MICHAEL JACKSON: THE MAN, THE MUSIC, THE MADNESS.

Today we lay to rest a very important, quintessential strand of our generation’s cultural DNA.

From the mountains of Palau to the deserts of Wyoming, from Mumbai to Beijing, from the Appalachians to the Andes, his music has always been a way for people to escape the tragedies of their lives.

His life was a comic yet some times tragic cavalcade of events.

Rumors of Michael Jackson’s death started coming in Friday morning after news of the severity of his massive cardiac arrest he had experienced last night was reported.

Michael's cautious approach to the pop experience appeared as much in his singing, songwriting, and dancing, as in his public gestures.

He had a taste for exaggeration and fantasy; all most evident in his groundbreaking videos. We will never forget the thriller video!

Michael also donated and raised millions of dollars for good causes through his foundations, charity singles, and support of over 39 charities.

In Greil Marcus's words, he "walk(ed) the television stage not as if he owned it, not as if it was built for him, but as if his very presence had called it into being”.

Michael ‘Moonwalked’ his way to our hearts.

When he sang, there was an outright admission of sheer confusion, a doubt of everything with the World. Yet the comfort and warmth it brought was smoothly calming.

From the bright young 10 year old who captured our imagination and hearts on the Ed Sullivan show, to the days of ‘Off the Wall’ and the magic that was ‘Thriller’, his approach to creating chaos in the midst of oppressive serenity, brought with it, a conviviality that cascaded through the heart of millions.

We remember his White glove, his shinny pants and all that bejeweled military apparel.

He changed music forever!

Just seconds after the news of his death broke, Google, the web search engine behemoth was overwhelmed by search requests on Michael Jackson and eventually shut down for 34 minutes.

Jackson-based Twitter traffic went through the roof with nine out of the ten most popular topics on Twitter dedicated to Michael Jackson.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said: ''It is the biggest jump in tweets per second since the U.S. Presidential election.”

YouTube, traffic flowed to music videos of Jackson, while thousands posted videos of themselves sharing their thoughts on the legendary pop star.

Others were using Facebook to organise vigils and celebrations of Jackson, with one Facebook group registering almost 100,000 within 3 hours.

His 1982 album, Thriller was the No. 1 album on iTunes-the online music store from Apple.

Over a Million people are expected today at the Staples centre in Los Angeles, where a memorial in his honor is taking place.

We will celebrate his passing with equal doses of mourning and hilarity!

He was all that was good in our childhood; He was Michael; He was Magic!

THE REVOLUTION OF NIGERIAN SOUL: GUARANTY TRUST BANK LAUNCHES INSPIRED THEME SONG

I am pleased to introduce to you guys the new Guaranty Trust Bank theme song “The Place to be”.

This song is a result of a partnership between Guaranty Trust Bank plc and the unique musical talents of renowned Nigerian musician, Asa.

Written and performed by Asa, the words of “The Place to be” inspire and greatly mirror the essence of the Guaranty Trust Bank Brand and celebrate the best of Nigeria’s social energy.

Asa was born in Paris the city of Light, but grew up in the bustling city of Lagos. Both cultures have gone on to greatly influence the depth and creative latitude of her music. She continues to receive critical acclaim from all over the world, earning recognition from the MTV Awards and The British Music of Black Origin (The MOBOS).

I do hope you will listen to this song and share it with friends and family It's available for download at www.gtbank.com

YESTERDAY HE TOLD HIS STORY…TODAY HE MADE HISTORY!!!

Amidst a frenzy and deluge of activities, the likes of which have not been seen in Washington for a long time, the Man whom I proclaimed would not win his party’s nomination took the oath of office as The 44th POTUS- President of The United States of America.

When the words from the Secret Service went out that ‘Renegade (Barack), Renaissance (Michelle), Radiance (Malia), and Rosebud (Sasha) have been secured in the White House’, a new chapter opened for a building that has only housed White males. A building built with the sweat and on the back of Black slaves.

By now everyone would have become an expert on this Abraham Lincoln mythic doppelganger whose journey so far has only been described in superlatives. From apparent obscurity, to becoming the most powerful man in the World. I still can’t believe that a Man with that much confidence and swagger has talked his way to the most powerful office in the World!

At 11:55pm Washington time when he took the last bit of The Presidential oath, nothing espoused the reality of the moment more than when the lead Secret Service agent to the former President George W. Bush, stepped to the side of newly sworn in President Barack Obama.

I have no blames for Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the slight glitch in administering the oath of office to Obama. The nearly 2 million crying, mostly non Washingtonians around were enough to make anyone queasy.

His inaugural speech was not as abstruse as I thought it would be. His messianic rhetoric were all mostly absent and in its place a sure speech from an even surer President! Absolutely impressed with President Obama and his now famous 27 year old speech writer, Jon Favreau, especially when he warned: "We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."-

The World needs The US to lead in these very difficult times. Godspeed to The 44th.

Apologies for my absence, I have been trying to reorganize my life around new sustainable paradigms. Please I will say no more, enjoy the stills from the event.

P.S. Did anyone see CNN's inauguration PHOTOSYNTH?

SOMEONE’S GOING TO HAVE A LOT OF REGRETS ON WEDNESDAY MORNING! : How John McCain will win the Elections on Tuesday.

Years in the making, just days to the taking, the 2008 election season is finally at its end. Two National primaries later, Two Billion Dollars in campaign financing, Fifteen Presidential candidates, Two National conventions, we are finally nearing the finish line of the most fascinating Presidential contest in modern history.

From the angry white males, to the parka wearing pit bull from Alaska; from the Tall, dark and handsome ‘messiah’, to George W. Bush.

All the players in this seasons’ contest have been all the more nuanced. With scrutiny from everything from their Wives’ cooking habits, to the knots on their ties, never has any Presidential contender in America’s Presidential politics been this vetted. We experienced Tom Cruise’s minority reportesque magic screen with CNN’s John King; although He and the screen seemed to always get the predictions wrong! We experienced grassroots politicking from the Obama camp like never before. We saw the political masterstroke in the selection of Sarah Palin as VeeP and George W. Bush…er kind of!

America is generally a Conservative Country. It’s not some left-wing liberal European Nation tucked in some little hidden part of the World!

The Republicans have traditionally presented better candidates. This year; not so much. A change election if I have ever seen one, the economy, has trumped the usual election biggies.
All Counties, Districts and States are almost all up for grabs. Obama is already making inroads into traditionally Red States. He’s redrawing the Electoral map.

‘Both candidates are eyeing States that were traditionally seen as out of reach for their party.
There are potential map changers because of a variety of factors: Obama and McCain's personal attributes, policy positions and even the year we are in.
These factors could redefine the electoral map, to a degree’.

WHAT OBAMA AND McCAIN NEED TO DO TO WIN: “Beyond Country First and Change We Can Believe in”

Numbers, Numbers, Numbers! Nothing is more important in elections than numbers! Of course that’s what Democracy is about- Superiority in Numbers! The Electoral College Map is as important in American Elections, sometimes even more important than the results of the popular votes.

My predictions are based solely on ‘MY’ analysis of all the Polls I have come across throughout this election season (a sort of Poll of Polls), Likely voting trends, Advertising Spend, Crowd mobilizing abilities during candidate visits, and general virtuosity of each campaign! I will also like to add one factor here, and this would be each candidate’s Bush bashing proficiency.
Each candidate will of course have to start by locking in their bases. For the Democrats, this will include California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and the District of Columbia, giving a total of 153 Electoral College votes. Remember the magic number to clinch the Presidency is 270. There are also four more States that I think are leaning Democratic. Those have a total of 37 Electoral votes.

‘If you're Obama, your first move should be to lock in those states, get the right staff and try to move the poll numbers your way to make sure you don't need to be spending a lot of time and resources in places that should be yours.’

For the Republicans, there are 16 States I consider safely Republican. Again this is based on past voting patterns, recent polls and a lot of alcohol induced smart guessing! Those 16 states are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. Together, they would provide a total of 125 Electoral votes for John McCain.

Another eight states, according to John King who happens to work for CNN, are leaning Republican. Those states would net another 69 votes.

Now we have about 190 votes for the Democrats, and 194 for the Republicans
This is where it gets pretty interesting! There are about a Dozen states I consider genuine Toss up States- This means it’s fair game for any party here. Of course this will include perennial tossup/ nuisance States; Ohio and Florida.

Pennsylvania and Michigan are toss-ups for Obama. Although these States have been dependably Democratic in the past, it is pertinent to remember that these are States in which Obama had problems with White, Blue-collar, working-class voters; the Reagan Democrats. Giving Michigan to Obama puts his total at 207, and Pennsylvania to McCain puts his total at 232.

Next would be New Hampshire. McCain and Obama both won their respective primaries in these State. I call it by the lowest of margins for Obama; His total now at 211.
Virginia, a reliably Red State, although recently has been showing tendencies to vote Obama according to most polls, I call it by the narrowest of margins for McCain. This will bring his current total to 245.

Out West, Colorado which recently elected Democrats, Bill Ritter and Ken Salazar this year although a tossup, I call it for John McCain, putting his Total at 254.
Florida and Ohio with 47 electoral votes, I’ll call for McCain, putting his total at 301. Presto, Presidency McCain.

A key factor in these background States are the minority voters. Latinos apparently through years of uncontrolled fertility have now become a potent power block in American politics, and can make the difference in these battleground States. The unease among the Jews about Obama and more importantly for Obama is the effect large turnouts of Blacks in these battleground states is having in these swing states.

I therefore urge McCains Strategists, Sarah Palin and everyone who wants to keep their Freedom, their Guns, and their Money to head up these swing states and make sure they get the message that Barack Obama wants to take their Money and let’s keep praying and hoping for a miracle or a Rainmaker or Both! Obama and his people can keep the change!!

MY BRAND MANAGER IS A MORON! : Access the power of 6 Billion Brand Managers.

“Whether through social networking communities or a simple e-mail address book, the power of 1 can overnight become the power of 10, 20…6 Billion, who all wield tremendous influence for causes, ideas, beliefs and of course Brands.”

Ordinarily, I’d walk into your reception with a bullet proof demeanor; the kind that usually accompanies Presidents and Superheroes; The kind our rappers here in Nigeria call swagger. But lately I’ve been feeling blue.

Idiots are taking over the World! Soporifics are reigning supreme!! The mediocrity of our ‘mAD’ men encouraged by even more mediocre clients is now the more profound!!!

Granted, the World is peopled with an insane amount of idiocy, it’s unsettling and very worrying! I mean I consider myself antediluvian, sort of; I know who Anita Baker is, and I know that Dionne Warwick is not a town in Suffolk. I have a Blackberry, and can at least send an E-mail; with attachments! But the foolishness I’m made to encounter daily due to the nature of my volunteer work is to say the least, shocking!

Very recently, well maybe 2 years ago, I came across the Infinite Monkey Theorem. This single experience put into proper perspective all preconceived notions I had about Branding touch points and the relevance of their interactions with people, especially through the course of my work with Brands.

Simply put, it generally posited that even though most of the World is made up of morons (monkeys), with sufficient prodding and coaxing, people could actually churn out incredible ‘Shakespeare genius’ style stuff.

The tandem of Rebranding and CMO’s all over the World’s favorite, Strategy; have conspired to enable Brands become like Switzerland, -not standing for anything!

It now seems that no week goes by, without a Business entity, company or product concern Rebranding! So rife is the fad now that even Brand new companies rebrand!! And true to type, trust our financial services sector to as usual, take the lead, along the way, coming up with new and even stranger propositions. EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING:
‘There has never been more need for Marketers to unleash the emotional power of their Brands. Marketing sameness, Media fragmentation and confusing choices call for inspirational emotional experiences to engage consumers and create revenue growth.

Brands should enable consumers participate in Brand creation processes. These in the immediate, as well as more importantly in the long term help manage the Brands’ Relevance, Reputation and Consumer Perception.

Emotionally appealing experiences can resurrect markets. A Press Ad, I’m not so sure!

I believe that Brands have to become sensory experiences that extend beyond the traditional paradigm which primarily addresses sight and sound. This is absolutely important and in fact helps broaden your Brand platform.

MINDSHARES:
These are positive emotional responses from a Brands’ target audience. The most powerful and successful corporate Brands grow out of superior strategies driven by superior insights, which are communicated effectively throughout both internal and external publics. In English, what premium do we place on the capacity of all our communication to own a piece of mindshare?

CONSUMER INTELLIGENCE:
Never before in the history of the Marketing spheres of the World have consumers been this savvy! I have nothing else to say here, except watch out, we have the internet, super fast broadband, and Blackberries- and we sure as hell can write!

BRANDPOIESIS:
The ennui of Nigeria’s marketing sphere is gradually being remedied by creative marketing support providers and willing ‘radical’ Brand Managers.
Successful Brands are timeless and negate the concept of product life cycle.
I beseech Brand Managers to reconsider… Co-creativity is all the rage now. Let us all stand NOW for ETISALAT Nigeria! Keep standing as you read the rest of this article!!

Most companies take the easy way to market their Brands. They buy a lot of expensive advertising and make the usual clichéd claims. The truth is that when consumers believe that they own a Brand, and are involved in its creation in the first place, we have all but assured purchase decisions and behavior. And most importantly, Brand advocates and ambassadors, not high priced pseudo-celebrities.

HOW WE SHOULD DO WHAT DO WE SHOULD DO?
We should therefore start thinking seriously about MSP’s- Me Selling Propositions; Consumers taking ownership of their Brands. This further enhances the relevance of consumer driven processes that better reflects the rapidly evolving marketplace. Remember, every Brand has 6 Billion Brand Managers. Please use them!

Please consider this simply astringent marketing commentary, based on ideas and currently fueled by Heineken, Dunhill and my interminable need to seem busy and feel smart.

Mayor is a keen 25 year old Über Branding Specialist and a Partner at (SMC) Stupidity Management Consultants, a not-for-profit giving a shot at eradicating Idiocy and Stupidity forever from the World!

'THE PALIN EFFECT': How A Woman has done for the GOP, what 10 men, 2 years and 300 Million USD had failed to accomplish.

The campaign's crowds, once elderly and male, now surge with moms toting children. Grandmothers tell of getting goose bumps when she speaks. A young girl holds up a sign that reads SARAH PALIN UR MY ROLE MODEL.

At rally after rally, John McCain must wait to go onstage, while she is still being mobbed at the rope line. In Lee's Summit, Mo., when he attacks Barack Obama as being "wrong for America," the crowd ignores him and chants her name instead. The line to enter a Lancaster, Pa., event winds half a mile through a parking lot, where thousands wait as long as 90 minutes to get a glimpse of her. After driving almost an hour to attend her first political rally ever, Suzanne Cook of Coatesville, Pa., offers an explanation: "The fact that she's a woman..." Sarah Palin alone, has done for the GOP what 10 male candidates, nearly two years and $300 million had failed to accomplish: she has boosted excitement, crowds and campaign coffers virtually overnight. She has lifted McCain in the polls, has put Obama into confusion and is living out a Cinderella story unlike any other in recent political history, though the ending is still a slipper of uncertainty.

Even Palin seems astonished by it all. Gazing out at thousands from a platform in Sterling Heights, Mich., she shakes her head, dumbfounded for a moment as the crowd chants her name. Her mouth forms a word, mumbled silently to herself: "Wow," she says.

'The Palin effect' is already measurable. Since McCain tapped her in the days before the St. Paul, Minn., convention, national polls show that McCain has drawn even with Obama in most head-to-head surveys and pulled ahead in several. At the same time, white women have swung away from Obama by as much as 20 points. For months, McCain badly trailed in this group--a warning sign, since George W. Bush won among white women in 2004.

But a new CNN/TIME/Opinion Research poll reveals McCain has opened up double-digit leads among this group in the swing states of Virginia, Missouri and Michigan. Charollet Schworer, a retired third-grade teacher from Kentucky who voted twice for Bill Clinton, traveled to Lebanon, Ohio, in a Windbreaker patterned with the American flag. "I sat there, tears rolling down my face, watching my TV," she says of Palin's speech at the Republican Convention. "I felt energized, truly energized for the first time."

While Obama's campaign seemed bewitched and bewildered about how to cope with Palin's appeal and McCain's resurgence, Republicans barely had time to gloat. Volunteers at GOP offices have increased fivefold in several swing states. In the first 12 hours after Palin was selected, $4.4 million in donations poured in, contributing to a $10 million infusion over a holiday weekend that ended with Hurricane Gustav. "We had to bring in a few new servers," says a McCain adviser. (Palin's been good for the Democrats, too: the Obama campaign claimed $10 million in donations within 24 hours after her speech at the convention.)

Although Palin still has plenty of questions to answer, she is basking in mostly adoring reviews from the conservative base. The McCain operation, which knows a thing or two about biography, is betting for now that the details of her views matter less than the grit of her story.

Whatever its relevance to working in the White House, there is an undeniable power in the tale of a woman who knows how to carve up a moose and can give a speech while leaking amniotic fluid, just hours before giving birth to a fifth child. Still, her first week on the stump clarified some things: She never banned library books, though she raised the possibility in a conversation with a librarian. She never joined a political party that openly discussed Alaska's secession from the U.S., though she did address its members. On the other hand, the government plane she says she "put on eBay" was never actually sold there. She once supported the prizewinning piece of pork known as the "bridge to nowhere" that she claims to have opposed. And though it was legal under Alaskan law, some found it unseemly that she claimed thousands of dollars in per diem expenses as governor while living at home.

McCain aides abandoned their plans to send her out on the trail by herself and have instead installed her as his more popular warm-up act. McCain himself certainly seems revitalized, following Palin at each stop with a fiery stump speech filled with barbs aimed at Obama, though cable news networks sometimes cut to commercials after Palin is finished. On the bus, away from reporters, the tone is friendly, informal and light--McCain quizzing Todd and Sarah about caribou and snowmobile racing while Brett Favre debuts with the Jets on the television. McCain is having fun, says traveling aide Steve Duprey: "Riding on the bus with her is like riding on the bus with the press a year ago."

Despite their camaraderie, they will soon be forced apart. After filling the hall in Lancaster, McCain went outside, climbed onto a platform and addressed the hundreds of supporters who never made it inside. "I'm grateful that you are here," he said into a microphone. "I'm not going to let you down." But as he stepped down to work the rope line, the chants--"Sa-rah! Sa-rah! Sa-rah!"--had already started up again, even though she was nowhere in sight!

This article was written by Micheal Scherer from Lebanon, Ohio.

BYE BYE...‘OBA-IDEN’! : With Stilettos and a Smile, Sarah Palin Steals Obama’s moment.

Every time I think maybe I should have become a musician, something happens in the sphere of politics that makes me go…well maybe not! If you have missed the last 12 years of politics in the US, not to worry, these last two years will have made up for what you missed. If you have missed the last two years, well…I have no words for you, except brace yourself for the next 3 months!

We and most of the World are all just mending from the noisome brouhaha that came from the recent DNC jamboree in Denver, Colorado. It was a very well put together seminar, replete with awards and several red carpet moments.

By day 4, Obama and his camp were reeling from the most stirring and important speech he would ever deliver. The grandiose setting for his acceptance speech was rockstar majestic.
From the podium that went into the ground after his speech, to the Greek pantheon-like backdrop he stood in front of, nothing said ‘I am your messiah, vote for me’, like his closing speech did. It was, for all intents and purposes, a fantastic convention, strangely for the Democrats who are adroit at not being organized.

The Democratic National Convention was ‘Grandiosity’ personified!

The news cycle was hovering around Obama’s acceptance speech and how the Clintons’ especially Hillary, stole the show at the DNC in Denver, when all of a sudden the rumor that the McCain camp were about to announce their VeeP pick, filtered in.

The usual suspects/options had been narrowed down to former Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney and Minnesota Governor, Tim Pawlenty. Two hours to his announcement, we would hear that Mitt and Tim were not in the vicinity of the McCain announcement. The news wire went crazy. Some journalist for Fox News Network sent an e-mail saying she just saw Sarah Palin land at a nearby airport and was promptly whisked away by waiting jeeps. Everybody went crazy! Though she was on the long list, hers wasn’t a name that came up during frequent VeeP selection discussions. Within a couple of hours, a senior McCain aide confirmed that Sarah Palin would be introduced soon as John McCain’s running mate. Everyone went wild. It was shocking and pleasantly surprising; A political masterstroke of the Karl Rove kind.

Her story, like Obama’s, is most remarkable, and represents the best America has to offer. A moose burger loving, M16 holding, game hunting, Christian mother of five, her pick as Veep changed the dynamic of the ensuing news cycle. It totally obliterated the excellent speech Obama had just given. It was a political masterstroke, if I have ever seen one.

For starters, she has the most executive experience of the four candidates. Yes! She is the only one who has managed a budget of any kind. She has experience dealing with Oil majors, taking on members of her party and passing one of the most far reaching finance reform bills. She has consistently reached across party lines to access expertise, suggestions and advice that would be of advance the cause of her government and the Alaskan people. Her 90% approval rating is the highest the country has ever seen for a Governor. And most important to the American people and the Media in these new strange new political climes, her own personal story of how she faced tragedy and adversity and overcame it.

Experience is now off the table in this falls’ campaign. If it comes up, where would you rather have it? Top or bottom? The top of the ticket is imbued with experience. The bottom…, well the bottom is just refreshing! P.s. it also does not hurt that the bottom is a looker!
Nothing will energize the Republican ticket like this pick! They will go crazy! Democrats bring it on!

Sarah has been an advocate for what’s right and just! Women, Republicans, Hillary Democrats and Hillary Republicans (yes they now exist) the World over are all ebullient with the GOP pick. She has commonality and threads that most American Women and Women the World over can relate to and connect with.

She also has been commander-in-chief of the National Guard, even if it was only for her state of 600,000. There’s a story of how when she resumed office she saw the private jets that her Republican predecessor had bought for the office of the Governor. She told an aide ‘take a picture and put that plane for sale on e-bay. We don’t need it!’ The private jet was sold at a profit! Her conservative credentials are all on point. Evangelicals and Social conservatives can all now let McCain be.

The American Presidency is not supposed to be a journey of personal discovery. With Obama and Biden you have people who will talk! With McCain and Palin, you have people who are on the cusp of making history and who will deliver.