My thoughts on the Blimp funding....

[Jim K]

Whenever I go to the Blimp website, I never know where we stand or if this thing will be in the air tomorrow.

It seems that it's been a struggle to keep this thing flying laely.

My suggestion would be to set a firm stop date (I'll suggest Super Tuesday) and come up with a flight plan and price tag to fund it until then.

I think the lack of funding has a lot to do with people not knowing how long this thing will stay in the air.

A firm date and plan will help with that.

We NEED this thing in the air through Super Tuesday and we need it to hit a lot of spots between now and then.

To the blimp people - give us a firm date and firm pricetag, and rest assured, it WILL be funded.

Jim

 

[gecko42]

I hope that's true, but I find a strong resistance to funding it even though it's been super successful. I think they should ground it until people kick in the money. The owner and blimp team have been more than generous. I hope you prove me wrong!

 

[Elijah]

I agree. I will get some more concrete info up right away. Right now the blimp will fly up until the debate but it needs some more for Super Tuesday and we need to make it very very clear.

 

[Crickett]

Blimpette said today that they do not have the funds to go to 2/5. They are going to Boca Raton, then NC and then it will be grounded unless someone comes up with money. They did say that they have some other (cheaper) ideas on what they can do instead, though..

 

[Elijah]

, we just updated the main page to include its current status and it will be updated shortly to give a goal and deadline for Super Tuesday.

 

[tcindie]

Seems to me it would be more effective to get it over to Arizona, keep it grounded for a while, and put it back up at the stadium for the super bowl. Otherwise, it's really not a cost effective solution. The cost of running the blimp can buy a large amount of airtime on radio and/or tv.

 

[Elijah]

Ok, we just updated the site.

Basically it comes down to fly it back to its home on the 25th or keep it funded for 10 more days, through Florida's primary and hit a super Tuesday state. Here is a new blimp commercial and a blimp update for everyone. Please spread this around. Let everyone know this is the finale and the last showing should be at the debate in Boca Raton tomorrow night if it does not get funded.

It has been hugely successful either way it goes and I thank everyone for there support with this project! Millions of people have seen this from the ground and it has inspired a ton of Ron Paul supporters and gotten millions in publicity!! Very very successful project that all of you made happen!

This is it folks!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Boj_3PcczCs
http://www.highlandmediaworks.com/ronpaulblimp/

 

[mdevour]

Would it face the same hurdles?

Hmmm, so the idea is to use the same structure as they've used to do the blimp, to essentially act as a broker for television advertising seconds (or milliseconds).

What would the cost be for a prime-time minute on ABC, NBC, or CBS, like during the evening news or Wheel of Fortune? Now break that down into milliseconds... what would that cost me, eh?

It might be the only way to get the grassroots to shake loose with enough funds to get ads going on the broadcast networks, seeing as how the funding for the official campaign isn't going to do it very soon...

But, I wonder if you're going to run into the same BS resistance from the idiots who could never get their heads around the fact that the only way the blimp could have flown without directly reducing the amount of money that "donors" could give to the official campaign, was this concept of a private company re-selling pre-packaged advertising time to "subscribers" or "customers."

I mean, how dare we, Republicans and Libertarians, of all people, embrace the notion of private enterprise, entrepreneurism, and creatively working around oppressive government regulation? Since we support a candidate who advocates Austrian economics, free markets, individual liberty, and private property rights, obviously we can only give our time to the cause for free... no, not for free, but at great personal cost, ain't that right? Or else we're greedy capitalist pigs! It's gotta hurt! You gotta go broke to support Dr. Paul!

<sigh>

Elijah, Trevor, all you folks have done superbly. Thank you. I only hope enough of the grassroots has the vision to allow you to capitalize on the experience you've gained in this project, rather than let it go to waste.

For Liberty!

Mike D.

PS> Hang onto those banners... You never know, do you?

 

[gecko42]

Seems to me it would be more effective to get it over to Arizona, keep it grounded for a while, and put it back up at the stadium for the super bowl. Otherwise, it's really not a cost effective solution. The cost of running the blimp can buy a large amount of airtime on radio and/or tv.

Actually the blimp earns over $6 of media for every $1 spent on it. It's very cost efficient. See the media thread for details.

 

[gecko42]

Sorry, advertising is necessary too.

 

[4celling]

I can help with Blimp funding...

Please see one of my other posts here:

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=102236

I can implement what we're doing just as easily for the Blimp Project and it could raise $$$ fast, especially using a blimp and a phone number

thanks
Scott Hawkins
4Celling.com
415-532-4552

 

[macdee]

Cell Phone Blimp Donation Project - Free Ron Paul Song Plus Ringer Tone!

Scott had suggested using cell phones to make grassroots donations to Ron Paul's presidential campaign. The idea by itself needs to be jazzed up in order for it to work. I suggest if one makes a donation using a cell phone, then they will receive FREE one of the great "Ron Paul Songs" as found near the bottom of the page of the link below...

http://www.ronpaulaudio.com/

I would think that there are lots of Ron Paul supporters which would like one of these Ron Paul songs on their cell phone, perhaps as a ringer tone. We've all heard these great songs on YouTube and the Ron Paul Radio website... and the song itself is FREE! This will make the donation of value to the grassroots Ron Paul contributor! A well deserved reward for their donation and continued support for Dr. Paul.

A date should be set to make these new cell phone donations to create interest from potential donors to the Ron Paul grassroots campaign. We would need to build up the idea and present it in an exciting way. I would suggest February 5th "Super Tuesday" as the date and present it as a national voting campaign to show a "support of confidence" in Dr. Paul! The cell phone donation+song campaign could also be aligned to the next MONEY BOMB effort! The funds raised could go to the Ron Paul Blimp or another grassroots fund raising campaign effort, such as funding one Ron Paul TV campaign Ad using one of the great unconventional YouTube videos.

Since the cell phone idea was presented by Scott, I thought I'd make a suggestion to flesh out the idea and how to promote it. A question I have is how much is the startup cost for a cell phone donation fund raiser. We would need to know this first in order to consider the value of this new "cell phone donation" project. Note that this could bring in international donations. This is a NEW and exciting direction folks!

Here is some "thinking" music for your enjoyment. Hit the play button often!
Set it to continuous play... I did. Then sit back and think about the possibilities...

http://www.ronpaulaudio.com/rpaudio/RonPaulRonPaul.m3u


Regards,

MacDee

The magic of music and ringer tones! What are your thoughts....

 

[4celling]

Great idea MacDee!

MacDee...that's a GREAT idea!

Here's the demo number you can call if you are on an AT&T system, where you can LISTEN to a song and Press #1 to buy it. Once you've done so, you get a text message with a link to the music (encoded per transaction) OR you can forward that to your home email OR you could even DOWNLOAD it to your mobile if your phone supports downloading MP3 files.
Try it:
419-579-3777

SO, your idea is EASY EASY EASY to implement..just put in one of the Ron Paul songs, set a single price ($1, $3, $5, ??) and then BAM, it's DONE

I know I had answered the $ breakdown in my original post, but let me also answer your question about setup costs here too:

THERE ARE NO SETUP COSTS!
ZERO, NADA, IT'S FREE!

Anyone who needs to contact me can do so, this would be a killer application for the blimp (or any other fundraising efforts) I can send ANY package back to the phone, not just MP3 files...we can send a .zip full of materials if needed.

Thanks for the continued germination of this idea, let's get rolling...

Scott
415-532-4552

 

[macdee]

Thanks Scott...

This is starting to get me excited about the possibilities. Not only would we have the Internet donations for the next MONEY BOMB... but also a cell phone campaign to bring in even more donations which includes a FREE Ron Paul Song and Ringer Tone! You make a Ron Paul Cell Donation and get a FREE Ron Paul Song+Ringer Tone... Sweet! This is a new direction folks!

Sounds very, very cool to me!

Regards,

MacDee


Here is some "thinking" music for your enjoyment. Hit the play button often!

http://www.ronpaulaudio.com/rpaudio/RonPaulRonPaul.m3u

What are your thoughts....

 

[jcbraithwaite7]

I am now a believer in the blimp. Check out the press we got today

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/frtHEAD01POL012608.htm

If you can support the blimp... it really is worth it for the pr it generates. I have to say that was one of the nicest articles about Ron Paul's campaingn that I have seen... and I'm not just saying it because I was interviewed. I have had so many people mention the blimp to me and I really am impressed with the buzz it generated here.

 

[macdee]

As the Ron Paul Blimp Team takes a well deserved rest, we need to be fleshing out new ideas to generate new sources of funding for ALL of our grassroots efforts. How do we keep the continuous funding of these projects going? Remember that Dr. Paul IS doing his part. And we've made it happen through our donations... and will continue to do our part by always moving forward to the general presidential election this November!

I personally like the new idea of donations coming in from cell phones which would offer a FREE Ron Paul Song+Ringer Tone for new donations coordinated with the next MONEY BOMB! This could bring in additional funding internationally I might add! This is a good idea from Scott Hawkins. Then, where do we send the money to? We need to set this up in advance! Please read the previous posts above.

As we are thinking about the Ron Paul Blimp project and it's current status, there are many other exciting efforts going forward! We can take this time to consider where we are at now, and what's going forward to the November 5th presidential general election. A new subject thread should be started in order for all of us to contribute our very best ideas to these new and exciting fund raising opportunities! With this dedicated effort... we will WIN!

Some may be taking a well deserved rest, but we never rest on the Internet! Note that we are moving forward in ALL other areas in support of Dr. Paul! I encourage everyone to throw out their most creative ideas on the Ron Paul Blimp thread and present a new direction in grassroots funding of Dr. Paul's presidential campaign! I would like to see this fresh start coming from the Ron Paul Blimp Team and supporters.

Winning is easy... getting there is the hard part! Who will stand with me...

Regards,

MacDee


Here is some music for you to enjoy as you contemplate these new and exciting opportunities! Hit the play button often!
Set it to continuous play... I did. Then sit back and consider the unbounded and expansive possibilities...

http://www.ronpaulaudio.com/rpaudio/RonPaulRonPaul.m3u

Always moving forward in a new direction... It's inevitable.. We can't help ourselves but WIN!

 

[gecko42]

Interesting, but this should be a new thread in grassroots. I don't see the relevance to the blimp.

 

[4celling]

Yes, it's ancillary...

True, it isn't specific to any particular effort, it is an extra way, though, for all campaigns to raise money.
The Blimp could have a number, another effort could have another number, etc.

As far as a ringtone deliverable, that's a different issue altogether and one I can't approach. A ringtone could be part of the package (.zip), but on my end I won't be able to deliver a tone that will be installed automatically
Our gateway is the revolutionary part of this, the ability to charge donations to a cell phone.

If anyone wants to flesh this out, please mail me directly or call
thanks again for the support

 

[szczebrzeszyn]

So what's going on with the blimp now? is it flying somewhere?
I'm a bit confused with the current website design - it's hard to grasp what the status is...

 

[driller]

I don't get it. It may be my older age, but I feel a blimp is dumb. I would rather see bilboards, and TV comersials. Blimps have never made me buy anything.

Blimmps are fun toys and attract the youthful side of people, like seeing a kite with a banner attached.

Planes with a big banner will do more than a blimp and cheeper.

Run the campaign the way you should run the presidency with spending controls and logic.