To Do List this Friday

[Kerlin]

All right, we have been asked to provide a To Do List to go out on this Friday. That means we need to pick 3-4 advertisers to focus on and have the text ready by Thursday afternoon/evening.

I posted in another thread that it might be a good idea to "theme" our choices for advertiser writing. So I'm going to propose that this week, we focus on tech advertisers. What I'd like us to do is break up the episodes and find out when each company advertised, so that we can provide that information in a thread here for people to mention in their letters.

I have all the information for the new episodes, and will post that here. Hopefully it can be followed up with information from the reruns as we continue.

First up is Hewlett Packard.

Advertised during the following new 11 episodes:
Kansas (8PM): ??
Terra Firma (8PM): ??

Carly Fiorina
CEO
Hewlett Packard
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/email/fiorina/index.html
It is best to use the website contact for, as we have been informed that they prefer this.

Notes B Sharp, you work at HP, right? They have given us positive feedback in the past but that level has been dropping off lately.

I suggest we place this advertiser on the To Do list and use the spin of "it's just an online form, it will take you 30 seconds at most" to get people to write, since we know that they do keep track of online feedback.

CDW

Advertised during the following new episodes:
Twice Shy (both showings): IT Support
Mental as Anything (12AM): Computer Equipment
A Constellation of Doubt (8PM): Computer Equipment

Donald M. Gordon
VP Advertising
CDW Computer Centers, Inc.
200 N. Milwaukee Ave
Vernon Hills, IL
60061
866-SVC-4CDW
866-782-4239
http://www.cdw.com/shop/tools/composeemail/sendcorporate.asp?mailboxID=1

Notes: CDW has provided *extremely* positive feedback in the past, and has been running a series of commercials lately that have themes suspiciously similar to Farscape - wormholes and Rock, Paper, Scissors. This might be a good thing to ask people to talk about in their letters.

I would recommend we put this advertiser on the list.

Gateway

Advertised during the following new episodes:
Twice Shy (12AM): Computers
Bringing Home the Beacon (8PM): Computers
Prayer (12AM): Computers
We're So Screwed Pt. 1 (8PM): Computers

Brad Shaw
Senior VP Marketing and Corporate Communications
Gateway, Inc.
14303 Gateway Place
Poway, CA
92064
858-848-3401
http://www.gateway.com/about/contactus/index.shtml

Notes: Gateway has never been targetted as part of a To Do list before, and we have not had any positive feedback reported back from them. This might be a good time to start.

I suggest that we add this advertiser to the To Do list and use the spin of "newcomer" to ask people to write. Their letters truly *can* make a vital difference in this case, introducing Gateway to that special brand of Scaper love.

IBM

Advertised during the following new episodes:
Mental as Anything (8PM): IBM
Bringing Home the Beacon (8PM): IBM Business Consultants
A Constellation of Doubt (both showings): 8 - "Business Reality Detector" and 12 - Webshare
Prayer (8PM): Webshare
We're So Screwed Pt. 1 (both showings): 8 - Business on Demand; 12 - "a company you can trust"
We're So Screwed Pt. 3 (8PM): "Business Reality Detector"

Abby Kohnstamm
Senior VP Marketing
IBM Corporation
New Orchard Rd.
Armonk, NY
10504
914-499-1900
http://www.ibm.com/contact/us

Notes: They have been targetted twice as the subject of To Do lists, once early on in the campaign as an advertiser common to both Enterprise and Farscape, and once later on for advertising during Bringing Home the Beacon. No one has posted about any positive feedback.

I do *not* suggest that we include IBM on the list, given that they have already been targetted twice and have not provided any feedback. We can include them as optional in a linked thread back here in this forum if people would like more people to write to. I just think focusing on them wouldn't do us as much good as it would the other three.

I did not include information on AOL, Intel, United Online (NetZero), Priceline.com, or Orbitz.com, though I can get that information if you think they would be worth looking into. My opinion is that they should be targetted later as companies specifically concerned with internet services or, in the case of Priceline.com and Orbitz.com, concerned with travel (we also have the Carnival cruises in this category).

Any thoughts on this?

[akimbo]

WOW! Very well thought out. Excellent. :thumbs:

Actually I think limiting it to 3 (and not doing IBM) might actually get people to do all three, giving better concentration and impact. It would also not be a big hill to climb and get them back into the swing of things.

I'm measuring this by my own "OMG I'm not writing 15 more letters this week" view of the world. YMMV.

[blue]

I'm eager to get HP on the TO DO list. I suggest though, that people who don't use tech products might have less to say and less desire to write to only tech companies, so perhaps we could also offer another targeted choice or so each week that would allow consumers of other products to write to companies whose products they use. For instance, the cereals, hair products, household products, large stores like Walgreen or fast food places like KFC, Wendys, Chilis, Burger King, Subway, Dominos etc, might be listed as alternate suggestions for those who prefer to use the product they write about.
Lets not forget that we don't have too many weeks left where ads will appear--do we have time to cycle slowly thru all categories one at a time? Lets give a few more choices, and suggest people pick three from the list.

[Kerlin]

I think we do have plenty of time, blue. At least until September, right, which is when the reruns will end their current strip? That's...12-14 weeks. And there's no rule that says we have to stop once there are no reruns on. Early in the campaign there were To Do lists featuring advertisers from the first half of s4, which had been over for months.

I very much think we should do just as you suggested as we go along - gather up all the food advertisers, pick three big companies and list their products, and then provide the rest of the information in a thread on the board so people can come see if they use any of those products.

If we do more than one focus a week - which, if I'm following you correctly, is what you suggested? - I worry that we will overload with information. The list has to be short and concise, preferably in one part, so that we can be more confident of getting people to do the writing.

[blue]

Sorry if I wasn't clear-I was in a hurry when I wrote that because the SHOW WAS ABOUT TO START. I agree that we don't want to overload information, but I also worry about making the list too specific to a small subgroup, and leaving the other people who might want to write to advertisers feeling that they can't really write to these three with any conviction because they would never be customers, cutting down on the number of people writing--too much or too little is the conundrum--
How about if we just do as you suggest and post the three techs on the TO DO list this week, but also suggest that for those who would prefer writing to a different three going to a link also posted on the TO DO list that lists some other choices as well-and let the link go to a list of addresses (more than three, and more than one other category) that have a variety of companies that are likely to be used by many viewers, and that have either appeared on the responsive list, or have never been targeted, with the suggestion that any three of these might be good substitutions for the three on the to do list. That's what I was trying to suggest.

[CosmicTheorist]

Hummer has been advertising fairly regularly. It is a new brand of GM SUV, truck, tank, whatever. The price is listed in small print in their ads, and since it is an ugly car and costs close to my annual income, it is a safe bet that I will NOT be buying one of these behemoths.

BUT, they have a contact page on their web site and they ASK for feedback on their commercials! This always seemed like an invitation for Scapers to flood them with email about their ads.

I also think we should provide the names and other contact information of the television executives that we want these advertisers to contact. We should give them Ms Hammer's and Mr Jackson's addresses and phone numbers along with all the Viacom people we want them to contact.

I don't particularly think Skiffy is a viable option, but I definitely think we should NOT let them OFF our hooks until Farscape is safely back in production.

;)

[blue]

CT- The print isn't all that small. The Hummer costs $53,465. It's for people who want to pretend they are driving a tank.
I think there are many companies with email replies to their websites, though I haven't made a list. I am all for ANY to do list, but still think that a link to other choices for those with extra energy, or for those who would be more comfortable writing to companies whose products they use, would be a good addition.

I agree we should include the names and addresses of the tv execs--make it as easy as possible for letter writers to include the information.

[Kerlin]

Okay...it's Thursday night. I'm going to take the information I have above and submit it? And then we can start a thread in this forum to link back to, with more information for them?

[akimbo]

Well I for one say: Go! Go! Go! There has been a lot of feedback to really get the to do lists going again. This is an excellent start.

I still like the targetted or "themed" ideas - I don't think we'll be isolating many people.

Kerlin, darlin, where are you getting the energy?