A blimp is a BAD IDEA - here is why

[FireofLiberty]

So long as it gets media coverage and attention, it's a great idea. If it got enough coverage it could bring forth the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe even a million dollars worth, of ad time. Then, of course, there's the fact that people would see it flying wherever and then be motivated to find out who Ron Paul is if they don't know already, and so many people STILL do not know who Dr. Paul is...

 

[Hook]

We should go after:
Vets
Gun Owners
Christians
Anti-abortionists
Libertarians (assuming they have an open primary)
Traditional/fiscal conservatives
Independents (assuming they have an open primary)


Most college students don't vote.

I think we already have the Libertarian vote locked up. All my libertarian friends are voting for Dr. Paul.

As for the blimp idea, I would say that we should let the market decide. There is always the possibility that "conventional wisdom" is wrong. It has happened before and will happen again. Read the book "Wisdom of Crowds" where it talks about how large groups can collectively figure out solutions to problems that are better than the experts, and are against conventional wisdom.

 

[TVMH]

I agree with the "targeted frequency" position.

I'm guessing the applicable metric here is eyeballs-per-dollar spent.

If that's the case, that gets me to wondering about the efficacy of interstate and major-thoroughfare billboards.

I know they're expensive, but what is the return on investment in terms of eyeballs?

 

[tangent4ronpaul]

rides... (like barnstorming - it seats 12 passengers)

get free publicity before hand via radio station contests for blimp rides.

get free publicity afterwards by inviting the media for rides

get goodwill by offering rides to GOP committee chairmen

get publicity during just by flying around.

it's going to keep moving, so potentially visit 30 cities - $10,000 a city isn't that outrageous. The campaign spent thousands for the venue in Philli, we spend $1,200 for a one hour banner tow and $900 on 50,000 fliers. that kind of puts it in a different perspective.

The campaign is spending $250,000 for radio and TV ads in each of the 4 early primary states and the blimp should be able to visit 3 of those as well as a lot of Super Tuesday states.

I was personally pushing for offering supporter pilots w/ aircraft to convert their plane into a sky-sign (scrolling banner of lights in the sky), giving them a ready made business, if they agreed to fly for us for the rest of the campaign regularly and for free. We could do that to 15-17 planes for the same money, or set them up for banner towing and send them through a class. Still, we couldn't do that before the primaries and it wouldn't have the potential to make national news like a blimp would.

The bottom line as to how good an idea something is, is if people contribute or participate - and supporters had pledged $63,000+ as of last night, this morning us was up to $98,000+, so it looks like people are voting with their pocket books to make this happen and I think it's going to make it.

-n

 

[Man from La Mancha]

The voter base is 100% important, however a blimp is a waste of money when that money could be better spent on more targeted advertising aiming at supervoters and others who are likely to vote in the primaries.

You have one major flaw in your reasoning, your assuming a limited budget, lets do what you suggest and the blimp and anything else some one gets a good idea for. Many months ago in these forum an ad expert suggested at least 6 hits per person to change them. Lets hit them from every direction.

.

 

[Matt Collins]

let people research and come up with their own decision.

I am allowing people to research this. By posting facts about marketing people can read what is out there and decide for themselves. The good thing about freedom is that people are free to make good decisions as well as poor ones. But making an uneducated decisions is potentially harmful. That's why I am trying to explain to as many people as possible why the blimp is a bad idea and backing it up with facts.

 

[FireofLiberty]

Matt, everyone knows your thoughts on the blimp by now. You post them in every thread about it. It's getting more than a little annoying and, yes, it is starting to become like SPAM. I can appreciate your strong opinion on this, but please stop.

 

[thuja]

I have a major in marketing and this is a good idea.

yes, it is! everyone will be talking about it. (instead of your favorite celebrities mishaps)

 

[Sandra]

Matt, that sounds like a great idea. Research a different angle of "attack". They can get them from the air and you can get them from the ground! All angles are covered.

As soon as I can get these damned huge manitees stenciled I'll get them from the water!

 

[Scott Wilson]

A Ron Paul Blimp is an Irresponsible Waste of Money

..

 

[Matt Collins]

They can get them from the air and you can get them from the ground! All angles are covered.

I'm sorry but that makes no sense what so ever. The blimp is not being frugal with funds, plain and simple.

 

[TechnoGuyRob]

You don't get it.

I'm giving $25 for this blimp that I won't give to anyone else. Good luck getting all those $5000 pledgers to use those funds for something else. This isn't just goodwill. Everyone gets something out of this too: a chance to be in the first political blimp in history (not to mention for Ron Paul).

So, yeah, this is not a waste of money at all. People are willing to give money for this reason, but they might not for a billboard (I wouldn't; I'd hoard it for the 16th).

Please stop these threads.

 

[llamabread]

The thing I have argued is that the stuff you propose is great, and thats why all of the meetups doing it and all of the chipins, but at a national level they don't get excited enough to donate. Its just that more people will donate to a blimp than to billboards.

Edit- You see, in technoguyRob's post, he is willing to give $25 to the blimp that he probably wouldn't have spent on something Ron Paul related otherwise

 

[Sandra]

Matt, it was a joke.

You're taking yourself way too seriously. Start your own project, convince others to contribute, and quit telling others what to do. Say over and over again "GRASSROOTS, GRASSROOTS".

No amount of disagreement from you will get others to change their minds.

 

[NewEnd]

But you forget to factor in the price. A yard sign is $5 a most.

You can get 70k yard signs for the price that you can get a blimp. Yard signs last longer and give more impressions over the long term. Therefore they are much more effective for the money even though they are not targeted.

Anytime you have to do advertising look at these two factors:
reach - how many people at once
frequency - how many times per person

A blimp is great at reach but horrible at frequency. Therefore it's a bad place to put money. We don't want to turn every American on to Ron Paul, we just want those who might vote for him.

A blimp could end up being free.... it could pay for itself with donation size ticket prices.

 

[TechnoGuyRob]

A blimp could end up being free.... it could pay for itself with donation size ticket prices.

That's not a bad idea...to cover everything, looks like it's $275/hour/seat.

 

[Hook]

Every idea I've seen on this board has had detractors and naysayers. And most of the ideas have ended up working better than even the originators had anticipated.

The thing is, no one has perfect knowledge of the market. Which is why decentralized markets work better than a few people making all the decisions. With the decentralized grassroots, different ideas can be tried and everyone can support the idea they like. Unlike the official campaign where you don't get to decide where your donation goes.

The best ideas will become apparent soon enough, and everyone will know it. The collective wisdom of the grassroots is greater than any one member.

So chill out Matt, and come up with your own project and market it to the forums.

 

[Primbs]

The thing I have argued is that the stuff you propose is great, and thats why all of the meetups doing it and all of the chipins, but at a national level they don't get excited enough to donate. Its just that more people will donate to a blimp than to billboards.

Edit- You see, in technoguyRob's post, he is willing to give $25 to the blimp that he probably wouldn't have spent on something Ron Paul related otherwise

We need to be inspired to cast votes and inspired to be involved in the campaign.

A blimp will inspire us.

This will energize and maximize our base of support.

 

[Rhys]

This is a PR STUNT. It's not an efficient media campaign. As a stunt, it's brilliant. As a marketing campaign, it falls flat.

I like the stunt.

 

[Man from La Mancha]

Every idea I've seen on this board has had detractors and naysayers. And most of the ideas have ended up working better than even the originators had anticipated.

The.

Hey Mr.Hook, one can not even tell when things will work in the Matrix


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