Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Experience is both a transitory and a permanent thing.  The current election furor in the United States and the attention it and the candidates have received worldwide is an "interesting" and memorable experience for all of us.  For those of us with a measurement bent, the chance to look at some data here was very tempting.  And the Hauser/Burns Report was calling.

As you may know a group of us here at the University of Texas at Austin - initially stimulated by Keith Reinhard, the organization Business for Diplomatic Action and their interest in the identity and attributes by which the United States was defined -- have been studying the perceptions of the United States by its own citizens as well as those from other countries.  We have launched a study motivated by the opportunity for examining perceptual shifts created by the upcoming national election.  Our respondents are drawn from the general population - including Americans and international respondents, businesspersons, marketing and advertising professionals, students and others. The results of this study will be reported at the American Academy of Advertising 2009 Asian-Pacific Conference, May 2009 in Beijing, China.  In addition, with the blessings of Erik, the Global Maven, who conceived this forum - we will present and discuss the results here as well.  EMF is too rich an audience not to be included.

The approach we have launched is opportunity based and timing is important.  The issue of primary importance in this study is the impact of the President as the standard bearer of the brand and the ways if any, in which that individual impacts the brand. Essentially, the study is based on a set of  "Pre Election" respondent data, namely responses received prior to the November 4th USA National Election - and then a "Post Election" data set obtained immediately after the election and then again approximately 100 days afterwards.  Our sample is growing and will benefit greatly from participation from friends and colleagues such as yourself and the "viral" contribution you may elect to make by forwarding this message and the survey instrument to your contacts. 

The research instrument we are using can be found at:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=mZfavmDPHOX7NYbNMaoXsg_3d_3d

Thanks - in advance - for your help.

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