Television Ads for New Hampshire (and also Iowa)

[MsDoodahs]

How dedicated are you guys to making this thing happen?

Very.

 

[mtmedlin]

However, network stations get out the message to a lot more people. Most regular folks watch the 4 main affiliates. Targeting CNN and the like will be good and bad, good because it's targeting mainly news junkies/political/informed people, but also bad because those people may already have made up their minds. The viewership on the 4 main affiliates doesn't even compare to A&E, MSNBC, Headline News, etc. This is also because many people only have basic cable, or even no cable and can ONLY get the main channels.

It really depends on who we want to get the message out to. I figure most people watching CNN, Fox News, etc. have already heard of Ron Paul and heard him speak at some point. So we'd be targeting people who already know about Ron Paul and may have already made up their minds about the election. That isn't as cost efficient as targeting the general public. We're having issues with name recognition in the general public, because the only media covering Paul (as little as they do it...) is the cable news channels. We know the news junkies know about Paul. We need to get the message spread to the general public, who with the right ads, will be easy to sway due to their disenchantment with the current administration.

Nothing is set in stone, we can keep debating this and vote on it.

I would agree for the most part. What I am concerned with is the number of times that people see the ads. I am a former school teacher (yes, I have a degree in business, political Science and a masters in Education...no I dont know what I will be when I grow up...?) and I know that if you put a small piece of information in a short amount of time in front of someone, it must be repeated over and over again in order to be effective. Nobody learned the Oscar Meyer hot dog song in two or three viewings. I fwe could afford a ton of coverage on the networks, then that is awesome and I am on board. $25000 doesnt go very far on network.
As far as the channels, those were the ones I inputed that I liked. We can get HGTV, Spike, VH1, AMC, etc etc etc.
I specifically chose those channels because I wanted to go after the more intellectual/ politically inclined individuals because so much misinformation has been said about RP, this would give us an opportunity to correct it.

 

[mtmedlin]

We may also look into billboards for S Carolina. I dismissed them for my group in Florida because to get them in my area is nearly $2000 a month but i was looking at a website ( http://www.outdoorbillboard.com/rent_by_state.html ) and they have several for $450 - $600 a month is S. Carolina. I dont know the S. Carolina area very well, so if someone who knows the area wants to look at the locations and let us know if they are good. Some say that they get over 30,000 views a day.
If they allow printed tarps as the media for the billboard (which most advertiser do) then i found ( http://www.echodgraphics.com/index.html ) which was rather reasonable, plus after we stop paying for the billboard we can re-use the tarp. having a 12ft x 20ft sign at a rally would be almost unable to be ignored.

 

[skiingff]

I would agree for the most part. What I am concerned with is the number of times that people see the ads. I am a former school teacher (yes, I have a degree in business, political Science and a masters in Education...no I dont know what I will be when I grow up...?) and I know that if you put a small piece of information in a short amount of time in front of someone, it must be repeated over and over again in order to be effective. Nobody learned the Oscar Meyer hot dog song in two or three viewings. I fwe could afford a ton of coverage on the networks, then that is awesome and I am on board. $25000 doesnt go very far on network.
As far as the channels, those were the ones I inputed that I liked. We can get HGTV, Spike, VH1, AMC, etc etc etc.
I specifically chose those channels because I wanted to go after the more intellectual/ politically inclined individuals because so much misinformation has been said about RP, this would give us an opportunity to correct it.

We'll have a vote on it once we finalize one or two TV ads. We should be able to get a good mixture of networks in. Maybe we can target one broadcast network (eg ABC) and a couple cable networks (Comedy Central, Cable News stations, whatever) to get the best of both worlds.

Once we have TV ads finalized and ready to go, as we're waiting on the pledges to come in we'll decide on the air times and stations.

By the way,

General pledge information
Creator Brandon Lloyd, freedom-loving American
Date created 15th August 2007
Date closes 31st October 2007
Status open for signers; not yet successful
Number of signers 5 / 160 (3.1% of target)
Estimated signers by deadline 60 (37.5% of target)
if signup rate continues as in last week
Categories Democracy and government

We can't do this with only 37.5% of the target met and hold a LEGITIMATE tv advertising campaign. C'mon guys! Pledge now! I'm not asking for you to donate yet, you can hold off on that until we have everything set in stone if you'd prefer, I just want to make sure we'll have the funding to go ahead with this. And only a certain amount of pledgers actually fulfill their obligations, so we need to shoot for 200. If we raise over $20,000, we can purchase more air time for Paul!!!

Even if you can't do $100, sign up for the pledge ANYWAY and donate what you can! The need is urgent!

 

[LibertyEagle]

I suggest along with a description of what you're putting together here, also putting a link to the ads and the pledge bank on The Daily Paul.

 

[DjLoTi]

My friend said he could do it, I'm calling you right now to talk about it

ok you didn't answer your phone. In order to make the commercial, he'd need to pay for renting the gear, and other costs, but he said it'd primarily depend on what you wanna do. So, we'll have to talk about exactly what you want to create, and we can create it. If you want post-production, which is basically editing a product you've already created, that'll cost just a hundred bucks or so, but if you want to create a professional looking commercial, depending on what you want exactly, it's going to cost some money. Exactly how much, I don't know. That's why I need to know what you want to create so I can tell my friend and he can find out.

Me and him have been friends for about 10 years so I know he's good and honest and professional. Just to let you know.

 

[MsDoodahs]

Signed it.

 

[TruthBeKnown]

Hey, glad I found you!

We don't need to form a PAC. I just got this from a member of the meetup group I'm in - we had a meeting on Tuesday, (8/14 - same day this thread started - good to know others are on the same page) & discussed making commercials:

(3) If the communication, including any solicitation, is not
authorized by a candidate, authorized committee of a candidate, or an
agent of either of the foregoing, the disclaimer must clearly state the
full name and permanent street address, telephone number, or World Wide
Web address of the person who paid for the communication, and that the
communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's
committee.

The way I read it, all we have to do is put down a name of our organization,like "Entirely Funded By group name. web address. This advertisement is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee."

I saw ads like that during the last elections here in Caifornia.

Didn't LordXar do the Ames ad with their disclaimer on it? Similar disclaimer can be done for TV ads.

The upside is that since it is not donating to the campaign directly, nor endorsed by the campaign, it doesn't fall under the $2,300. donation restriction. I don't know if PACs do or not, or what the rules are for them, but if all we have to do is write up a disclaimer, why bother with a PAC?

The organizer and several members of our meetup group, have experience putting together & airing television programs - mostly exposing political corruption type stuff (sorry, no porn). So we may be able to help you with some of your questions. Plus we have cameras, editing, etc. Just let me know exactly what you need & want & I'll present it to them.

We also talked about airing commercials late at night - usually much cheaper cost - and who is the audience that late? We thought: mostly people disenfranchised from the system who gave up on voting - maybe we could capture some of these people & give them a reason to vote, and stretch our dollars at the same time?

The way I see it, for MSM airing: we need a schedule of air length, air times, number of times aired, and prices so we know exactly what the costs are going to be upfront. Anyone have that info? If so, please post it. I think it will help generate more $$ if people know exactly what they're donating to & exactly what it is for (so many ads, of such & such length, to be aired this many times, during these hours, on these stations, at this rate) The more people know about what we're doing & the more they understand the specifics, they more they'll want to be a part of it.

Then there's Public Access Television. They won't let you air political commericials, but they will air educational programs, so we were talking about putting together a half hour to one hour segment with clips of each of the candidates positions on various political topics with most of the airtime to Ron giving his positions (sort of the opposite of what they've been doing during the debates where he gets the least time!). This would be approved by most PATVs as we're educating people on the positions of the political candidates. Once people hear Ron's positions compared to the others, I'm sure they'll see the difference & make the right choice! People can submit programs to be aired - usually free on PATV, or if there is a charge, say, for membership, it's usually no more than $50 - $100. per year. Great opportunity for free exposure & we shouldn't miss it - nationwide - on every PATV station! Does anyone have a copy of the debates? Or any clips for this type of project? Please contact me! Two of us in our group are members of 2 different PATV channels so we definitely want to exploit this & we could use all the help we can get gathering clips!

As to billboards, since they can get pricey, too, we're helping another group put up billboards on private property that's adjacent to highways. The Freeway to Freedom thing was a bust because hanging banners from overpasses is usually illegal. So a friend came up with the idea: put up 4' x 8' plywood signs on private property - they can't say anything about that. He even went so far as to see a good spot, pull off the freeway, find the house, talk to the people for 45 minutes, (they didn't know who Ron Paul was, so he had to educate them), left them some urls, brochures, etc., & 2 days later they called him up & told him to put up 2 signs on their property! I've got a guy with a winery who volunteered his property, and am working on 2 more property owners. So far we've got 4 sites confirmed in only a week. Our goal is to have anyone driving into California's Central Coast to know they are in "Ron Paul Country". This should go nationwide if you ask me - so pass it on to all your groups, forums, blogs, etc.

I also thought of airplanes. How about putting "Google Ron Paul" on rooftops of houses along flight paths? I know when I fly, I usually look out the window at some point during take off & landing to see the streets, houses, landmarks, etc. We should give them something to read. Plaster this idea all over the web, too!

We really can't afford to leave any stone unturned - especially if they're practically free ones!

Let's get creative & plaster this nation thru every venue possible! I don't want to hear anybody tell me again they've never heard of Ron Paul!!

 

[Slugg]

As to billboards, since they can get pricey, too, we're helping another group put up billboards on private property that's adjacent to highways. The Freeway to Freedom thing was a bust because hanging banners from overpasses is usually illegal. So a friend came up with the idea: put up 4' x 8' plywood signs on private property - they can't say anything about that. He even went so far as to see a good spot, pull off the freeway, find the house, talk to the people for 45 minutes, (they didn't know who Ron Paul was, so he had to educate them), left them some urls, brochures, etc., & 2 days later they called him up & told him to put up 2 signs on their property! I've got a guy with a winery who volunteered his property, and am working on 2 more property owners. So far we've got 4 sites confirmed in only a week. Our goal is to have anyone driving into California's Central Coast to know they are in "Ron Paul Country". This should go nationwide if you ask me - so pass it on to all your groups, forums, blogs, etc.

Using the same idea, have we tried contacting the OWNERS of the billboards? Educate them if the billboards are not being used, perhaps they would be willing to donate the space.

 

[Man from La Mancha]

truthbeknown thank you for your great ideas and I'm sure the movers and shakers should shortly get back to you but I'm glad you want to help out. It's early yet. I would like to hear their opinions of your proposal. The best thing for aircraft coverage is fields mowed or grown with contrasting plants to make 50ft or bigger letters.

 

[skiingff]

Hey, glad I found you!

We don't need to form a PAC. I just got this from a member of the meetup group I'm in - we had a meeting on Tuesday, (8/14 - same day this thread started - good to know others are on the same page) & discussed making commercials:

(3) If the communication, including any solicitation, is not
authorized by a candidate, authorized committee of a candidate, or an
agent of either of the foregoing, the disclaimer must clearly state the
full name and permanent street address, telephone number, or World Wide
Web address of the person who paid for the communication, and that the
communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's
committee.

The way I read it, all we have to do is put down a name of our organization,like "Entirely Funded By group name. web address. This advertisement is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee."

I saw ads like that during the last elections here in Caifornia.

Okay, I will contact the FEC and look into the legalities of doing so without forming a PAC or using an already established PAC or 527.

Didn't LordXar do the Ames ad with their disclaimer on it? Similar disclaimer can be done for TV ads.

Yes, the Americans United for Liberty PAC disclaimer -- but AUL is a federal PAC registered with the FEC.

The upside is that since it is not donating to the campaign directly, nor endorsed by the campaign, it doesn't fall under the $2,300. donation restriction. I don't know if PACs do or not, or what the rules are for them, but if all we have to do is write up a disclaimer, why bother with a PAC?

I don't believe any group of people can just form up and run ads from the information I have. I believe there are federal elections procedures to follow. However I will contact the FEC so we don't stray over the legal line here to clarify.

The organizer and several members of our meetup group, have experience putting together & airing television programs - mostly exposing political corruption type stuff (sorry, no porn). So we may be able to help you with some of your questions. Plus we have cameras, editing, etc. Just let me know exactly what you need & want & I'll present it to them.

That would be fantastic! More than one ad is needed - we could run them in rotation.

We also talked about airing commercials late at night - usually much cheaper cost - and who is the audience that late? We thought: mostly people disenfranchised from the system who gave up on voting - maybe we could capture some of these people & give them a reason to vote, and stretch our dollars at the same time?

I don't believe exclusively airing late night ads would be effective, we have to get to a broad spectrum of people in the general public to boost Ron Paul's overall name recognition and standing. Although airing some late night would be a feasible option and like you said, we could get many, however they would be viewed by a lot less people and only a certain demographic. Since no one here is a statitician or anything, we can speculate on what that demographic may be and assume they would take Paul's message well, but that is just speculation.

The way I see it, for MSM airing: we need a schedule of air length, air times, number of times aired, and prices so we know exactly what the costs are going to be upfront. Anyone have that info? If so, please post it. I think it will help generate more $$ if people know exactly what they're donating to & exactly what it is for (so many ads, of such & such length, to be aired this many times, during these hours, on these stations, at this rate) The more people know about what we're doing & the more they understand the specifics, they more they'll want to be a part of it.

http://www.spotrunner.com/Schedules/Audience.aspx

Then there's Public Access Television. They won't let you air political commericials, but they will air educational programs, so we were talking about putting together a half hour to one hour segment with clips of each of the candidates positions on various political topics with most of the airtime to Ron giving his positions (sort of the opposite of what they've been doing during the debates where he gets the least time!). This would be approved by most PATVs as we're educating people on the positions of the political candidates. Once people hear Ron's positions compared to the others, I'm sure they'll see the difference & make the right choice! People can submit programs to be aired - usually free on PATV, or if there is a charge, say, for membership, it's usually no more than $50 - $100. per year. Great opportunity for free exposure & we shouldn't miss it - nationwide - on every PATV station! Does anyone have a copy of the debates? Or any clips for this type of project? Please contact me! Two of us in our group are members of 2 different PATV channels so we definitely want to exploit this & we could use all the help we can get gathering clips!

As to billboards, since they can get pricey, too, we're helping another group put up billboards on private property that's adjacent to highways. The Freeway to Freedom thing was a bust because hanging banners from overpasses is usually illegal. So a friend came up with the idea: put up 4' x 8' plywood signs on private property - they can't say anything about that. He even went so far as to see a good spot, pull off the freeway, find the house, talk to the people for 45 minutes, (they didn't know who Ron Paul was, so he had to educate them), left them some urls, brochures, etc., & 2 days later they called him up & told him to put up 2 signs on their property! I've got a guy with a winery who volunteered his property, and am working on 2 more property owners. So far we've got 4 sites confirmed in only a week. Our goal is to have anyone driving into California's Central Coast to know they are in "Ron Paul Country". This should go nationwide if you ask me - so pass it on to all your groups, forums, blogs, etc.

I also thought of airplanes. How about putting "Google Ron Paul" on rooftops of houses along flight paths? I know when I fly, I usually look out the window at some point during take off & landing to see the streets, houses, landmarks, etc. We should give them something to read. Plaster this idea all over the web, too!

Operation NH will focus on TV ads for the first two primary/caucus states (Iowa & New Hampshire), but we definitely need some movers & shakers to get other publicity campaigns going!!!!!

We really can't afford to leave any stone unturned - especially if they're practically free ones!

Let's get creative & plaster this nation thru every venue possible! I don't want to hear anybody tell me again they've never heard of Ron Paul!!

Absolutely. We need to start taking positive action instead of standing back from afar observing or complaining. Yes, WE ALL KNOW the media is ignoring Ron Paul. Complain to them all you want (which we SHOULD), but we can't wait on their response. We need action - we need it now.

 

[skiingff]

HELP NEEDED

We need help to continue to push Op NH hard and get these ads rolling and on the air as quickly and efficiently as possible. We need:

Scripts for a Ron Paul TV ad submitted and voted on by the end of this upcoming weekend (Sunday Aug 19)so we can start producing the ad come next week (Monday Aug 20). You can submit scripts in any of the Op NH threads, PM me, or e-mail them to [email protected]. These must meet the time requirement of 30 seconds. Definitely no more than 30 seconds, alhough a little less would be acceptable. Remember, this is a RP TV ad... be creative, target your audience, and make it good!

We need people to help contact all the meetup groups in the U.S. and spread the message about Op NH. The more people we inform about this project, the more TV ads we can purchase, the better TV ads we can develop, and the better we can get organized with a strong publicity campaign for Dr. Paul. Just PM me if you wanna help me contact the Meetup groups, I've already contacted 15 and will do it all alone if I have to. We also need people to speak to their meetup groups, and I plan to do that, not ONLY contact them online.

We need more people to sign the pledge so by the time the ad gets produced we are ready and funded to roll with it. 10% of our goal is already met!!! Let's make it 15% by the end of today. http://www.pledgebank.com/20kforpaul

 

[TruthBeKnown]

HELP NEEDED

We need help to continue to push Op NH hard and get these ads rolling and on the air as quickly and efficiently as possible. We need:

Scripts for a Ron Paul TV ad submitted and voted on by the end of this upcoming weekend (Sunday Aug 19)so we can start producing the ad come next week (Monday Aug 20). You can submit scripts in any of the Op NH threads, PM me, or e-mail them to [email protected]. These must meet the time requirement of 30 seconds. Definitely no more than 30 seconds, alhough a little less would be acceptable. Remember, this is a RP TV ad... be creative, target your audience, and make it good!

We need people to help contact all the meetup groups in the U.S. and spread the message about Op NH. The more people we inform about this project, the more TV ads we can purchase, the better TV ads we can develop, and the better we can get organized with a strong publicity campaign for Dr. Paul. Just PM me if you wanna help me contact the Meetup groups, I've already contacted 15 and will do it all alone if I have to. We also need people to speak to their meetup groups, and I plan to do that, not ONLY contact them online.

We need more people to sign the pledge so by the time the ad gets produced we are ready and funded to roll with it. 10% of our goal is already met!!! Let's make it 15% by the end of today. http://www.pledgebank.com/20kforpaul

Here's some avenues:

There's an RP national prayer group conference call tonight 5pm PST: 702-851-4044, push 2, then code: 162629 followed by #. This is their first call. I think it'd be OK to call in & ask for help & prayer for the success of this endeavor.

There's also an RP national meetup conference call tonight 6 pm PST: 605-475-8500 code: 5092984 Steve Harris puts it on & he has a guest in the beginning & then opens it up for everyone. Weekly call been goin' on over 2 months now.

Steve Vincent of RP Radio is also having a conference call tonight, same time, 6 pm PST: 712-432-2600 code: 26447 This is his first call & I don't know what his format will be (day/time may be changed to avoid conflicting with Steve H's call - he didn't know about it when he set this one up.)

Three conference calls in one night! Plus the San Luis Obispo Farmer's Market is tonight - touted the largest one in the nation & I believe it - it's about 6 blocks long & you can't see across the street 'cause it's so crowded - I've gone the last 2 weeks to make sure the GOP booth has RP literature out. They had nothing promoting him until I started feeding them material.

Needless to say, I may not be abe to get on all these calls, so anyone who can, please call in & let them know what we're up to, what we need, where to go to help. Please let them know I need clips of debates, speeches, etc. of both RP & other candidates for the 30 min. PATV segment. They can submit them to: [email protected]

My only question is, if I, or anyone else gets on the calls, where should we direct people to help out on OpNH? web address, email address, phone number? where?

Also, there's an RP national organizer meetup group. Join it & post what you need. Last I talked to the organizer, he's got 200 on his list & this is exactly why he did this - to make it easier to get the word out to all the groups:
http://ronpaul.meetup.com/511/

I hope this helps!

 

[MsDoodahs]

Using the same idea, have we tried contacting the OWNERS of the billboards? Educate them if the billboards are not being used, perhaps they would be willing to donate the space.

I contacted an advertising agency yesterday that specializes in outdoor ads, including billboards.

I was told that monthly cost for a billboard in/around every major city in the US will cost you between 4 and 8 grand for appx a month's rental.

I was also told that we'd probably be best off to spot empty billboards, get the contact info, and call the owners because they can cut us deals...or, now that you mention it, donate the space.

As to whether this kind of stuff requires a PAC, my understanding from a read of the ever so legaleezed up language in the FEC regs is that YES, to do this stuff and be within FEC law, we need to form PAC(s).

FWIW...

 

[TruthBeKnown]

Have you seen this one? I really like it! It's around 1:30, much longer than just :30, but I think it'd be really effective for NH, if we could swing it financially. I'm sure whoever made it would be thrilled to have us air it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9lWyp-RQCc

Also, just to share: this one brought tears to my eyes - just to realize that the whole world is behind our guy & our struggle says alot!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0b1YKfwlbY

 

[MsDoodahs]

A thought...

PATV ... if they run educational stuff...should we reinvent the wheel? They won't run political stuff but they'll run edcuational stuff...would it work to run educational stuff that's already produced that includes RP?

(I'm thinking specifically of a Mises Institute video I own, I'm sure there are many others already in existence that could serve as educational and possibly include RP speaking)

 

[TruthBeKnown]

A thought...

PATV ... if they run educational stuff...should we reinvent the wheel? They won't run political stuff but they'll run edcuational stuff...would it work to run educational stuff that's already produced that includes RP?

(I'm thinking specifically of a Mises Institute video I own, I'm sure there are many others already in existence that could serve as educational and possibly include RP speaking)

Yes, they will. Please send me whatever info you have - names of videos, urls, copies, whatever you've got. If it's someone else's video, PATV requires a letter from the producer & the distributor saying it's OK to air it on PATV. ~ thanks!