Help design a newspaper ad! Suggestions needed!

[madcat033]

Hey guys, me and someone from the LA meetup are working on creating a full page black and white ad for the UCLA Daily Bruin. Here is the first draft of the ad:

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/8848/rapauwvi6.gif (http://imageshack.us)



What do you guys think? Any suggestions? Keep in mind this is for a college campus.

[me3]

I'd rather they Google Ron Paul because they should get their first exposure from the campaign site, and not a bunch of random comments on a video, but that's just me.

[Grandson of Liberty]

How about somewhere using the phrase, "there's a revolution brewin"? get it? (bruin, brewin) :D

[madcat033]

These were my suggestions that I emailed to him:

I like it! I definitely like the "Will your vote end the war?" Good call. I just have a few suggestions:

I think we should take out the thing about the Federal Reserve and income tax... most students don't understand the fed that well, and they probably don't pay that much in income taxes. College students generally don't care that much about high taxes...

Also, can we mention that he's running for president in big letters? Like Ron Paul 2008 or something in there. I like the "youtube" though.... telling college students to youtube or google him is a good idea.

Can we add this quote in? "I rise to urge the Congress to think twice before thrusting this nation into a war without merit- one fraught with the danger of escalating into something no American will be pleased with. 9/4/02" I have a feeling that most college students are going to be Hillary or Obama supporters because they are "anti-war." Showing them that Ron Paul has been against the war from the start (which even Hillary Clinton wasn't) should help set him apart and make him seem more anti-war than their favored candidates.

Overall, awesome job! It definitely sticks out. Black and white is a good idea, that ad will definitely catch people's attention. I'm really excited about this!

Thanks!

[LibertyEagle]

I would change, "unconstitutional income taxation" to "the federal income tax".
I would also change, "the enslavement of the Federal Reserve" to "inflation caused by the FED creating money out of thin air".

The last statement wasn't so good. Maybe someone has a better idea. I definitely don't like what you current have though about the Fed'l Reserve.

[madcat033]

Yeah I suggested getting rid of the lines about the federal reserve and income tax... college students don't care about taxes really, and they probably don't understand the fed.

[me3]

A strong point about the Youth vote according to Dr. Paul has been getting out of social security and being able to plan their own retirement, without having to worry about social security going bankrupt.

Not sure how you would tie that up in short order, but it might be a good point for young people looking to enter the work force.

Get out of the bankrupt Social security system ???

[parke]

Remember what John Lennon did? He released an album.. rented billboards around the world.. The message was simple text on a white background. 'War Is Over' (if you want it) Merry Christmas from John and Yoko

Guess what Im using for my christmas cards. google 'war is over' in images to see what I mean

[jointhefightforfreedom]

wiil your vote further the ever growing $10,000,000,000,000.00 deficit

[Lord Xar]

nice and effective.. BUT I think you should probably display his web address more prominently... maybe all the way at the bottom after the disclaimer.. just as a reference..

[DrNoZone]

Nice ad! You definitely should ad the campaign website prominently, and change it from YouTube to Google.

[BarryDonegan]

this one is perfect for an LA area ad.

[manny]

Looks great and is very powerful.

[madcat033]

Here is the revised ad... what do you guys think?

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/8448/rp2hg7.gif (http://imageshack.us)

[Geronimo]

The war on drugs part is a nice hook for the college crowd.

[lasenorita]

I liked the simplicity of the first design.

Here's a different take:

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/3912/adverttf3.jpg

[madcat033]

any ideas on how we can phrase something about social security? I'm going to add the "and our 9 trillion debt" one but I don't know how I can phrase it to tell students that RP will let them opt out of social security...

[work2win]

I like the call for brainstorming at this early design phase. There are a lot of great heads here that can help create a great ad. Here's my contribution.

I like the revised version posted by madcat. The quote at the bottom seems to bring Ron Paul to life, giving the reader the Dr's own wise words. I think it should stay at this one quote, though, in the interest of keeping the ad clutter-free.

I think "US-led" should be removed, as it clutters the line and isn't necessary.

I think "and a presidency controlled by special interests" should be swapped out in favor of "and the federal income tax." The income tax isn't popular with ANYONE, and I think this would make more of an impact over the special interests statement.

I like "youtube Ron Paul", and I much prefer it to "google Ron Paul" because I think the Youtube videos are really inspiring and more captivating than a bunch of search engine results. Everyone googles everything already, but youtube might be otherwise overlooked. I do think that the youtube line should be put lower in the ad and placed after www.ronpaul2008.com as was previously suggested.

In the place where "youtube Ron Paul" is currently, I'd like to see "Ron Paul - President 2008" about the same size, maybe a little bigger. This way the meat of the ad makes it's impact first, leaving the reader with the top part and "Ron Paul president 2008" at the bare minimum. The ad will then progress into the supporting info below: the quote, the campaign website, youtube Ron Paul, and the fine print "paid for by grassroots" statement. Since we already put "Ron Paul president 2008" up higher, the part about "consider Ron Paul..." can then be removed from the bottom.

At this stage of the campaign we need to start projecting more of a presidential image, which means moving past "google Ron Paul" as our catch line and using "Ron Paul for president" or something along those lines.

[work2win]

any ideas on how we can phrase something about social security? I'm going to add the "and our 9 trillion debt" one but I don't know how I can phrase it to tell students that RP will let them opt out of social security...

Social Security is another good idea. How about: "and required participation in Social Security" ?

The goal, of course, is to avoid the impression that Paul wants seniors on the streets.

[dmspilot00]

I like the call for brainstorming at this early design phase. There are a lot of great heads here that can help create a great ad. Here's my contribution.

I like the revised version posted by madcat. The quote at the bottom seems to bring Ron Paul to life, giving the reader the Dr's own wise words. I think it should stay at this one quote, though, in the interest of keeping the ad clutter-free. I agree on both of these. I love the quote at the bottom because it reinforces the anti-war theme, and also shows how Ron Paul was smart enough to have predicted the disaster that Iraq has turned into.


I think "US-led" should be removed, as it clutters the line and isn't necessary.
I like that idea. However, over the past few weeks Ron Paul has been using the word "empire," and I think it describes our current policy very well. Maybe it could be worded along those lines? "End the unconstitutional American Empire"? Then again, that wording might be too strong.


I think "and a presidency controlled by special interests" should be swapped out in favor of "and the federal income tax." The income tax isn't popular with ANYONE, and I think this would make more of an impact over the special interests statement. Actually I like the "special interests" point much better. Besides, "ending a presidency not controlled by special interests" is a more important overall message than just ending the income tax. When I was in college I really didn't care about the income tax. I hardly paid any tax anyway.


I like "youtube Ron Paul", and I much prefer it to "google Ron Paul" because I think the Youtube videos are really inspiring and more captivating than a bunch of search engine results. Everyone googles everything already, but youtube might be otherwise overlooked. I do think that the youtube line should be put lower in the ad and placed after www.ronpaul2008.com as was previously suggested. I like Google better, but maybe "Google or Youtube Ron Paul" would be the best of both worlds?



In the place where "youtube Ron Paul" is currently, I'd like to see "Ron Paul - President 2008" about the same size, maybe a little bigger. This way the meat of the ad makes it's impact first, leaving the reader with the top part and "Ron Paul president 2008" at the bare minimum. The ad will then progress into the supporting info below: the quote, the campaign website, youtube Ron Paul, and the fine print "paid for by grassroots" statement. Since we already put "Ron Paul president 2008" up higher, the part about "consider Ron Paul..." can then be removed from the bottom.

At this stage of the campaign we need to start projecting more of a presidential image, which means moving past "google Ron Paul" as our catch line and using "Ron Paul for president" or something along those lines.
I think I agree with that. Although I would change the word "Consider" to "Vote"! We don't want to ask people to Consider voting, we want to ask people to Vote... the fact that they are reading the ad means they're already considering it.

BTW I like the parenthetical points centered as madcat had it, rather than left-aligned.

[work2win]

Actually I like the "special interests" point much better. Besides, "ending a presidency not controlled by special interests" is a more important overall message than just ending the income tax. When I was in college I really didn't care about the income tax. I hardly paid any tax anyway.


Of all the points, this is the one that I am least concerned with, so I really could go either way. I just thought "income tax" sounded more tangible than "special interests" which I've always felt were like mysterious phantoms of the political world.

Third option: Replace this line with Social Security?

[Corydoras]

Is there a problem with actually telling people to vote for Ron Paul? How about telling them to vote for Ron Paul in the primaries?

[rs3515]

Is there a problem with actually telling people to vote for Ron Paul? How about telling them to vote for Ron Paul in the primaries?

Or even one step further, how about saying, "Register to vote today, and vote for Ron Paul on February 5."

Nothing more important in advertising than having a clear call to action. Using the word "consider" in my estimation is not clear enough. It needs to be a bit more direct.

[work2win]

bump

[centure7]

What do you guys think? Any suggestions? Keep in mind this is for a college campus.

Firstly, I suggest www.RonPaulIsHope.com if you aren't going to plug the official site.

Secondly, why don't you include Ron Paul's voting record at the bottom? It is his strongest selling point in my opinoin.

[centure7]

PS - I also favor removing the "end income tax" thing. Very few people believe that is realistic at all.

[centure7]

PS #2 - A small fraction of people know what the Federal Reserve is, and an even smaller fraction have an opinion whether to keep it or not. Therefore, that should be removed as well.