Balloon Blitz?

[libertygrl]

This may sound like a silly suggestion, but it was such an out of the box idea that I thought I'd present it to other Ron Paul supporters.

My dad (whose a spunky 74 year old senior) and I were discussing how the media has been ignoring Ron Paul, and how expensive it is for him to get his name out there because he doesn't have the big bucks like the other top candidates. He then made a suggestion that was so insane, I couldn't help but break out in laughter!

His suggestion was to have all the ron supporters throughout the country, release thousands of balloons with Ron's name or face on it, and attach a flyer to them with string!

Anyway, he wanted me to post it here for some feedback. I guess there's an environmental factor to consider with this sort of thing too. What do you think? Balloon Blitz on Ron's Birthday?? I'm really looking forward to your replies..
Thanks!

[maggiebott]

I absolutely love the idea.

[ZandarKoad]

Expensive. I ordered 1,000 custom double sided 14" balloons. It cost me over $400. Not to mention the string and HELIUM I'll need... It's going to end up being around $0.75 PER BALLOON.

If you ordered 50,000 it might be cheaper... But I'm not made of money.

I'm never going to spend money on balloons again. I'm just ordered 12,000 slim jim cards with all the critical info on them for $700. That's less than 6 cents a piece. The next printing is going to be even cheaper (roughly 4.5 cents a piece).

BUT, if that is your thing I don't want to discourage you. Just make funding your first priority. It certainly would be a need way to show support. And the KIDS love it. Let the KIDS introduce Ron Paul to the voting parents. :D

[McDermit]

will definitely be frowned on by environmentalists. They actually banned balloonreleases around here about 10 years ago because tons ended up in power lines, trees, lakes, etc.

In theory it's an awesome idea though. Maybe instead of releasing, have a day where people across the country walk the streets giving RP balloons to kids and slimjims to their parents? Or even use the burma shave sign method and have the last sign be for "free balloons ahead" where anyone can stop and get a balloon and some info?

[libertygrl]

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, my first thought was environmental concerns. Also, I had no idea how expensive customized balloons were! But my father said just buy a bunch of regular balloons and tie flyers to them!

I do like your idea McDeermit. Maybe a few of us supporters can go that route.

It's ironic but we're having a huge balloon festival here on LI this weekend. Unfortunately, I'm going to miss it otherwise I'd go down and pass out some flyers. But can you imagine if we could have had a Ron Paul Balloon! Talk about major advertising (not to mention the big buck$$$) I wonder if there are any hot air balloon owners in the country that like Ron Paul. Hmm....

[Inflation]

The SF Meetup agreed it was a good idea and we're going to get the cost under 30 cents each.

RonPaulBalloons.com is raising $999 to buy 5,000 extra-large, two-sided balloons.

Were you happy with 14"? We're going for 17" so everyone can see them for miles around.

Anything else from your experience that we should take into account?

Thanks,

inflation@ronpaulballoons.com

PS msg me your address and i'll send some to ya!

[McDermit]

We usually use 11" for giveaways. We did 9" once, but they were unimpressive. 11 is standard, kids are happy with them and they're plenty visible in a crowd. If selling them, I guess it doesn't matter.. but keep in mind that a lot of parents who would never waste money on a ballon WILL let the kids get a free balloon. Freebies are always a bigger draw, regardless of the size.

[ZandarKoad]

14" was too big in my humble opinion. I would reccomend strongly against the 17". Primarily because of HELIUM. It's drastic how much more helium fits in a 14" compaired to an 11"... 17"? Ouch.

The helium tanks are NOT SMALL. They are expensive and hard to move around...