Auto Sales Forecast Hit By Analysts' Loss of Confidence

Automotive sales forecasts for 2009 are getting repeatedly slashed as consumer confidence plummets. New numbers from J.D. Power show an anticipated 10.4 million unit sales, that's 1 million less than the number they had going into 2009.

With the stock market falling to a number that is half from it's peak in 2007 and with mid-600,000 numbers of new people seeking unemployment benefits, no of this comes as a surprise.

From the Associated Press: "Automakers such as Kia and Subaru, which many car buyers view as high-value brands, could also outperform the competition, he said. Subaru is the only automaker that Toprak expects to post a sales increase for the month.

Sales of the automaker's top-selling all-wheel drive Forester, which starts at $19,995, more than doubled to 5,162 units in January." more.

Measurement Matters More Than Ever

"I know that 50% of my advertising is wasted. I just don't know which half," retail guru John Wanamaker famously quipped in 1886.

It wouldn’t be a marketing blog without quoting Wanamaker at some point. iMedia just released a new report showing how important marketing dollar effectiveness is in this downturn. Clients are more interested than ever about how effective their dollars are being spent. With fewer customers, reduced demand and making the most of every dollar spent in a financial crunch are the utmost importance in every industry, especially automotive.

As an industry, automotive online media teams typically don’t suffer from a lack of data. So now is the time to bring those analysts in to see how media is performing and to move your buys more to behavioral targeted communications that have higher conversion rates. According to Jupiter Research, “When conducted on lower-funnel researchers, behavioral targeting increases online automotive ads’ effectiveness in capturing consumers’ attention—and therefore generating response.” (August 2007 Report on “Online Automotive Advertising”).

For the cost, homepage takeovers typically do not perform well. Why? Because most people are just not in-market and even if you do attract a higher click-through rate (CTR) with your creative, the quality is low when measuring shopping behaviors for an automotive brand. Autos are highly considered purchases. Focusing more on in-market, conquest and segment online media buys makes more sense in a marketplace where active shoppers are contracting. Better to focus your media on impacting these buyers than trying high cost awareness buys.

Also, if your media team is only looking at CTR effectiveness, than you need them to refocus their attention to measure shopping behaviors like build & price, dealer searches, and other shopping engagement activities. Understanding the quality of your click-through rate is imperative to making better decisions.

/dodles

/BMW 3-шка

Generation Bling

Social media is all the rage in digital marketing these days with companies venturing out to FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace, and even creating their own community web sites. What approach a manufacturer takes should depend on what goals they want to accomplish with social media and the brand must understand how their customers behave on the web.

One experiment is Generation Benz, an online community established for “an invited group of Gen Y netizens to open up about the brand.” In fact, when I tried to register for the site -- using my real demographics -- I was not accepted. A fellow co-worker had informed me he had a similar issue and “got in” when he completed a profile as a 29 year old. So, keep trying to sign-up if you want to take a peak at the site.

According to Mercedes-Benz USA VP/Marketing Stephen Cannon, “Our Generation-Benz community is a natural extension of our desire to broaden the Mercedes-Benz family, and establish a dialogue with future buyers to guide us with the design of our vehicles and direction of our brand."

So we know Mercedes is interested in taping into their aspirational customers and after spending weeks on the site they are doing a lot of consumer research, online focus group engagement.

Unfortunately, I cannot share content screen shots from the community due to the community’s participant legal agreement that I accepted:

In addition, except as provided in this Agreement, you may not copy, modify, translate, reproduce, publish, broadcast, transmit, distribute, perform, display, license, sell, or create derivative works from any Member Content or any other content appearing on or through the Service.

That said, I can definitely describe what content is presented on Generation Benz. Mercedes is doing several things to engage. Whether they are the right thing to connect with 20-somethings is another thing all together. There are consumer opinion polls where you can vote on how an interior palette makes you feel. One discussion asked users to share their opinion on competing Lexus and Mercedes Benz commercials currently running for the RX350 and M-Class SUVs. None of this really sounds all that compelling to a Gen Y audience but they are getting some participation on the site, particularly when it comes to new and future product content. I should state that community members can "suggest a topic".

A private community is definitely the right strategic approach for Mercedes based on the demographic they are targeting and the type of engagement they are doing. Finding the right topics though seems to be a struggle since this is a marketing organization that starts the discussions, topics are not user-generated which probably reduces usage.

One of the best behaviors on the site is the engagement from Mercedes’ staff that really participates with the community members, making the community feel they have the ability impact the brand’s decisions. Their email communications also encourage participation and repeat visits (see image to the right.)

Without access to primary data showing how effective the site is with attracting repeat visitors, it is difficult to know how well the community is doing. After evaluating all of the current discussion threads on the site, it is clear repeat visits are low and there are only two dominant users of the site with over 300 posts each, others who post tend to have less than 10 posts. Active users only appear to include maybe 20 or so participants, at least across all forum comment sections.

One way it could improve engagement is by giving users a reason to participate. “Consumers have to have some incentive to share their thoughts, opinions and experiences on a company Web site,” according to the Wall Street Journal. There is no incentive on the site. Some things that could improve that include:

The site does give users an indicator showing how many posts they have done. Post indicators provide a visual "game" on community boards which leads to an increase of usage. An indicator should also move people to new levels like newbie, contributor, expert, et cetera as a way to show degrees of engagement. Believe it or not, this stuff actually works in communities as some users view it as a fame reward.

Other incentives could include cash incentives or product promotions, which could include Mercedes lifestyle discounts for apparel. Or really encourage participation by offering a Generation Benz logo hat or t-shirt that could further promote the site to the user’s personal network, make them feel special and that they have exclusive access to the brand.

All in all, the Generation Benz web site is a good example of a community site from an automotive company with a very clear set of goals, reaching out to a target audience they want to engage. It just seems like the site moderators need to find more relevant topics for their users, and less for their marketing department's purposes. They also could benefit by rewarding users with incentives to participate more.

I have poser brains.

Happy little me went on the KTM website tonight to book my return ticket from KL.
KTM website had a little facelift and looks marginally cooler now.
The facelift probably caused some bugs in the system though.
How could all the tickets be booked out already? It's only Thursday night!

Then I realized.

All the tertiary institutions in this (tiny) part of the world are having their recess week.
Half of the students are from Malaysia.
Not only did I not do the math, I wasn't even aware I was having math lessons.
I am truly fucked.

Stats is going to be the death of me.

Yeah another post titled about death and is about statistics, because I'm creative like that.

I'm tremendously busy. I have two assignments due next Monday and Tuesday, and I've spent the best part of this week puzzling myself and Kristy over the Stats assignment which I presumptuously thought I could finish within a day. Well, guess what, it's the third day already and I'm still at it. The abstract due for Dr. C on media ethics has taken a backseat, and I don't even have a research question yet for that paper. And I'm going back KL tomorrow somemore. Stress stress stress.

I don't mind stats that much, now that I understand it better, just that I have to come up with a silly report and there are so many tables and charts to format, and Dr. W cleverly came up with nine questions, the ninth of which is "analyze the dataset for the aspects NOT addressed by the above questions!" Can you hear the anguished scream of the perfectionist in me?

The Twitter Branding Debate

Since my last post on Twitter, there have been a couple articles and discussions going on about the whole idea of Twittering as a branded company name or using your personal name while representing a brand. I'd like to share some conclusions I have reached that would be effective for any brand, not just automotive. Here it goes...

There are three approaches to Twiiter ID naming for brand communications on Twitter:

1. Simply use the brand name like @Zappos
2. Do a hybrid that adds a friendly name with the brand like @Alicia_at_Honda
3. Name only like @SeattleGirl who Twitters for Microsoft

David Armano recently wrote an article for Ad Age titled “When Personal and Corporate Web 2.0 Brands Collide” where he reaches the conclusion of the concept of “brandividuals” where two brands come together, the personal and the corporate. David doesn’t really take a clear stance on what method is preferred when it comes to branding your Twitter ID name; instead, he just feels “people with real faces” are best for the medium. I agree. The real face matters in the Twitter medium.

The thing I am finding with Twitter is that the real face does come through from effective Twitter communicators like the Zappos CEO Tony or with Frank from Comcast, who Twitters under the ID @comcastdotnet. So, brands with interesting people who can write interesting things, do develop a following under a branded name. You basically don’t need the person’s name in the ID, just the brand name will do. The most important element is having an effective communicator for the brand and effective communication can come from either three methods for Twitter ID naming.

There are two big issues when using option #2 (hybrid) or #3 (using a person’s ID only.)

Regarding a hybrid Twitter ID, it helps personalize the communication by having a person’s name clearly there. That’s the positive. The negative is when a person like Alicia leaves Honda or moves to a new job in the company, the brand would have to change their ID to the hybrid name of the new person. Doing this would lose the thousands of followers gained under the Alicia_at_Honda account. Following is the equity built on Twitter and it would have to be rebuilt under a new identity which is confusing for the brand’s audience and would require some effort by Alicia to help with the transition to a new Twitter ID.

The same issue exists when a company leverages the social following of a personal Twitter ID like @SeattleGirl (Marty Collins). When the person leaves or changes roles with a company he or she has all of the followers attached to their personal account and not a branded ID. This leaves a very messy transition for someone like SeattleGirl where she must promote a new Microsoft identity to get her followers to move to, but they have established their relationship more with her and less with the brand.

Of course even branded accounts that have the person behind the curtain leave can suffer if the new person taking over is less effective. What’s nice about Twitter is that it is very democratic. I can simply un-follow you with a simple click if I don’t like your communication updates.

The big benefit of going with a branded Twitter ID like @JetBlue is that they don’t have to rebuild their following like options 2 and 3 do. It is also quite clear from an effectiveness perspective to see how well the brand is doing if it is gaining a large following. This is really difficult to measure when option #3 is used, because there can be a lot of reasons why a person is being “followed.” It could’ve been from a prior following, the person’s professional network, fame factor, or other things that may have more to do with the person than say an interest in the brand. So, it is difficult to tell if the brand is really effective in the Twitter medium when using option 3.

My belief is that brands should use a brand ID when doing Twitter or any social media communication. Their equity, in the long-term, will go beyond just one person if the brand is committed to social media. The number of Followers the brand is able to engage over several staffing changes will establish effectiveness on a medium like Twitter.

VW Space UP!

Space Up! is a new concept car from Volkswagen. This family car was first introduced at the 2007 Tokyo Auto Show. VW Space Up! Is a fun car that offers maximum space on the smallest of platform. The exterior design has a very straight lined. This cool car has 3.68 meters length , 1.63 meters width and a large 18 inch wheels with 165/50 tires. The interior has four seat and in the rear is implemented with two integrated child seats. Each of the cushion of the seats has an airflow foam that automatically adapt to individual anatomies. All seat can also be folded and removed except the driver seat.

The engine is using environmentally friendly gasoline engines, diesel engines and electric powertrains. The engine is located in the rear. This cool car also has an 8 inch monitor display that shows vehicle information such as vehicle speed, fuel level, range and CO2 emission. All of the conceivable functions are controlled by a touch screen integrated with proximity sensors that reacts to gestures and specific hand movements. VW Space Up! Is a fun family car with confident design and extremely comfortable seats.

/Actros

/scania

Death was on Dr. W's mind today.

"Do you realize how long it hasn't been raining? I haven't seen rain for at least two weeks. This climate change is horrible! We're all going to die!!"

"Then you may wonder, what's the use of learning statistics if we're going to die anyway. But let's enjoy statistics before we die!"

"So, for regression analysis, it's like, you have one bowl of rice, you gain a kg, you have two bowls, you gain two kgs, you have 100 bowls, you gain 100kgs. Then you die."

Is Twitter Right for Automotive Marketing?

I have been following Twitter for a short while, about three months (you’re welcome to follow me @cbaccus.) So, please understand that I am not a Twitter evangelist. I’m also not anti-Twitter. I simply want to learn what is effective and see what brands (particularly automotive brands) are doing on this channel.

Varying Efforts: Ford, Volvo and Nissan

So far, there are a couple of efforts that have caught my attention. One is the work of Scott Monty, the social media person from Ford’s PR team, to see what he is doing to promote Ford’s brands on Twitter. The other efforts come from product launch “trials”. Volvo recently started a XC60 Twitter account and so has Nissan with their Nissan Cube launch. They are two efforts that are using Twitter to try to gain an audience.

First let’s look at Scott’s endeavors at Ford.

For disclosure purposes, Scott is a client of mine in a round about way. I don’t work directly with him but I work for the agency of record on the Ford marketing account and have met Scott, but I don’t know him well nor have I worked on any direct projects with him. I just have simply observed by following his blog and Twitters.

This week Scott is getting trashed by Jalopnik, a very popular automotive blog. The dig was mainly one about the power of Twitter as a way to sell cars along with some personal attacks focused around Scott’s strong ability to self promote. I’ll focus on the selling cars part of the criticism levied by Ray Wert of Jalopnik who questions if Monty’s efforts really impact automotive sales.

From listening to Scott, he has established some strong relationships on Twitter and claims to have had some impact on changing Ford’s brand perception through his communications with those who have forgotten about Ford or have a negative perception of Ford from prior experience. The most public example is Scott’s traction with technology blogger Scobleizer.

Scott is a PR guy at Ford. So, he is primarily focused on improving Ford’s image by influencing media coverage. Improving the brand’s image should eventually result in increased sales and, yes, it may take years to really have any significant impact on sales. But I wouldn’t call what Scott is doing marketing. He is doing public relations.

The other efforts by Volvo and Nissan are truly marketing efforts. Volvo’s communications on Twitter 90% of the time promote drive events where the new vehicle is being toured around the States and the marketing team is using Twitter to promote event location and timing. If you are not interested in these events or are too much of a Twitter fanatic that you can’t just look up the event location on Volvo’s XC60 blog than the Twitter follow loses all value. The other 10% of posts comment on questions people ask the account administrator.

Nissan’s effort was to create a personality for the vehicle. They Tweeted (is that what it’s called?) witty phrases that imitated the car’s personality. It was rather urbane stuff, but for the Nissan Cube fanatics I’m sure it was kind of fun for them and probably produced a grin or two every time a new Tweet came across. Plus the Tweets kept the vehicle in the consumer’s mindset. The problem is very few people followed it with barely a 100 followers, and considerably less once you exclude the agency and Nissan employees who followed it.

The Importance of Twitter

The above examples are not sweeping endorsements of Twitter for automotive marketing, but don’t give up just yet. Understanding why Twitter is even considered right for marketing in social media is still important to automotive brands.

There seem to be two dominant, related themes that are drawing brands to Twitter.

1.) The Power of Relationship Marketing that has been promoted in books like Groundswell.
2.) The idea that mass advertising has lost its impact. Seth Godin says, the strategy is to market to the Innovators, “because they care. These are the people that are obsessed with something and, when you talk to them, they’ll listen, they like to listen and it’s about them and if you are lucky they’ll tell their friends.”

So Twitter is about relationships and it’s about word of mouth impact. Some brands are finding success through Twitter by leveraging the popularity of Twitter advocates. American Express recently started Open Forum, an online community for small business owners with Guy Kawasaki a well-known author and entrepreneur, writing for the community. Kawasaki has also leveraged Twitter and has attracted roughly 60,000 people, who follow Guy on Twitter, to the Open Forum site. Examples like this is creating a lot of buzz showing the power of Twitter to attract eyeballs to corporate website endeavors. It’s not the only avenue to promote the site; it’s simply part of the marketing strategy.

Is It a Medium Worth Automakers Time?

So can automotive brands find success in this space? Possibly. I would think more success will come from efforts that are about long-term relationships than setting up temporary Twitter accounts for a vehicle’s launch, those will die when the launch budget dries up and besides relationships take time.

I do like how Scott Monty created accounts around different themes for the Ford brand, like @FordDriveGreen. Unfortunately, very little is posted on these Ford branded Twitter accounts and most of the Ford communications are done via the @ScottMonty account. So, very little relationship marketing is happening from a branded account; instead one person is becoming the relationship, which is risky especially when Ford and Scott part ways.

That said, there is hope that relationship building could happen and could positively impact a brand’s perception if it is an early adopter, which is something Scott Monty is trying to do at Ford by using Twitter so extensively. I agree with Scott’s approach that Twitter is about building relationships and relationship marketing is a driving force that does have some success stories and will have more, even in the automotive world… eventually. Provided they are done right with an achievable goal, effective branding, developing meaningful relationships through honest dialog, and by participating in social media beyond just promoting your marketing driver events.

Audi’s Not So Super, Super Bowl

The Audi A6 launch happened Super Bowl night where they promoted their The Chase commercial, complete with full-on action sequence scenes from The Transporter film star. It was adrenaline, alpha male content at its best. Car shot --> Flash to Driver --> Car Jumping --> Audi badge shown --> driver’s face full of intensity, hand clinching steering wheel action.

The online presence was anything but. Sure you could click on a small box in the lower right to see how The Chase was filmed, but Audi’s A6 website was all about setting the brand up as the luxury make for this decade.

Audi has been having some fun with its competitors’ comical stereotypes (see Meet the Beckers post.) Their assault on Mercedes, BMW and Lexus continues as the Audi sells itself as the brand that has been plodding to rein the luxury car battle.

The site’s content is divided into decade slices: 70’s for Mercedes luxury, 80’s for BMW yuppies, 90’s for Lexus badged Toyotas, and of course Audi as the “Present Day” current brand innovator. There is one flaw in the message. If Audi is for this decade, the 2000 decade is coming to a close. So what is the luxury make for the 2010 decade? Hyundai?

Message flaw aside, Audi does provide some fun messaging as its products are truly rivaling its German neighbors. The new A6 and recent A5 debut and A4 refresh, not to mention R8 supercar, are all giving the luxury leaders some strong product competition – yet the sales numbers still need to deliver the goods.

The product is ripe. Is the marketing effort?

Let’s evaluate the Super Bowl ad. Josephe Jaffe rips the Super Bowl ad strategy to shreds in his seminal work Life After the 30-Second Spot.

“Let’s expose the quality of the audience for what it really is. A bunch of intensely inebriated viewers who are about as likely to purchase a car or ship out a package the next day as is Pete Rose to ride the next Triple Crown winner to victory.”

A bit of a rough, arguably simplified and even flawed assessment of the Super Bowl audience, but Jaffe’s point is to mock the reach of this single day event. The reality is the likely to purchase affect is fairly poor considering the cost to participate in the day’s hype. Besides, it’s more about the hype generated than the ad running at game time and unfortunately for Audi no one noticed their spot. It got lost in the mix and that’s a bad result.

The A6 does lag behind the BMW 5-series (45k units), Mercedes E-Class (38k units) and Lexus GS (15k units) with 12,000 units sold in 2008, source Automotive News. But is the issue an awareness issue or something else like quality, brand loyalty from competitor owners or product shortcomings? I wish I could say awareness was the issue and Audi is addressing the awareness through one of the few mass media days left in our culture, but the A6 is a well-known entity in the segment. The bigger issue is probably the brand’s association with Volkswagen and a history of poor quality numbers and the stayed, bland styling the car has had up until the recent model; though, even the styling isn’t a huge departure from the exiting model design.

The Super Bowl spot probably had little to no impact on the vehicle. The Crash spot was male, enthusiast driver focused and Audi has no issue getting that audience’s attention. It does have an issue holding their attention to convert to a sale against some pretty strong competitors. Unfortunately, the Super Bowl spot was not breakthrough and barely memorable (unlike last year’s effort that was oddly memorable as Audi debuted the R8 with a nod to The Godfather film.)

Worse is the TV ad was entirely not integrated with the campaign for the A6 which is trying to message Audi as the luxury car for this decade of luxury consumers. Chase scenes shout more 1970’s Bullit and less present day.

It seems to this marketing person that Audi could’ve better spent their ad dollars by not participating in the Super Bowl TV spot markup. They would’ve reached their audience better through targeted ads. Besides the A6 campaign still needs to decide if it is going for the stunt driver crowd or trying to define itself as the car of the “Present Day”, neither position sounds compelling which is probably part of the reason for the lack of consistent messaging – someone at Audi still doesn’t like the campaign idea I’d venture to guess.

The Pending.

So I've been able to come up with a reasonably truthful abstract of a research proposal for Prof K's term paper, although I was stuck in a rut for the better part of last week, making things up when I was required to talk about the research in class, although I knew that there were gaps in what I was proposing. I've since read more literature and have gone a round circle back to where I started, but at least I've grown a little wiser.

My abstract is a page long, but some Kiasu Kids are sending in four pages. I wonder if they understand what an abstract means. "A statement summarizing the important points of a text." Given that the paper will be about 15 pages long, 4 pages is sure a lot of important points. It will be in my best interest to finish this paper as soon as possible, before I start to work on Dr. C's on an entirely different topic, because I have puny brains that tend to get confused when working on multiple subjects in tandem.

As always I'm afraid to start writing. As stupid as it sounds, I'm always afraid that what I write won't be perfect. Logically I do understand that it's impossible for me at this stage to spurt perfection (ooh graphic) on the spot, but that's how I write - each sentence painstakingly crafted, revisited over and over again, and at the end of the day I end up with two paragraphs done. Two beautiful paragraphs, mind you, but something tells me that this isn't the smartest way to do stuff. I think for this paper I shall try a new approach, i.e. throw in all the ideas with the brokenest English possible, and do my editing at the end once and for all. Maybe that would work.

Oh and I made a new friend this weekend, his name is Kukui and he's from Hawaii. He gave me this brilliant idea of learning Spanish in Guatemala, a total submersion in the culture and the language - and I've been playing with it ever since. Apparently tons of people do that, the classes are held half-day and you do a homestay with a local family so you'd pick up the language really quickly. And you get to do some volunteering work as well, if you want. The first Spanish school result that came up while googling revealed a price range which was quite reasonable, i.e. USD125 per week of 20 hours of lessons, and USD75 with food and board provided with your host family. Which means it is about SGD300 per week, SGD1,200 per month, and if I want to budget for two months it will be SGD2,400, plus SGD600 of miscellaneous expenses ==>SGD3,000. Add in the flight tickets, which I have no idea how much it costs (Alvyc, do you happen to know?), it should be at the range of SGD5,000-SGD6,000 I guess?

As a comparison, a homestay in Tokyo for 15 days, provided by titanplanet.net, costs RM6,500 (inclusive of flight tickets and board) which is around SGD2,720. And that doesn't even include Japanese lessons.

Man it's so doable. Central America has never really been on my travel radar until now - and damn I can't stop thinking about the possibilities! Learning Salsa, cooking the local cuisine, immersion in a totally unfamiliar culture... I'm itching to go somewhere, anywhere! I'm currently saving for Europe which I'm aiming to do next year, as and when I get the time or the permission for fieldwork, so this year I'm probably strapped to Singapore, which is never a cheery prospect. The closest thing that I have to hope for is this conference in August which is held in Boston, but I'm not counting too much on that lest I get really disappointed if it doesn't work out.

I guess time will fly really quickly this year - it's almost March now. I need to move out (I'll save this headache for another post) of hostel in May, and after the last of my classes this semester, it will be full speed on my confirmation report, which hopefully will be done within this year so that I can do data collection next year onwards. And there's nothing spurring me on harder than that. To get funding, to get formal permission to leave. Singapore does good for a base to work hard, to motivate me, but what I really want to do is to see as much of the world as I can before the self-imposed deadline of 30 years old... and there's not much time till then.

I don't really know what I'm going to do after I'm 30. In my head time really just stops there - it's the settle-down-dom ("dom" as in kingdom) and that's pretty much it. Probably involves sperm banks and such, but I wouldn't set it down in stone yet. So the current plan is just to live to the fullest before I'm 30. Sometimes when I'm particularly down I wonder why I'm staying in Singapore during probably the best years of my life. Then I remember that travelling needs money, and money doesn't grow on trees. The only way out, is to stay in.

In other news, Jane Austen's Emma is coming to an end. Loo-going will never be the same again.

2009 SPRING EQUINOX AT CHICHEN ITZA, YUCATAN, MEXICO

This 21st. of March 2009 the Mayan Elder Healers and J-Men Wiseman invite you to participate in the Mayan New Fire Ceremony in their Mayan Sacred Ceremonial Site located within the Mayan Jungle Reserve of Hacienda Chichen. Celebrations will start at 10 AM and participation is free, although donations are highly appreciated by the Mayan Shamans and Healers.

After the ceremony, J-Men Tamay will celebrate a holistic Mayan Zumpul-che ceremony to revitalize mind, body, emotions, and soul, to unite your inner-self with the Cosmos and Mother Nature. Zumpul-che Mayan sweatbath ceremonies are similar to a Mexican Temazcal for their purification and therapeutical healing, but the Maya Zumpul-che is a high mystical holistic experience we surely recommend to anyone visiting Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico.

For registration and booking your participation to this 2009 Spring Equinox celebrations and Mayan ceremonies, kindly email us at info@yucatanadventure.com.mx and we will be happy to help you reserve your participation. Registration to the Mayan 2009 Equinox ceremonies and experiences offered at Hacienda Chichen Resort and Yaxkin Spa, please view their webpages http://www.haciendachichen.com/ and http://www.yaxkinspa.com/ also our own website http://www.yucatanadventure.com.mx/

Friday is Blood Donation Day (II)

Today's Friday. The Thirteenth! *thunder*

So like I mentioned in my last post, I went to donate my blood again. I had made an appointment a week ago to secure a slot, and put my passport into my bag yesterday so I wouldn't forget.

Today at 11:25am I went to the Student Activities Centre. Got my goodies (a cool diary and an even cooler badge in the shape of a red blood drop with AB on it) and filled in the forms. After getting rejected the last time for having weak veins, I was nervous that they'd reject me again - and apparently they had my records, so off I was booted to check my veins, before they would register me. My veins were alright, phew! Then I was sent to the medical checkup station. While waiting I leafed through the free diary, and noted that you can't be sick or have a fever within three weeks of your blood donation day.

*thunder*

It was then confirmed by the physician - they couldn't accept my blood because I had been sick, although I am alright now. Of course I couldn't protest because as much as I want to donate my blood to help people in need, I don't want to end up poisoning them because of my sickly blood. But it was so disappointing that this time round I didn't even clear the registration stage. If this trend keeps up, next time I'd be rejected even before trying to register. I returned the cool diary because I didn't feel that I deserved it, but secretly kept the badge. I know, I know. I'm a pathetic pseudo blood donor.

So that's how I ended up in my office drowning my sorrows with Peel Fresh Mango Juice and some Extremely Salty Chips. Nobody wants my blood. People in the office were sympathetic and cautiously kept their faces straight.

To others reading this who are healthy enough to donate blood: Think of those that can't, and do it. Your blood can save lives, and you never know if you would need the favour returned next time (choi choi choi). As for me, I'm going to keep at this until I finally get it right. Me and my AB+ blood shall prevail.

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เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบ เมืองนานกิง จีน

เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบนานกิงตั้งอยู่เมืองนานกิง ตอนเหนือของจีน สร้างราวคริสต์ศตวรรษที่ 15 ในสมัยราชวงศ์หมิง เจดีย์มีลักษณะทรงรูปแปดเหลี่ยม หลังคามุงด้วยกระเบื้องเคลือบสีเขียว ชายคาแขวนกระดิ่ง 80 ลูกโดยรอบ องค์เจดีย์ก่ออิฐประดับกระเบื้องเคลือบยอดแหลมเป็นทรงกลมต่อขึ้นไปเคลือบทอง เดิมองค์เจดีย์มีเพียง 3 ชั้น ในประมาณพ.ศ. 1973 จักรพรรดิยุ่งโล้โปรด สร้างอีก 6 ชั้น รวม 9 ชั้น มีโซ่โยงจากเหลี่ยมของเจดีย์ 8 เส้น มีกระดิ่งตามแนว 72 ลูก ปัจจุบันเจดีย์ทรุดโทรมมากเนื่องจากถูกเผาสมัยเกิดกบฏไท่ผิงเมื่อ พ.ศ. 2392

http://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบ

รายละเอียด ที่เกี่ยวข้อง จากการค้นหา :

เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบเมืองนานกิง : Porcelain Tower of Nanking
เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบเมืองนานกิง เป็นสิ่งก่อสร้างเจดีย์รูปแปดเหลี่ยม สูง 9 ชั้น สูง 261 ฟุต หลังคามุงด้วยกระเบื้องเคลือบสีเขียว มีกระดิ่งแขวนไว้ 80 ลูก ...
www.wonder7th.com/2nanking.htm

เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบนานกิง
เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบนานกิง. สถานที่ตั้ง เมืองนานกิง ประเทศจีน ... เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบเมืองนานกิงเป็นเจดีย์รูปแปดเหลี่ยม สูง 9 ชั้น สูง 60 เมตร มีระฆัง ...
www.thaigoodview.com/library/studentshow/st2545/5.../nanking.html

เจดียกระเบื้องเคลือบนานกิง
เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบนานกิง ตั้งอยู่ที่เมืองนานกิงที่อยู่ทางตอนเหนือของประเทศจีน สร้างขึ้นในสมัยของราชวงศ์เหม็ง เมื่อประมาณคริสต์ศตวรรษที่ 15 ...
www.thaigoodview.com/library/studentshow/st2545/4.../nanking.html

เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบเมืองนานกิง - Dek-D.com > Board
Dek-D.com > Board >เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบเมืองนานกิง-ชื่อสถานที่เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบเมืองนานกิง: Porcelain Tower of Nankingสถานที่ตั้ง ...
dek-d.com › Board › 3.มีรูปเด็ด › 3.4 รูปของแต่งมายไอดี

===> เจ็ดสิ่งมหัศจรรย์ของโลก <===
ข้ามไปยัง 1) หอเอนเมืองปิซา‎: เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบเมืองนานกิงเป็นเจดีย์รูปแปดเหลี่ยม สูง 9 ชั้น สูง 60 เมตร มีระฆัง 152 ...
school.obec.go.th/nkwy/tiplearn/old/pages/7wonder.htm

เด็กดีดอทคอม > Writer > 360 องศา > ตอนที่ 62 : สิ่งมหัศจรรย์ยุค ...
เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบนานกิง. สถานที่ตั้ง เมืองนานกิง ประเทศจีน. ปัจจุบัน สามารถเข้าเยี่ยมชมได้. เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบ เมืองนานกิงเป็นเจดีย์รูปแปดเหลี่ยม สูง ...
writer.dek-d.com/Writer/story/viewlongc.php?id=247173&chapter...

เมืองนานกิง (หนานจิง) มณฑลเจียงซู สาธารณรัฐประชาชนจีน
เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบ ตั้งอยู่ที่วัดต้าเป้าเอินในเมืองนานกิงซึ่งเป็น เมืองเอกของมณฑลเจียงซู ทางภาคตะวันออกของจีน เป็นสิ่งก่อสร้างเจดีย์รูปแปดเหลี่ยม สูง 9 ...
ทัวร์เมืองจีน.com/nanjing/

@บ้านจอมยุทธ[[:::BAANJOMYUT:::> สิ่งมหัศจรรย์ของโลก
เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบนานกิง วิหารเซนต์โซเฟีย ปราสาทหินนครวัด ทัชมาฮาล พระราชวังแวร์ซายส์ · ตึกเอ็มไพร์สเตท เขื่อนฮูเวอร์ สะพานโกเด้นเกรท เรือโดยสารควีนแมรี ...
www.baanjomyut.com/library/wonderful/nanging.html

สิ่งมหัศจรรย์ของโลกยุคกลาง
ข้ามไปยัง เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบนานกิ่ง‎: เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบเมืองนานกิง ...
ecurriculum.mv.ac.th/thai/m.6/unit5/lesson1/toonbuly2/mahutsajan2.html

7 สิ่งมหัศจรรย์ของโลกยุคกลาง
เจดีย์กระเบื้องเคลือบเมืองนานกิง เป็นสิ่งก่อสร้างเจดีย์รูปแปดเหลี่ยม สูง 9 ชั้น หลังคามุงด้วยกระเบื้องเคลือบสีเขียว มีกระดิ่ง แขวนไว้ 80 ลูก ...
pirun.ku.ac.th/~b4710124/7wonder2.html

travel, tour, tourism, world, travel packages, travel guide, travel tips, travel agency, travel information, travel advice, world travel guide, worldwide travel, world travel ticket, world ventures, world map, travel destinations

Bottlenecked

Hate it when it happens
Whole research is at a standstill
Because of some foundational concepts that I can't get through
Can't get through this can't continue writing
As if I already started writing

Grey grey grey grey apa warna tu kelabu

I'm going for a play tonight
It's in the city which is always a hassle
Probably means that I will go to Fairprice Xtra tonight
Stare at the fruits again and go home
The ants are gone but they might be standing by

wtf mana saya punya breakthrough

Tomorrow I'm trying to donate blood
I hope they don't reject my good AB+ blood again
yeah I know since only other AB people can take it
It's not as good as O blood
But for the sheer novelty of an AB type
They should just take my bloody blood

No energy why still stuck at the concepts saya berkeluh

Porcelain Tower of Nanjing China

travel, tour, tourism, world, travel packages, travel guide, travel tips, travel agency, travel information, world travel guide, world travel ticket, world map

http://ancientwondersdasmonalisa.blogspot.com/2007/12/middle-ages-seven-wonders.html

Porcelain Tower of Nanjing China

The Porcelain Tower (or Porcelain Pagoda) of Nanjing (Chinese: 南京陶塔; pinyin: Nánjīng Táotǎ), also known as Bao'ensi (meaning "Temple of Gratitude"; Chinese: 大报恩寺, Da Bao'en Si), is a historical site located on the south bank of the Yangtze in Nanjing, China. It was a pagoda constructed in the 15th century during the Ming Dynasty, but was mostly destroyed in the 19th century during the course of the Taiping rebellion. The tower is now under reconstruction.

Description

The tower was octagonal with a base of about 97 ft in diameter. When it was built, the tower was one of the largest buildings in China, rising up to a height of 260 feet with nine stories and a staircase in the middle of the pagoda, which spiraled upwards for 130 steps. The top of the roof was marked by a golden sphere. There were originally plans to add more stories, according to an American missionary who in 1852 visited Nanjing. There are only a few Chinese pagodas that surpass its height, such as the still existent 275 ft tall 11th-century Liaodi Pagoda in Hebei or the no longer existent 330 ft tall 7th-century wooden pagoda of Chang'an.

The tower was built with white porcelain bricks that were said to reflect the sun's rays during the day, and at night as many as 140 lamps were hung from the building to illuminate the tower. Glazes and stoneware were worked into the porcelain and created a mixture of green, yellow, brown and white designs on the sides of the tower, including animals, flowers and landscapes. The tower was also decorated with numerous Buddhist images.

History

The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing was designed during reign of the Yongle Emperor (r. 1402-1424) shortly before its construction, in the early 15th century. It was first discovered by the Western world when European travelers visited it, sometimes listing it as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. After this exposure to the outside world, the tower was seen as a national treasure to both locals and other cultures around the world.

In 1801, the tower was struck by lightning and the top three stories were knocked off, but it was soon restored. The 1843 book The Closing Events of the Campaign in China by Granville Gower Loch contains a detailed description of the tower as it existed in the early 1840s. In the 1850s, the area surrounding the tower erupted in civil war as the Taiping Rebellion reached Nanjing and the Taiping Rebels took over the city. They smashed the Buddhist images and destroyed the inner staircase to deny the Qing enemy an observation platform. American sailors reached the city in May 1854 and visited the hollowed tower. In 1856, the Taiping destroyed the tower in order to prevent a hostile faction from using it to observe and shell the city. After this point, the tower's remnants were forgotten and it lay dormant until a recent surge to try and rebuild the landmark.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porcelain_Tower_of_Nanjing

Details from the search :

Porcelain Tower of Nanjing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
When it was built, the tower was one of the largest buildings in China, ... The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing was designed during reign of the Yongle Emperor ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porcelain_Tower_of_Nanjing

Interesting Facts About Porcelain Tower Of Nanjing - Fun Facts ...
Learn some interesting and fun facts about Porcelain Tower of Nanjing, situated in China, which was one of the 'Seven Wonders of the World' during Medieval ...
lifestyle.iloveindia.com/.../porcelain-tower-of-nanjing-3569.html

Porcelain Tower of Nanjing, China - 7 wonders
The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing does not exist now but it was located on the south bank of the Yangtze. It means the “Temple of Gratitude”, also known as ...
www.7wonders.org/.../china/nanjing/porcelain-tower.aspx

Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
The Porcelain Tower is in Nanjing, China, out on the banks of the Yangtze River. The Chinese people called it the Boa'ensi or the “Temple of Gratitude”. ...
library.thinkquest.org/.../porcelain_tower_of_nanjing.htm

The Kerala Articles: Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
22 Nov 2007 ... The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing (Bao'ensi = Temple of Gratitude) China The Porcelain Pagoda, as illustrated in Fischer von Erlach's Plan of ...
keralaarticles.blogspot.com/.../porcelain-tower-of-nanjing.html

Wonders of the World series: The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing, also known as the temple of gratitude, is a historical ... site located on the south bank of the Yangtze in Nanjing, China. ...
www.femalefirst.co.uk/.../Wonders+of+the+World+series+The+Porcelain+Tower+of+Nanjing-662.html

Porcelain Tower of Nanjing: Facts, Discussion Forum, and ...
Nanjing served as the capital of China during several historical periods and .... The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing was designed by the Chinese Emperor Yongle ...
www.absoluteastronomy.com/.../Porcelain_Tower_of_Nanjing

StateMaster - Encyclopedia: Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing. Image:Http://wonderclub.com/WorldWonders/images/Porcelain.jpg. Location: Nanjing, China, out on the banks of the Yangtze. ...
www.statemaster.com/.../Porcelain-Tower-of-Nanjing

The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing | Travel, Work, Life...!
31 Aug 2009 ... The Chinese Emperor Yongle designed Porcelain Tower of Nanjing. In China it's called Bao'ensi, which mean “ Temple of Gratitude”. ...
www.traveltowork.net/2009/08/the-porcelain-tower-of-nanjing/

Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
It was built in the 15th century on the south bank of the Yangtze River near Nanjing, China. The octagon-shaped Porcelain Tower of Nanjing rose 260 feet ...
www.design-training.com/art/...of.../porcelain-tower-nanjing.html

travel, tour, tourism, world, travel packages, travel guide, travel tips, travel agency, travel information, travel advice, world travel guide, worldwide travel, world travel ticket, world ventures, world map, travel destinations

Renault Ondelios Concept

Renault Ondelios Concept was first introduced at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, Ondelios was inspired by the world of aviation. According to Renault’s Design Director, Renault Ondelios is inspired by motion rather than speed. This luxury hybrid concept is equipped with glazed polycarbonate roof, a pair of gull wing doors that open vertically and futuristic interior.

This Concept car is powered by a 205 HP (150kW) of the 2.0 dCi engine that produce 450Nm of torque. This cool car is using two 20kW electric motors at the front and rear for a brake and boost system that can save more fuels.

Renault Ondelios interior has three rows of (individual) seats that accommodate up to six passengers. Each seat is equipped with an interactive portable multimedia device which can be used for sharing data or multiplayer gaming. The headrest also has speakers plus multi zone HVAC system for each passenger.

Renault Ondelios Specifications :

Introduced at : 2008 Paris Motor Show

Dimensions :

Length ; Width ; Height : 4,805 [mm] ; 1,998 [mm] ; 1,605 [mm]

Height with doors open : 2,230 [mm]

Engine :

Internal combustion engine : 2.0 dCi

Power : 205 HP ; 150 kW

Maximum torque (Nm) : 450, from 1,700 to 3,800rpm

Motors : Two 20kW electric motors

Motor Location : one at the front and one at the rear

Power supply : 4kWh lithium-ion battery. Size: 40dm3. Weight: 50kg

Acceleration from 0 to 62mph : 7.8

CO2 emissions : 120g/km

combined cycle fuel consumption : 4.5 litres/100 km

Transmission : Double-clutch seven-speed automatic transmission, Internal combustion engine drive and electric motor drive

Wheel :

Wheel base : 2,895 mm

Front track : 1,690 mm

Rear track : 1,720 mm

Unladen weight : 1,452 kg

Boot (dm3) : 530

Tires : 255/45 ZR23

Wheels Diameter ; Width : 23" ; 9"

Partners: G Studio (Bodywork), Michelin (Tires), Samsung (Telephone for communication with vehicle)

/next_outdoor_paint

/exterior_scene

Москва, пересечение улиц 1-я Брестская и Васильевской. здание посольства Чехии.

I'm so cool, I got celebrity friends, yeah!

I was doing grocery shopping tonight, at Fairprice Xtra in Jurong Point 2, planning to have fruit meals tomorrow since I'll be chilling out in the dorm the whole day, when I suddenly remembered this trail of ants wandering aimlessly on my desk this morning. Seriously, I tried following the trail but it started nowhere and did not end anywhere either. It was as if the ants just decided to take a walk, just because they could. Now that bothered the hell out of me because I like knowing where ants come from and where they're going. I like to know that they're fulfilling some purpose in life, not just taking a walk out just because it's a fine day. Stupid aimless ants. I didn't get fruits at the end.

So anyway. It was a good day today. It was one of those days when you've got programmes all lined up and random stuff happen in between the programmes filling in the gaps. There was this thing organized by the International Student Centre, going to the MINT toy museum, at a steal of SGD6 inclusive of to-and-fro bus rides and the entrance fees. The original entrance fees cost SGD15 per pax ok. (Wahey, score!) So we gathered at the NTU Chinese Heritage Centre in the morning, expecting to go to the toy museum, when they made us watch some documentaries on overseas Chinese and take a tour around the Chinese Heritage Centre. I don't mind it so much 'coz I like history and stuff but what I didn't like was how they only casually mentioned the Chinese Heritage Centre tour like in one line in the email, and blew up the toy museum, when actually the Chinese Heritage Centre tour took longer than the toy museum tour! Just felt like the toy museum was some kind of ploy to trick us into going into the Chinese Heritage Centre.

"Chinese Heritage Centre" is very tiresome to type.

So then we started the toy museum tour finally at 1pm. The museum was alright. I think SGD15 is a bit pricey, but since I paid only SGD6 (inclusive of transport, wahey, score!) it was okay. The morning of learning about overseas Chinese and the history of NTU was worth it after all. I had made an appointment with Yuen to meet up with a bunch of people "looking for intellectual discussion" at 7:30pm, so since I was free till then me and Roman went to SMU to play boardgames at the Settler's Cafe. And yes I kicked his ass big time, thank you for asking.

So at 7:15pm I met up with Yuen who was in this other meeting with this chap who shoots artsy photos and videos. Yuen's in theatre. She gets featured in newspapers often. She performs for international audiences. I'm so cool, I got celebrity friends, yeah! After the brief meeting we met up with the intellectual crowd and talked philosophy, politics, near death experiences and the Mormon episode in South Park. It was more fun than the toy museum but less fun than board games. Just wanted to give you a scale. Yeah I know all this "intellectual" stuff sounds dodgy and mildly disturbing, long story on how I got into this, lazy to elaborate, Yuen broadens my social circle and she's a celebrity and I'm so cool, I got celebrity friends, yeah!

After that, took the MRT home, stopped by Fairprice Xtra, didn't buy anything, and finally came back. I got two blog comments and three emails, yay! Although you guys aren't celebrities I love you anyway ;) mwah mwah

ok sleepy already bye.

Elle Macpherson Wallpapers

Name : Elle Macpherson

Real Name : Eleanor Nancy Gow

Nickname : The Body

Date of Birth : 29 March 1964

Place of Birth : Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Sign : Aires

Height : 6'

Eyes : Blue

Education : Attended Sydney University

Occupation : Actress, Model, Restaurateur

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So far Friday has been pointless.

Much like this video. I'm a born again fan of Ryan Higa, youtube username NigaHiga.


But yes. So far Friday has been pointless. I'm going to the Toy Museum tomorrow, yeah!

/interior_scene

Mesti. Habiskan. Kertas. Ini.

Hahahaha. Kertas. Macam kertas yang digunakan di tandas.

Hari ini saya akan tuliskan blog dalam Bahasa Malaysia. Maklumlah warganegara Malaysia, telahpun juga diajarkan Bahasa Malaysia secara formal selama dua belas tahun, takkanlah mengembalikan semua kepada cikgu. Cikgu Yew, Cikgu Krim (bukan nama sebenarnya), cikgu siapa lagi? Oh ya. Cikgu lelaki itu yang berambut bercurly-curly (bagaimana cakap dalam BM T_T) itu yang nama saya telah terlupa. Semuanya cikgu yang baik-baik belaka, masalah pada saya yang menderhaka (!!!), selalu tidur dalam kelas.

Alamak. Otak saya tidak dapat berfungsi dengan baik apabila menulis dalam BM. Jika saya hendak tulis dengan cepat, saya akan menaip tatabahasa yang saya tidak tahu dalam Bahasa Inggeris dahulu, selepas itu menterjemahkannya kepada Bahasa Malaysia. Kadangkala dalam Bahasa Cina juga, Bahasa Jepun pun ada. Contoh: Mochiron = 当然 = of course =.... er..... tentunya. Aduhai, level tahap BM saya ini memang mempersiasuikan memalukan Sekolah Menengah (Persendirian) Chong Hwa Kuala Lumpur off Jalan Ipoh.

Terpesong lagi! Tujuan pos blog saya ini ialah untuk menggalakkan diri untuk menghabiskan karangan saya ini secepat mungkin untuk menggunakan masa saya untuk membuat kerja yang lebih merangsangkan seperti menyaksikan Milo Ventimiglia atas Youtube. Amboi betapa segaknya beliau itu. *menitis air liur*

Pandainya saya membazirkan tenaga otak pada perkara bodoh. (Bukan BM yang bodoh, tapi perbuatan memblog dalam BM pada masa genting ini yang cukup.... bodoh. Ei tak dapat cari kata yang lain menggantikan bodoh. Ada siapa yang boleh tolong?) Dahlah mulakan kerja nanti tak dapat balik rumah sebelum 12am.

*Kemaskini*
Bercurly-curly = berkerinting, hahaha
Selepas itu saya terdapat kamus (BI --> BM) di sini. Legalah saya dapat menjawabkan semua pertanyaan saya. TETAPI. Perkataan untuk menggantikan "bodoh" masih tidak dapat dicari.

stupid = bodoh.
silly = bodoh.
moron = orang bodoh.

Oh ya. Kertas itu masih belum siap. Wahai para pembaca yang dihormati, selamat jalan. (Ke blog yang lain yang bukan ditulis dengan BM yang berkecai.)