Economist gives the world a chance to vote

Hong Kong - The Economist has launched an interactive website called the "Global Electoral College" that allows people all over the world to cast their vote in the US presidential election and instantly see which candidate is the most popular online.

Eight Partnership was tasked to conceptualise and develop the website including creating a marketing campaign to promote the site aimed at attracting the widest number of voters.

The website, which already has more than 16,000 visitors since its launch, features an interactive map that updates regularly when users cast their votes from across the globe. The countries are coloured either red to represent Republican party candidate John McCain or blue to represent Democratic party candidate Barack Obama.

Detailed statistics are available by country with each nation given a set number of electoral votes according to its population.

To promote the website, an integrated campaign comprising print ads are published in the magazine featuring the support of people from all over the world.

Charles Brian-Boys, managing partner for Eight, said The Economist's tremendous reach and credibility amongst the world's most influential people is what made the initative possible.

"No one else has done anything as inclusive or on such a scale. We hope to pull an audience that will truly reflect the views of the world as the U.S election approaches", Brian-Boys added.