A blimp is a BAD IDEA - here is why

[tomjammarsh]

The only thing I thought was a bad idea bout this was that if it got shot at, or it caught on fire, or broke...the media would LOVE to see that.

Anyways, I think all in all it's a good idea for the first few primaries. You talk about Target-Advertising. I think this is a great form. Rarely do people see a blimp. If you have kids (or hell, if you're an adult) someone is bound to say, "hey look! a blimp!". It's just a neat thing to see. But, it will get out of style. I think having it for 2 months would be enough. Otherwise, I would suggest all of us supports doing a massive donation to get airtime during the superbowl. It would fit great between the GoDaddy.com and Budweisers commercials.

We can do a pun on Buddweiser. Have a couple revolutionary patriots in a pub drinking. Have one of their wives come in and yell at him for not being in the guard tower. Have someone outside yell outside, "THE BRITISH ARE COMING!". Everyone runs around crazy, but they continue drinking.

Then, at the end say, "Sounds like someone's got a little Liberty in em'!" (Pun on the "Got a little captain in ya" beer commercial). Then at the end say "GOOGLE RON PAUL."

Eh eh eh? Thoughts?

[crasch]

"This means that out of 1 million people that see the blimp, you might only reach a few thousand people that might possibly vote for Ron. This seems like a colossal waste of money for the result."

All of the suggestions you mention are good ideas. But that's why we give money to the campaign--those are things they should be fund.

As for the effectiveness of the blimp. How many people read the New York Times? Watch CNN? Watch CBS?

The blimps getting coverage in all of those venues. How much money do you think it would cost to buy equivalent commercial space?

And unlike ads, which most people are blind to, most of the time, these are articles, content, which people are buying the paper to read.

[ValidusCustodiae]

Blimp has already paid for itself.

I'm glad we're airborne finally, even if it's only with one banner. People were stopped on the side of the road all over NC taking pictures of the Ron Paul BliMp!

[Chernitsky]

Joke is on you....

[Man from La Mancha]

Joke is on you....

LOL



ronpaulblimp.com...donate both

[Man from La Mancha]

Joke is on you....

Just had to see more of these at once. LOL

.

[Cleaner44]

I just have to share my thoughts. I have sold advertising and have some experience to speak from. I can tell you that most companies are slow to adapt to new forms of advertising and clutch to old mediums that are no longer as effective as they were in the past. Just like some many voters we know that still believe in the major parties, they are slow to realize the truth. We don't need to worry about being more like the others.

Print media as an example is dying. The demographics are older people, younger people just don't buy the paper the ways our parents did. Just as our campaign is growing through the internet and the MSM does not get it, somehow they have a hard time understanding that we will translate into real voters. They just don't get it!

TV, radio, billboards and print have their place and can still be used effectively if done properly but they can easily be a waste of money. Web advertising would be a better alternative for us to utilize than buying billboards and such. Chip-ins for Leaderboard Ads on highly trafficked sites would be a great tool. Have a call to action and allow users to click through to www.ronpaul2008.com or whatever.

The blimp has produced a lot of PR that has increased it value beyond the people that see it in person. Just do a google search for ron paul blimp and look at all of the articles. We have seen the repport on CNN and I'm sure there will be more. I like the out of the box thinking, and think the blimp has value at least for a month or two.

Bottom line, we need web advertising and unique ideas in my opinion. Web ads where the general public will see them and they can be very targeted. Unique ideas to stand out as the different campaign that we are. We do not need more ads on TV along the lines of Rudy or Romney necessarily.

[Matt Collins]

Print media as an example is dying. The demographics are older people,

And those are the people who vote the most.

Web advertising would be a better alternative for us to utilize than buying billboards and such. Chip-ins for Leaderboard Ads on highly trafficked sites would be a great tool.

Only if it's highly targeted. And then you have to worry about click-fraud if you pay per click.

Bottom line, we need web advertising and unique ideas in my opinion. Web ads where the general public will see them and they can be very targeted. Unique ideas to stand out as the different campaign that we are. We do not need more ads on TV along the lines of Rudy or Romney necessarily.

Incorrect.

What you fail to realize is that only 30% of voters are proficient on the Internet. That means that 70% of our efforts need to be OFFLINE.

And since the average voter age is 60 I believe, that means we need to go after that crowd which means putting ads in places they watch, read, and hear (TV, newspaper, radio).

[Matt Collins]

don't fear the blimp.

I don't fear the blimp or much of anything really. I just get disappointed when I see people take unnecessary risks that jeopardize the future of the country and even the world.

[freeguy]

I wanted to throw out one idea for you. By now, you know that a "conversion" to become a Ron Paul supporter takes time and involvement with the issues. Most people do not become supporters affter hearing the message once. The good news is: once someone becomes a supporter, they are unlikely to change their minds. Attrition is low among supporters.

It is that assumption that gave me the idea to try using late night television to purchase time at a cheaper rate and to create longer infomercials rather than the standard campaign ad. It will give people time to get involved with the message and the candidate.

Just an idea.

Joe

[Matt Collins]

Yes, infomercials can be effective.

[deronde]

I do want to say that discouraging folks from getting the word out to the Dems is not beneficial.. in fact Democrats are way easier than win-the-war Republicans to convince to vote for Ron Paul. I am a Dem myself, but I fully support Ron Paul because his message is the best, and he's telling the truth about things. Hillary wants to stay in Iraq through 2013+, Barack isn't taking strong stands on anything other than a generic and vague "change", the only Dem I would support would be Kucinich and he's virtually out already.

Ron Paul's message should be packaged for targeted audiences -- IE for Repubs you don't want to jump in talking about foreign policy, but it's great to have a wide-market message like this blimp that encourages folks to do their own research and people will know who he is.

However, it's a bad time of year for blimps :P

[shane2]

What folks don't get is it's not always a strict zero sum game where if one supports the blimp it takes $ away from potentially better advertising.

I never, ever, would have done what I had to do, to get and then donate as much as I did, towards the blimp, if it had not grabbed my attention and imagination like it did.

IOW, that was $ that was not initially available, much less going towards, anything else RP campaign related, none of it, ever, till the blimp idea rose up!

There's going to be projects like that come up, and people like me, and when they discover each other, let em rip! I say that because...

I then went to work encouraging others who were similarly motivated to 'be blimped', and do the same, and started sending them here to the forums to get hooked up and check it all out.

But, unfortunately and disappointedly, I quickly had to stop sending them here because of the spate of droning negativism about it all, well past any constructive criticism, as it was turning my best prospects off, not on!

They were then deprived of all the other good projects and support and direction and encouragement going on here, too, that could have helped them better and more enthusiastically support RP in many different ways.

Anyways, yes, folks need to donate directly to the campaign as much as they can first, especially on bombing days like the Tea Party, but be aware that sometimes some of these other or new projects, like the blimp, unleash imaginations, and then funds, that were never earmarked for any RP project to begin with!

I'll bet that individual $25,000 blimp donor would agree.

And, also, while it's essential we have open discussion and constructive criticism to assure the best expenditure of time/money/energy for every project, when it crosses the line, like it did here for a spell, we are tragically losing new folks that originally came eager to help make things happen!

All I'm saying is, we all need to be open to, and embrace, different strokes for different folks motivating them in their support of Ron Paul.

- Shane

[Anti Federalist]

And a bump

[cajuncocoa]

I have a minor in marketing. I work in advertising (among other things).

blah blah blah

THE KEY IS TARGETED ADVERTISING!

This means instead of buying a blimp spend money on the following things (in this order):

• Assemble and deliver packets to SuperVoters in your region. Supervoters are people who have voted in the last few elections and are likely to vote in the primary. Your state coordinator should have a list of these people.

.

Hey, Matt.... I majored in Marketing. That means my college degree is in Marketing.

I worked in advertising too. I'm not impressed with most of what you say.

Targeted advertising is great.....but most people throw those flyers and packages away! (We have a general election coming up on December 6. My garbage can is full of stuff like that).

But a blimp....I couldn't ignore that. And if I didn't know who Ron Paul is (and most people didn't in 2007) it would make me curious enough to go home and Google his name.

See how brilliant that is??

[Matt Collins]

Hey, Matt.... I majored in Marketing. That means my college degree is in Marketing.

I worked in advertising too. I'm not impressed with most of what you say.

Targeted advertising is great.....but most people throw those flyers and packages away! (We have a general election coming up on December 6. My garbage can is full of stuff like that).

But a blimp....I couldn't ignore that. And if I didn't know who Ron Paul is (and most people didn't in 2007) it would make me curious enough to go home and Google his name.

See how brilliant that is??

You fail to understand this:

[cajuncocoa]

You fail to understand this:

It's funny. You can't seem to explain anything in your own words without hiding behind a 90-minute video or some "logicalfallicy" nonsense. You fail to understand a lot of things, and people have taken the trouble to explain it all to you. And you come back with your little one-liners and youTubes.

I don't think you know 10% of what you claim to know, Matt. If you did, you would understand why spending money on a blimp is better than spending money on slick brochures that end up in the garbage.

[phill4paul]

Hey, Matt.... I majored in Marketing. That means my college degree is in Marketing.

I worked in advertising too. I'm not impressed with most of what you say.

Targeted advertising is great.....but most people throw those flyers and packages away! (We have a general election coming up on December 6. My garbage can is full of stuff like that).

But a blimp....I couldn't ignore that. And if I didn't know who Ron Paul is (and most people didn't in 2007) it would make me curious enough to go home and Google his name.

See how brilliant that is??

Teh Collinz attended a C4L seminar and phone banked one time. That trumps your Major in marketing. Don't you know anything? FWIW, I majored in Graphic arts, when graphic arts was keyed to advertising and before Photoshop was ever a thought. I know a bit about it myself. I have a friend that majored in marketing and started a local paper which I helped leverage into an advertising agency. A successful one. I went a different direction at that point. He's now sitting in a million dollar lake house. I visit often and we discuss that one point in our lives...advertising. Teh Collinz is full of $#@!. For a fee I'll gladly help to instruct Teh Collinz. For a larger fee I'll get my friend to instruct him. THAT's what money should be spent on, amirite?

[Anti Federalist]

But a blimp....I couldn't ignore that. And if I didn't know who Ron Paul is (and most people didn't in 2007) it would make me curious enough to go home and Google his name.

That was the point, name recognition.

I'm glad I was part of that too.

[Anti Federalist]

What does HQ have to do with anything? Run your own ads through a PAC locally and get local meetup supporters to pool their money together.

Or, step up and do it yourself...oh, wait...

[phill4paul]

That was the point, name recognition.

I'm glad I was part of that too.

When I went to the debate in S.C. it was all anyone was talking about at the bars. It was the first thing I saw driving across the bridge. When I stopped in at the gas station, restaurant, convenience, etc. people would look at my decked out RP jeep and say "That's the guy on the blimp, right?" And it would lead to an exchange of ideas and literature. In my experience, money well spent. If for nothing other than firing up the grassroots. Which led to more money-bomb donations.
Hell of a lot more mileage than a Santorum attack ad in a state where the top two were Ron and Mitt.

[Anti Federalist]

When I went to the debate in S.C. it was all anyone was talking about at the bars. It was the first thing I saw driving across the bridge. When I stopped in at the gas station, restaurant, convenience, etc. people would look at my decked out RP jeep and say "That's the guy on the blimp, right?" And it would lead to an exchange of ideas and literature. In my experience, money well spent. If for nothing other than firing up the grassroots. Which led to more money-bomb donations.
Hell of a lot more mileage than a Santorum attack ad in a state where the top two were Ron and Mitt.

Yourlogicalfallacy is blah blah blah blah

[acptulsa]

I don't fear the blimp or much of anything really. I just get disappointed when I see people take unnecessary risks that jeopardize the future of the country and even the world.

Um, Matt, the Hindenburg disaster didn't even burn down Lakehurst.

And, uh, while you weren't looking they stopped putting hydrogen in airships, too...

But don't despair. At least your logical fallacy is pretty damned funny. So, you're good for something.

[cajuncocoa]

Yourlogicalfallacy is blah blah blah blah

LMAO!!

[Anti Federalist]

I agree - but that in itself doesn't get votes.

Segmenting and targeting a custom tailored message to supervoters is the best way to achieve votes for Ron.

How many counties did you win in TN in 2012?

[cajuncocoa]

Segmenting and targeting a custom tailored message to supervoters is the best way to achieve votes for Ron.

A supervoter is someone who has voted in the last few elections and is VERY likely to vote in this upcoming primary.

this is where basic understanding of marketing would have served you well with regard to Ron's campaign.

In my experience with speaking to people at Ron Paul events, many people who were there were NOT people who voted over and over and over again for the same damned thing (expecting different results). They were not typical Republicans. They needed to be reached in unconventional ways.

Ron attracted people who were sick and tired of the status quo. The ideal marketing campaign would have attracted more of THOSE kind of people....the non-voter who felt his voice didn't matter anymore; the apathetic non-voter. Not the "supervoter" who would vote for Team Red's candidate no matter who he or she would be.

[bunklocoempire]

"Supporter generated"

You can build brands in many ways.

[phill4paul]

"Supporter generated"

You can build brands in many ways.

Grassroots built a brand. We owned the internet. We owned social media. We reached the disaffected. We raised funds for a candidate like no other before.

RonPaul,Inc., Jesse Benton, Teh Collinz, et tal sold us down the river for their future gains. The campaign was winnable. Where the load was dropped fell only on RonPaul, Inc. They dropped the ball when a score was needed most. They and NO others. Not AF or many others on these forums. Deals were made. We were not privy to them.

[Matt Collins]

It's funny. You can't seem to explain anything in your own words without hiding behind a 90-minute video or some "logicalfallicy" nonsense.

I don't have time to be longwinded especially when I can simply post other stuff easily.

Did you watch the video I posted?

[cajuncocoa]

Grassroots built a brand. We owned the internet. We owned social media. We reached the disaffected. We raised funds for a candidate like no other before.

RonPaul,Inc., Jesse Benton, Teh Collinz, et tal sold us down the river for their future gains. The campaign was winnable. Where the load was dropped fell only on RonPaul, Inc. They dropped the ball when a score was needed most. They and NO others. Not AF or many others on these forums. Deals were made. We were not privy to them.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to phill4paul again.