CAMPAIGN ADS: My Thoughts

[ronpaultag]

I just got done reading a thread critical of the current campaign ads, so here are my thoughts for marketing Ron Paul.

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The majority of the current ads for Ron Paul are rather old school, and IMO aren't very different from typical political ads. I'll be honest, before I got into Ron Paul I was very apathetic about politics and I always remember whenever I saw political ads I would just get really frustrated and wouldn't pay attention to them at all. What really got me into Ron Paul was hearing him speak.

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In my opinion, Apple Computer is probably one of the best companies at marketing something (whether you like them or not, they are very good at this). Most of their ads aren't extremely complex, they are very simple. My idea for a political ad inspired by how Apple does their ads would be..

FIRST: Ron Paul talking to the camera about an issue. Since it would be nearly impossible to fully explain his entire stance on an issue, I would suggest a catchy 25 second or so introduction to his stance in order to get people interested.


FIRST(2): Another thing could be maybe a 5 second or so intro with Dr Paul introducing himself, and then maybe he could do a voiceover while graphs display certain statistics for another 20 seconds (this would be especially good for stuff to illustrate the economy such as a chart showing the price of a barrel of gas in USD compared to gold).

SECOND: After the 25 seconds or so of Ron talking or the voiceover, show the campaign logo as well as the address for a website (such as www.ronpaul2008.com/ads )

THE SITE: www.ronpaul2008.com/ads could have a thumbnail image of each video along with the video's title which would link to a page fully discussing the issue at hand. similar or maybe even the same as http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues

also: maybe a little background music like Apple does for recognizability?

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Now maybe this is just me, but I think this would be effective. In my opinion the typical political ads get really old and I myself am to the point where I don't even pay attention to them anymore.


Any thoughts?

[chilledfresh]

Apple's use of humor is what makes their ads so memorable. I'm not saying Ron Paul should be cracking jokes on air, but maybe we need to make some light-hearted commercials to catch people's attention as well. The cartoon running man in "Freedom To Fascism" comes to mind.

[Ilhaguru]

Yes, they must hear Paul speak! Some of the work done by supporters on youtube is really fantastic.

Oh and I think the Blimp helps with name recognition and curiosity.

[AlexMerced]

have you read the thread about the secret strategy in grassroots central

it really answer why the ads havn't been what hoped, it makes so much sense I feel stupid

[ronpaultag]

@alexmerced

no i haven't, i'll search around for it.

[ronpaultag]

just read a little bit of it. that makes me feel a lot better about the current ads and how mediocre some of them are.

that said, i still think that something like this would be a good idea though as opposed to traditional campaign ads.

[Bib3773]

The Apple idea is good. We need something grab attention of people, but I think relating to people, something people can feel. Most of the ads I have seen are either facts or smears with facts. They are boring, bland,, but do affect the undecided because whether its true or not people beleive what is said in them.

I would like to see something lighhearted but heartfelt that people can relate to. Something people can see and it make them think.

Remember the Domino's commercial it was a oreo cookie pizza and the chocolate beard kept growing on the dad. Maybe something like that about taxes or the debt. His beard growing, growing, growing, then a flash that says 4 years later in text on the screnn and his face is nice and clean.

Maybe something to appeal to the youth. The young voters. An extreme sports commercial. Only use the term action. Have some high spots of stunts and tricks, then show Paul talking about taking action for the future. Nothing to long and maybe have somebody like Ryan Sheckler, Tony Hawk, or hell that kid from the X games that crashed on big trick. HE could make a statement about rising above and overcoming. Carey Hart broke his back and was back riding. Pastrana! Somebody who appeals to the youth. Ron Paul taking action to a level for America

And you will blow this off but the PBR yes professiona bullriders associations is huge in ratings, you could also use a big UFC name here, although I prefer the PBR. Still show some though shots and hits and then show a side picture of Ron Paul, --hit slogan-- Ron Paul best shot (sure anybody can do better than that) At the end of any of them Ron Paul for President 08.

All of those can be done in 30-45 second segments so that he can make more and appeal to more people.

Not a super popular thing for many, but there are over 25 million wrestling fans in the US. Ads during Monday night RAW, and maybe finding a guy to support Paul and do an ad for him or with him. It has potential to appeal on a national level and these same ads can be used over and over again unlike many of the ones being done for certain states.

Do a car race scenario where the other cars strategically names for his opponenst hit a wall, run out of gas, blows smoke out the rear of it, and a line like--Ron Paul, Going the distance for America--

I suck at lines but you get my point and again he can run different ads becasue they are short so people aren't seeing the same thing over and over and over again.

[chilledfresh]

The Apple idea is good. We need something grab attention of people, but I think relating to people, something people can feel. Most of the ads I have seen are either facts or smears with facts. They are boring, bland,, but do affect the undecided because whether its true or not people beleive what is said in them.

I would like to see something lighhearted but heartfelt that people can relate to. Something people can see and it make them think.

Remember the Domino's commercial it was a oreo cookie pizza and the chocolate beard kept growing on the dad. Maybe something like that about taxes or the debt. His beard growing, growing, growing, then a flash that says 4 years later in text on the screnn and his face is nice and clean.

Maybe something to appeal to the youth. The young voters. An extreme sports commercial. Only use the term action. Have some high spots of stunts and tricks, then show Paul talking about taking action for the future. Nothing to long and maybe have somebody like Ryan Sheckler, Tony Hawk, or hell that kid from the X games that crashed on big trick. HE could make a statement about rising above and overcoming. Carey Hart broke his back and was back riding. Pastrana! Somebody who appeals to the youth. Ron Paul taking action to a level for America

And you will blow this off but the PBR yes professiona bullriders associations is huge in ratings, you could also use a big UFC name here, although I prefer the PBR. Still show some though shots and hits and then show a side picture of Ron Paul, --hit slogan-- Ron Paul best shot (sure anybody can do better than that) At the end of any of them Ron Paul for President 08.

All of those can be done in 30-45 second segments so that he can make more and appeal to more people.

Not a super popular thing for many, but there are over 25 million wrestling fans in the US. Ads during Monday night RAW, and maybe finding a guy to support Paul and do an ad for him or with him. It has potential to appeal on a national level and these same ads can be used over and over again unlike many of the ones being done for certain states.

Do a car race scenario where the other cars strategically names for his opponenst hit a wall, run out of gas, blows smoke out the rear of it, and a line like--Ron Paul, Going the distance for America--

I suck at lines but you get my point and again he can run different ads becasue they are short so people aren't seeing the same thing over and over and over again.

If I'm not mistaken, there is a professional wrestler who supports Ron Paul. I forget his ring name, since I stopped watching a long time ago... Kane?

[Madison]

The problem is he isn't advertising his key issues; Iraq, war on terror, abolishing the IRS, monetary reform. Instead he is releasing pro-life and anti-NAU ads which most voters don't care about or are turned off by.

[free.alive]

I personally think the ads are fine and that we're right where we ought to be (although third in NH and fourth in IA would have been nice). That said, I really like the little clips on the RP2008 issues pages and think that the main weakness of the ads so far is that

1) they're not hitting the main issue - I think because they're timidly trying to dance around the war issue so as to softly woo neocons and theocons.

2) Ron Paul needs to do the speaking. When he's on, he's warm, quick and people like him. Hearing and seeing him speak will also make him seem that much more familiar and will make people accept his at-first "off-the-wall" rhetoric and lure them to look deeper....and deeper....and before they know it they're making signs, hundreds of posts deep into this time black hole, and telling everyone they know about freedom.

[Ball]

The ads indeed suck.

McCain had an ad where it was just him talking to the American people. This is what we ought to do! Ron sells himself better than any voiceover. Fire the narrator