Do it Yourself Promoting - Commercial 2nd Wave

[DaMENACE]

As the 'Do it Yourself Media' campaign heads into the home stretch, there has been a lot of interest in planning further commercials.

I propose a much larger campaign in January to build on what the media will do for us at the end of November and beginning of December. This commercial campaign would be a much more targeted campaign to increase the ratings of the new January episodes of Farscape. The basic premise of this project would be: If SciFi will not promote the show properly to increase Farscape’s ratings, the Scaper community will.

The commercial itself would be very similar to the current commercial, except it would list the day, time and channel to watch Farscape. The commercial would be much more targeted to actually reach potential new viewers of Farscape. We would run the commercial on only cable networks that carry SciFi, and would not run during Farscape. The goal would be to get people to who don’t normally watch Farscape to flip over to SciFi on Friday’s at 8:00pm.

We have already proven that it is inexpensive to book commercials on cable TV. While the budget for this project will be much larger, the goal will be much different than the ‘Do it Yourself Media’ campaign. The goal is to build on the momentum that the ‘Do it Yourself Media’ campaign starts. In late-November and early-December the media should be all abuzz with the story of these industrious Farscape fans that have aired their own commercial. While potential new viewers may have seen the commercial on Entertainment Tonight in November, they will not know when and where to view Farscape come January. That is where this project would come in; the second commercial would remind these potential new viewers that there is this really great show that needs to be watched. It would be similar in style to the current commercial so it is instantly familiar from the news stories, but it also has a reminder of when and where they can see this show.

I think the PROS of this plan are obvious, but I want throw some CONS out there as well.

CONS
*The money to do this kind of campaign is probably going to be in the $5,000-$10,000 range. Only a guess, but that is a lot of cash to raise, especially during Christmas time.
*I saw this concern somewhere on the board, and I think it is completely valid: Farscape is a complex and subtle show. Is it possible for the braindead masses to embrace this show? If it is not, is our money wasted?
*Essentially, Farscape is dead after 11 episodes. Will anyone really want to get hooked on a show that will end so suddenly?

I am looking to see if there really is an interest in this kind of plan. Please give me your feedback in this thread. Let’s brainstorm the idea for now. If it seems like the community at large is interested in this plan, we can move forward and make it a reality.

Denis DaMENACE

[Scaper989]

People keep asking if fans will want to get hooked on a show
that's canceled. However only die-hard Farscape fans know
that the the last 11 episodes will end on a cliffhanger. As far
as the general public is concerned, they'll probably assume that
the show will actually finish, or won't understand the need for
an ending at all.

Let's focus on getting people to watch the last 11 episodes, and
let them assume what they will. If they get hooked, when
Farscape ends on a cliffhanger they'll likely get outraged like
the rest of us. Yah, kind of sneaky.

:ewink:

[atlantagirl]

MediaSavant also made a very good point in another thread. Specifically, that our best target for PR may be casual viewers of Farscape -- those who know about it but don't necessarily go out of their way to watch it every week. She pointed out that casual viewers are the largest proportion of the viewing audience, and that, if we can get THEM to watch in January, the numbers could go up significantly.

I think many many casual viewers (as I considered myself until I found out the show was cancelled) have yet to find out that the show has been cancelled, and will be interested in watching (and trying to save the show) once they know about it.

My only question about DaMenace's campaign strategy is why not show the commercial at 8p? If we are not showing it on SciFi then we want people to change their channel at 8p to find Farscape. It seems like a good time to run it to me.

[Scaper989]

By that logic, I think we should pick the 7:30 PM timeslot. Get
them BEFORE they've decided to watch something else.

Also, psi-fi had a marathon of "final curtains" (or whatever it was
called). The showed the last eppisode of a bunch of series. I
loved it! If people are encouraged to watch "the last 11 episodes"
casual viewers may be encouraged to make Farscape
appointment viewing.

[anomia]

I'm in awe of what you've all accomplished with the "I AM FARSCAPE" commercial! It's outstanding, and you guys ROCK!!!
So I'm a little hesitant to throw my two cents in, but here goes...I'd suggest staying away from anything saying "the LAST 11 episodes"; don't want to plant the idea in viewers' minds that there's no hope, and "last" sounds so final.

Something like "FARSCAPE: The adventure's NOT OVER! It's just heating up on Jan 10th!" would emphasize the show and date, that its not over, and that the best is yet to come! It targets new viewers, casual viewers, current viewers; tells people who've heard about the cancellation that there's more, and also lets television executives interpret it as 'the fans aren't giving up and the drive to save Farscape is just heating up!' More bang for the buck, as kimrb says!



anomia
(off to judge a debate tournament!)

One of these days I'm going to take the time to figure out how to use smiles

(Edited this when I got home; I tend to be too wordy! Also, trying out BOLD to see if it works!):)

[loco2]

From the minds of scapers. :)

I'm in all the way. I'll chip in money, I'll air the ads myself come January. *ahem* As a matter of fact I already asked the ad rep about airing more ads in January..*so sue me. I'm always one step ahead *g* and she said get with her in December because they were talking about rates going up next year. That's from AT&T so it might be more than just here. Think about it.

And I trust you guys to come up with something decent to air and to attract new viewers. Too bad we don't have access to a director or someone who wanted to do something that had never been done before and make his mark on tv history.

I wonder what Spike Jonze is doing now... ? :cool:

Anyway, I'm in.


Chris
imloco2

[Kithlyara]

Once again, I'm willing to help wherever it's needed. Whether you need help filming, editing, whatever. I'm here for ya :)

[grapeshot]

I love it! Let's target the casual viewer in the five largest markets. I'll donate, just 'cos I'm not giving up. Will this be a separate donation fund?

[DaMENACE]

It looks like there is definetly some interest for a project like this. This is still in the talking stages, and once the 1st commercial airs, I think this project could really take off.

Donations would most likely be handled like the USA Today ad. The funds would go directly into producing the commercial itself (having to buy tapes and transfer to BetaSP), and airing the commercial. The more money we get the more we could air the commercial. I personally do not want to be in charge of any funds... anyone want to handle the cash for something like this and distribute money?

I say we target underutilized markets. Markets that have the lowest ratio of audience for farscape. Basically, highest number of eyeballs with the lowest percentage of eyeballs watching Farscape. I know Washington DC gets good ratings for Farscape so they might not be the place to spend our money since they already have a good rating?

Anyone interested in doing research to find out local ratings? If not, I know our broker can help us with this.

PM me if you are interested in helping with the donation fund or research.

Denis DaMENACE

[Shipscat]

the midwest-that's informal, but I feel quite isolated out here and Kansas City and Topeka are Nielsen target areas.

[loco2]

on another thread...

<<I don't know where to put this suggestion, so I'll put it here...

If you want to get more bang for your buck, rates are usually cheapest in TV during the week between Christmas and New Year's. That's an excellent time to run ads anyway because you'll piggyback on the 24th marathon and the actual return of new episodes is within striking distance.>>

Just thought I'd repost it here to make sure you saw it.

Do we have any ideas yet on the type of commercial to air in Dec/Jan? Okay, yes, patience is not my strong suit... tell me to go away... *g*


Chris
imloco2

[Tiriel]

BUMP!

Gee, this fell far down the board!

Love and Peace :)

Tiriel :eek:

[jadeshand]

is a filmmaker/scriptwriter - he can get the professional cameras and probably write a bang up commercial.

If you would like me to contact him about it, let me know.

[Eve11]

buried in the original DIY media thread is a really cool studio commercial script.

http://www.watchfarscape.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3784&perpage=15&pagenumber=16

posted by tedbragg about 1/3 of the way down the page. It looks really cool. The only thing I'd be wary about is the "I can watch it with my kids" statement. Some of Scape is pretty racy -- I'm pretty sure that for younger kids, parents need to screen which eps they show. And, of course, we'll have to get a really diverse bunch of scapers together. Maybe it's something that could be done at the con in NY? ack, that's really short notice, though.

[Maayan]

My two cents.

I'd like to second anomia's sentiment.

The first commercial wave is aimed at the media. It's a PR move. The message is Save Farscape, and it references the savefarscape.com URL because the media are interested in the campaign, not the show.

If the second wave is to be aimed at (casual) viewers themselves, the message should be Watch Farscape, and reference the watchfarscape.com URL (the site is in the process of tailoring itself for newbies). No need to mention the cancellation at all and edge our bets. The simpler the message, the better.

"Farscape rocks. It's on SCI FI on Fridays at 8 PM. Watch it."

It'll get the point across to the viewers and it'll still be a good follow up with the media, who will have been hooked with the first commercial.

[Dominar of Action]

I'm in -- I'll do and/or contribute whatever I can. Let's rock & roll!

[saska]

I am very much behind this idea. I know I was among the early posters who suggested cable advertising as a way to reach new Farscape viewers. Having had tremendous success advertising even on the "cheaper" cable stations for my business, I know that it is effective. Even a poorly-made, dorky commercial like the one my company ran got people to pay attention. A slick, beautiful commercial produced and paid for by the fans is strong testament to how good the show is, when a casual viewer sees the ad. I think it should be prominently stated that we, the fans of the show, are asking others to watch and get hooked like we did.

Here's the "but". I personally believe the DIYM campaign will generate airtime and traffic for us. I believe we will get coverage and interest new viewers. But I think it will be easier to solicit contributions for this second wave after the success of DIYM is evident in the form of media coverage and new visitors to this site.

To the site administrators (and I'll send this in email separately too to be sure it's seen, but I'll post it here so everyone is thinking about it) - when DIYM begins to run, we should put a prominent poll on the home page that says "is this your first visit, and did you come because of our television commercial?" In addition to the media coverage we'll get, which will be self-evident, such a poll will help us, here, see how much of an impact the campaign has. This will go a long way toward helping us as donators, and the fund managers as, well, managers, make decisions about where money goes.

My husband and I are in the process of buying our first home. We will not be in a position to contribute more than a small amount of money until we close the purchase. However, we will be ready and willing to spend several hundred dollars on this campaign provided DIYM has its intended effect. I don't think we're alone in that.

(And lest anyone think we've done nothing to contribute because we haven't contributed money, my very tight John Crichton "Save Farscape" t-shirt, courtesy of Ratscape, has garnered a great deal of attention at NFL football games, MLB baseball games, grocery stores, and outings to beer festivals in the Pacific Northwest. We use the assets we have. ;)

Saska

[grapeshot]

My friend once was campaign manager for a political candidate, and she also used to sell ads for a local TV channel. She highly recommends this course of action. There are plenty of inexpensive slots available, and TV IS THE MOST POWERFUL advertising medium. Count me IN for this plan. And...it'll work even better if it is reinforced by radio, as with the Guerilla Radio Ad campaign.

[akimbo]

Count me in for whatever I can help with.

I do think we should make cautious plans until the DIYM has made its splash. It could give us a level of insight.

And don't forget coordinating with the USA Today, Hollywood print advertising being scheduled.

[DaMENACE]

*dusting off the cobwebs*

Well, the DIYM project is about to take off. Most of the work is done thanks to many, many people.

I had a little chat with our broker Jenna. She is 100% behind us. We spent some time pouring over the ratings for Farscape. The goal of this is to pop a 2.0 for Farscape. So we looked at what our obstacles are.

First we took a peek at Washington DC's ratings. You DC scapers rock! You held a consistent 2.5 rating for the month of July. I don't think we need to spend much time or money on you... sorry. :( I think we need to hammer the areas that have crappy ratings...

Take for example my home area... San Francisco. San Francisco did a couple of good 1.7 or 1.9 ratings in July, but when baseball was on, Farscape dipped all the way to 1.1!! Come on, the Giant's didn't do that good this year. :P Oh and 'The Monk' over on USA premiered and kicked Farscape's sorry butt all over the place. Did you know that Ed, Edd and Eddy gets a better rating than Farscape on Cartoon Network? I could have spent all day going over these ratings.

So I looked at was happening recently on Friday nights at 8pm. Do you know what Farscape's prime demo is watching? Firefly.

I don't have much time to finish relaying the info I gathered tonight, but I want you guys out there to start brainstorming where we should be buying our commercials.

I am thinking we buy some specific spots to attract new viewers during prime time shows the Wed, Thurs and Friday (before 8pm). Tell them that Farscape rocks and where they can find it. We do it in the areas that need the most ratings.

THE COMMERCIAL
Beowulf said that he should be able to pound out another commercial for us. My guess is that he has enough footage already. I view it as the fans talking about what they like best about Farscape, and why it kicks ass. Very similar to what we are doing now except that we make the show sound exciting. Then we tell them to watch Farscape.

I'm open for other ideas of commercials too. We need to do it now though and we don't really have time to talk much about it. If you can make a commercial, do it. Start it. It needs to happen now. Let's discuss what we want to do here, but I want to focus all of our energy on increasing the audience and I think we have what we need for a commercial.

OK, I'm done for now. Please discuss and we will come up with a more solid plan soon.

Denis DaMENACE

[Kithlyara]

While I don't have any ideas at the moment, I am completely open to filming more, or editing, or whatever is needed. This time, I will definitely pick a quieter place to film! lol!

[Dominar of Action]

I don't know as we need to spend the time getting too fancy -- the homespun/grassroots flavor of the existing ad is arresting and should get people's attention well enough. How about using that, but adding an intro bit ... "Never heard of Farscape? You're not alone, but here's what a few people have to say about it ..." [cue snippets] and then close with something like "So now you know -- watch Farscape, one of the coolest shows on TV. Tune in to the Sci Fi Channel on Fridays at at 8:00 EST, 7:00 CST [yadda yadda yadda], beginning January 10, to see what it is that makes people so passionate about Farscape."

We could shoot to air it the week before 1/3 and then again before 1/10 and thereafter as $$ permits.

[rani23]

If there's anything I can do to help, count me in. :) I know we've been concentrating on TV ads but what about radio too?

A quick "The Best Science Fiction on Television is on Friday Nights at 8:00 PM. Farscape!" Something quick to grab their attention and be cheap to air.

[MediaSavant]

Has anyone posted a link to the press release?

I'd like to read it.

[Eve11]

MS: It should be up on the front page. Here is the link:

http://www.watchfarscape.com/tvspot/release.php

(edited to say: the actual file sent out also split that middle paragraph into two. "Beginning on November 24th..." was a new paragraph. It was also nicely formatted in .pdf with a cool "Save Farscape" logo on the top. )

(edited again to say: Also in the updated version I sent out, the last paragraph does mention that the final 11 eps will BEGIN airing on 1/10)

[atlantagirl]

Oops. My bad. Disregard this post. Privacy issues and all.

[jfranka]

I'd like to suggest my commercial, if you think that it's good and approprate for this. An .avi file of it is at my Save Farscape web site, Http://www.JFAPlanet.com/farscape.htm at the very bottom of the page.

Thanks.

[Dominar of Action]

Yipes! 59MB is WAY more than my little dial-up modem can handle. Is it possible to do screen caps?

[Eve11]

Hey menace, how much of the ratings data can you disclose (now that we're paying clients for the ad agencies and such)? It would be great for the advertising and marketing teams here to know which markets are doing well and which aren't, so we can focus our attention where it is needed. I don't know exactly what kind of info we have, but certainly running ads on tv gives us a legitimate reason for looking at Neilsen data. Is that covered in the contract with the brokerage agency?

[DaMENACE]

We don't have a contract with the broker company or anything. We kinda just paid them some money and sent out tapes...

But, our broker has a great database full of Nielsen info. I could have talked to her all day about the info. She is researching which areas are the lowest rated for Farscape. They have access to it, but you need expensive software to see it.

[MediaSavant]

If an area is low-rated for Farscape it may be because of carriage problems (cable systems not carrying it) or demographic/psychographic issues regarding interest in science fiction.

It sounds odd, but for advertising purposes, it usually makes sense to advertise in areas with higher or average ratings for Farscape. It's referred to as "fishing where the fish are".

[DaMENACE]

MediaSavant,

Thank you very much for the suggestion on where to book the ads. I think where we should target is bang for the buck spots. Most number of potential viewers during the most affordable time frame. We may not be able to afford to fish where the fish are in some areas too, so that is going to play a big part. Still, I know San Fran is getting lower than a 2.0 so we will probably throw some money that way.

Your input is invaluable, so please keep up on this thread and help us rookies out.



MEETING W/ THE BROKER
I am meeting with the broker on Wednesday (11/27) afternoon, to pour over some ratings and to come up with a strategy for us to use. Now is the time to send in your ideas in questions to me to ask the broker.

If you are part of your local SaveFarscape organization and want to sponsor part your city's commercials, please tell me so I have an idea of where should focuse our broker's work. She is gung ho for us, even though we are not making her alot of money. She may not be a Farscape fan, but she is 100% behind our effort. She is doing alot of research for us right now. She is looking at cost effective ad placement, ratings and negotiating deals for us. Since I am new to this, I will be relying on her expertise to help us navigate this new frontier.


We are only going to advertise on cable nets that carry SciFi. The broker is going to try to weed out any cable nets that carry SciFi only as a premium or digital cable, where the digital sucscriptions are low.

Denis DaMENACE

[Dominar of Action]

Bump

Any new developments? What do you need from us at this point? Let us know what cities you'd like to hit in order of priority and I'm sure the sponsoring bit will take care of itself ;)

[loco2]

Okay, here's the deal. *g* I'd like to run ads in January here in Lex. However, it might produce more results to broadcast more ads elsewhere than any right here. The first round of ads didn't matter, but then next round matter a great deal. If you think it would be better to run more ads in the 'big' cities I'll chip in and put money towards that. Or I can run them here like I just did.

Let me know what the best use of the money would be. DK said we were smart.... well, I'm trying. *g*



Chris
imloco2

[DarkMagess]

Originally posted by Dominar of Action
I don't know as we need to spend the time getting too fancy -- the homespun/grassroots flavor of the existing ad is arresting and should get people's attention well enough. How about using that, but adding an intro bit ... "Never heard of Farscape? You're not alone, but here's what a few people have to say about it ..." [cue snippets] and then close with something like "So now you know -- watch Farscape, one of the coolest shows on TV. Tune in to the Sci Fi Channel on Fridays at at 8:00 EST, 7:00 CST [yadda yadda yadda], beginning January 10, to see what it is that makes people so passionate about Farscape."



The homespun thing was ok for trying to get media attention, it gave them a hook. But the average person finds it stupid. They want high quality of production and flashiness. They are uninterested in what a bunch of folks were able to throw together, a la the reactions on slashdot. Something other than I am Farscape would probably be in order if we're wanting to get people to watch. Not that I know what, but since the goal is different than the first commercial, I would the think the execution must be as well.

-Dark

[grapeshot]

Considering that television is a "talking billboard" in everybody's house, I'm not sure that the "quality" of the TV ad matters all that much. Afterall, you still notice the "homemade" ads for "Baumgart's Tires" or for "Rudy's ChimneySweepers" as much as you notice those slick Budweiser commercials. Sure, it would be nice to have a slick, clever ad that causes comment, but I'm not sure we have the time to pull one together, and the existing ad will serve almost as well. (Just my opinion.)

[atlantagirl]

I agree with grapeshot. And I think that the homespun quality of the commercial draws attention to itself. It's clearly not the slick, expensive, Madison Avenue product.

As long as it's clear that this is a fan-produced and funded commercial, I think that it gets across what we're trying to tell people, which is "Farscape is great, lots of people love it, why don't you try it?"

[DarkMagess]

Originally posted by atlantagirl
I agree with grapeshot. And I think that the homespun quality of the commercial draws attention to itself. It's clearly not the slick, expensive, Madison Avenue product.

As long as it's clear that this is a fan-produced and funded commercial, I think that it gets across what we're trying to tell people, which is "Farscape is great, lots of people love it, why don't you try it?"

But the response from people seems to be "wow, look at those dorks, and they couldn't even make a decent commercial". Even -my- friends were like "wow... that's.... great." And quality matters in so much as folks laugh at poorly done commercials. And you don't tend to buy from people you laugh at.

It doesn't have to be flashy. But something scripted. I was thinking that something like one of hte banner ads would be nifty. Imagine if we could get two people, one who kinda looks like John and one who kinda looks like Aeryn, costumes for both. And there's a narrator person standing there. (yes, the problem would be getting people all there at the same time, but the script was in my head so I'm gonna write it down anyway)

<shot of only the Narrator>
Narrator: So there's this love story between a <move view to right to include John-like-guy> guy, kinda like this guy. <John-like-guy waves a little and grins> and a girl <camera starts panning the other way over to Aeryn-like-girl> kinda like this girl. <Aeryn-like-girl crosses her arms and smirks>
<camera moves out to show all three>
Narrator: <motion toward John-like-guy>He's human. <Aeryn-like-girl steps forward a little and turns to look at John-like-guy> She's not. <John-like-guy does same> And you thought your relationship had problems. <zoom back on Narrator> What is Farscape? Check out SciFi's chain reaction on <insert proper date> and then weekly, Fridays at 8. Come see the wonders we've seen.

[atlantagirl]

I think there are a number of things to bear in mind:

1. The quality of the commercial on the web was severely degraded due to compression of the video.

2. Slashdot and Fark obviously attract people who simply want to say nasty things in a forum in which they can get away with it.

3. We have virtually no money to shoot a "professional" commercial

4. We have virtually no time to shoot another commercial

5. We are dependent on volunteer labor for all aspects -- scripting, shooting, acting, etc.

And while it may be true that you might not buy something from a store or business that you thought had an amateurish commercial, we are selling the fact that we ARE amateurs and that we cared so much about this show that we put our own commercial together to try to let other people know it's out there.

It's not as though we have to convince everybody in the world to watch Farscape. We just need a few new people and a lot of the casual viewers who are already familiar with the show but don't watch it regularly.

And if nothing else, I think that the current commercial is different enough from other stuff out there that it will get noticed. People may think "Gee that's not a great commercial" but when they see that it's fan produced maybe it will encourage them to give the show a chance, and that's all we are asking for. It would be great if we could show that cool trailer that areyoufarscape found, or other flashy stuff, but we can't because of the copyright issues.

When I was in design school, we had a saying, "If you can't fix it, feature it." And that's what we're doing. We're recognizing the limitations of what we can do and running with it.

[DarkMagess]

Originally posted by atlantagirl
I think there are a number of things to bear in mind:

1. The quality of the commercial on the web was severely degraded due to compression of the video.


Probably true there, I never did get to see it full quality.

3. We have virtually no money to shoot a "professional" commercial

4. We have virtually no time to shoot another commercial

5. We are dependent on volunteer labor for all aspects -- scripting, shooting, acting, etc.

I know we don't. Which is what makes this all so difficult. But aiming for professional just seems like a better idea to me than aiming for amateur.

And while it may be true that you might not buy something from a store or business that you thought had an amateurish commercial, we are selling the fact that we ARE amateurs and that we cared so much about this show that we put our own commercial together to try to let other people know it's out there.

But, see, I don't think we should now be selling the fact that we're amateurs. That was what the first commercial was... look at US, at what the fans are doing. Now you'd want people to look at the SHOW, which would mean not focusing on who made it and why.


It would be great if we could show that cool trailer that areyoufarscape found, or other flashy stuff, but we can't because of the copyright issues.

I know, which is why I was thinking maybe a different route. Maybe not even have people at all... but computerish looking text on the screen, green on black, like it's being typed out saying, I dunno, something interesting ;) and clever...

Asking people to consider the kind of effort that it would take for a bunch of fans to produce a commercial and then VALUE it based on their calculations of time and effort and cost is expecting FAR too much. People don't analyze anything that way. They take things at face value, which is why, for mass appeal, it's gotta be a pretty nice face.

I dunno, I don't like being a wet blanket, so maybe I should revert to lurking since I don't think I'm helping things at all.

-Dark

[scaPer boi]

Maybe we could ask some of the actors if they'd like to be in the commercial, i don't mean to belittle the first commercial, as has already been mentioned it's aim was to raise awareness in the media of our struggle, not so much promote the show itself but i think to get people to watch farscape, you've got to give them some idea of what the show looks like and if we can't get permission to use images from the show (i know there are copyright issues, etc but sometimes i just feel like yelling WE'RE TRYING TO SAVE YOUR FRELLING JOBS HERE!!) then at least seeing who's on it might raise a little curiosity and get viewers to tune in.

[Shipscat]

I like the idea of the actors in the commercial, but aside from the idea of whether or not it's a good idea for the actors to be involved, for the sake of their careers, no one in America who doesn't watch Farscape is likely to recognize them. Although, Ben and Claudia do sell themselves...:)

And I don't like the idea of actor look-alikes because they could never look as good as Ben and Claudia, as much as I'd love to see Tiriel play Claudia....

Here's my idea-do you remember the X-files ads scifi was running? People in a coffee shop talking about X-files? I thought those were great commercials, and so true..people did feel the need to sit and jabber about X-files, and Farscape is even worse that way...and when I have met farscape fans who are not on line, they sound just like us..they love the same things about the show. So, coffee shop, something nicer looking than the one in the x-files ad, maybe some people just discovering that the others are also Scapers..four people, two guys, two girls, or three women and one guy, professional looking, a little mix of ages...books and laptops scattered around..one pair is sitting at one table, and are overheard talking about farscape...the others are like 'You watch Farscape?!!??" and delighted to meet them..they share the same table, and start talking about why they love it.

"It's the characters,' "no, it's the romance betwen John and Aeryn" "it's the frelling scarren/Peacekeeper conflict!"

they can talk about how it does new things that tv never does, how you never know what's coming...and the one line that a friend kept saying to me "Don't they have WONDERFUL stories?!"

It would be very easy and natural, because it's what really happens when Scapers meet.

[Cynicat]

Just my $0.02 - I love the idea of getting the actors into the commercial, but if we did that the commercial would HAVE to look slick, else it may undermine their (and thus the shows') credibility.
Also - there may be union/SAG-type issues involved, something to watch out for.

[DZ_Crasher]

I like the coffeeshop idea . . . kinda makes people feel that if they watch farscape and they like it they're part of a really friendly group of people. On the other hand it could make them feel reluctant, like someone joining a party late... I don't know . . . on first glance, though, it sounds great.

Adi

[Kithlyara]

Originally posted by Shipscat
Here's my idea-do you remember the X-files ads scifi was running? People in a coffee shop talking about X-files?

I LOVE this idea! It would be easy to shoot, and wouldn't cost much to produce. This idea is awesome! I am willing to do what I can to make sure this commercial happens!!!!

As far as getting Ben and Claudia to do a commerical, it isn't going to happen for various reasons. One of which is, they cannot afford to be directly associated with the Save Farscape movement.

[Shipscat]

Better joining the party late than never at all. :)

[DaMENACE]

Sorry, I've been out of action for awhile... got the Win95/MTX virus on my PC. Nasty virus that can't be deleted via regular virus scan software... arrgghh! My baby is all better now though. :)

Originally posted by Kithlyara
I LOVE this idea! It would be easy to shoot, and wouldn't cost much to produce. This idea is awesome! I am willing to do what I can to make sure this commercial happens!!!!

As far as getting Ben and Claudia to do a commerical, it isn't going to happen for various reasons. One of which is, they cannot afford to be directly associated with the Save Farscape movement.


We need to get a completed commercial done fast! Time is of the essence. Anyone that wants to shoot a commercial, I say do it. We will hold a contest and may the best commercial win. I will post the contest on the board today with guidelines. Commercial tapes will need to ship no later than 12/31/02... so this needs to happen now.

My plan is to air the commercial 6pm-Midnight on target channels on Wednesday and Thursday before the next episode of Farscape beginning Jan 8th 2003. I am considering targetting channels such as TNN, TNT, USA, TBS, ESPN, CNN, SciFi, MTV, FX, Discovery and Comedy. Costs are being worked out by the broker and I will have more information soon.

The number of cities and where we will target the commercials will be dependant completely by donations. I am going to detail the costs we need to consider while producing this commercial below. These costs will be covered by the fund that is collected to run this commercial campaign. These costs too will be dependant on how many cities we run the ad.

COSTS OF PRODUCTION
Mailing of completed commercial to DaMENACE for duplication
Purchase of BetaSP tapes for dubbing
Cost of time in commercial dubbing facility
Cost of shipping to all cable outlets
Cost of any press releases we send out
Costs to actually air the commercial

Keep your eyes on the board for the posting of the commercial competition. The timeline will be tight because we really don't have much to work with.

JFranka, I saw your commercial... sorry I haven't said anything yet. Please include it in the competition.

Denis DaMENACE

[Selena1]

*thinking...thinking....thinking...*

What if, for a commercial....

We see a young boy playing on the floor, he's quoting things he heard on the show while moving "Moya" and the others around on the floor, stops and looks up, says "I am Farscape", then in walks teen sibling, picks up "Moya", looks at the camera and says "I am Farscape", then mom (or dad) walks in, accepts "moya" from the teen, picks up the remote control and says "I am Farscape. Join us on January 10th at 8pm and witness the wonders we have seen." Then points the contro at the camera and that's the end of the commercial.

Maybe it's too much...over the top...but in my house, that's very close to what could happen. My little boy is totally into action figures, loves the show (his favorite is Dargo), my daughter, 12 doesn't miss anythin on Farscape (her favorite is Zhann)..and well...I'm completely obsessed.

Just had a thought too....that whole thing could be done with a vid cam and microphone for someone proficient.

[DaMENACE]

OK, here is the cost for San Francisco only:

7pm-Midnight Wed or Thursday... one commercial.

USA $960
TNT $840
TNN $450
E! $750
FOXNEWS $660
FOOD $660
COMEDY $420
FX $650
LIFE $1200
BRAVO $250
OXYGEN $420
VH1 $600
AMC $360

Boy, they really nail you for primetime TV, eh? Anyways, that is one market... this is the kind of cash we are talking about. I guess we better fund raise soon. Details on that to come...

Selena1, I like your idea for a commercial. Anyone that wants to do one needs to start doing it now if at all possible. Check out the Competition thread... submit a commercial... the more we have to choose from the merrier.

Denis DaMENACE

[un4scene]

As for fishing were the fish are, the Wash DC area scapers previously discussed wanting to be part in helping air the previous commercial.

Being as this new commercial is aimed more to the viewers, this one would be the ideal commercial to air here. We previously got quotes from various cable outlets and have a small budget to work with. We would only need copies of the commercial and the DC Area Group could go from there. I'd love to propose it at our next committee meeting tomorrow.

[grapeshot]

ChicagoScapers are also thinking about this. The rates we got were
Comedy Central $600
MSNBC $400
CNN $500
FX $500
SciFi $400

Our budget is also pretty small, but we'll be making our decision on Thursday evening (12/5). We're pretty sure though that we'll purchase at least ONE night.

So...we'll be looking for info on how to get the ad tape, and who to send the money for the ad tape to.

[grapeshot]

We have a source for transferring to BetaSP, so all we need is a source copy of the ad.

[DaMENACE]

Originally posted by un4scene
As for fishing were the fish are, the Wash DC area scapers previously discussed wanting to be part in helping air the previous commercial.

Being as this new commercial is aimed more to the viewers, this one would be the ideal commercial to air here. We previously got quotes from various cable outlets and have a small budget to work with. We would only need copies of the commercial and the DC Area Group could go from there. I'd love to propose it at our next committee meeting tomorrow.

When the tapes are made I will make sure you get a tape. Anyone that wants a tape can get one, as long as they are serious about airing the commercial.

BTW, DC and Baltimore are about the highest rated areas for Farscape in the country. HUGE ratings for SciFi in DC and Baltimore. A 2.7 and 3.0 respectively in the month of July 2002. And an interesting tidbit is that the a huge demo from DC is women 18-25. College girls is my guess.

:P I'm heading to DC for the Farscape parties!

Miami, LA and New York are some of the worst. Also the most expensive areas to buy ads.... I'm not going to touch those places. Out of budget and too much of an uphill battle.

[DaMENACE]

Originally posted by grapeshot
We have a source for transferring to BetaSP, so all we need is a source copy of the ad.

Grapeshot,

How many can they make and how much is it going to cost. I don't have that problem solved yet. If they can make about 10-15 tapes for us, my problem would be solved.

Denis DaMENACE

[tcpike]

I like Selena1's idea but one suggestion...When mentioning the time in the commercial, be sure to include the time zone - 8 pm Eastern - or casual viewers in the Midwest and elsewhere might miss the show (FS being shown at 7 pm in my area).

[Dominar of Action]

For the benefit of other posters here, who can we contact to help fund some of these ads? They are obviously pretty expensive, so to get them on in more than a few markets, we'll need contributions. Please post information here so others can know how to contribute if they are so inclined. Thanks.

[un4scene]

Because the Wash DC area is too highly rated already :cool: and it will not be picked to be part of the projected locations to air, the commercial in our area will be funded by donations to the DCScapers group. Info can be found here: http://www.dcscapers.com/

The other areas to be picked I'd venture to say will be proposed to be funded by the Beyond Hope fund. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Oh, and we did discuss this last night and everyone on the DCScapers committee agreed this would be a great idea, so it's a go here! :)

[iflywormholes]

I see all these wonderful ideas and would love to participate and air the commercials here, but I don't know if it is worth the expenditure. I live in Honolulu and I'm certain that we don't rate very well in the ratings but we aren't a major market either. No one seems to care about Hawaii unless you mention the word vacation in the same sentence. :)

So, I was wondering if it would be worth trying to pursue such things out here? Or would more bang for the buck be better spent elsewhere? As for paying for it on our own there is no way I can afford anything right now and our group doesn't have lots of cash on hand, esp with the holidays here.

So is it worth doing such projects where we would need definate financial support from others out here or should we just stick to our own small scale works with flyers and conversions?

-iflywormholes

Hope, that's what keeps me going.

[grapeshot]

Unfortunately there are no easy answers for what to do to advertise Farscape in your area. We are wrestling with the same dilemma ourselves. The thing to remember, though, is to advertise as close to the Friday night showing as possible, because people have short attention spans (and memories). Friday late afternoon drive time on radio, for example, would be good. Friday's entertainment section in your newspaper would also be good. Another good spot might be a weekly entertainment guide - if such a thing exists in your town. (And don't forget to write to your local paper's television critic asking them to review Farscape in January. Free advertising is even better.)

On the other hand, television, while pricey (even on "basic cable"), is the most powerful advertising medium. It's a talking billboard in everybody's house, and most people have it on all the time.

In the end, do what you can afford to do for the longest amount of time. Anything is better than nothing.

[DaMENACE]

Originally posted by Dominar of Action
For the benefit of other posters here, who can we contact to help fund some of these ads? They are obviously pretty expensive, so to get them on in more than a few markets, we'll need contributions. Please post information here so others can know how to contribute if they are so inclined. Thanks.

Sorry, I have been out of action for about a week. Overwhelmed at work, and could barely keep up with that much less try to make some sense out of all of these numbers....

I want to address the fund raising. Anyone want to do it? Chicago has a fund and the DC Scapers have a fund, but what about the rest of the country? I personally, do not have the time or accounting ability to manage a fund such as this. I am happy to find out how much the spots cost and work a budget, but I don't want to have to balance the checkbook too. The Farscape Webmaster's Association has offered to fundraise as part of the Beyond Hope Fund, but I would rather this particular fund is on its own. Anyone want to commit to raising funds and keeping the books?

I have rates and they are VERY similar to the San Francisco rates. The money donated will go to A LOT less ads this time around so we need to spend wisely. I have a fax from the broker that lists about 10 of the cities I targeted to raise up past a 2.0. We will easily spend between $250-800 per spot!

If you want to locally host your own spot, and pay for it contact me... otherwise the fund will go towards hitting cities that can use a rating over 2.0.

Denis DaMENACE

[scaPer boi]

Originally posted by Kithlyara
I LOVE this idea! It would be easy to shoot, and wouldn't cost much to produce. This idea is awesome! I am willing to do what I can to make sure this commercial happens!!!!

As far as getting Ben and Claudia to do a commerical, it isn't going to happen for various reasons. One of which is, they cannot afford to be directly associated with the Save Farscape movement.
Another idea shot down in flames thanks to red tape.:mad: If you look at the legal minefield involved it's a wonder the show got made in the first place!! When did we start living in Litigara?

[scaPer boi]

Originally posted by DarkMagess
The homespun thing was ok for trying to get media attention, it gave them a hook. But the average person finds it stupid. They want high quality of production and flashiness. They are uninterested in what a bunch of folks were able to throw together, a la the reactions on slashdot. Something other than I am Farscape would probably be in order if we're wanting to get people to watch. Not that I know what, but since the goal is different than the first commercial, I would the think the execution must be as well.

-Dark
If we could make it funny somehow that might help i personally remember funny ads rather than the flashy high tech special effect ones

[grapeshot]

I haven't heard any news on this Plan recently. However, here's a link to a website that shows what programs the basic cable channels are planning to broadcast in the first quarter of 2003.
http://www.spotcable.com/
At this website, click on "agency area", then on the left hand side, click on "networks".

This would be useful information when you're trying to pick which network to run the ad on, and whether to run them Wednesday or Thursday, etc. This page also has links to the cable networks' websites, too -- which can be used to confirm the schedules.

PS, I don't know how accurate the information is. They list Tremors as showing on SciFi, and we all know that's not true.

[BritAngie]

into this project as something to run with. (Along with a few others) From what we can guess DaMenace maybe having RL problems and is AWOL at the moment so the FWA are having a bash at kick starting this- *if* it's financially doable and the FWA approve it. So watch this space. :)

[Dominar of Action]

That's great news, Angie! I was wondering about this project as well. If the FWA thinks the project might not be financially doable, could they first put out the call for additional donations?

[BritAngie]

donate more money towards TV advertising we are not going to say no!! :rollin:

All I can say on the ads is..wait for the next update by Deneba about what the FWA are now up to. :D

[Dominar of Action]

Waiting with baited (sp?) breath ...

[Deneba]

Originally posted by Dominar of Action
Waiting with baited (sp?) breath ...


Ooooh, DOA. Fishy. LOL!!

Okay - here's the news (although YOU could have posted, Angie! :P :P :P) :

The FWA today approved an 8K budget to place TV ads nationwide. I got some preliminary figures (during "Kansas" last night, thank you very much!! :rollin: ) and did a quick analysis this AM before the meeting. We'll have to decide what markets and how often so that it actually makes sense to run the commercials, but with 8K we will definitely hit eyeballs of potential Farscape viewers.

As luck would have it, Beowulf was a guest here at the Slime Pit for the airing of "Kansas" last night, and he suggested that we concentrate on jfranka's commercial, since all y'all voted to use that one.

Yay, jfranka!!!

That's it up to now. We've got a little more work to do on the logistical side, but we're moving forward. We'll see if we can knock this out in the next two weeks.

D.

[BritAngie]

Originally posted by Deneba
Ooooh, DOA. Fishy. LOL!!

Okay - here's the news (although YOU could have posted, Angie! :P :P :P) :



Well I wanted to just give the announcement a dramatic pause...


...


... and let you break the news. :D Also wasn't sure when we were going to formally announce it.. and didn't want to upset anyone! :rollin:

Anyway.. OMG we are gonna be on telly again!!!! :D

Well chuffed! :D

[Deneba]

Thought you guys would be excited about this. Hello! National TV advertising! Money!

EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!

Maybe I need bouncies to get your attention. Okay.

:joy: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :joy: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

Did that do it? You guys are getting jaded. :rollin:

D. :lizard:

By far the loveliest slime devil at savefarscape.com.

[buggabboo]

yeah...i definitely missed it the first time.

big and green will almost always do the trick *g*

that's awesome you guys.

buggs

[Scapekid]

Wooo-Frickin-Hooo!

8K?!!

OMG!

To quote BritAngie; WE'RE GONNA BE ON TELLY AGAIN!

Cariad,
Scape'

:jedi:

[JA_Shipper]

That rocks, Deneba!! (And I was offline for most of the day yesterday so I didn't see this til now).

Woohoo!! :bounce: :joy: :bounce: :joy:

Suse

[Dominar of Action]

Can I get a HELL YEAH!!

I too must have missed this in the rush of posts over the past few days. I am so psyched about the projects coming up to keep the attention on Farscape through the coming weeks!

[grapeshot]

I am going to call to get some prices around the country. $8,000 sounds like a large sum, but it won't really go very far nationwide.

In Chicago we have put together a plan which targets a specific geographic area where most of the people there have the same demographics as we (the Farscape fans) do. It's a nice plan that involves advertising during reruns of ST-TNG, Buffy, X-Files, 24, and Futurama. I stress that this is VERY targeted; we are NOT blanketing the Chicagoland area.

I want to try to do the same thing for the five largest Nielsen markets. I'm just going with the notion of "fishing where the fishes are" that MS posted a while back. It's also possible that "the fishes" are not in these five largest markets, either. It's possible that we may look at "high-tech" populations in the country. (I'm thinking Silicon Valley, Winston-Salem, Boston, San Franscisco. Sort of the "Dilbert" crowd, if you know what I mean.)

Another way to look at how to pick our target markets is to consider the cities that have large fan groups. It's possible that such a group is indicative of an area where Farscape is relatively popular for some sort of cultural or other special reason.

If anybody wants to work with me on this, PM me.

PS: I want to run these ads in February.

[akimbo]

8K is awesome baby....Grapeshot is right though, unless its extremely targetted, it won't get far - ah the cost of marketing.

I still think the targetting the top Nielsen centers is worth exploring - since they're the only ones that really count ;)

And I think February would be a great time - I think a lot of our smaller print and movie slide projects might be ending then and possibly the radio ads - though I'm not sure. That would allow for a continuous presence of some sort through the 11 eps.

This could be a tough set of decisions to make.

[Deneba]

I've got the numbers. Email me before you do more research.

deneba@attbi.com

Thanks,
D.

[akimbo]

Bump....I had forgotten about this until it showed up on Deneba's Fund Update....what's happening? Inquiring minds want to know. :)

[beowulf]

Originally posted by akimbo
Bump....I had forgotten about this until it showed up on Deneba's Fund Update....what's happening? Inquiring minds want to know. :) Hey Akimbo!

I can tell you what little I know. Grapeshot has picked up the reins of this project. She and the FWA have decided, with JFranka's blessing, to run both commercials. Last I heard, Grapeshot had the commercials airing times, dates, and channels in Chicago virtually signed, sealed, delivered, and funded I believe, by ChicagoScapers (go Chicago!). The funding Deneba mentioned is for everywhere outside of Chicago, but I think all the other details are still being worked out for the national airings. Things change quickly and I'm not privy to all details (by choice), so the accuracy of this report is not guaranteed.... :P

Frank and I both did a final edit of our commercials to remove any mention of January 10, and instead just advertise Farscape on Friday nights. You can see the final edit of my "Watch Farscape" commercial at the "I Am Farscape" link below. I also have my Burbank photos finally posted. Seeya!

[BritAngie]

for . Deneba has the list I think..(I thought she'd posted it on here somewhere..) with the cities and channels we went with. (CNN features heavily! :) )Also a side note we got a nice discount on the ones we bought so we now have some more money to plough back in and buy ads in two new cities on top. :)

[Dominar of Action]

Yay Team!!!

:joy:

[akimbo]

Very cool! Thanks beowulf and BritAngie.

Chicago Scapers rock and roll!

I musta missed the posting of cities, channels and schedules. That be amazing. ::goes searching::

[PrairieScaper]

Doesn't this rate an update on the main page??? I think alot of us have unfortunately lost track of this effort.

[Deneba]

Patience, guys! I'm working on it!!

D. :D

[beowulf]

Originally posted by PrairieScaper
Doesn't this rate an update on the main page??? I think alot of us have unfortunately lost track of this effort. Just heard from Deneba, and she's working on it. Just a few remaining details to work out and then she'll post the full story. One detail that she did clue me in on is that the disc containing my commercial did not reach Grapeshot in time to make the beta sp tape duplication schedule, so this 'round of airings will be just JFranka's and not both as we previously thought. Not a big deal. I know JFranks's spot will get the job done just fine! :aok: Rock on, Scapers! Here's to disrupting even more of Bonnie Hammer's press conferences! :D

[PrairieScaper]

Sorry, not trying to be impatient -- I'm just anxious to hear the gory details! :aok: