08/11/china-german/

For those who missed my presentation, this set of graphics are the design work of Chinese artist Yang Liu (劉揚).  She published her work named “East meets West” in 2007, portraying the cultural or social difference between Germany and China.

Yang Liu was born in China, and moved to Germany when she’s 13 years of age, and later moved to New York in the age of 26.  Since she lived in China and Germany for the same amount of time, she’s just trying to compare the difference between each, not to approve or discriminate against particular side.  We can better understand others and on the other hand think much deeper about ourselves in watching these graphics.

Since i couldn’t find an English version of this, i just put down the title of each graphic in order for you to better understand the works.  Remember the left and the blue one is Germany, and the right and red one is China.

1. Opinion

2. Life Style

3. Punctuality

4. Social Networking

5. Anger Management

6. Lining Up

7. Ego

8. City Scene in Weekend

9. Social Gathering

10. In a Restaurant

11. Drinks when you’re having a Stomachache

12. Travel

13. The Standard of Beauty

14. Dealing with a Problem

15. Three meals

16. Daily life of an Elder

17. Shower Time

18. Mood and Weather

19. The Leader

20. What’s in Trend

21. Child

22. Dealing with new things.

23. Sunshine

24. Transportation

I don’t want to provide my personal explanation here, neither did the author.  I believe the process of interpreting other unfamiliar culture is the start of understanding and cooperation, and that’s what peace is. But feel free to ask illustration if you find anything confusing or hard to understand.

These graphics are much more powerful than words sometimes.  A graphic can be as moving as a slogan, such as the Obama Hope portray in the 2008 election.  And another aspect we can apply to campaign management form these graphics is that you have to understand the social norm or value of a certain culture or a group of people, to be able to create message and hit the responsive chord in them.

And here’s the link to Yang Liu’s official website.

http://www.yangliudesign.com/

The power of NO!

I watched the film NO the other day, starring Gael García Bernal. It is about the historical moment when a group decided to run against Pinochet in 1988. The movie shows in a powerful way how advertising tactics can be used to influence the voter. I dont want to say to much but the movie is very relevant to what we have learned so far and it just amazed how clearly the movie shows that it is not about what is said – but what emotions are awakened by it.

You can get the movie on Netflix but there is the trailer. If you watch it please leave a comment about your thoughts, I would love to discuss it 🙂

Ads from every US presidential election

Living Room Candidate offers all most noteworthy ads from every US presidential campaign. These videos offer insight in how TV ads have developed over time and gives us ideas what works and what does not, since we know who won each election. This is a gold mine for both historians, and aspiring election campaign managers.

TV ads were used for the first time in 1952 when WW2 hero Republican Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower ran against Democratic candidate Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson. Keep in mind that back than TV’s were huge boxes with small screens. Ads had to be simple and the sound was even more important than it is now. That is why the most successful of the ads back than has this positive catchy tune.

Happy and catchy tunes have been used ever since and another successful example was Kennedy jingle in 1960 election.

However there is much more to election ads than music. Major theme used in US election campaigns is discrediting opponent by accusing him of flip-flopping – changing his opinion too often on too many occasions. One of the most successful ads accusing opponent of flip-flopping has been 2004 Bush vs Kerry election ad Windsurfing.

Another type of ads especially compelling during the Cold War were ads using fear. The Bear ad from 1984 Reagan vs Mondale election is one of the most effective ones.

These are just a couple of noteworthy ads covering some types of ads used in election campaigns. The Living Room Candidate offers much more, be sure to check it out!