Please excuse cross postings, I am not sure who is on the Energy Committee
list, and I will be using gmail for this action.
I have been working with Darla Gage of Growth Media Services on the ad
campaign for Marcellus. They are the folks that did the PATH campaign, and
Frank is correct, they are a pleasure to work with, and have done a lot on a
very short timeframe. (The Marcellus-WV webpage has been a major resource).
Below is a discussion of some advertising options. To summarize, newspaper
advertising is a blackhole, don't waste your money. TV is good for visuals,
but it is hard to motivate action from people once they sit down. A
combination of billboards, radio, and internet advertising makes a
cost-effective package that can be on-line is a short timeframe. In
particular, an internet ad on a newspaper site would allow viewers to click
on our link, which could take them to our web page that might direct them to
more action.
I propose a conference call Monday evening at 7 PM to brainstorm options and
get consensus on what to do next. Darla is talking about having a film crew
out as early as Tuesday so that material can be up by Sept. 5.
Whaddya Tink?
Jim Kotcon
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <darla(a)growthmediaservices.com>
Date: Fri, Aug 26, 2011 at 6:52 PM
Subject: Ad Campaign for Marcellus Gas
To: jkotcon(a)gmail.com
Hi there,
Ok, I've checked out the website to familiarize myself more with the issues,
and I have a few questions/thoughts for you.
1. You mention that you want the campaign to run Sept 5-12. Are you
wanting it to run just that week, or are you looking for a more long term
campaign?
2. Per our conversation, I understand that this is a public awareness
campaign, similar to what we did for StopPATHWV. No politicizing, just
making the public aware of the health, ecological and cost issues. The
success of the StopPATH campaign relied on the fact that we conveyed the
issues without appearing alarmist or radical, just calmly spreading the
facts and making the communities aware of the issues. While the power
company tried to stop the campaign, they couldn't because the basis of the
information was 100% factual. They could not complain that we were crying
"Fire" in a crowded theatre. We need to do the same thing here. We need to
bring the reality of the situation home, explain the real world impact on
their lives...this isn't something taking place halfway around the world,
but something that could have an impact on the streams they fish, the water
they drink, etc. Lots of different ways this can be done. One thing we
would definitely want to show is the impact to the land. If there are any
experts we could speak with regarding it, that would be a good option as
well. I'll work this weekend on script ideas and avenues to pursue to have
the most impact.
3. Given the quick turnaround time, your best bet to reach the most people
is probably going to be online. Running a campaign on the Charleston
Gazette site is probably a very good idea. (StopPATH got more responses from
their video on the local paper's site than from the substantially more
expensive local television networks.) The turnaround time for online
advertising is also much more in line with the timeline we are looking at.
4. Google is a great fit for this. Placing the ads so that when someone
does a search for Marcellus Gas, for fracking, and other critical keywords,
they find your ad is a powerful tool. (Irritated Allegheny Power to no end
that every time someone searched for Electric Company or Allegheny
Power,they got an ad running against them!) Also, these are cost
effective. Instead of paying for impression, you pay per response. With
traditional media outlets (print, radio, television) you pay every time the
ad runs. Through Google, you only pay when people click through to your
website for more information. Definitely helps stretch the budget, and can
reach ad locations that you couldn't reach on your own. (Google's network
partners with major media outlets and thousands of websites to target the
ads to the exact market...for example, a client who ran ads for a home show
found their ads on HGTV's website. Perfect fit for their market.)
5. Direct mail is ridiculously expensive. Not really an option on this kind
of thing. Billboards might be a good option. Affordable and broad
reaching. And when done in a way to get their attention and make them think
about it, can work well.
6. Radio may also be a good fit. If you do internet ads on the Gazette
website, Google video ads and display ads, billboards and a radio campaign,
you will have a great coverage area demographically. I need to double check
some rates, but we should be able to do anywhere from a 30 day to 90 day
campaign on all of these outlets for the budget you allocated.
Let me know your thoughts. I know this is a lot of info and may seem like
gibberish, so feel free to ask questions. If all of this looks good, I'll
put together the official proposal and send it over...and with your go-ahead
we'll start on some scripting this weekend. That way we'll be able to
present you with an ad campaign on Monday. If it looks good, we'll need to
get started first thing next week, in order to have the ads filmed, graphics
designed, audio recorded, and everything edited approved and sent to the
media outlets by the 5th.
Best regards,
Darla
PS: One more question...need the verbage for the ad disclosure (This ad was
paid for by a grant from....etc). To make sure we have all the legal
avenues covered.
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