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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