Obama: du candidat super star au président mal aimé

La couverture de l’élection de Barack Obama a été sans commune mesure avec les élections présidentielles de 2000 et 2004. Jacques Portes explique pourquoi le président des Etats-Unis n’a pas réussi à transformer ce succès planétaire en atout au cours de son mandat. Extraits de “Obama, vers un deuxième mandat ?” (1/2).

Not the Thrilla in Manila, but Certainly Nasty in Nassau

Austin, TEXAS. October 17, 2012. The President Obama of yore (2008, that is) showed up at the debate last night and so was hailed the victor. In fact, the numbers show that it was not that Romney faltered. He did not. Rather it was the President who recovered from his first debate ‘debacle’ (as viewed by his strongest supporters).

The numbers reveal the story. First, keep this number in mind: 7.4. This is the grade level of Obama’s most widely hailed speech, the “Yes, We Can!” Grant Park victory speech. ’Yes, We Can!” is widely perceived as a classic to be enshrined in the American Oratory Hall of Fame along side Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a dream,” Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address,’ and Ronald Reagan’s “City on a Hill” speeches.

In the first Presidential debate, Obama’s grade level came in at 9.2. For a debate, with all its give-and-take, interruptions, pauses and the like, that was a rather high number. A Town Hall meeting is definitely not the place for the grandiloquent turn of phrase, especially when you are trying to woo the undecided citizens of the land with plain speakin’ — no matter how uncomfortable that might be.

We all told in sixth grade that a newspaper should be written at the sixth-grade level, which from the sixth-grade perspective can be quite a challenge. What this really translates to is short sentences, concise paragraphs, fewer polysyllabic words, and all written in active voice.

As an example, Joe Biden spoke at a sixth grade level (6.1) in the vice presidential debate and there were few who claimed the inability to understand Ol’ Joe. (Unfortunately, these tests do not evaluate facial expressions.) In last night’s debate , Obama scored 7.2 in the grade-level score, about 28% lower (and in this case better) than his first debate — and nearly identical to his Grant Park discourse.

Both Romney and Obama cut their used of passive voice nearly in half from 6% to 4% and 3%, respectively. Active voice, where the subject is the doer of the action, is always preferred over passive voice in political discourse since it can be used to avoid responsibility. (‘Taxes were raised’ rather than ‘I raise raised the taxes.)

Finally, Obama’s reading ease score improved over 8% from 63.1 to 70.1; Romney’s remained a bit higher at 71.0.

In champion fights, the unwritten rule is that you never take the current champ’s crown away on — points unless the victory is overwhelming. Last night the President showed up to fight, and thus is awarded the victory on points. So the Presidential Debate series now stands even at 0ne all, with the rubber (and deciding) match to take place next week.

The Final Narrative of Barack Obama

Austin, Texas. October 9, 2012 — The controversy swirling around Obama’s debate performance completely misses the point. For better or worse, this is it. Stripped of all pretension. Devoid of the catch phrases and the swoons. Minus the Hollywood glam. This is he. Barack Obama. The man, unadorned. No longer do we see Obama through a glass dimly. Now we see him for who he is. This is neither to embellish nor dis-embellish the man. This is to see things for what they are and not what they ought — or ought not — to be.

At the Global Language Monitor we understand that life is not an exit poll; we cannot shape the reality of how we just voted. It is a zero-sum thing, a binary action, a one or a zero, a yes or a no. In the same manner we have tracked the narrative of Barack Obama the preceding five years, stripped of all adornment, searching for the reality that was all too frequently, standing right before us, actually in our midst, if only we had the will to open our eyes to see.

Of course we have unabashedly published our findings along the way but at that time our findings seemed a bit out-of-step, as indeed they were. Out-of-step with the perceived reality, but in step with reality as it was. Unlike most of life, a new president is graced with a honeymoon period, when missteps are overlooked, forgotten, or forgiven. This is not the ‘suspension of disbelief’ that allows us to enjoy a fantastical story in the cinema but rather a ‘suspension of self-interest,’ where we put aside our partisan differences and wait. We wait for the cues and signals, both small and large, that will reveal the intentions, proclivities, and (dare I say it?) the character of the incumbent.

For some presidents this grace period is over nearly before it starts (Gerald Ford and George W. Bush come to mind). For others, it lasts a bit longer (George H.W. Bush), and for others longer still (Ronald Reagan). In the case of Barack Obama, the situation was markedly different. Being a black man, most Americans wanted him to succeed precisely because he was a black man. As a relative outsider, he was a welcome break from the recent past (and impending future) — Bush 41, Clinton 42, Bush 43, Clinton 44?

Being a newcomer, he was the classic tabula rasa, a blank slate upon which we could pour upon all our hopes and dreams. And change? Who on this planet did not want change from the preceding eight years: a divisive and disputed election, global terrorism and 9/11, two wars in the Middle East, a devastating tsunami, the inundation of one of America’s great cities, and to top it off, the global financial meltdown. All this being so, Barack Obama began his presidency with an extraordinarily large reservoir of good will. Let’s call this reservoir the Hope and Change Quotient (HCQ).

During Obama’s first days in office, the nation was engulfed in ’anger and rage’? GLM analyzed the situation back in February 2009 and found that what was being reported as ‘anger’ was actually ‘frustration,’ while what was being reported as ‘rage’ was actually ‘despair’, a sense of foreboding or impending doom. GLM followed this rather odd undercurrent during the earliest, most hopeful, days of the Obama administration. The results were striking, especially, in contrast to the immense outpouring of global goodwill in response to the inauguration of Barack Obama, since the survey included the ten days immediately following Obama’s swearing in. Some of the keywords showing heightened awareness were Abandoned, Despair, Desperation, and Fear — all appearing in the media with double digit increases over the pre-election period. This was perhaps an abberation we thought, but as we moved forward, the pattern continued unabated.

We saw a turning point with the Gulf Oil Spill speech. This was the opportunity to show the world how a US President would properly respond to a major crisis threatening the Gulf Coast, the ecosystem, and the forces of nature and the evil of Man (an arrogant CEO from Central casting, BP, Halliburton, and a 24×7 ‘Spill Cam’ spewing forth colorful filth, worthy of a Dreamworks 3-D treatment. And what did we get? We got what we had been measuring for the preceding two years: Obama 2.0, with an academic-sounding speech detailing a broad plan for an alternative-energy future and few specifics, and little of the hell-and-brimstone his followers had hope for.

By now it was becoming apparent for all to see. This was a changed and changing man, at least how he revealed himself publicly through speech. By time the 2010 Mid-Terms delivered their ‘shellacking’ the transformation was nearly complete. With a few noteworthy exceptions, such as his Tuscon eulogy,which ranked among his best, the President has appeared less-and-less engaged, more-and-more distant.

In July we noted that the top political buzzwords were telling a far different story than either campaign was presenting to the American people. Our analysis found that Bush was clearly assigned responsibility for the so-called Great Recession, while Obama was responsibility for the economy’s current condition, just as concern over Bain Capital and the ‘war against women’ were of less and little concern respectively. In other words, the American people saw the issues as if the virulent political ads of both parties did not exist. In contrast ‘Still believe the American Dream’ was No. 5 and ‘Disappointment in Obama Administration’ was No. 6.

At the same time, the Hope and Change Quotient has nearly been depleted, this being the normal course near the end of every president’s first term in recent memory. The President has finally been vetted. We now know the man, his strengths, weaknesses, and his proclivities. This is not to say that he will not win in his bid for re-election. But this is to say, that for better or worse, this is it.

This is the final narrative of Barack Obama.

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GLM used NarrativeTracker Technology in this study. NarrativeTracker is based on the global discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture of what any audience is saying about any topic, at any point in time. NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, the top global print and electronic media, as well as new media sources as they emerge.

Paul JJ Payack is the president and Chief Word Analysts of Austin-based Global Language Monitor.

London Edges New York for Top 2012 Global Fashion Capital

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Ninth Annual Ranking Now Includes Fifty-five Cities

September 6, 2012, New York and Austin, Texas. London has been crowned the Top Global Fashion Capital, edging out New York for the second year in a row, according to the Global Language Monitor’s annual ranking of the Top Fifty Fashion Capitals. London and New York were followed by Barcelona, Paris and Madrid. Rounding out the Top Ten were Rome, Sao Paulo, Milano, Los Angeles, and Berlin.

“London’s two-year run has been has been propelled by two rather extraordinary circumstances: the emergence of the former Kate Middleton as a top fashion icon and the recent completion of what have been hailed as an extremely successful Summer Olympics,” said Bekka Payack, Manhattan-based Fashion Director of GLM. ”In recognition of the significance and growth of regional capitals with their distinctive styles and contributions to the fashion industry, GLM expanded the list to some fifty-five cities on five continents.”

Top movers on the plus side included Antwerp (+33), Caracas (+27), Johannesburg (+23), and Sao Paulo (+18). Top movers on the down side include Mexico City (-25), Toronto (-19), Moscow (-17), Chicago (-14), and Mumbai (-14), attesting to the heightened global competition. Newcomers to this year’s analysis were Vancouver (31), Seoul (34), Boston (44), Houston (49), and St Petersburg, Russia (51).Prior to London’s two year reign, New York had reclaimed the crown from Milan. Previous to this, New York had been the top fashion capital for five years running, taking the crown from Paris.The 2012 Top Global Fashion Capitals, with Rank, Previous Year’s Rank, and commentary:1. London (1) – Competitors stymied by Kate Middleton and now the hugely successful Summer Olympics.
2. New York (2)– That toddling town is waiting in the wings for London to stumble.
3. Barcelona (7) — Iberia rules with two fashion capitals in the Top Five.
4. Paris (3)– Topped ‘haute couture’ category, of course.
5. Madrid (12)– Making a strong move toward the top.
6. Rome (13)– Edging Milano this time out.
7. Sao Paulo (25) — The Queen of Latin America, again.
8. Milano (4) — Slipping a few spots, but never for long.
9. Los Angeles (5) — The City of Angels strengthening its hold as a true fashion capital.
10. Berlin (10) — Remains among the elite — and deservedly so.Read About the Top US Fashion Economic Powerhouses in AtlanticCities11. Antwerp (44) — A surprising large climb in a very short time (up 33 spots).
12. Hong Kong (6) — Tops in Asia, though down six year over year.
13. Buenos Aires (20) — Moving steadily upward.14. Bali (21) — Steady climb attests to it being more than just swimwear.
15. Sydney (11) — Remains near the top, a few steps ahead of Melbourne, as is its wont.
16. Florence (31) — A big move for Firenza (up 15).
17. Rio de Janeiro (23) — Building toward the 2016 Summer Games.
18. Johannesburg (41) — Jo-burg breaks into the Top Twenty.
19. Singapore (8) — Trailing Hong Kong but leading Tokyo and Shanghai.
20. Tokyo (9) — No longer the No, 5 to the Top Four, competition is aglow in Asia.
21. Melbourne (17) — Still strong, still a few steps behind Sydney.
22. Shanghai (14) — A thriving fashion center in a tough competitive arena.
23. Caracas (50) — Tremendous upward movement for a seminal fashion center.
24. Las Vegas (16) — Follow the money, and the money and the stars flow to Vegas.
25. Monaco (15) — The principality is firmly ensconced in the European fashion firmament.
26. Santiago (30) — A solid No. 5 in Latin America.
27. Amsterdam (19) — Creative, original and a bit outre.
28. Dubai (27) — A steady force in the mid-East ready to bloom further.
29. Bangkok (32) — Struggling to gain ground in the region.
30. Copenhagen (29) — Keeping pace with (and a bit ahead of) Stockholm.
31. Vancouver (Debut) — Solid debut from this newcomer from the Pacific Northwest.
32. Stockholm (28) — The Capital of Scandinavia’s influence is beginning to transcend its regional roots.
33. Krakow (47) — A scrappy player wielding a surprising amount of influence.
34. Seoul (Debut) — Korean fashion has now gained a foothold on the world scene.
35. Moscow (18) — A bold and growing presence despite a stumble in the current analysis.
36. Frankfurt (43) — Carving out its own space in Berlin’s towering shadow.
37. Vienna (35) — Insight into 21st c. fashion emerging from ancient imperial venues.
38. Mumbai (24) — Still leading New Delhi (now by 10 spots) to dominate the Subcontinent.
39. Miami (26) — The fashion world beginning to understand Miami is more than swimwear.
40. Abu Dhabi (42) — A steady climb backed by deep pockets.
41. San Francisco (38) — A rising yet iconoclastic star.
42. Austin (40) — Famous for its ‘Mash Up’ teams, the city propels its unique style forward.
43. Warsaw (33) — Particularly influential in Central Europe.
44. Boston (Debut) — Can New England deliver fashion to the world? Apparently so.
45. Prague (48) — A firm foundation in interpreting the traditional and the classic.
46. Dallas (37) — Outdistances Houston to settle the local score.
47. Mexico City (22) — Slips some twenty-five spots since the last report.
48. New Delhi (39) — Striving for relevance on the global stage.
49. Houston (Debut) — Big, bold and a city to watch.
50. Chicago (36) – City of the Big Shoulders stretching out toward word-class fashion.
51. St. Petersburg (Debut) — The former imperial capital making strides on the global fashion scene.
52. Montreal (49) — Eclipsed by the debut of Vancouver but still a formidable force.
53. Toronto (34) — Nipped by its francophone neighbor to the North.
54. Cape Town (46) — Though Jo-burg won the latest duel, Cape Town surely has plans.
55. Atlanta (45) — Gaining an international reputation for its bold accents. .

This exclusive ranking is based upon GLM’s Narrative Tracking technology. NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the top 250,000 print and electronic news media, as well as new social media sources (such as Twitter) as they emerge.

The words, phrases and concepts are tracked in relation to their frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets.

Top Fashion Capitals by Region:

Europe (14): London, Barcelona, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Milano, Berlin, Antwerp, Florence, Monaco, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Frankfurt.

Middle and Eastern Europe (6): Krakow, Moscow, Vienna, Warsaw, Prague, and St Petersburg.

North America (13): New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Vancouver, San Francisco, Austin, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, and Atlanta.

Asia (6): Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai, Bangkok, and Seoul.

Subcontinent (2): Mumbai, New Delhi,

Oceania (3): Bali, Sydney, and Melbourne.

Latin America (6): Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Caracas, Santiago, and Mexico City.

Middle East and Africa (4): Dubai, Johannesburg, Abu Dhabi, and Cape Town.

The world fashion trade is estimated to be over three trillion USD.

Protected: Final Olympic Brand Affiliation Rankings of the London Games Announced

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Olympic (Ambush) Competition Officially Under Way

Ambushers Leading Sponsors 33-17

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Billions of Dollars in Brand Equity at Stake

AUSTIN, Texas. July 18, 2012 — Of the Top Fifty Brands affiliated with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games only seventeen are official sponsors. This according to the latest Brand Affiliation Index (BAI) analysis by the Global Language Monitor, the Internet media trend tracking company. The longitudinal study began in July 2011 and tracks the top three tiers of official Olympic sponsorship, as designated by the LOGOC and the IOC.

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“Fortunately in the Olympics there is no ‘mercy rule,’ where a winner is declared in a contest to reach twenty-one, when one side scores the first 11 points,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of GLM. Of the top official and ‘non-affiliated marketers’ in the current study, the first twelve fall into the non-affiliated category.”

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Some seventy-five brands are studied including the twenty-five premier official sponsors divided into three tiers: The TOP partners, which pay approximately one hundred million pounds for the privilege, the Official Olympic Partners, and the Official Olympic Sponsors. Together these sponsors pay an estimated 30% of the cost of staging the games.

There are a number of other levels and forms of sponsorship including national sponsorships such as the USOC. The real cost of being a TOP partner ranges from a $500 billion to over a trillion dollar investment to companies that sign on for sponsorships spanning several Olympiads.

For these rankings GLM measured the strength of the brand affiliation for each official Olympic sponsor against those of their primary non-affiliated competitors. Though ‘ambush marketing’ is well understood to mean an organization knowingly exploiting a brand affiliation with the Games without the benefit of official sponsorship, all perceived Olympic affiliations according to their presence in the global media, and statistically linked to the London Games, qualify for GLM’s Ambush Marketing rankings.

Ambushing by ‘Non-affiliated Marketers’ is more than Michael Phelps pitching sandwiches; it is a years-long effort to create a pseudo-sponsorship to leverage the good-well generated by having the Olympics with one’s brand.

The GLM Brand Affiliation Index for this analysis,ranged from a high of 797.90 (Royal Philips} to a low of 1.50 for VisaCard. The higher the score, the closer the brand affiliation with the event.

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The Top Twelve (all Ambushers), along with their tiers, are Listed below:

1	Royal Philips	TOP-A
2	CVC Capital	OOP-A
3	ExxonMobil	OOP-A
4	Manpower	OOS-A
5	Schroders	OOP-A
6	IBM Global	TOP-A
7	E ON Energy	OOP-A
8	KPMG	OOS-A
9	Deutsche Telekom	OOP-A
10	BASF	TOP-A
11	EI DuPont	TOP-A
12	Cable & Wireless	OOP-A

As you can see for the above rankings, Business-to-Business brands are being subjected to the sames ambush marketing forces as B2C marketers. ’

Royal Philips is crushing GE by over 20:1 margin; ExxonMobil bests BP by a similar margin; and BASF and DuPont are both striding past Dow.

The Top Ten Official Sponsors ranked from No. 13 to No. 39 overall. They are listed below, along with their tiers.

1	BT Group	OOP
2	Cadbury	OOS
3	BMW	OOP
4	Adidas	OOP
5	Panasonic	TOP
6	McDonald;s	TOP
7	Coca-Cola	TOP
8	UPS	OOS
9	P&G	TOP
10	EDF energy	OOP
11	Arcelor Mittal	OOS
12	Samsung	TOP

Though listed at the top official sponsor, the BT group actually ranks behind both Deutsche Telekom and Cable&Wireless.

Cadbury, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola are doing quite well for their investments in spite of the efforts to derail their sponsorships on the grounds of their contributing to a so-called ‘obesogenic’ environment. Adidas is currently doubling Nike’s number. P&G continues to excel with their ‘Moms’ campaign. Arcelor Mittal is a surprise standout for a company previously little known to the public.

GLM has been measuring the effects of Ambush marketing on the Olympic Movement for the last three Olympiads, in the process accumulating perhaps the most extensive database of its kind. For London 2012, GLM began tracking the three tiers of official sponsors since the third quarter of 2011. GLM also tracks the brand equity of the athletes before and during the Games. For more information, call +1.512.815.8836, email info@LanguageMonitor.com, or click on www.LanguageMonitor.com

Ambush Marketers Continue to Dominate

Olympic Ambush Marketers Continue to Dominate London 2012

Nike over Adidas; BA Trails Three Competitors; Subway and Pizza Hut Top McDonald’s

Kate Middleton ‘Brand’ Tops Coke, Adidas, and BA

Austin, Texas. Weekend May 4-6, 2012. Ambush Marketers continue to dominate the run-up to the London Summer Games. In fact ‘non-affiliated marketers’ took 27 of the top 50 spots measuring effective brand activation by the Global Language Monitor’s Brand Affiliation Index (BAI).

This despite the recent tightening of the rules by the IOC, The GLM BAI rankings are not simply a matter of pride or bragging rights but rather a battle for brand equity and the consumer’s mind and the billions of dollars committed to the IOC, which are primarily used to fund the Games.

“The Olympic movement it is not immune to the historic shifts in communications affecting all institutions worldwide,” said Paul JJ Payack, founding president of the Global Language Monitor. “The seemingly all-pervasive media ensure that the flow of information can be stopped neither by national boundaries nor institutional gatekeepers. There is no reason to think that marketing activities are immune from such forces. In fact, marketing has been one of the foremost purveyors of new media technology.”

All perceived Olympic affiliations according to their presence in the global media, and statistically linked to the London Games, qualify for GLM’s Ambush Marketing rankings.

The GLM Brand Affiliation Index for this analysis, ranged from a high of 524.45 to a low of 1.49. The higher the score, the closer the brand affiliation with an event.

GLM has been tracking ambush marketing at the Olympics since the Beijing Games in 2008. For London 2012, GLM began the three tiers of official sponsors since the third quarter of 2011. These results are based on a study concluded on May 1, 2012.

With its Branded Individual Index (BII) GLM also tracks the brand equity of the athletes before and during the Games.

The official Olympic sponsors are divided into three tiers: Worldwide Partners, Official Partners, and Official Supporters. GLM tracks over fifty non-affiliated companies that are direct competitors with the Official Olympic sponsors.

To schedule a confidential consultation, call +1.512.815.8836.

For these rankings, encompassing the first quarter of 2012, GLM measured the strength of the brand affiliation for each official Olympic sponsor against those of their primary non-affiliated competitors. Though ‘ambush marketing’ is well understood to mean an organization knowingly exploiting a brand affiliation with the Games without the benefit of official sponsorship.

All perceived Olympic affiliations according to their presence in the global media, and statistically linked to the London Games, qualify for GLM’s Ambush Marketing rankings.

The top findings include:

McDonald’s is in a tough fight, ranking behind Subway and Pizza Hut, but beating KFC.
Ambusher Nike leads Partner Adidas by a wide margin.
British Airways trails ambushers Lufthansa, United and Air France in the rankings.
Royal Philip outpaced ever-strong GE.
P&G continues to crush ambush competitors as it did in Vancouver.
Ambusher Ericsson Over Supporter Cisco by a 3:1 margin.

The Duchess Effect Meets the Summer Games

One interesting side note is that even the Summer Games are encountering the Duchess Effect. The GLM BAI analysis showed that when linked with London 2012, Kate Middleton had a closer brand affiliation than a number of top sponsors including Coke, Adidas, BA and Panasonic, among others.

This again demonstrates the power of the ‘Kate Middleton Brand’. A Tier 1 Olympic sponsor pays about $160 million for the privilege, plus the attendant advertising fees promoting the relationship that can cost upwards of $500 million over the four-year arrangement. This would suggest that the Kate Middleton Brand could be valued at nearly a billion dollars or more, just in relationship to Summer Games.
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The Top Ten Official Olympic Sponsors by BAI are listed below.

1	Arcelor Mittal	Supporter
2	EDF energy	Partner
3	BT Group	Partner
4	Thomas Cook	Supporter
5	UPS	Supporter
6	Lloyds TSB	Partner
7	Cadbury	Supporter
8	BP	Partner
9	P&G	IOC
10	ATOS	IOC

The Top Ten non-Olympic Affiliated Marketers by BAI are listed below.

1	Centrica	AMB OP
2	Eon Energy UK	AMB OP
3	Barclaycard	AMB IOC
4	Schroders	AMB OP
5	Royal Philips	AMB IOC
6	EI DuPont	AMB IOC
7	Kraft	AMB SUP
8	Ericsson Comm	AMB SUP
9	Subway	AMB IOC
10	Lufthansa	AMB OP

The Top Twenty Combined Olympic Sponsors and Non-Affiliated Marketers Ranked by BAI.

1	Arcelor Mittal	Supporter
2	EDF energy	Partner
3	BT Group	Partner
4	Centrica	AMB OP
5	Eon Energy UK	AMB OP
6	Thomas Cook	Supporter
7	Barclaycard	AMB IOC
8	UPS	Supporter
9	Schroders	AMB OP
10	Lloyds TSB	Partner
11	Cadbury	Supporter
12	BP	Partner
13	Royal Philips	AMB IOC
14	P&G	IOC
15	ATOS	IOC
16	EI DuPont	AMB IOC
17	Kraft	AMB SUP
18	Ericsson Comm	AMB SUP
19	Subway	AMB IOC
20	Lufthansa	AMB OP

The GLM Brand Affiliation Index for this analysis, ranged from a high of 524.45 to a low of 1.49. The higher the score, the closer the brand affiliation with an event.

With its Branded Individual Index (BII) GLM also tracks the brand equity of the athletes before and during the Games.

Customized GLM Ambush Marketing Rankings are released monthly up to and following London 2012. The Ambush Marketing London 2012 report features dozens of charts representing the interrelationship of each company to the Olympic Brand, their competitors and their partners. In addition, the reports contain exclusive and individualized Narrative Tracker analyses, the most advanced trend tracking analytics available. For more information, individualized reports, or a monthly subscription, call +1.512.815.8836 or email info@LanguageMonitor.com

About Global Language Monitor: ”We Tell You What the Web is Thinking”
Founded in Silicon Valley, Austin, Texas-based GLM collectively documents, analyzes and tracks trends worldwide, with a particular emphasis upon the English language.

GLM employs proprietary ‘algorithmic methodologies’ such as the NarrativeTracker for global Internet and social media analysis. NarrativeTracker is based on global discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture of what the public is saying about any topic, at any point in time.

NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the top 175,000 print and electronic global media, as well as new media sources, as they emerge. For more information, individualized reports, or a monthly subscription, call +1.512.815.8836 or email info@LanguageMonitor.com

Top Trending Words of 2012 Mid-year Update

Obesogenic, Derecho (and gender-neutral ‘hen’) take on Apocalypse, Kate and Debt

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Number of Words in the English Language: 1,016,672 (July 6 estimate)

AUSTIN, Texas July 10 – Trending 2012 Update: Obesogenic, Derecho (and the gender neutral ‘hen’) are taking on the Mayan Apocalypse, Kate, and Debt as candidates for the Top Word of the Year according to a mid-year update by the Global Language Monitor. Each year, GLM produces the top trending words for the following year just before the new year begins. In 2011, it announced 12 possible candidates; mid-way through the year the three new terms have been added to the list.

Obesogenic — An environment that tends to encourage obesity. Lately it has been used to describe television advertisement that promote sugary and high-calorie snacks to kids.
Derecho — A ‘land hurricane,’ a sudden storm with extremely strong one-directional winds, such as occurred in the Eastern states earlier this month.
Hen — The Swedish attempt to create a gender-neutral pronoun to replace him or her or combinations therefore: hen.

“The new words are taken from an intensifying debate on obesity as a major societal health crisis, a ‘land Hurricane’ that some link to global warming. and a move sometimes viewed as political correctness to end gender distinction among pronouns,” said Paul JJ Payack, the president and chief word analyst of the Global Language Monitor. ”At 2012′s mid-point, there has been considerable movement among the top trending words, and that trend will no doubt continue as it has during the entire life of our 1400-year old language.”

To see the Top Words of 2012, go here.

The words are culled from throughout the English-speaking world, which now numbers more than 1.83 billion speakers (January 2012 estimate).

The Trending Top Words of 2012 in revised order:

Rank/ Previous Rank/ Word / Comments

1. China (3) — Middle Kingdom – There is little indication that China’s continuing economic surge will fade from the global media spotlight –or abate.

2. Europe (12) — United, breaking apart, saving the Euro, abandoning the Euro, with the UK again as an ‘interested onlooker’. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

3. The Election (6) — No Obama-mania this time around, more of an Obama-ennui for the November 6 elections.

4. Kate (2) — There are seven billion humans on the planet but sometimes it seems that it’s all about Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, the former Kate Middleton in terms of fashion, celebrity, and the royal line. (And most definitely not Katie, the future ex-Mrs. Tom Cruise.)

5. Deficit (7) — Looks like deficit-spending will plague Western democracies for at least the next decade.

6. Global Warming (10)— The earth has been warming since New York was covered under a mountain of ice; what makes 2012 any different?

7. Derecho (New) — A ‘land hurricane,’ a sudden storm with extremely strong one-directional winds, such as occurred in the Eastern states earlier this month.

8. Olympiad (2) — The Greeks measured time by the four-year interval between the Games. Moderns measure it by medal counts, rights fees and billions of eyeballs.

9. CERN (9) — Neutrons traveling faster than light? The ‘God Particle’? The world ending in a mini-black hole? All these somehow revolve around CERN (The European Center for Nuclear Research). One CERN scientist calculated that the chance of a mini-Black Hole swallowing the Earth is less than 1 in 50,000,000. Somewhat comforting until you realize this is about ten times more likely than winning a national lottery.)

10. Rogue nukes (8)— Iran and North Korea will be the focus of attention here.

11. Near-Earth Asteroid (11) — Yet another year, another asteroid, another near-miss. (However, one does strike the Earth every one hundred million years or so.)

12. Arab Spring (13) — the successor term for ‘Arab Spring’, whatever that might be.

13. Bak’tun (4) — A cycle of 144,000 days in the Maya ‘Long Count’ Calendar. This bak’tun ends on December 21, 2012, also being called the Mayan Apocalypse. (Actually Maya ‘long-count’ calendars stretch hundreds of millions of years into the future, December 21st merely marks the beginning of a new cycle.)

14. Solar max (5)— The peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle; in 1854 solar storms melted telegraph wires; what’s in store for our all-pervasive electronic infrastructure?

15. Hen (New) — The Swedish attempt to create a gender-neutral pronoun to replace him or her or combinations thereof: hen.

16. Obesogenic (New) — An environment that tends to encourage obesity. Lately it has been used to describe television advertisement that promote sugary and high-calorie snacks to kids.

The Top Words for 2011: ‘Occupy’ was the Top Word, ‘Arab Spring’ the Top Phrase and ‘Steve Jobs’ the Top Name of 2011 in its twelfth annual global survey of the English language.

NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the top 250,000 print and electronic global media, as well as new social media sources as they emerge.

We Tell the World What the Web is Thinking …

Narrative Tracking

See how GLM Brand Affiliation Services can help your organization; call 1.512.815.8836 or email info@LanguageMonitor.com

Obama’s “Doing Just Fine” Internet Meme Surpasses ‘Mission Accomplished’

Obama’s ”Private Sector doing just fine” now an Internet Meme

Comparisons to Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” Proliferate

Measures Level II the five level-Internet-Meme Intensity Index (IMII)

Austin, Texas, June 9-11, 2012. The Internet Meme that ignited when President Obama pronounced ”The private sector is doing just fine,” at his Friday news conference is now at Level II on the Global Language Monitor’s five-level InternetMeme Intensity Index (IMII). One proliferating image conflates George W. Bush’s ‘Mission Accomplished’ photo with Obama’s face intruding onto the scene. Though this montage has been in circulation for some time, it was given new life from the president’s remarks in his June 8 news conference.

Bush’s ’Mission Accomplished’ I-meme is one of the earliest political memes ever recorded, though the president, himself, never actually uttered those words on May 1, 2003. GLM receives frequent queries, even from the news media, asking when and where those words were recorded.

Bush delivered his prepared text focusing on ‘end of major combat operations’ from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln some thirty miles off the coast of San Diego. In the background, was the typical banner that is arrayed on ships returning from combat operations: Mission Accomplished.

In the analysis, GLM found that Obama cross-referenced with “mission accomplished” citations, surpass those related to Bush by a 9:7 margin.

“Internet Memes can spread quickly or build slowly. The ‘Doing Just Fine’ meme is in a position to build through the November elections, depending, of course, on the ability of the Obama team to deflate it, and the Romney’s team to encourage its propagation,” said Paul JJ Payack, GLM’s president and chief word analyst.
“However, one thing is certain, once a meme ‘ignites,’ it follows its own rules and it future path is not always easy to predict.”

The life cycle of an I-Meme typically follows four stages: 1) Ignition, 2) Verification, 3) Launch, and 4) Propagation.
The last I-Meme crossing the threshold for measurement was the ‘Jolie Leg’ meme ignited during the Academy Award ceremonies last Spring.

Since its ignition, the ‘Doing Just Fine’ meme climbed to Level 2 (out of 5) on the GLM Internet Meme Intensity Index (IMII). GLM will continue to monitor the I-meme as it propagates and evolves.

GLM used NarrativeTracker 2.0 for this analysis. NT2.0 is based on global discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture of what the public is saying about any topic, at any point in time. NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the top 200,000 print and electronic global media, as well as new media sources, as they emerge.

About Global Language Monitor

Austin-based Global Language Monitor is the pioneer in web-based media analytics. Founded in Silicon Valley, GLM collectively documents, analyzes and tracks trends in language usage worldwide, with a particular emphasis upon the English language.

For information on GLM’s Internet Meme Tracking Services and the Internet Meme Intensity Index, call 1.512.815.8836, go to www.LanguageMonitor.com , call 1.512.815.8836 or email pjjp@post.harvard.edu.

Olympic Ambush Marketers Continue to Dominate London 2012

Nike over Adidas; BA Trails Three Competitors; Subway and Pizza Hut Top McDonald’s

Kate Middleton ‘Brand’ Tops Coke, Adidas, and BA

All perceived Olympic affiliations according to their presence in the global media, and statistically linked to the London Games, qualify for GLM’s Ambush Marketing rankings.

The GLM Brand Affiliation Index for this analysis, ranged from a high of 524.45 to a low of 1.49. The higher the score, the closer the brand affiliation with an event.

With its Branded Individual Index (BII) GLM also tracks the brand equity of the athletes before and during the Games.

To schedule a confidential consultation, call +1.512.815.8836.

All perceived Olympic affiliations according to their presence in the global media, and statistically linked to the London Games, qualify for GLM’s Ambush Marketing rankings.

The top findings include:

McDonald’s is in a tough fight, ranking behind Subway and Pizza Hut, but beating KFC.
Ambusher Nike leads Partner Adidas by a wide margin.
British Airways trails ambushers Lufthansa, United and Air France in the rankings.
Royal Philip outpaced ever-strong GE.
P&G continues to crush ambush competitors as it did in Vancouver.
Ambusher Ericsson Over Supporter Cisco by a 3:1 margin.

The Duchess Effect Meets the Summer Games

The Top Ten Official Olympic Sponsors by BAI are listed below.

1	Arcelor Mittal	Supporter
2	EDF energy	Partner
3	BT Group	Partner
4	Thomas Cook	Supporter
5	UPS	Supporter
6	Lloyds TSB	Partner
7	Cadbury	Supporter
8	BP	Partner
9	P&G	IOC
10	ATOS	IOC

The Top Ten non-Olympic Affiliated Marketers by BAI are listed below.

1	Centrica	AMB OP
2	Eon Energy UK	AMB OP
3	Barclaycard	AMB IOC
4	Schroders	AMB OP
5	Royal Philips	AMB IOC
6	EI DuPont	AMB IOC
7	Kraft	AMB SUP
8	Ericsson Comm	AMB SUP
9	Subway	AMB IOC
10	Lufthansa	AMB OP

The Top Twenty Combined Olympic Sponsors and Non-Affiliated Marketers Ranked by BAI.

1	Arcelor Mittal	Supporter
2	EDF energy	Partner
3	BT Group	Partner
4	Centrica	AMB OP
5	Eon Energy UK	AMB OP
6	Thomas Cook	Supporter
7	Barclaycard	AMB IOC
8	UPS	Supporter
9	Schroders	AMB OP
10	Lloyds TSB	Partner
11	Cadbury	Supporter
12	BP	Partner
13	Royal Philips	AMB IOC
14	P&G	IOC
15	ATOS	IOC
16	EI DuPont	AMB IOC
17	Kraft	AMB SUP
18	Ericsson Comm	AMB SUP
19	Subway	AMB IOC
20	Lufthansa	AMB OP

The GLM Brand Affiliation Index for this analysis, ranged from a high of 524.45 to a low of 1.49. The higher the score, the closer the brand affiliation with an event.

With its Branded Individual Index (BII) GLM also tracks the brand equity of the athletes before and during the Games.

Customized GLM Ambush Marketing Rankings are released monthly up to and following London 2012. The Ambush Marketing London 2012 report features dozens of charts representing the interrelationship of each company to the Olympic Brand, their competitors and their partners. In addition, the reports contain exclusive and individualized Narrative Tracker analyses, the most advanced trend tracking analytics available. For more information, individualized reports, or a monthly subscription, call +1.512.815.8836 or email info@LanguageMonitor.com

Colleges

Summer/Spring 2012 Rankings

No. 1 MIT first Tech School to top rankings

Game changing OpenCourseWare propels MIT to the highest score ever measured

Volatility evident as educational consumers are presented with more choices

Penn State stumbles but holds onto a top ranking

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Richmond Tops all Colleges

Austin, Texas, April 4, 2012 – MIT topped Harvard for the top ranking of American universities by Internet Media Buzz according to the Global Language Monitor. This was the first time a technical institute topped the rankings; MIT did so by the largest distance ever measured in the history of the TrendTopper Rankings. Also, in the first major rankings since the Penn State scandal, the school stumbled but held onto a top ranking. This is the eighth TrendTopper MediaBuzz ranking over the preceding five years. The rankings are conducted every nine months.

In the University Division, MIT was followed by Harvard, with the highest PQI differential between No. 1 and No, 2 ever recorded. The University of Chicago took its’ usual position in the Top Ten, this year at No. 3, followed by Columbia University and past No. 1, the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Always strong Cornell moved up to No. 6, while UCLA took the top spot in California besting Stanford. Yale and the University of Texas-Austin Rounded out the Top Ten.

MIT gained the top spot apparently from the global buzz surrounding their announcement of their OpenCourseWare program. OpenCourseWare povides the same information available to MIT students to the world-at-large. Not only can anyone, anywhere take M.I.T. courses online free of charge, they can also earn certificates certifying mastery of the subject matter.

“The higher education world is in the midst of a major upheaval that has only begun to sort itself out. You can’t have an institution of MIT’s stature give away its product for free, or millions of students opting for on-line schools or educations provided by for-profit organization, and of course the globalization of higher ed and not record significant change. In fact you need a seismograph to better understand the shifting of the educational plates, once long thought stable,” said Paul JJ Payack, president and Chief Word Analyst of GLM. This is the fifth year and eighth edition of the TrendTopper MediaBuzz Rankings.

Penn State’s stumble came in the wake of the child sex-abuse scandal in November that tarnished the legend of one of the most revered, and successful, major college football programs in the nation. Of concern to GLM was whether the scandal would dramatically increase the number of web citations, however the opposite was the case, as happened when Harvard took a massive hit to its endowment a few years ago. Significantly, only 3.42 percent of the global citations were considered of negative sentiment, so Penn State held onto a high ranking.

The TrendTopper MediaBuzz Rankings measure near real-time movements of an institution’s reputation or ‘brand equity’, using the same techniques used to measure the appeal of any other branded product, such as luxury automobiles, or consumer electronics. For the first time GLM expanded the Rankings to over 400 schools, 215 in the University Division with another 200 in the College Division to widen the bases of comparison for the education marketplace.The Top Universities with current ranking and change from last ranking follow:

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (5)

2. Harvard University (-1)

3. University of Chicago (+4)

4. Columbia University (0)

5. University of Wisconsin—Madison(+9)

6. Cornell University (+4)

7. University of California—Los Angeles (+10)

8. Stanford University(-1)

9. Yale University (+4)

10. University of Texas—Austin(-2)

11. University of Washington (0)

12. University of Pennsylvania (+4)

13. University of Michigan—Ann Arbor(-3)

14. University of California–Berkeley (-12)

15. Princeton University (+1)

16. Ohio State University—Columbus (+13)

17. University of California — Davis (+2)

18. Indiana University—Bloomington (+6)

19. Virginia Tech (+18)

20. New York University (+3)

21. Duke University (+6)

22. University of California—San Diego(+3)

23. Georgia Institute of Technology (-2)

24. Johns Hopkins University (+7)

25. University of Virginia (+11)

For all 210 Universities and Master-degree granting colleges, go here.

University of Richmond tops all colleges

In the college rankings the University of Richmond completed its long climb to the top.

Reflecting the healthy distribution of ‘Little Ivies’ across the nation landscape, Richmond is the sixth different college to take the top spot since these rankings began, which now have been represented by the South (Richmond and Davidson), the West (Colorado College), the East (Williams and Wellesley College) and the Midwest (Carleton College). Wellesley was also the only Women’s College to top a general college ranking. Richmond Williams switched places with Smith, Bucknell and Union coming on strong. Amherst, Colorado College, Oberlin College, The Cooper Union and the Pratt Institute rounded out the Top Ten.

The Top Universities by TrendTopper MediaBuzz with current ranking and change from last ranking follow:

1. University of Richmond (+2)

2.Williams College (+1)

3.Smith College (+18)

4.Bucknell University (+19)

5.Union College (+3)

6.Amherst (+13)

7.Colorado College (+21)

8.Oberlin College (+20)

9.The Cooper Union (+28)

10.Pratt Institute (+12)

11. Colgate University (+37)

12. Wellesley College (+14)

13. Occidental College (+27)

14. Middlebury College (+16)

15. The Juilliard School (+8)

16. Davidson College (+26)

17. School of the Art Institute of Chicago (+22)

18. Pomona College (+6)

19. United States Military Academy (+24)

20. Vassar College (+29)

21. Emerson College (+45)

22. Bowdoin College (+17)

23. Carleton College (+9)

24. United States Naval Academy (+32)

25. Hamilton College (+38)

For a complete list of all 200 colleges, go here.

The TrendTopper MediaBuzz Rankings measure near real-time movements of an institution’s reputation or ‘brand equity’, using the same techniques used to measure the appeal of any other branded product, such as luxury automobiles, or consumer electronics. For the first time GLM expanded the Rankings to over 400 schools, 210 in the University Division with another 200 in the College Division to widen the bases of comparison for the education marketplace.

Unlike other college rankings, specialty schools such as Julliard, SAIC, and the Cooper Union, the service academies, business, tech schools are included in the rankings. Also incorporated into the rankings are ‘for profit” (University of Phoenix) and online institutions, such as Capella and Walden. This is to provide true comparisons between and among the various types of post-secondary institutions now available to the discerning educational consumers. The full rankings include positive or negative movement, and MediaBuzz Velocity and Momentum that reveal how a school’s (short-term and long-term) brand equity is increasing or decreasing against its peer group, and the other competitors.

Methodology

The TrendTopper MediaBuzz Analysis uses the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s classifications as the basis to distinguish between Universities and Colleges. The schools were ranked in the last week of March 2012, with a December snapshot as well as the last day of the previous surveys as the base.

TrendTopper MediaBuzz utilizes a mathematical model that ‘normalizes’ the data collected from the Internet, social media, and blogosphere as well as the top 175,000 print and electronic media, as well as new social media as they emerge. The end result is a non-biased analytical tool that provides a gauge of relative values among various institutions, as well as measures of how that value changes over time.

What Others are Saying:

Colleges, Ranked by ‘Media Buzz’

By Eric Hoover

A savvy enrollment manager once told me that a crucial part of his job was getting his college’s name in newspapers and magazines. After all, he said, the more people see an institution’s name, the more familiar it becomes, and the more attractive it seems to prospective students.

He was describing “buzz,” something most colleges crave. In case you didn’t know, the Global Language Monitor will measure it for you.

Fall 2010/Winter 2012 Edition

Top 300 US Colleges by Internet Media Buzz:

Harvard Returns to the top

By: adminPublished: August 30th, 2011

Harvard Returns to the top, beating Northwestern and Berkeley

But Big Ten Beats Ivies: 8-6 in the Top 50

Williams Tops Richmond as No.1 in the College Category

Austin, Texas, September 3 – After four tries, Harvard returned to the top ranking of American universities by Internet Media Buzz, edging out a strong challenge by Northwestern. The University of California, Berkeley, Columbia, Caltech, and MIT – all finishing within 1% of each other – took the No. 3 through No. 6 positions. Stanford returned to the Top Ten at No. 7, followed by the ever-strong Chicago, the University of Texas, and Cornell.

Following were Michigan, the University of Washington, Penn State, Yale, and Wisconsin. Rounding out the Top Twenty were Princeton, Penn, UCLA, Cal Davis, and Georgia Tech.

“The TrendTopper MediaBuzz Rankings measure an institution’s perceived value using the same methodologies used to compare any other products of value, such as BMW vs. Mercedes,” said Paul JJ Payack, the president of the Global Language Monitor. “GLM’s TrendTopper MediaBuzz Rankings removes all bias inherent in each of the other published rankings, since they actually reflect what is being said and stated on the billions of web pages that we measure.”

In a remarkable demonstration of the growing influence of the Public Ivies, some fourteen of the Top Thirty schools are public institutions, and now include eight Big Ten schools, six from the Ivy League (Brown and Dartmouth were the exceptions), three Technological Institutes – and four from California’s fabled University system.

Overall, the University of California system, as a whole continues to dwarf all other academic associations, leagues and conferences. This is a fine tribute to a system that has had to endure a continued series of budget cuts and cutbacks.

The words, phrases and concepts are tracked in relation to their frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets. This exclusive ranking is based upon GLM’s Narrative Tracking technology. NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the 75,000 print and electronic media, as well as new social media sources (such as Twitter).

The Top 25 Universities by Internet Media Buzz

Rank/University/Last/Comment

1. Harvard University (3) – Dr. Faust sets things aright and Harvard again assumes the No. 1 spot in the survey.

2. Northwestern University (31) – Catapults to No.2 while leading the Big Ten charge up the rankings.

3. University of California, Berkeley (8) – Cal considers itself THE University of California and the rankings back this up.

4. Columbia University (5) – Columbia has never finished out of the Top 10 in the TrendTopper rankings.

5. California Institute of Technology (19) – CalTech nips its East Coast competitor for top tech honors.

6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (4) – The former ‘Boston Tech’ rejected Harvard’s repeated entreaties to merge in the late 19^th century.

7. Stanford University (11) – The former ‘Harvard of the West’ has long emerged from Cantabrigia’s fabled shadow.

8. University of Chicago (2) – Dropped out of the Big Ten in the late 1930s; loss of big-time football doesn’t seem to have hurt their rankings.

9. University of Texas, Austin (10) – It new branding, “What starts here, changes the world’ is more than a slogan.

10. Cornell University (7) – Few know that the Ivy titan is also a Land Grant institution.

11. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (6) – Took top honors twice in previous surveys.

12. University of Washington (17) – U Dub, as it is affectionately known, is the emerging powerhouse of the Northwest.

13. Pennsylvania State University (24) — Penn State’s new identity campaign has evidently been quite successful.

14. Yale University (9) – Vassar declined an invitation to merge with Yale in 1966.

15. University of Wisconsin, Madison (1) – Had a very strong global media run during the previous cycle.

16. Princeton University (12) – The First Lady’s Alma Mater was originally known as the College of New Jersey.

17. University of Pennsylvania (22) – The Wharton School greatly strengthens Penn’s brand equity.

18. University of California, Los Angeles (16) – Tops in LaLa Land, though USC is making great strides forward.

19. University of California, Davis (13) – Originally established as the agricultural extension of UC Berkeley known as the University Farm.

20. Georgia Institute of Technology (27) – The Yellow Jackets ramble into the Top 20.

21. Georgetown University (14) – Once again, the Top Catholic University in the land.

22. New York University (18) – Growing global ambitions reflected in the global media.

23. Indiana University, Bloomington (46) – Steadily gaining in prestige and the rankings reflect it.

24. Boston College (39) – A generation ago, the Flutie Effect launched the school on its present stellar trajectory.

25. University of California, San Diego (23) – UCSD receives about a billion dollars a year in research grants.

The Top 25 Colleges by TrendTopper MediaBuzz

The College category also produced a new No. 1, Williams College of Massachusetts as a strong No. 1 in the College Division. (Little Three companion schools Amherst and Wesleyan claimed the No. 7 and thirteen spots, respectively.)

Williams is the fifth different college to take the top spot since these rankings began, which now have been represented by the South (Davidson), the West (Colorado College), the East (Wellesley College) and the Midwest (Carleton College). Wellesley was also the only Women’s College to top a general college ranking.

In another first, three of the Claremont Colleges finished in the Top Ten: No. 4 Claremont McKenna, No. 5 Harvey Mudd, and No. 6 Pomona. In addition, another Claremont College, Scripps — the Women’s College, finished at No. 18.

Rank / Colleges Fall 2011

1. Williams College – The Ephs (or is it Blue Cows?) set the standard, once again, however a first in Internet MediaBuzz..

2. University of Richmond — Richmond looking stronger and stronger in the classroom, the athletic field and the media.

3. Union College – A sometimes overlooked gem of a school making strides in the Internet age.

4. Claremont McKenna College – CMC marks the beginning of the Claremont Colleges surge.

5. Harvey Mudd College – One of the top technical schools in the nation finally getting it due.

6. Pomona College – Perhaps the most akin to Williams on the list (minus the SoCal climate and beaches).

7. Wesleyan University – Firmly wedged between Williams and Amherst, as is its usual fate.

8. The Juilliard School – A school that truly deserves to be in the nation’s Top Ten, though it is often relegated to ‘Unranked’ or ‘Other’ categories.

9. Carleton College – A past No.1 that continues to gain in global reputation.

10. Bates College – With Colby and Bowdoin, one of the three little Ivies from the state of Maine.

11. Pratt Institute – Pratt’s mission is to educate artists and creative professionals and, indeed, that is what it does.

12. Amherst College – Always lurking near the top of the Liberal Arts College rankings.

13. Wellesley College – The only Woman’s College to achieve No. 1 in any comprehensive national rankings.

14. Bryn Mawr College – Katy Hepburn would be proud of how the little school has come of age (125^thanniversary).

15. Middlebury College – Such a large global footprint for such a small school.

16. Bowdoin College – Used to boast of being the first US college to witness the sunrise.

17. Smith College – The women’s school of the Five Colleges Consortium around Amherst, Massachusetts.

18. Scripps College – Yet another of the Claremont Colleges to emerge into the top ranks.

19. Bucknell University – Bucknell is the largest private Liberal Arts college in the nation and its outsized reputation is beginning to reflect this fact.

20. Oberlin College – From the Arb to the Arch the college holds many firsts in American academic history, such as the first co-ed college to graduate a woman.

21. Colorado College – CC, of Block Plan fame, was the first No. 1 west of the Mississippi.

22. School of the Art Institute of Chicago – SAIC deserves to be in the top reaches of any serious collegiate ranking.

23. Babson College – Specialized in entrepreneurship before entrepreneurship was cool.

24. United States Military Academy – Army and Navy were considered part of the traditional Ivy League a century before the Ivy Group sports conference was formed.

25. United States Air Force Academy – Service Academies are amazingly unranked by US News and others

The Top Specialty Schools.

Top Engineering Schools: CalTech, MIT, Georgia Tech (College: Harvey Mudd)

Top Online/For Profit Schools: the University of Phoenix.

Top Business School: Babson College

Top Christian School: Wheaton College, IL

Top Military Academy: United States Military Academy

Top Multi-disciplinary Art & Design School: Pratt Institute

Top School of Art: School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)

Top Music School: the Julliard School

Top Catholic University: Georgetown University

Top Catholic College: College of the Holy Cross

About The Global Language Monitor

Austin-Texas-based Global Language Monitor analyzes and catalogues the latest trends in word usage and word choices, and their impact on the various aspects of culture, with a particular emphasis upon Global English. Since 2003, GLM has launched a number of innovative products and services monitoring the Internet, the Blogosphere, Social Media as well as the Top 75,000 print and electronic media sites.

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2011 TrendTopper MediaBuzz Internet “Brand Equity” Rankings

Wisconsin Tops Chicago and Harvard in Universities; Davidson over Occidental and Williams in Colleges

Historic Re-alignment of what is considered an ‘elite’ school

AUSTIN, Texas December 30, 2010 – The University of Wisconsin at Madison, one of the nation’s most storied land-grant institutions, leapt over Chicago, Harvard, MIT, Columbia and two-time defending No. 1 (and fellow Big Ten academic powerhouse) Michigan, as the Top University according to the TrendTopper MediaBuzz Internet analysis released by the Global Language Monitor.

There have now had three different schools taking the top spot for Universities in the last three years: Harvard, Michigan and now Wisconsin. As for Harvard, it slipped to No. 3, while the University of Chicago moved into the No. 2 spot. Cornell University and the University of California at Berkeley broke into the Top Ten, knocking out Stanford and Princeton. UCLA also fell out of the Top Ten. Other big movers included Georgetown, California-Davis and CalTech, each moving up ten or more spots.

“The ‘flight to quality’ continues unabated. The savvy consumer of the education marketplace appears centered on the price-sensitive ‘public ivies’ and technology-centered schools, as well as on-line alternatives. The solidly performing ‘little Ivies’ are now now fairly well distributed across the country– and are holding their own,” said Paul JJ Payack, President of the Global Language Monitor.” One aftermath of the recent recession is that consumers understand that it is smart not to accept ‘retail pricing’ and that colleges are no different in this regard from any other institution.”

For Previous TrendTopper MediaBuzz College Rankings go here

The TrendTopper MediaBuzz Rankings are a way of seeing the schools through the eyes of the world at large. It is a democratic, self-generating ratings system, since it captures the brand equity associated with each of these fine institutions. GLM’s TrendTopper MediaBuzz Rankings actually removes all bias inherent in each of the other published rankings, since they actually reflect what is being said and stated on the billions of web pages that we measure.

More resources can be found at
OnlineSchooling.net

The TrendTopper MediaBuzz Analysis uses the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s classifications as the basis to distinguish between Universities and Liberal Arts Colleges. The schools were ranked in the last week of December with a mid-year snapshot, and the last day of 2009 as the base.

TrendTopper MediaBuzz utilizes Narrative Tracking technology that ‘normalizes’ the data collected from the Internet, social media, and blogosphere as well as the top 75,000 print and electronic media. The end result is a non-biased analytical tool that provides a gauge of relative values among various institutions, as well as measures of how that value changes over time.

The Top Twenty Universities by the TrendTopper MediaBuzz Internet rankings follow.

1. Univ. of Wisconsin—Madison

2. University of Chicago

3. Harvard University

4. Mass. Institute of Technology

5. Columbia University

6. Univ. of Michigan—Ann Arbor

7. Cornell University

8. University of California–Berkeley

9. Yale University

10. University of Texas—Austin

11. Stanford University

12. Princeton University

13. University of California — Davis

14. Georgetown University

15. Duke University

16. University of California—Los Angeles

17. University of Washington

18. New York University

19. California Institute of Technology

20. Johns Hopkins University

The Top Ten Universities now include four Ivy League schools, four Public Ivy’s (two from the Big Ten), one technological institute and the always formidable University of Chicago.

We have now three different schools taking the top spot for Universities in the last three Years: Harvard, Michigan and now Wisconsin.

As for Harvard, it slipped to No. 3, while the University of Chicago moved into the No. 2 spot. Cornell University and the University of California at Berkeley broke into the Top Ten, knocking out Stanford and Princeton. UCLA also fell out of the Top Ten.

Other big movers included Georgetown, California-Davis and CalTech, all moving up ten or more spots.

The College category also produced a new No. 1, Davidson College of North Carolina. This is the fourth different college to take the top spot since these rankings began which now have been represented by the West (Colorado College), the East (Wellesley College) and the Midwest (Carleton College). Wellesley was also the only Women’s College to top a general college ranking.

Davidson, as well as L.A.’s Occidental College (where President Obama spent his first year in college) both leapt over the Little Three (Amherst, Williams and Wesleyan University) as well as all three previous No. 1’s: Carleton College, Wellesley College, and Colorado College.

The Top Twenty Colleges by the TrendTopper MediaBuzz Internet rankings follow.

1. Davidson College

2. Occidental College

3. Williams College

4. Wesleyan University

5. Carleton College

6. Amherst College

7. Bucknell University

8. Oberlin College

9. United States Air Force Academy

10. Pomona College

11. Wellesley College

12. Juilliard School of Music

13. Vassar College

14. Pratt Institute

15. United States Military Academy

16. Smith College

17. Bowdoin College

18. College of the Holy Cross

19. Claremont McKenna College

20. Bryn Mawr College

The Top Ten among colleges included Bucknell, Oberlin, Pomona and the US Air Force Academy. The Top Twenty included the Little Three, four of the former Seven Sisters (though Vassar is now co-ed), two Patriot League schools, two US Service Academies, the top Catholic College in the US (College of the Holy Cross), two of the Claremont Colleges, and two schools that are not included in the traditional college rankings: the Juilliard School and Pratt Institute, both in New York City.

The TrendTopper MediaBuzz Rankings are the only to include specialty schools, such as Art, Business, Design, Music, as well as Internet-based (and for-profit) All these were included in the College category with the exception of the online university, which was assigned to the University category.

In addition, the BOC notation signifies Best of Class; it is noted for those schools that are either first in the overall ranking, or first in a specific classification.

Top in the US/Best of Class (BOC) designation was awarded for:

• Top University: University of Wisconsin, Madison

• Top College: Davidson College

• Top Engineering Hybrid School: The Cooper Union

• Top Business: Babson College

• Top Art and Design School: Pratt Institute

• Top Art School: School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)

• Top Music School: The Juilliard School

• Top Online University: University of Phoenix

• Top Christian School: Wheaton College, Illinois

• Top Catholic College: College of the Holy Cross

• Top Catholic University: Georgetown University

• Top Service Academy: United States Air Force Academy

• Top Outré College (New Category): Oberlin

The rankings also include the Biggest Movers for both colleges and universities and the Top States for Top Colleges.

The Universities that gained the most ‘media momentum’ since our last analysis were:

1. Worcester Polytechnic Institute

2. Miami University—Oxford

3. Lehigh University

4. Cal Poly—San Luis Obispo

5. University of California—Irvine

6. CUNY-Queens

7. Georgetown University

8. Mills College

9. University of Denver

10. Rice University

The Colleges that have gained the most ‘media momentum’ since our last analysis were:

1. Smith College

2. Trinity College CT

3. St. John’s College MD

4. School of Visual Arts (NY)

5. Fashion Institute of Technology

6. St Lawrence University

7. Swarthmore College

8. Hampshire College

9. Gettysburg College

10. Oberlin College

In addition, each of the forty-two states with top colleges is listed with the combined rankings of colleges and universities within the state.

The top five states for top colleges, along with the number of top colleges within the states include:

1. New York (45)

2. California (30)

3. Massachusetts (25)

4. Pennsylvania (22)

5. Illinois (12)

The 2011 TrendTopper MediaBuzz Internet Rankings contains all of the above information on the Top 300 US Colleges and Universities, with added detail.

About The TrendTopper MediaBuzz Rankings

GLM created the TrendTopper MediaBuzz Rankings to remove all bias that we saw as inherent in each of the other published rankings, be they peer assessments, the opinion of high school guidance counselors, the ratio of endowment to number of students, number of left-leaning professors, and all the rest.

The 53 page guide includes the following:

Why another college guide; why TrendTopper MediaBuzz?
Introduction – A New Reality
Highlights for Winter/Spring 2011
About TrendTopper MediaBuzz™
Top Universities for Winter/Spring 2011
Top Colleges for Winter/Spring 2011
Universities with Greatest Change
Biggest Movers – Universities
Biggest Movers – Colleges
Top States for Top Schools
TrendTopper MediaBuzz Backgrounder

We found it highly interest that many institutions used our rankings as a validation of their recent reputation management decisions:

Harvard University: “Rankings highlight correlation between university prestige and media coverage … Indeed, the study seems to validate the Harvard Kennedy School’s recent decision to rebrand itself. Known as the Kennedy School of Government until last spring, the public policy and administration changed its shorthand so that it includes the word “Harvard”.

GLM’s College Reputation Management Services are part of our TrendTopper Branding Services.
To learn more, click here.

Boston College: “University Spokesman Jack Dunn said, “Boston College’s ranking in this study serves as an affirmation of what we have long believed. Academic research and accomplishments along with media citations and this recent ranking are all affirmations of the growing steam of this university.” The major factors that contributed to BC’s high ranking were a well-published academic community, a strong public relations office, and a successful sports program in recent years.

Vanderbilt University: “… when prospective students, faculty, friends and neighbors hear ‘Vanderbilt’ they associate it with excellent academic programs, innovative research, world class health care, the best students, a gorgeous campus, a dynamic hometown, rockin’ athletics and more. And, by one measure at least, we’re succeeding.”

Chronicle of Higher Education: “[GLM’s TrendTopper analysis] is at least one measure of wealth, success and prestige,” Hoover said. “Even on campuses where presidents do not put too much stock into rankings themselves, it is something they must think about” because alums and top students pay attention to them. – Eric Hoover, marketing strategies, Chronicle of Higher Education, quoted in Harvard Crimson.

TrendTopper MediaBuzz University Rankings for Spring/Summer 2012

Five Universities were added to the list on April 6th.

Below are the top 215 University and Master-degree granting institutions for Spring/Summer 2012 ranked by their Internet Brand Equity as determined by GLM’s analytical methodologies.

The Top 215 Universities by Internet MediaBuzz for Spring/Summer 2012

Rank / University

1	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2	Harvard University
3	University of Chicago
4	Columbia University
5	University of Wisconsin—Madison
6	Cornell University
7	University of California—Los Angeles
8	Stanford University
9	Yale University
10	University of Texas—Austin
11	University of Washington
12	University of Pennsylvania
13	University of Michigan—Ann Arbor
14	University of California–Berkeley
15	Princeton University
16	Ohio State University—Columbus
17	University of California — Davis
18	Indiana University—Bloomington
19	Virginia Tech
20	New York University
21	Duke University
22	University of California—San Diego
23	Georgia Institute of Technology
24	Johns Hopkins University
25	University of Virginia
26	Georgetown University
27	Boston College
28	University of Georgia
29	University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill
30	Boston University
31	George Washington University
32	Northwestern University
33	University of Southern California
34	University of Pittsburgh
35	University of Illinois—Urbana – Champaign
36	University of Minnesota
37	Brown University
38	University of Miami
39	University of Phoenix
40	University of California—Santa Barbara
41	Michigan State University
42	California Institute of Technology
43	Purdue University
44	University of California—Irvine
45	University of Iowa
46	Carnegie Mellon University
47	Vanderbilt University
48	Texas A&M University
49	University of Maryland—College Park
50	Syracuse University
51	Pennsylvania State University
52	University of Rochester
53	University of California—Santa Cruz
54	University of Notre Dame
55	University of Missouri—Columbia
56	University of California—Riverside
57	Iowa State University
58	Rutgers, the State University of NJ
59	University of Colorado—Boulder
60	Emory University
61	University of Oregon
62	University of Florida
63	University of Massachusetts—Amherst
64	Brigham Young University—Provo
65	Auburn University
66	University of Delaware
67	Washington University in St. Louis
68	Case Western Reserve University
69	University of Kentucky
70	University of Tennessee
71	University of South Carolina—Columbia
72	Tufts University
73	Rice University
74	Dartmouth College
75	Baylor University
76	Northeastern University
77	University of Connecticut
78	Wake Forest University
79	University of Kansas
80	Missouri U. of Science and Technology
81	University of Arizona
82	North Carolina State University—Raleigh
83	University of Vermont
84	University of Oklahoma
85	Fordham University
86	Arizona State University
87	Tuskegee University
88	Tulane University
89	Southern Methodist University
90	Howard University
91	Villanova University
92	Xavier University
93	Loyola University, Chicago
94	Lehigh University
95	Miami University—Ohio
96	Drexel University
97	University of Denver
98	Marquette University
99	College of William and Mary
100	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
101	Texas Christian University
102	Brandeis University
103	University of Dayton
104	James Madison University
105	DePaul University
106	Washington State University
107	Santa Clara University
108	Colorado State University
109	University of New Hampshire
110	Kansas State University
111	American University
112	Rochester Inst. of Technology
113	Truman State University
114	University of Alabama
115	University of Arkansas
116	St. Mary’s College of California
117	University of San Diego
118	Liberty University
119	Hofstra University
120	Catholic University of America
121	SUNY—Stony Brook
122	St Louis University
123	CUNY-Queens
124	Worcester Polytechnic Institute
125	St. Catherine University
126	Creighton University
127	Illinois Institute of Technology
128	Towson University
129	Californis State U — Long Beach
130	Kaplan University
131	Providence College
132	Pepperdine University
133	Yeshiva University
134	Drake University
135	Butler University
136	St. Joseph’s University
137	Texas State U — San Marcos
138	Loyola University New Orleans
139	CUNY-Brooklyn
140	University of the Pacific
141	Clemson University
142	Gonzaga University
143	CUNY-Hunter College
144	CUNY-Baruch
145	Walden University
146	Seattle University
147	Ithaca College
148	St Johns University NY
149	Montclair State University
150	Binghamton– SUNY
151	Clark University
152	Capella University
153	Stevens Institute of Technology
154	Emerson College
155	Colorado School of Mines
156	Chapman University
157	University of Tulsa
158	Loyola Marymount University
159	Loyola College Maryland
160	Quinnipiac University
161	University of Redlands
162	New Jersey Institute of Technology
163	Manhattan College
164	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
165	Mills College
166	Elon University
167	Bradley University
168	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical U.
169	John Carroll University
170	Stetson University
171	CUNY-City College
172	The Citadel
173	Bentley University
174	University at Buffalo—SUNY
175	Abilene Christian University
176	Valparaiso University
177	Cal Poly—San Luis Obispo
178	Clarkson University
179	Fairfield University
180	University of San Francisco
181	Rider University
182	Morgan State University
183	Iona College
184	University of Scranton
185	Michigan Technological University
186	Xavier University of Louisiana
187	Simmons College
188	Sacred Heart University
189	Western Governors University
190	University of Dallas
191	Springfield College
192	Oral Roberts University
193	St. Mary’s University of San Antonio
194	Ramapo College
195	College of Charleston
196	University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
197	Evergreen State
198	Florida A&M University
199	Wagner College
200	University of Portland
201	Alfred University
202	St Edward’s University
203	Rollins College
204	Baldwin – Wallace College
205	Dillard University (LA)
206	Rowan University
207	University of Mary Washington
208	LaSalle University
209	Manhattanville College
210	University of Northern Iowa
211	St. Bonaventure University
212	Hamline University
213	Hood College
214	Whitworth University
215	Augsburg College

The TrendTopper MediaBuzz Rankings measure near real-time movements of an institution’s reputation or ‘brand equity’, using the same techniques used to measure the appeal of any other branded product, such as luxury automobiles, or consumer electronics. For the first time GLM expanded the Rankings to over 400 schools, 210 in the University Division with another 200 in the College Division to widen the bases of comparison for the education marketplace.

Methodology

What Others are Saying:

Colleges, Ranked by ‘Media Buzz’

By Eric Hoover

He was describing “buzz,” something most colleges crave. In case you didn’t know, the Global Language Monitor will measure it for you.

.For the numbers behind the rankings,the why and wherefore, including the numerical analysis of the Top Colleges and Universities, the rankings and numerical analysis for the top gainers and losers, colleges ranked by velocity andmomentum (short-term and longer-term movement), click here..The Top Colleges by Internet MediaBuzz for Spring/Summer 2012

TrendTopper MediaBuzz College Rankings Spring/Summer 2012

Below are the top 200 Liberal Arts and Colleges focusing on baccalaureate instruction for Spring/Summer 2012 ranked by their Internet Brand Equity as determined by GLM’s analytical methodologies.

The Top Colleges by Internet MediaBuzz for Spring/Summer 2012

Rank / College

2012	Top Colleges
1	University of Richmond
2	Williams College
3	Smith College
4	Bucknell University
5	Union College
6	Amherst College
7	Colorado College
8	Oberlin College
9	The Cooper Union
10	Pratt Institute
11	Colgate University
12	Wellesley College
13	Occidental College
14	Middlebury College
15	The Juilliard School
16	Davidson College
17	School of the Art Institute of Chicago
18	Pomona College
19	United States Military Academy
20	Vassar College
21	Emerson College
22	Bowdoin College
23	Carleton College
24	United States Naval Academy
25	Hamilton College
26	Swarthmore College
27	Babson College
28	Barnard College
29	Trinity College CT
30	Lafayette College
31	Fashion Institute of Technology
32	School of Visual Arts
33	Claremont McKenna College
34	Wesleyan University
35	United States Air Force Academy
36	Virginia Military Institute
37	Rhode Island School of Design
38	St. Mary-of-the-Woods College IN
39	Guilford College
40	Reed College
41	Morehouse College
42	Bryn Mawr College
43	Bard College
44	Connecticut College
45	Concordia University Texas
46	Lawrence University
47	Southwestern University
48	Hampshire College
49	Ohio Wesleyan University
50	College of the Holy Cross
51	Mount Holyoke College
52	Gustavus Adolphus
53	Haverford College
54	Colby College
55	SUNY—Purchase
56	Dickinson College
57	Macalester College
58	Furman University
59	Drew University
60	Calvin College
61	Kenyon College
62	Minneapolis College of Art and Design
63	Washington and Lee University
64	St Lawrence University
65	Bentley College
66	Augustana College IL
67	DePauw University
68	Hobart William Smith College
69	Bates College
70	SUNY College of Technology, Alfred
71	Gettysburg College
72	Siena College
73	Harvey Mudd College
74	Simmons College
75	US Coast Guard Academy
76	Bethune-Cookman University FL
77	Skidmore College
78	St Olaf College
79	Denison University
80	Presbyterian College
81	Willamette University
82	Knox College
83	Spelman College (GA)
84	Milwaukee School of Engineering
85	Scripps College
86	Grinnell College
87	Bethel College IN
88	Augustana College SD
89	Ohio Northern University
90	Messiah College
91	Erskine College
92	Transylvania University KY
93	Sarah Lawrence College
94	Beloit College
95	Roger Williams University
96	Fisk University
97	University of Puget Sound
98	Hillsdale College
99	Alfred University
100	Randolph College (Macon) VA
101	St. Michael’s College
102	University of the Arts PA
103	Wheaton College IL
104	Centre College
105	High Point University
106	Whitman College
107	Cornell College
108	Illinois Wesleyan University
109	Muhlenberg College
110	College of St. Benedict/St John University
111	Trinity Washington University
112	San Francisco Art Institute
113	Allegheny College
114	Goucher College
115	Baldwin – Wallace College
116	Albion College
117	Florida Southern College
118	Flagler College FL
119	California Institution of the Arts
120	Wabash College
121	Rowan University
122	Pitzer College
123	Kalamazoo College
124	Wittenberg University
125	Linfield College
126	Rhodes College
127	Ursinus College
128	Earlham College
129	Wofford College
130	Hampden – Sydney College
131	Stonehill College
132	Marietta College OH
133	Coe College
134	Moravian College
135	Buena Vista University IA
136	Oklahoma Baptist College
137	Lake Forest College
138	St. John’s College MD
139	Corcoran College of Art and Design
140	Bennington College
141	Agnes Scott College
142	Lenoir-Rhyne University SC
143	Sewanee—University of the South
144	Ripon College
145	Birmingham Southern College
146	California College of the Arts
147	Elmira College
148	Loras College IA
149	Carthage College
150	Adrian College
151	Wheaton College MA
152	Susquehanna University
153	Boston Conservatory
154	Berklee College of Music
155	Endicott College
156	Cleveland Institute of Music
157	Lebanon Valley College
158	Hendrix College
159	St Mary’s College IN
160	Hanover College, IN
161	University of the Ozarks AR
162	Olin College
163	Juniata College
164	Hartwick College
165	Elizabethtown College
166	US Merchant Marine Academy
167	University of North Carolina School of the Arts
168	Westminster College PA
169	SUNY—Geneseo
170	Millsaps College
171	Franklin and Marshall College
172	United States Coast Guard Academy
173	South Dakota School of Mines
174	San Francisco Conservatory of Music
175	Lewis and Clark College
176	Berea College
177	Hood College
178	Morningside College IA
179	Sweet Briar College
180	New England Conservatory of Music
181	McMurry University TX
182	Westmont College
183	Curtis Institute of Music
184	College of New Jersey
185	Hollins University VA
186	University of Minnesota Morris
187	St Michael’s College
188	Ouachita Baptist University
189	Elizabeth City State University
190	Simon’s Rock College
191	St. John’s College NM
192	New College of Florida
193	Berry College
194	Howard Payne University TX
195	Eugene Lang College of New School U.
196	Austin College
197	United States Merchant Marine Academy
198	Washington and Jefferson College
199	LeGrange University
200	College of Wooster

The TrendTopper MediaBuzz Rankings measure near real-time movements of an institution’s reputation or ‘brand equity’, using the same techniques used to measure the appeal of any other branded product, such as luxury automobiles, or consumer electronics. For the first time GLM expanded the Rankings to over 400 schools, 210 in the University Division with another 200 in the College Division to widen the bases of comparison for the education marketplace.

Methodology

What Others are Saying:

Colleges, Ranked by ‘Media Buzz’

By Eric Hoover

He was describing “buzz,” something most colleges crave. In case you didn’t know, the Global Language Monitor will measure it for you.

The Summer / Spring 2012 Edition now includes over 400 schools, including specialty, Art, Design, Music, online, and for-profit institutions. It includes positive or negative movement vs the competition. It also ranks school by MediaBuzz Velocity and Momentum that tells how a school’s (short-term and long-term) brand equity is increasing or decreasing against its peer group, and the other colleges.

Top Tech Buzzwords Everyone Uses but Don’t Quite Understand (2012)

‘Big Data’ and ‘The Cloud’ are the Most Confusing Tech Buzzwords of the Decade (thus far)

SOA continues its reign as most confusing acronym

For the 2013 Update, go here!

Austin, Texas, March 15, 2012 — ’Big Data’ and ‘The Cloud’ are the Most Confusing Tech Buzzwords of the Decade (thus far) according to the The Global Language Monitor. Topping the list for 2012 are: Big Data, the Cloud, The Next Big Thing, Social Discovery, Web 2.0 (3.0, and so on). Solid State, CERN, Solar Max, De-dupe, 3G/4G/5G, and SoLoMo..Continuing as the most confusing acronym now of the century: SOA..GLM releases its Most Confusing Tech Buzzwords list annually in conjunction with Austin’s SXSW Interactive conference, which ends March 20th..

“High tech terms have long spilled into popular culture and this is nowhere more evident that at SXSW where the digital world intersects with those of music and the movies,” said Paul JJ Payack, president of the Global Language Monitor. ”To a large and growing extent, high tech buzzwords are fueling the growth of English, which now serves as the Earth’s means of global communication.”

“SXSW can best be described as a weird mash-up of Cannes, COMDEX, and Woodstock. If creative ideas don’t mix here, it’s just not going to happen.

The Global Language Monitor uses a proprietary algorithm, the Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI) to track the frequency of words and phrases in the global print and electronic media, on the Internet, throughout the Blogosphere, as well as accessing proprietary databases. The PQI is a weighted Index, factoring in: long-term trends, short-term changes, momentum, and velocity..The Most Confusing High Tech Buzzwords of the of the Second Decade of the 21st century, thus far (2010, 2011 & 2012) with commentary follow:

Big Data — Big Data is the biggest buzzword. It has been called the key to new waves of productivity growth, essential to the US place in global economics, and more. Now if only we could agree on exactly what this means and how we get there. (By the way, consider yottabytes: a quadrillion gigabytes. Hint: Just think a lotta bytes.)
‘The Cloud — The Cloud, in various manifestations has been ranked No. 1 for 2008, No, 4 overall for the decade, and now as No. 2 for 2012. Still all very nebulous.
The Next Big Thing — A cliche rendered nearly meaningless by the innumerable daily claims made by VCs, entrepreneurs, college drop-outs, etc. Actually, you can count the history of next big things on your fingers, and possibly toes.
Social Discovery — Webster’s 1910 definition. “Consisting in union of mutual converse,” might be an excellent corporate strategy.
Web 2.0 (3.0, and so on) — Ranked as the 1,000,000th English-language word in 2009, it just keeps morphing along.
Solid State — As in Solid State Disks (SSDs). Remember ‘solid-state’ televisions switched from vacuum tubes (Paleozoic)? How about LED watches from the ’80s (Mesozoic)? Today, it’s all-about Solid State Disks.
CERN — You might want to understand the acronym before the Earth is swallowed up the ‘mini’ black hole it just might create . (The European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Solar Max — In the 1850s telegraph wires melted. Best not to shuck off the hype here.
De-dupe — First we dupe, then we de-dupe; Flash forward to 2014: Re-duping! Ah, the next big thing!
3G/4G/5G — One of the benefits of having an open, open standard (AKA, no standard). Anybody can claim to lead as the (Generation) ‘standard’ expands into meaningless.
SoLoMo — This is not an oh-so-trendy neighborhood like Soho or Dumbo, at least not in the sense of brick-and-mortar. This is the convergence of Social, Local, and Mobile. The Talk of the Town at SXSWi this week in Austin.

The Most Confusing Tech Acronym of 2012: SOA (Solutions Oriented Architecture), continuing its Most Confusing Tech Acronym of the Decade reign. Not only is there an highly popular SOA for Dummies edition but Google Books list 47,300 editions that explicate upon the subject..For reference, here is the first decade (2000-2009) of the 21st century..The Most Confusing High Tech Buzzwords of the first decade (2000-2009) of the 21st century with Commentary follow:

HTTP — HyperText Transfer Protocol is used for HTML (HyperText Markup Language) files. Not to be confused with text on too much Starbucks.
Flash — As in Flash Memory. “Flash’ is easier to say than “ I brought the report on my EEPROM chip with a thin oxide layer separating a floating gate and control gate utilizing Fowler-Nordheim electron tunneling”.
God Particle – The Higgs boson, thought to account for mass. The God Particle has eluded discovery since its existence was first postulated some thirty years ago.
Cloud Computing – Distributing or accessing programs and services across the Internet. (The Internet is represented as a cloud.)
Plasma (as in plasma TV) — Refers less often to blood products than to a kind of television screen technology that uses matrix of gas plasma cells, which are charged by differing electrical voltages to create an image.
IPOD – What the Alpha Whale calls his personal pod. Actually, Apple maintains that the idea of the iPod was from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The origin of the word IPAD is a completely different story.
Megapixel – Either a really large picture element (pixel) or a whole mess of pixels. Actually, one million pixels (that’s a lotta pixels) OK, what’s a pixel? Computer-ese for picture element.
Nano – Widely used to describe anything small as in nanotechnology. Like the word ‘mini’ which originally referred to the red hues in Italian miniature paintings, the word nano- is ultimately derived from the ancient Greek word for ‘dwarf’.
Resonate – Not the tendency of a system to oscillate at maximum amplitude, but the ability to relate to (or resonate with) a customer’s desires.
Virtualization – Around since dinosaurs walked the planet (the late ‘70s) virtualization now applies to everything from infrastructures to I/O.
Solution — Ever popular yet still an amorphous description of high tech packages of hardware, software and service
Cookie — Without cookies with their ‘persistent state’ management mechanism the web as we know it, would cease to exist.
Robust — No one quite knows what it means, but it’s good for your product to demonstrate robustness
Emoticon A smiley with an emotional component (from emotional icon). Now, what’s a smiley? :’)
De-duping – Shorthand for de-duplication, that is, removing redundant data from a system.
Green washing – Repositioning your product so that its shortfalls are now positioned as environmental benefits: Not enough power? Just re-position as energy-saving.
Buzzword Compliant — To include the latest buzzwords in literature about a product or service in order to make it ‘resonate’ with the customer.
Petaflop — A thousand trillion (or quadrillion) floating point operations per second Often mistaken as a comment on a failed program by an animal rights’ group.
Hadron – A particle made of quarks bound together by the strong force; they are either mesons (made of one quark and one anti-quark) or baryons (made of three quarks).
Large Hadron Collider – The ‘atom smasher’ located underground outside Geneva. Primarily built to re-create the conditions of creation, 1 trillionth of a second after the Big Bang.

Angelina Jolie Leg Meme Now Largest Ever Measured

Angelina Jolie Meme Measures ‘Super-Colossal’ on GLM Scale
.

Austin, Texas, March 5, 2012. (Update) The Internet Meme ignited when Angelina Jolie took a dramatic stance revealing her famously long (and notoriously thin) right leg at last week’s Oscar ceremony was the largest I-Meme ever recorded as measured by the Global Language Monitor. The ‘Jolie Leg’ meme registered at Level 4 (out of 5) on the GLM Internet Meme Intensity Index (IMII).“Internet Memes can best be conceived as thoughts or ideas rather than words, since they can and often do encompass sounds, photos, and text. They are propagated through every imaginable form of electronic communications, eventually surfacing in the traditional print and electronic media. They are propagated globally in a matter of minutes or hours, or days,” said Paul JJ Payack, GLM’s president and chief word analyst..The ‘Jolie Leg’ meme differs from the ‘Lin-sanity’ frenzy, because Lin-sanity is sustained though the invention of clever neologisms involving his name, and not necessarily the other attributes of a fully formed I-Meme..The life cycle of an I-Meme typically follows four stages:

Ignition
Verification
Launch
Propagation

.The Jolie-Leg meme was ignited with Jolie taking her theatrical stance..It was then verified (did she really do what I think she did?) shortly thereafter when Descendants’ Oscar-winning writer, Jim Rush executed a remarkable facsimile of the Jolie pose..The I-Meme was launched with the appearance of thousands of rapidly evolving images, exemplified by Lady Liberty baring her leg in New York Harbor..It then began its rapid and continuing propagation into popular culture..GLM measured the intensity of the new Internet Meme at Level Four on its five-level Internet-Meme Intensity Index (IMII).…….

We find it Ironic that ‘Silence’ was the Top HollyWord of 2011 according the ninth annual analysis by the Global Language Monitor.Yet Angelina Jolie’s dramatic leg pose generated the massive Internet Meme, was anything but silent..

For information on GLM’s Internet Meme Tracking Services and the Internet Meme Intensity Index, call 1.512.815.8836

The Duchess Effect Top Fashion Buzzword of 2012

The Duchess Effect (Kate Middleton in yet Another Guise) Top Fashion Buzzword of 2012

Pippa’s Bum also makes the list

The Fifth Annual Analysis by the Global Language Monitor

New York, February 9, 2012 – Kate Middleton, now entitled Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, again stands atop the Fashion Buzzword List of 2012, this time as ‘the Duchess Effect’, according to the annual analysis by the Global Language Monitor (GLM). This is the first time someone has topped the list two years running. Previously Lady Gaga held the No. 1 and No. 2 positions during the 2010 and 2011 seasons respectively, Ms. Gaga dropped off the list for 2012.

Following ‘The Duchess effect’ were ‘peplums’, ‘braid bars’, ’pyjamas’, and ‘Pippa’s bum’. Rounding out the Top Ten were ‘paisley,’ Gatsby’, ‘pale colors,’ ‘tangerines,’ and ‘novelty denim’.

“The Duchess Effect appears to extend much further than the economic impact of Kate’s fashion choices; this year the fashion landscape seems to be a brighter, more accessible place with the styles more colorful, feminine and graceful than we’ve observed in many years, said Bekka Payack, GLM’s Manhattan-based Fashion Director. “Fashion is now being influenced from all points on the globe, with the rise of the regional fashion centers driving tribal, sustainable and eco-based trends”.

New York Fashion Week begins February 9^th and kicks off the global calendar, immediately followed by London, Milan, and Paris.

GLM used NarrativeTracker 2.0 for this analysis. NT2.0 is based on global discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture of what the public is saying about any topic, at any point in time. NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the top 75,000 print and electronic global media, as well as new media sources, as they emerge.

The Top Fashion Buzzwords for 2012 with commentary follow:

The Duchess Effect – The positive economic impact of Kate Middleton’s fashion choices, derived from her new title, ‘the Duchess of Cambridge’.
Peplums – Kate (Hepburn) and Rosiland sported them in ‘40s flicks; now it’s your turn.
Braids – And a new twist is ‘braid bars:’ ‘I’ll have a G&T and some funky braids, please; make it to go.’
Pyjamas – Though the trend has spread from the campuses to the catwalks, you can’t get a Stella McCartney in the discount bin at Target’s.
Pippa’s Bum – Absurdly large media interest tracks the Duchess’ sister in general and her bum in particular.
Paisleys – No they were not invented during the Summer of Love, and not even in 17^th c. Scotland; they have been in and out of style for more than millennium and a half.
Gatsby – That’s right, not Gangsta’ but Gatsby. Call it ‘20s Luxe.
Pale Colors – Such as glacier blue, minimal whites, lavender, or spindrift.
Tangerines – Such as Tangerine Tango for nails and accessories.
Novelty denim – With prints and dyes, stitched, embroidered, or bejeweled, it almost like a ‘60s’ ‘happening’
Luxe Hides — Super luxurious animal skins, faux and otherwise. (See below.)
African Prints – Fierce, gently, mesmerizing or subtle.
Ankle Boots – Worn with skirts, bare or with stockings, leggings or pants.
Mixed florals – Beaucoup of bouquets, mixed together and sorted printed over all.
Color blocking – Boldly bright and boldly blocked.
Vintage styles of the ‘20s (Flappers).
Vintage styles of the ‘40s (tea dresses).
Vintage styles of the‘50s (Clean, crisp, all-American).
Ethical Fashion – Taking a bolder stand, moving into the mainstream with Stella McCartney and Ally Hewson leading the way.
Sustainable Fashion – Not just from Austin, Berkeley and Portland anymore.

Each summer, the Global Language Monitor ranks the Top Fashion Capitals by Internet presence. London overtook New York City as the Top Global Fashion Capital for 2011. London and New York were followed by Paris, Milano, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong. Barcelona, Singapore, Tokyo and Berlin rounded out the top ten.

Evolving Narrative of Barack Obama

Three Distinct Narratives during Presidency

President Obama’s State of the Union Address earlier this week provided the Global Language Monitor the opportunity to analyze the changing Obama Narrative since he rose to the national prominence some five years ago. GLM found three distinct narratives with the communication styles supporting each narrative forming arcs of their own, characterized by their specific word choices, styles of delivery, rhetoric, and diction.

Obama 1.0 Narrative
We had Obama 1.0 whose narrative was that of soaring rhetoric, of hope and inclusiveness, and meeting ourselves in the future.

Reprinted from The Hill, Washington, D.C.

This was the “Yes, We Can!” presidential hopeful who would lead us out of Iraq and Afghanistan, harness Iran, close down Git-mo, bring peace to the Holy Land and then get elected to the presidency. This was the time of short declarative sentences or finely honed sentences that would never end, but who cared? This was the un-Bush and proud to say it. This was yet another ‘New Order for the Ages’”.

Obama 1.0 Frequent Word Choices: Americans, Change, Hope, Dreams, Unity

Then the Bush Iraq war policies were kept in place (or even expanded), Guantanamo remained (and still remains) open. This transformation occurred as the hopes and dreams that Obama represented collided with a very real political reality, of war and terrorism, of K-Street operatives, and healthcare plans that had to be passed it in order to know what was in them.

This was the era when the top political buzzwords included ‘anger and rage’, the residue remaining from the (still-ongoing both then and now) global economic restructuring. GLM tested out the new meme and found that what had been characterized as ‘anger and rage’ was actually better represented as ‘frustration and disappointment’.

Obama 2.0 Narrative
The Obama 2.0 Narrative that emerged from the bitter and prolonged healthcare battle, where the behind the scenes wheeling-and-dealing seemed to equal (or even surpass) the worst in memory. Obama 2.0 was now viewed as an ‘aloof’ president who presided over the decision to ‘surge’ in Afghanistan, expanded Bush’s drone warfare, culminating in the president’s handling of the Gulf oil spill and the nationwide speech he then delivered.

Obama’s speech was considered a turning point by many supporters who longed for a leader who would demonstrate how an engaged president would quickly and effectively reach out to those in dire need during such an event (the direct opposite of the Bush response to Katrina). This was to prove not be the case – and the ‘Spill-Cam’ made it all the worse as the oil spouted forth, 24 x 7, for weeks on end.

The voters delivered their verdict on Obama 2.0 in early November 2010, where Obama’s party was pommelled by historic proportions.

Obama 2.0 frequent word choices: surge, Tea Party, deficit, oil spill, healthcare.

The Obama 3.0 Narrative

When President Obama delivered his third and possibly final State of the Union address, he used language that seemed to introduce yet another public persona. This would be his third since his emergence into the spotlight in 2007.

Judging from the language used during his recent State of the Union address, the Obama 3.0 Narrative will be very much like those of George W. Bush, with equal portions of the second term Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, and even a sprinkling of JFK. The Obama 3.0 Narrative’s word choices are only remotely attached to those of Ted Kennedy (and even Al Gore). Those of Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter were definitely eschewed.

Obama 3.0’s Narrative, according to his word choices and focus was on “American Values,” even citing “America as the indispensable nation” (Madeline Albright’s phrasing) apparently an updated reference to ‘American exceptionalism’, a phrase normally verboten to the American Left, since it can represent cultural imperialism and American political hegemony.

The president also emphasized phrases and buzzwords that are generally considered to skew right:

Mentioned America and Americans nearly fifty times (vs. 11 times in his Inaugural Address)
Defining issue was reclaiming American values.
Offered unvarnished praise for the military
Praised increased oil and oil production.
Preaching fiscal and individual responsibility
Highlighted “More feet on the border than ever before”

Finally, the use of negative words and phrases nearly surpassing that of positive words phrases in the State of the Union address.

Weakened
Shrinking
Bailouts
Handouts
Cop-outs
Fraud
Dumping
Out-dated
Unnecessary
Phony
Obstruction
Fiasco
Plunged
Unstable
Corrosive
Loopholes

Summary

Obama Narrative 3.0 is strikingly different than that of his campaign and early administration.

In some ways this could be the Left’s worst nightmare: a potentially transformative president, now turning into a Bill Clinton/Ronald Reagan hybrid.

In other ways this could be the Right’s worst nightmare: Obama as the 1996 Bill Clinton, adjusting to his Mid-term ‘thumpin’ and rushing to the center to win a second term.

Paul JJ Payack is the president of Global Language Monitor.

Tebow Tops Global Sports Brand Index

Ten-week rise of the Global ‘Branded Individual’ Phenomenon

The highest rated ‘branded individuals’ across fields include Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and, the former Kate Middleton.

Austin, Texas January 14, 2012 – Tim Tebow, the reverent, knee-bending, soft-spoken quarterback of the Denver Broncos, has now claimed another milestone: Tebow now tops the Global Language Monitor‘s Sports Brand Affiliation Index (SBAI). The GLM SBAI tracks the top athletes in a variety of global athletic endeavors and measures the strength of their ‘brand affiliation’ to their particular sport.

For this analysis, GLM tracked athletes in American football, baseball, basketball, football (soccer), Formula 1, golf, NASCAR, tennis, track and field, skiing, and swimming.

The frenzy has only increased over the last week with Tebow’s dramatic touchdown pass on the first play of overtime to defeat the heavily favored (and defending conference champions) Pittsburgh Steelers.

“In the rankings, Tebow bested this week’s nemesis, Tom Brady, by a score of 100.00 to 38.96, and the defending Super Bowl winning quarterback, Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers, who scored 28.13 on the Sports BAI,” said Paul JJ Payack, president and Chief Word Analyst of GLM . “Perhaps more surprising, is that Tebow out-ranked fourteen champion athletes in more than a dozen global sports, among them the reigning champions of Formula 1, various Summer and Winter Olympic events, the National Basketball Association , Skiing, and Tennis.”

Click here to see the ‘Tebowing’ enters the English Language Video

Tebow Scores Twice as High as No. 2 in the Sports BAI

The Sports BAI is one of a number of Leading Brand Affiliated Indicators that GLM uses to measure the influence of ‘branded individuals’ in fields as varied as Entertainment, Politics, Celebrity, Royalty, and the retired-yet-still powerful. The highest rated ‘branded individuals’ across fields include Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and, of course, the former Kate Middleton.

GLM has previous noted that the rapid rise of ’tebowing’ as an English language word closely resembling the rate of adoption of the word Obamamania in early 2008. The first mention of ‘tebowing’ can be traced to the dramatic overtime victory of the Denver Broncos football team over the Miami Dolphins on October 23, 2011, when Tebow ‘took a knee’ in a moment of prayerful reflection.

The Sports BAI is one of a number of Brand Affiliated Indexes that GLM uses to measure the influence of ‘branded individuals’ in fields as varied as Entertainment, Politics, Celebrity, Royalty, and the retired-yet-still powerful.

GLM consultants employ its NarrativeTracker technologies for brand-affiliated tracking, forecasting, and analysis. NarrativeTracker is based on global discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture about any topic at any point in time. NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the top 75,000 print and electronic global media, as well as new media sources, as they emerge.

Top “Ambush Marketers” For London Olympics 196 Days Out

Top “Ambush Marketers” For London Olympics: KFC, IBM Global Services, Dell, and Nike among Leaders

Non-sponsors Continue to Rank High on Brand Affiliation Index (BAI)

Austin, Texas, January 12, 2012. KFC, IBM Global Services, Dell, and Nike were among the Top “Ambush Marketers” for the London 2012 Olympics as ranked by The Global Language Monitor (GLM), the Internet and Media Trend Tracking Company. In the rankings, encompassing Q3 and Q4 of 2011, GLM measured the strength of the brand affiliation for each official Olympic sponsor as well as those of their primary competitors.

“Though ‘ambush marketing’ is well understood to mean an organization knowingly exploiting a brand affiliation with the Games — without the benefit of official sponsorship. However, all perceived Olympic sponsors according to their presence in the global media, and statistically linked to the London Games, qualify for GLM’s Ambush Marketing Index, said Paul JJ Payack; president of the Austin, Texas based Global Language Monitor. “There is more than pride at stake, since the official sponsors generate some 30% of the revenue needed to stage the Games.”

There are twenty-five top official Olympic sponsors divided into three tiers: Worldwide Partners, Official Partners, and Official Supporters. GLM tracks over fifty non-affiliated companies that are direct competitors with the Official Olympic sponsors.

Measuring each tier against their ambushers, GLM has found that for the second half of 2011, each tier of Ambushers beats their legitimate competitors according to the Tier’s Q4 Brand Affiliation Index.

Q4 BAI
Wiorldwide Partner-A 30.09

Worldwide Partner
25.39
Official Sponsor-A
55.66
Official Sponsor
52.67
Official Partner-A
50.42
Official Partner
16.38

Among Worldwide Partners, Coca-Cola, DOW, and P&G scored the highest on GLM’s Brand Affiliation Index (BAI) for Q4 2011. In terms of movement, Omega and Coca-Cola both improved their BAIs by some 350%, over the last half of 2011. Among Worldwide Partner Ambushers, IBM Global Services, Royal Phillips, HP, Barclaycard, and Dell all scored significantly higher on GLM’s BAI for Q4 2011 than their Worldwide Partner competitors. In terms of movement, IBM Global Services, Dell, and KFC all improved their BAI’s by 250% or more through the end of 2011.

Among Official Partners, EDF Energy, Lloyds TSB, and the BT Group scored the highest on GLM’s Brand Affiliation Index (BAI) for Q4 2011. In terms of movement, Lloyds TSB, the BT Group, and BP, all improved their BAI more than 100% over the last half of 2011. Among Official Partner Ambushers, UnitedContinental (BA), the 3i Group (Lloyds TSB), and all scored significantly higher on GLM’s BAI for Q4 2011 than their Worldwide Partner competitors. In terms of movement, the 3i Group (Lloyds TSB), UnitedContinental (BA), and Nike (Adidas) all improved their BAI’s by 250% or more through the end of 2011.

Among Official Supporters, Arcelor Mittal, UPS, and Cadbury scored the highest on GLM’s Brand Affiliation Index (BAI) for Q4 2011. In terms of movement, Arcelor Mittal, Cadbury, Cisco Systems, and Adecco all improved their BAI more than 200% over the last half of 2011. Among Official Supporter Ambushers, Hebie Steel (Arcelor Mittal), Kraft (Cadbury), and PricewaterhouseCoopers (Delloite) all scored significantly higher on GLM’s BAI for Q4 2011 than their Official Supporter competitors. In terms of movement, Hebie Steel (Arcelor Mittal), DHL (UPS), and Ericsson (Cisco) improved their BAI’s by 250% or more through the end of 2011.

Customized GLM Ambush Marketing Rankings are released monthly up to and following London 2012. They can also be individualized for any organization. The Ambush Marketing London 2012 report features dozens of charts representing the interrelationship of each company to the Olympic Brand, their competitors and their partners. In addition, the reports contain exclusive and individualized Narrative Tracker analyses, the most advanced trend tracking analytics available. For more information, individualized reports, or a monthly subscription, call +1.512.551.3627 or email pjjp@post.harvard.edu.

Top “Ambush Marketers” For London Olympics, 196 Days Out

IBM Global Services, Dell, and Nike among Leaders

Non-sponsors Continue to Rank High on Brand Affiliation Index (BAI)

Austin, Texas, January 12, 2012. IBM Global Services, Dell, and Nike were among the Top “Ambush Marketers” for the London 2012 Olympics as ranked by The Global Language Monitor (GLM), the Internet and Media Trend Tracking Company. In the rankings, encompassing Q3 and Q4 of 2011, GLM measured the strength of the brand affiliation for each official Olympic sponsor as well as those of their primary non-affiliated competitors.

Ambush Marketing May 15 2012 Update

To schedule your confidential consultation, call +1.512.815.8836.

Remember that once you download the London 2012 Ambush Marketing Update, you are entitled to one free hour of consultation from the Ambush Marketing experts from the Global Language Monitor, which has been tracking Branded Affiliations at the Olympics for the last three Olympiads.For these rankings GLM measured the strength of the brand affiliation for each official Olympic sponsor against those of their primary non-affiliated competitors. Though ‘ambush marketing’ is well understood to mean an organization knowingly exploiting a brand affiliation with the Games without the benefit of official sponsorship.All perceived Olympic affiliations according to their presence in the global media, and statistically linked to the London Games, qualify for GLM’s Ambush Marketing rankings.The GLM Brand Affiliation Index for this analysis, ranged from a high of 524.45 to a low of 1.49. The higher the score, the closer the brand affiliation with an event.GLM has been tracking ambush marketing at the Olympics since the Beijing Games in 2008. For London 2012, GLM began the three tiers of official sponsors since the third quarter of 2011. These results are based on a study concluded on May 1, 2012.With its Branded Individual Index (BII) GLM also tracks the brand equity of the athletes before and during the Games.The official Olympic sponsors are divided into three tiers: Worldwide Partners, Official Partners, and Official Supporters. GLM tracks over fifty non-affiliated companies that are direct competitors with the Official Olympic sponsors.Remember that once you download the London 2012 Ambush Marketing Update, you are entitled to one free hour of consultation from the Ambush Marketing experts from the Global Language Monitor, which has been tracking Branded Affiliations at the Olympics for the last three Olympiads.“There is more than pride at stake, since billions of dollars in incremental revenue are at risk for the official Olympic sponsors. In turn, these same organizations fund some 30% of staging the Games,” said Paul JJ Payack, president of the Austin, Texas based Global Language Monitor. “Though ‘ambush marketing’ is well understood to mean ‘an organization knowingly exploiting a brand affiliation with the Games without the benefit of official sponsorship’, all perceived Olympic sponsors (according to their presence in the global media and statistically linked to the London Games) qualify for GLM’s Ambush Marketing Index.”There are twenty-five top official Olympic sponsors divided into three tiers: Worldwide Partners, Official Partners, and Official Supporters. GLM tracks over fifty non-affiliated companies that are direct competitors with the Official Olympic sponsors.Measuring each tier against their ambushers, GLM has found that, for the second half of 2011, two of the three tiers of Ambushers beat their legitimate competitors according to the Q4 2011 Brand Affiliation Index.

Comparison of London 2012 Sponsors Vs. Ambushers by Q4 2011 BAI

Among Worldwide Partners

Coca-Cola,
DOW, and
McDonald’s

scored the highest on GLM’s Brand Affiliation Index (BAI) for Q4 2011.

In terms of movement, Omega and Coca-Cola both improved their BAIs by some 350%, over the last half of 2011.

Among Worldwide Partner Ambushers

IBM Global Services (Atos),
Royal Phillips (General Electric),
HP (Acer),
Barclaycard (Visa), and
Dell (Acer)

all scored significantly higher on GLM’s BAI for Q4 2011 than their Worldwide Partner competitors. In terms of movement, IBM Global Services, Dell, and KFC all improved their BAI’s by 250% or more through the end of 2011.

Among Official Partners

EDF Energy,
Lloyds TSB, and
the BT Group

scored the highest on GLM’s Brand Affiliation Index (BAI) for Q4 2011. In terms of movement, Lloyds TSB, the BT Group, and BP, all improved their BAI more than 100% over the last half of 2011.

Among Official Partner Ambushers

UnitedContinental (BA),
the 3i Group (Lloyds TSB)
Nike (Adidas)

all scored significantly higher on GLM’s BAI for Q4 2011 than their Worldwide Partner competitors. In terms of movement, the 3i Group (Lloyds TSB), UnitedContinental (BA), and Nike (Adidas) all improved their BAI’s by 250% or more through the end of 2011.

Among Official Supporters,

Arcelor Mittal,
UPS
Cadbury

scored the highest on GLM’s Brand Affiliation Index (BAI) for Q4 2011.

In terms of movement, Arcelor Mittal, Cadbury, Cisco Systems, and Adecco all improved their BAI more than 200% over the last half of 2011.

Among Official Supporter Ambushers,

Hebie Steel (Arcelor Mittal)
Kraft (Cadbury)
PricewaterhouseCoopers (Deloitte)

all scored significantly higher on GLM’s BAI for Q4 2011 than their Official Supporter competitors.

In terms of movement, Hebie Steel (Arcelor Mittal), DHL (UPS), and Ericsson (Cisco) improved their BAI’s by 250% or more through the end of 2011.

Trending Top Words of 2012: End-of-World stories, Kate, China, CERN, the Olympics

Global Language Monitor’s Top Words of 2012 projections from current word trends

AUSTIN, Texas December 26, 2011 – Trending 2012: Multiple End-of-World scenarios, Kate, China, CERN, the Olympics, The US Elections will dominate word creation and usage in the English language in 2012.

This is according to current word trends in global English being tracked by the Global Language Monitor. Last month, Austin, Texas-based Global Language Monitor had announced that ‘Occupy’ was the Top Word, ‘Arab Spring’ the Top Phrase and ‘Steve Jobs’ the Top Name of 2011 in its twelfth annual global survey of the English language.

To see the final list Top Words of 2012, go here.

The words are culled from throughout the English-speaking world, which now numbers more than 1.83 billion speakers (January 2012 estimate).
.
The Projected Top Words of 2012
,
1. Kate — There are seven billion humans on the planet but sometimes it seems that it’s all about Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, the former Kate Middleton in terms of fashion, celebrity, and the royal line.
.
2. Olympiad — The Greeks measured time by the four-year interval between the Games. Moderns measure it by medal counts, rights fees and billions of eyeballs.
..
3. Middle Kingdom – There is little indication that China’s continuing economic surge will fade from the global media spotlight –or abate.
.
4. Bak’tun — A cycle of 144,000 days in the Maya ‘Long Count’ Calendar. This bak’tun ends on December 21, 2012, also being called the Mayan Apocalypse. (Actually Maya ‘long-count’ calendars stretch hundreds of millions of years into the future, December 21st merely marks the beginning of a new cycle.)
.
5. Solar max — The peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle; in 1854 solar storms melted telegraph wires; what’s in store for our all-pervasive electronic infrastructure?
.
6. The Election — No Obama-mania this time around, more of an Obama-ennui for the November 6 elections.
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8. Rogue nukes — Iran and North Korea will be the focus of attention here.
.
9. CERN — Neutrons traveling faster than light? The ‘God Particle’? The world ending in a mini-black hole? All these somehow revolve around CERN (The European Center for Nuclear Research). One CERN scientist calculated that the chance of a mini-Black Hole swallowing the Earth is less than 1 in 50,000,000. Somewhat comforting until you realize this is about ten times more likely than winning a national lottery.)
.
10. Global Warming — The earth has been warming since New York was covered under a mountain of ice; what makes 2012 any different?
.
11. Near-Earth Asteroid — Yet another year, another asteroid, another near-miss. (However, one does strike the Earth every one hundred million years or so.)
.
GLM employs its NarrativeTracker technologies for global Internet and social media analysis. NarrativeTracker is based on global discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture about any topic, at any point in time.
NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the top 75,000 print and electronic global media, as well as new social media sources as they emerge.

“The year 2012 looks to be a vibrant year for the English language with word creation again driven by events both scheduled and unanticipated. Typically there is an ‘end-of-the-world’ scenario every few years that impacts the English language. This year we will see no fewer than three, including the Maya Apocalypse and the Solar Max,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of GLM.

”Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, will compete with the London Olympics, the economic surge of China, various activities involving the CERN atom smasher, and the US presidential election for Top Word honors, though we always allow for word creation generated from unexpected events such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 or the Japanese ‘triple disaster’ of 2011.”

Rank / Word / Comments

7. Deficit — Looks like deficit-spending will plague Western democracies for at least the next decade.

12. Europe — United, breaking apart, saving the Euro, abandoning the Euro, with the UK again as an ‘interested onlooker’. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

Bonus Phrase: The successor term for ‘Arab Spring’, whatever that might be.

Top Words of 2011, ‘Occupy’ is 2011 Word of the Year

Occupy is the Top Word of the Year,

Arab Spring is the Top Phrase of the Year and

Steve Jobs is the Top Name of the Year

Global Language Monitor’s 12th Annual Survey of Global English

AUSTIN, Texas December 6, 2011 (Updated from November 10) — The Global Language Monitor has announced that ‘Occupy’ is the Top Word, ‘Arab Spring’ the Top Phrase and ‘Steve Jobs’ the Top Name of 2011 in its annual global survey of the English language. Occupy was followed by deficit, fracking, drone, and non-veg. Kummerspeck, haboob, 3Q, Trustafarians, and (the other) 99 rounded out the Top 10.

“Our selections this year, to a large extent, reflect the ongoing political and economic uncertainty that seems to be affecting much of the developed world – with notable exceptions such as the Royal wedding and the continuing rise of China ,” said Paul JJ Payack, President of the Global Language Monitor.
“Our top words, phrases and names this year come from five continents… confirmation of the ever-expanding influence of the English language.
“The words are culled from throughout the English-speaking world, which now numbers more than 1.58 billion speakers. The Global Language Monitor’s Word of the Year rankings are based upon actual word usage in the English speaking world.
“In global English, words are not bestowed upon, agreed upon, or voted upon by cultural or academic elites but, rather, words are defined from the bottom up, that is, by the people themselves — and this is true whether in the East End of London, or south-central LA, the projects in Brooklyn, the slums of Kingston, the call centers of Mumbai, the streets of Singapore, the text messages out of Shanghai, or the fashion districts of Sydney.”

GLM employs its NarrativeTracker technologies for global Internet and social media analysis. NarrativeTracker is based on global discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture about any topic, at any point in time. NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the top 75,000 print and electronic global media, as well as new social media sources.

.

See the Photo Essay from the Toronto Star

BBC Magazine:

.2011, l’année Steve Jobs?

(Time Person of the Year?)

Nunberg also selects ‘occupy’ as the 2011 Word of the Year

.

The Top Words of 2011

Rank / Word / Comments

1. Occupy – ‘Occupy’ has risen to pre-eminence through Occupy Movement, the occupation of Iraq, and the so-called ‘Occupied Territories’. (Also named by NPR and Time.)

2. Deficit – Growing and possibly intractable problem for the economies of the developed world.

3. Fracking – Hydraulic fracturing is a controversial method for extracting fossil fuels from hitherto unreachable deposits.

4. Drone – The ever increasing number of remotely piloted aircraft used for reconnaissance and attack purposes.

5. Non-veg – A meal served with meat, originally from India, now catching on worldwide.

6. Kummerspeck – From the German seeing wider acceptance in the English, excess weight gained from emotional overeating (grief bacon).

See the Photo Essay from The Stylist (UK)

7. Haboob – A name imported from the Arabic for massive sandstorms in the American Southwest.

8. 3Q – Near universal term for ‘thank you’ now earning additional status after being banned from official Chinese dictionaries. Another example of the ever- increasing mixing of numbers and letters to form words.

9. Trustafarians – Well-to-do youth (trust-funders) living a faux-Bohemian life style, now associated with the London Riots.

10. (The Other) 99 – Referring to the majority of those living in Western Democracies who are left out of the dramatic rise in earnings associated with “the Top 1%”.

The Top Phrases of 2011

Rank / Phrase / Comment

1. Arab Spring – The series of uprisings, social protests, and rebellions occurring among many nations of the Arab World beginning this spring.

2. Royal Wedding – The wedding of the former Kate Middleton and heir-to-the-British-Throne, Prince William that captivated millions around the world.

3. Anger and Rage – Characterizations of the global electorate by the pundits, though closer analyses has revealed more frustration than anger and more disappointment than rage.

4. Climate Change – No. 1 phrase for the first decade of the 21st century; still resonates into its second decade.

5. The Great Recession – Though officially over, the media term most frequently used to describe the on-going global economic restructuring.

6. Tahrir Square – The scene of the ‘25th of January’ demonstrations in Cairo against Hosni Mubarak.

7. Linear No Threshold (LNT) – The methodology to calculate risk from exposure to radioactive elements from the Fukushima Daiiachi disaster.

8. Bunga Bunga – Re-emerged in the language through ‘bunga-bunga’ parties hosted by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

9. ‘How’s that working out for you?’ – The New York Times credits Sarah Palin, but it predates her use of the phrase by several decades.

10. “Make no mistake about it!” – President Obama has repeated the phrase thousands of times since his 2008 election.

The Top Names of 2011

Rank / Name / Comments

1. Steve Jobs – The citations for Steve Jobs topped those for No. 2 (Osama bin-Laden and Seal Team 6) by more than 30%.

2. Osama bin-Laden & Seal Team 6 – Who changed the world more? Al-Qaeda or Steve Jobs?

3. Fukushima – The epicenter of the Japanese Triple Disaster (earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown).

4. Mohamed Bouazizi – the Tunisian fruit vendor who set himself afire and became the symbol of Tunisian resistance – and the Arab Spring.

5. Chinese Paramount Leader Hu Jintao – The Rise of the Tiger being a primary cause of the Global Economic Restructuring.

6. Kate Middleton – She captivated the world with her elegance and style and continues to do so as the Duchess of Cambridge.

7. Muammar Gaddafi – Libyan strongman toppled in the recent insurrection.

8. President Obama – Hope and Change retreat further into the history books; the game plan is now for survival.

9. PIIGS – The nations of Portugal, Ireland, Italy Greece and Spain taken together for their untenable deficits possibly affecting the economic health of the Eurozone.

10. Yaroslavl Lokomotiv – The ill-fated elite Russian hockey team that was virtually wiped out in the crash of a three-engine Yak-42.

Top Words of the Decade

The Top Words of the Decade Global Warming, 9/11, and Obama outdistanced Bailout, Evacuee, and Derivative; Google, Surge, Chinglish, and Tsunami followed. Climate Change was top phrase; Heroes was the top name.

Previous Words of the Year include:

2010:
Top Words: No. 1 Spillcam, No. 2 Vuvuzela, No. 3 The Narrative
Top Phrases: No. 1 Anger and Rage, No. 2 Climate Change, No. 3 The Great Recession
Top Names: No. 1 Hu Jintao, paramount leader of China, No. 2 iPad, No. 3 Barack Obama

2009:
Top Words: No. 1 Twitter, No. 2 Obama-, No. 3 H1N1
Top Phrases: No. 1 King of Pop, No. 2 Obama-mania, No. 3 Climate Change
Top Names: No. 1 Obama, No. 2 Michael Jackson, No. 3 Mobama

2008:
Top Words: No. 1 Change, No. 2 Bailout, No. 3 Obama-mania
Top Phrases: No. 1 Financial Tsunami, No. 2 Global Warming, No. 3 “Yes, We Can!”
Top Names: No. 1 Barack Obama, No. 2 George W. Bush, No.3 Michael Phelps

2007:

Top Words: No. 1 Hybrid (representing all things green), No. 2: Surge
Top Phrase: Climate Change
Top Name: Al Gore

2006:
Top Word: Sustainable
Top Phrase: Stay the Course
Top Name: Dafur

2005:
Top Words: No. 1, Refugee No. 2: Tsunami No. 3: Katrina
Top Phrase: Outside the Mainstream
Top Name: (acts of ) God

2004:
Top Word: Incivility (for inCivil War)
Top Phrase: Red States/Blue States No. 2: Rush to War
Top Name: Dubya/Rove

2003:
Top Word: Embedded
Top Phrase: Shock and Awe, No. 2: Rush to War
Top Name: Saddam Hussein, No. 2 Dubya

2002:

Top Word: Misunderestimate

Top Phrase: Threat Fatigue
Top Name: W (Dubya)

2001:
Top Word: Ground Zero
Top Phrase: ‘Lets Roll’
Top Name: The Heros

2000:
Top Word: Chad
Top Phrase: Dot.com
Top Name: W (Dubya)

About The Global Language Monitor

Austin-Texas-based Global Language Monitor analyzes and catalogues the latest trends in word usage and word choices and their impact on the various aspects of culture, with a particular emphasis upon Global English.

For more information, call 1.512.815.8836, email info@LanguageMonitor.com, or visit www.LanguageMonitor.com.

Princess Kate Strikes Again — ‘Royal Wedding’ Top Television Word of the Year

Eighth Annual Analysis of the Top Words from Television by the Global Language Monitor

Austin, Texas, September 20, 2011. The Global Language Monitor today announced that the ‘Royal Wedding’ of Kate Middleton and Prince William is the Top Television Word (or phrase) of the 2011 season. ‘Royal Wedding’ topped Charlie Sheen’s self-descriptive ‘Winner’ for the Top Spot. ‘Arab Spring’, ‘X-Factor’, and ‘Oprah’ rounded out the Top Five. ‘Fukashima,’ ’9/11′, ‘Obama-vision’, ’Chicago-style pols’ and ‘Zombies’ completed the Top Ten. Surprisingly the drama surrounding the killing of Osama bin Laden by Navy Seal Team 6 did not break into the No. 10.

“This apparently is shaping up to be the Year of Kate (Middleton). She has come to dominate the small screen through her engagement, her fashion choices and most of all her Royal Wedding,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of the Global Language Monitor. “Aside from the princess, this is the first time that ‘news’ has dominated the Top TeleWords of any given year. There are those who maintain that the pace of events is accelerating — and it does appear that social media is playing an ever-expanding role in that process.”

The awards are annually announced at the beginning of the fall television season in the US, traditionally opened with the 63rd Annual Emmy Awards. (Sunday, September 18th, 8:00 p.m. ET). This is the eighth annual analysis by the Austin-based Global Language Monitor.

The Top Telewords of the 2011 season with commentary follow:

1. Royal Wedding (Kate) — Kate reigns once more, this time on the small screen.

2. Winner (Charlie Sheen) – Winner, Tiger blood, goddesses … Fukashima was not the only meltdown on the world stage this year.

3. Arab Spring — The rolling unrest in the Middle East to some extent fueled by social media, such as Facebook and Twitter.

4. X-factor — In algebra, X is the unknown quantity or variable. In TV lingo it stands for Simon Cowell’s empire of dozens of X-factor shows around the globe.

5. Oprah – A name without precedent (or predecessor) rising to prominence because of Winfrey’s season-long farewell tour.

6. Fukashima – The epicenter for the Japanese Triple Disaster (tsunami, earthquake and nuclear meltdown).

7. 9/11 – The recent 10th year commemoration reminds that it is one of the handful of historical events whose date will actually ‘live in infamy’.

8. Obama-vision – The president’s appearances have turned increasingly more prosaic in the third year of his presidency.

9. Chicago-style politics (The Good Wife) – Rahm Emanuel vies with the Good Wife for the better rendition of a Chicago Pol’s life.

10. Zombies (The Walking Dead) – Continue to infect the world through dozens of shows on the small screen.

The Top Telewords of previous years:

2010 – SpillCam from the Gulf Oil Spill, followed by Guido (Jersey Shore) and Reality (TV)

2009 – ObamaVision — All Obama, all the time, everywhere, followed by Financial Meltdown and the death of Michael Jackson.

2008: Beijing (from the Olympics), ObamaSpeak, followed by ‘facts are stubborn things’, ‘it is what it is,’ and Phelpsian.

2007: “Surge” from the Iraq War political and military strategy, “That’s Hot®” Paris Hilton’s popular expression that is now a registered trademark, and “D’oh!” from The Simpsons and The Simpsons Movie.

2006: ‘Truthiness’ and ‘Wikiality’ from the Colbert Show followed by ‘Katrina’, ‘Katie,’ and ‘Dr. McDreamy’.

2005: ‘Refugee’ from the coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, followed by ‘Desperation’ from Desperate Housewives and ‘Camp Cupcake’ from the on-going Martha Stewart follies.

2004: “You’re Fired!” edged “Mess O’ Potamia” followed by “Girlie Men,” “God,” and “Wardrobe Malfunction”.

Who’s Sneaking into the London Games

A handful of clever marketers are ahead of official Olympic sponsors

By Toni Fitzgerald, Media Life Magazine,

Sometimes perception is better than reality, and so it is for the brands that have managed to associate themselves with the Olympic Games without paying the exorbitant rights fees that come with official sponsorship.

They’re commonly referred to as “ambush marketers”, and though the London Games are still nearly a year away, some ambush marketers are making more of an impression on Olympic fans than the official sponsors.

That’s according to the first ambush marketing rankings for the London 2012 Olympic Games, released by The Global Language Monitor (GLM), which measures the strength of the brand affiliation between each of the worldwide partners, official partners, and official sponsors and the London Games and then compares it to competing companies that are not officially affiliated with the Games

Sony, Subway, DuPont, Barclay Card and Lenovo are the top five companies with the highest unofficial London brand affiliation.

All have a stronger association with the Games than the official sponsors they compete against.

They’ve achieved this by incorporating Olympic imagery into their ads, such as athletes competing in the sports being contested in London.

Though some object to the term “ambush”, it’s clear that their intention is to gain the positive affiliation with the Games without paying the sponsorship fees, which cost in the nine-figure range for top-level sponsorship.

“Few things in top-tier consumer-facing companies occur ‘naturally’ or ‘spontaneously,’ especially when they are engineered to look that way,” says Paul JJ Payack, president of GLM.

“This is why advertisers adept at associating themselves with an event, even though they are not ‘official’ sponsors of that event, can often out-perform official sponsors.”

Subway, for instance, is roughly two times as likely as official Olympics sponsor McDonald’s to be associated with the Games.

That’s mainly because swimmer Michael Phelps, the most decorated Summer Olympian ever, appears in Subway ads.

“Subway is acknowledged as a leader in this regard [ambush marketing] with their close ties to Michael Phelps, who in many minds personifies the Olympic brand and spirit: clean-living, hard-work, pulling himself up by his own bootstraps,” says Payack.

Some sponsors are still reaping the benefits of past sponsorship. Lenovo, for example, ended its sponsorship deal after the 2008 Beijing Games, but the company is three times as likely as the computer vendor that took its place, Acer, to be associated with the Olympics.

The benefit to these ambush marketers is clear.

They get all of the positives of Olympic sponsorship – the feel-good vibes, the legitimacy, the eyeballs – at a much lower expense.

The International Olympic Committee is not happy about this, of course.

During last year’s Vancouver Games, it successfully lobbied the Canadian Parliament to pass a bill restricting the use of certain combinations of words and numbers in advertising, such as snow, winter and games, to prevent non-sponsors from piggybacking on the Games.

Still, clever advertisers always find a way around that.

Red Bull, which consistently ranks near the top of the ambush list, recently bought naming rights to the new velodrome in London that will house the indoor bicycle events, ensuring the brand name will be heard in broadcasts even if its ads will not.