Ron Paul DVD Snail Mail Bomb to Primary States

[maxoutco]

So recently I took to heart certain newspaper editorials about how Ron Paul cannot win the election because Ron Paul supporters only preach to the choir and don't get out in the streets and confront people. Contemplating this, I was thinking of different ways to reach the generations that are not considered the internet generation (40-50, 50-60, 60+). I know that the Ron Paul campaign has been hitting the t.v. air waves with new commercials, but the older working class might not care much to watch t.v., and are still only getting what the MSM is giving to them. Since we are still lagging in the polls I want to make a proposal.

I want to throw out the idea of a Ron Paul DVD snail mail bomb. In order to happen, this will need to be a collective effort from everyone in the Ron Paul Forums, and Ron Paul's campaign in order to make it successful. I'm wondering if it would make sense for the Ron Paul campaign to spend our donated money into assembling a DVD package that can be attached to a postcard and mass snail mailed to the households in the primary states to put Ron Paul in every one's living room.

My envision is that this DVD would be a menu driven DVD of the history of Ron Paul, what Ron Paul stands for, maybe the 5 best youtube video's assembled about Ron Paul, Ron Paul commercials, bring the troops home, how to register for the primaries, what is a blue republican, etc etc...

All this without being too overwhelming.

I hope that possibly this idea would get Ron Paul into every household and be the breaking point we have all been looking for. It is our way (the internet generation) to use current media to get our message across.


So what do you guys think?

[Lord Xar]

I am on the fence with this idea.

Would you put a CD into the tv and watch it if you got a candidates cd in the mail? I wouldn't, but again - I am solidly in Ron's Camp.

I mean, you put 50k into mailing out, lets say, 20k cd's. Lets assume 18k make it to the destination. How many will actually watch it all? As opposed to putting 50k, into a very targeted audience running 1 minute ads. You could reach millions.

I just don't know enough about marketing to make a judgement on it. But perhaps you can lure them in with the commercials and tell them you'll send a free CD, no cost whatsoever.. they just need to call and leave their address. Someone calls back to confirm the address, boom - ship it.

I know some disagree with me on this, but I think some sort of preface on why the media ignores Ron Paul could be useful with any snail mail. Anyways, I'd like to hear what others think.

[Chainspell]

yeah however it's packaged and presented it has to be done really well or else itll just be treated like a credit card offer. goes straight to trash...

[maxoutco]

That's why I wanted to include everyone's opinion on this. It all has to do with representation, and done right, it could be the icebreaker.

[FriedChicken]

Hmmm...

ideally I think we should get he phone numbers for the people we have addresses for. Call them with a political survey and ask for their permission to send them some information on your personal favorite.
Mail the DVD to interested people.

however ...
hardly anyone on this forum is willing to make phone calls - so that wouldn't happen on a large enough scale to make a difference.

Perhaps the second best way to do this is to send out the super brochures with a slip folded into them with a number, website and email address to contact to have a free DVD sent to them.
See the super brochures here: http://www.ronpaulproducts.com/brochure2.html

[FriedChicken]

If we wanted to get a little higher tech we could even include a smart phone code that takes them directly to the website page where they enter their address to receive a DVD.

[maxoutco]

Here is my thinking on this.

A lot of people out there avoid the phone if it is a number that they do not recognize. Also, a lot of people are switching to cell phones only which I don't believe that we have access to those numbers (I could be wrong on this.). This is the problems with phone banking.

With a snail mail bomb, we know that everyone goes to their mailbox to get their mail. This is all about marketing. It needs to be an eyeopener when they see it so it doesn't go straight to the trash.

Even if 2 of 10 households viewed the DVD's and 50% of them agreed, that's still 10% of the people and it's a lot more than what we had.

[enoch150]

OP, do you know many seniors or older baby boomers that even know how to use DVD's? Because I don't.

My grandmother (87) doesn't have a DVD player. Or a VCR. Or caller ID, but if someone calls her and she doesn't recognize the voice, she just says "not interested" and hangs up the phone. She also doesn't answer the door unless it's someone she knows. She also doesn't read her mail, since my aunt pays her bills for her. The only ways to reach her are through the local newspaper, local tv, or if someone she knows talks to her.

My parents, aunts and uncles (late 50's to late 60's) have a DVD players, but rarely use them and I doubt half of them even know how. They would never, ever watch a DVD from a candidate. Half the time they answer the phone from unknown callers, and half not, depending on how bored they are. They'll glance at something mailed to them if it's in postcard form, but not in letter form. because tl;dr. They mostly read the local newspaper, but some get their news from web sites like msn.com or worldnetdaily. They can navigate to a web site, but they don't have any idea that non-MSM web sites exist. They watch MSNBC or FOXNEWS and also the local news station. The Republican leaning ones listen to Beck or Hannity type radio shows. Some of them only get their news from people they talk to. Some would answer the door to a campaigner and some not.

The best ways to reach them would be postcards, letter to the editor, or talking to them in person. They're very unlikely to watch a DVD.

[hb6102]

If were gonna mass mail something out, it should be Carol's next cookbook. Not political so people might actually read it, but touchy feely enough to get positive recognition.

[Eric21ND]

^^
That's actually a good idea. Carol's Cookbook to Iowa.

[JustinL]

Seems like it might be more cost effective to just send a bunch of pamphlet type things with info and maybe have the option of requesting a dvd for more info or directing them to a site whereby all the resources are in one place organized for them. And besides the possibility of it being a huge waste of money sending out a bunch of unsolicited dvd's that would have a low watch rate it could create the perception that the campaign is wasting money which could hurt us.

Perhaps something better is just getting lots of people to do door to door with info packets and who can go to more populated streets and areas and hand out flyers and stuff and have on everything a web address to go to where they can learn more. Replace some monetary costs with labor costs which are abundant and cheap. Lots of people are doing occupations, with all the unemployed, give them a bunch of flyers or something they can get behind like ending the fed and put them to work spreading our message. Others have tried to jack that movement and it's all confused, perhaps we can use that to our advantage to move it in our direction more and away from the anti-capitalism and 99% crap a lot of them are spouting.

[A_Silent_Majority_Member]

Would love to slip dvds into the demo players at walmart/k marts electronic departments all across the country. Probably easily buy the dept. managers support with a $20 to do it IF they werent already on board :D

[cucucachu0000]

I have over a hundred empty dvds I was thinking of doing the same thing. But what might be a cool idea go to shoprite or walmart go to the carts and throw a dvd with a little pamphlet in a bunch of shopping carts that way people will see it, and if there interested they'll take it home to watch if not they most likely just leave it in the cart rather than throw it out which is a waste of time and money.

[cucucachu0000]

I love the cookbook idea for iowa and maybe SC that would kill! Maybe throw a dvd inside the cover anyway.

[AlexAmore]

Here's how you do direct mail with sick opening rates:

1. Write out the address on the envelope with hand writing. It's more personal and is loud and clear to seniors. Yes it's a pain and takes manpower but it's worth it.
2. Put something physical inside the envelope that will stick out in the packaging like a WWJD bracelet.

I'm not sure about a DVD. You're asking a lot of them. If they are seniors or anybody with a busy life or whatever they aren't going to either have the time, desire, know how to work the player, or will forget. They'll put it aside maybe thinking they'll watch it but never will. I may be wrong and if you made it very personal then perhaps they will.

But I like a cheaper easier solution which is to just put some literature in there, with larger print for seniors.

[Elwar]

Or you put them in Netflix packages and make the DVD look like "Cocoon".

[WIRP]

I had this same idea. You could title the dvd, "A Letter to a Dying Nation". Make it grab people's attention. Also, make it appeal to moderates, don't appeal to extremists.

[69360]

Honestly, I don't think they would play the DVD. But anything helps if you want to, go for it.

I think we need to take a page from the Perot playbook and do a prime time network tv infomercial. I remember watching Perot's even 20 years later and everyone was talking about it the next day. You'd get many times the value as it clips would be played over and over by the media. Disclaimer, I have no idea how much it costs.

[dbill27]

Honestly, I don't think they would play the DVD. But anything helps if you want to, go for it.

I think we need to take a page from the Perot playbook and do a prime time network tv infomercial. I remember watching Perot's even 20 years later and everyone was talking about it the next day. You'd get many times the value as it clips would be played over and over by the media. Disclaimer, I have no idea how much it costs.

^This, and one half hour in primetime on say NBC or FOX is well within the limits that grassroots could raise pretty easy. Bout 1.5 million

[69360]

^This, and one half hour in primetime on say NBC or FOX is well within the limits that grassroots could raise pretty easy. Bout 1.5 million

I have no idea of the cost. But it sure would be easy to fund raise for. Let's face it we all love preaching to the choir, so everyone would donate to see Ron primetime network tv along with millions of viewers.

When Perot did it, it was a big event. Everyone watched it and talked about it.

It would be even more amazing if it was a grassroots effort. No grassroots has ever attempted something this big. That would draw attention to how serious Ron's support is.

[roversaurus]

If were gonna mass mail something out, it should be Carol's next cookbook. Not political so people might actually read it, but touchy feely enough to get positive recognition.

Yes.
Absolutely. That should be mailed to every address in Iowa.

[RonPaul101.com]

I think the DVD's would only work if sent to people recoginized in the PFH surveys as Ron Paul voters, or possible Ron Paul voters. In other words, DVD's aren't a good intro to a candidate since most people unknowningly won't care enough to open it, but you could turn a likely voter into a strong voter and possibly a campaign supporter/donor. IMHO.

[libertygrl]

So recently I took to heart certain newspaper editorials about how Ron Paul cannot win the election because Ron Paul supporters only preach to the choir and don't get out in the streets and confront people. Contemplating this, I was thinking of different ways to reach the generations that are not considered the internet generation (40-50, 50-60, 60+). I know that the Ron Paul campaign has been hitting the t.v. air waves with new commercials, but the older working class might not care much to watch t.v., and are still only getting what the MSM is giving to them. Since we are still lagging in the polls I want to make a proposal.

I want to throw out the idea of a Ron Paul DVD snail mail bomb. In order to happen, this will need to be a collective effort from everyone in the Ron Paul Forums, and Ron Paul's campaign in order to make it successful. I'm wondering if it would make sense for the Ron Paul campaign to spend our donated money into assembling a DVD package that can be attached to a postcard and mass snail mailed to the households in the primary states to put Ron Paul in every one's living room.

My envision is that this DVD would be a menu driven DVD of the history of Ron Paul, what Ron Paul stands for, maybe the 5 best youtube video's assembled about Ron Paul, Ron Paul commercials, bring the troops home, how to register for the primaries, what is a blue republican, etc etc...

All this without being too overwhelming.

I hope that possibly this idea would get Ron Paul into every household and be the breaking point we have all been looking for. It is our way (the internet generation) to use current media to get our message across.


So what do you guys think?

I'm on the fence with this as well. Are people going to actually take the time to sit down and watch a video? Most people throw their mail to the side. Unless...... maybe we can tweak this a little. As much as I love the videos, I personally think people would be more likely to listen to an audio CD in their car, than watching tv because people are always on the go nowadays.

Hey, I just had a brainstorm. What about somehow packaging a Ron Paul audio CD with coffee chains? People on their way to work who stop off at a Dunkin Dounuts or a Starbucks for coffee? Here you have people on the go and since they will already be sitting in their cars, maybe the odds of dropping in a CD would be greater than having them find the time to sit in front of a tv. And think of it this way - they would actually be LISTENING to words, rather than perhaps forming opinions of how maybe RP doesn't look presidential to them. I find that I grasp things better when I'm listening to CD's in my car. You're really forced to listen.

But we'd probably have to be waiting outside these shops to hand them out because I doubt these places would get political. But these are small privately owned businesses, right? What if we included advertising of the store on the CD sleeve? Maybe connect the CD with coupons from the establishment?

The packaging of the CD would have to really be clever to get them intrigued. Something that doesn't appear to be a political. Give them something that they want - How To Restore Prosperity In Your Life... This Morning's Wake Up Call.. The Doctor's Natural Remedies.... not that great but something along those lines. Any thoughts?

[69360]

^ Don't think the FEC allows that?