ADVERTISER CONTACTS

[B Sharp]

Hey, written to an advertiser lately?

This is the 'master' thread for Advertiser Contacts, and will be regularly updated with new information as it becomes available.

====================
Advertiser Contacts- Recommendations for the week!

America Online
Specific Product Advertised: AOL for Broadband
Joe Redling, Chief Marketing Officer
America Online
22000 AOL Way
Dulles, VA 20166
tel: 703-265-2120
http://www.corp.aol.com/contact.html?

IBM
Specific Product Advertised: E-business on Demand
Abby Kohnstamm, Senior VP Marketing
IBM Corporation
New Orchard Rd.
Armonk, NY 10504
914-499-1900
http://www.ibm.com/contact/us

General Motors
Specific Products Advertised: Chevy Avalanche, Trailblazer, Suburban, Cadillac CTS
John F. Smith, Group VP North America vehicle sales, service and marketing
300 Renaissance Center
Detroit, MI 48265-3000
tel: 313-556-5000
fax: 313-556-5108

Kia
Specific Products Advertised: Kia Sedona
Wally Anderson, VP of Marketing
9801 Muirlands Blvd.
Irvine, CA 92619-2410
http://www.kia.com
1-800-333-4542
fax: 1-949-470-2812

Pfizer Consumer Healthcare
Specific Products Advertised: Cool Mint Listerine Pocket Paks, many others.
Paul Sturman, VP marketing
Pfizer Consumer Healthcare
201 Tabor Rd.
Morris Plains, NJ 07950
tel: 973-385-2000
http://www.pfizer.com/main.html
NOTE: Pfizer Consumer Healthcare was created from Warner-Lambert when it was acquired by Pfizer in 1999. This group handles consumer and over the counter drugs such as Actified, Listerine, Zantac, Ben Gay, Unisom, etc.

Pfizer Pharmaceuticals
Specific Product Advertised: Viagra
J. Patrick Kelly, VP Worldwide Marketing
Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Group
235 East 42nd Street
New York, NY 10017-5755
tel: 212-573-2323
fax: 212-573-7851
http://www.pfizer.com/main.html
NOTE: This group handles Pfizer prescription drug marketing such as Viagra, Celebrex, Lipitor, etc. Pfizer is reported to be an agressive and risk taking company when it comes to marketing and Kelly is credited as the driving force for this marketing strategy for the entire corporation.

====================
What else is in this thread?

- Links to "how to write to an advertiser" threads for those looking for ideas and suggestions.

- Schedule and assignment updates (who is collecting info on which day...)

- Text and spreadsheet versions of updated complete lists of contacts that we've collected over time.

- Various and assorted bumps and opinion expression on the topic of contacting advertisers.
================

Many thanks to blue, CosmicTheorist, Kerlin, Ammit, akimbo, Stargate2077 and many others for all the work that goes into this!

[B Sharp]

Don't know what to write to an advertiser?

Check this link for suggestions and ideas:
http://www.watchfarscape.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7149

Do you want to start with a form letter? Try this one!
http://www.watchfarscape.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8674

********************
Schedule and Assignments (note I'm listing these when they occur ET in real life, not in 'schedulebot-ese' day/times):

Sundays (midnight) Ammit, CosmicTheorist
Mondays (midnight) CosmicTheorist, Ammit
Tuesdays (midnight) Kerlin, akimbo
Wednesdays (midnight) blue, Chaym
Thursdays (midnight) B Sharp, akimbo
Saturdays (5 AM) Stargate2077, blue

********************

[Kerlin]

At the moment, we have available for download:

* Word Document listing all the advertisers for the 11 new episodes. Available here (http://community.middlebury.edu/~agustin/campaign_downloads/FarscapeAdvertisersContacts.doc).

* Word Document listing all advertisers for the Season 1 midnight reruns. Available here (http://community.middlebury.edu/~agustin/campaign_downloads/midnightrerunss1.doc).

* Word Document listing all advertisers for the Season 2 midnight reruns. Available here (http://community.middlebury.edu/~agustin/campaign_downloads/midnightrerunss2.doc)
PLEASE NOTE: This file is not yet complete. As of 5/2/03 it contains information up through 2.01, "Mind the Baby."

* Word Document listing all advertisers for the Season 4 Saturday morning reruns. Available here (http://community.middlebury.edu/~agustin/campaign_downloads/season4reruns.doc)
PLEASE NOTE: This file is not yet complete. As of 5/2/03 it contains information up through 4.15, "Mental As Anything."

* Excel file for filling in for tracking advertiser information for the rerun eps. Available here (http://community.middlebury.edu/~agustin/campaign_downloads/Advertising%20Format%20Spreadsheet.xls).

* Excel file with information in spreadsheets on the 11 new episodes. Available here (http://community.middlebury.edu/~agustin/campaign_downloads/NewEpAdvertisers.xls).
PLEASE NOTE: this file is as yet incomplete. To date, it contains information on: TF, TS, MAA, BHTB WSS3, and BT. Last updated 4/12/03; more coming soon.

Coming soon:

* Excel file with information in spreadsheets on the reruns.

[B Sharp]

For the first week, I did my best to sort through the advertiser threads to see what showed up more than once- here's my count:

The Core movie 7
Red Dragon DVD 6
Kraft Foods 4
GM 4
Burger King 3
Verizon wireless 3
ACE (lawn care) 2
Alavert 2
ameriquest.com 2
AOL for Broadband 2
Energizer Max 2
movie tickets.com 2
Schick XTreme 3 2
Sea World 2
Subway 2

I hope that's sorted right- it's late, and my spreadsheet skills are being taxed (can't remember the data sort and filter stuff very well).

Anyway, I personally can't go with Burger King because of their sponsorship of Scare Tactics, and the movie ones don't feel right, so I'd probably go for GM, Kraft, Verizon, and Ace.

What do you think?

[blue]

Even though it only happened tonight, I was so glad to see Kia again, how about them too? And YUM companies have been frequent--KFC had 2 ads in I,ET, and Long John Silvers in Throne for a Loss--

[CosmicTheorist]

HP is easy to contact since they prefer contacts by their web site. And it has been a while since we've seen them. You know, just let them know we noticed.

;)

[Kerlin]

Kraft has advertised a lot in the past; have we contacted them before? And I'll personally contact GM and Verizon, because I drive a Sierra and use a Verizon phone :) But Kraft gets my vote for overall plugging this week, along with CT's suggestion of HP.

[B Sharp]

Looks like I didn't consistently count the multiples in one ep- and my spreadsheet skills were pretty weak- something I'm going to work on after Kerlin posts the new version.

OK, I'm hearing:

Kraft
Kia
KFC
HP

I can live with tossing Verizon- they are on my 'bad supplier' list for their billing tactics; and GM hasn't responded to any of my letters with anything other than a form, so I'm feeling good about this list. Kia and KFC are responsive, and HP is certainly easy to write. Haven't heard from Kraft, but they do advertise a lot.

Since we got a mention and link in the to-do list this morning, I'm anxious to get something into that first thread- Scapers are going to be looking for our suggestions.... can I get some validation that this list of OK for this time? Or should we wait for the 5am thread?

[CosmicTheorist]

I think we should consider one more advertiser, a newbie to Farscape. Anheuser-Busch is a new advertiser; they own Sea World. This way we write to Kraft, a big Farscape advertiser that we have neglected, and Anheuser-Busch newly arrived in the Scaper fold, although they do not yet know that. Isn't there an old saying about variety being the SPICE of life?

I think it is safe to post your 4 suggestions anyway. We can always add Busch or any 5 am advertisers over the weekend.

To-do-lists can be updated, right?

;)

[B Sharp]

first post is updated with suggested 5 -

Re the schedule: You probably already figured this out, but it turns out that my online TV schedule was correct- the way the SciFi schedule bot works is to assume that a programming "day" begins and ends differently than the way the rest of the world works- a programming day evidently starts and ends at 6am, not at midnight.

So - the 5am showing this week is on Saturday at 5am, not this morning at 5am. So much for any taping anyone did this morning.

[blue]

by the way, Kraft is owned by Altria which used to be Phillip Morris--

[B Sharp]

hmmm, so we're recommending a tobacco company?

[Kerlin]

Oh. Ugh. I completely forgot about that. This leaves me a great deal less enthusiastic about writing to Kraft...but that's a personal bias. They have been great advertisers.

[CosmicTheorist]

Kraft was acquired by a tobacco company. If you want to encourage the parent corporation out of the cigarette business, then support their non-cigarette companies. Isn't that the non-boycott logic we are using with Skiffy?

;)

[Chaym]

Sorry if this is the wrong advertising thread to post on.

1. I have been taping (including "Kansas" and what the frell?, I thought we were supposed to get Dog With Two Bones.)

2. I'll post my lists ASAP. Still trying to catch up to my online life.

3. Kerlin, I swear I'll email you my spreadsheets ASAP if you still want them.

4. I'm going to do some digging and find out just what area my cable company covers, so my info will be of more use to at the least, New Jersians and at best, the over-all analysis.

5. I haven't seen a single KFC ad, maybe that's a DISH or Tivo thing? All for the others on your list, though we (husband and I) might throw in Milton Bradley games (since we are the demographic they're targeting) and Papa Johns pizza. (Something like, "We've noticed your ads on the excellent drama 'Farscape' and have gone online to find your nearest restaurant. It turns out the closest one is XX minutes away, however, not only did your product look appealing, but we feel it's important to support advertisers of quality television."

[Kerlin]

Spreadsheets would be wonderful, Chaym :) Anything you can give me! I swear I'm still plugging away at the new 11 eps one. You have my email, right?

[Chaym]

Yep, still have your email. I'll get them out to you soon. Thank goodness prime time TV is all repeats.

[B Sharp]

Hi Chaym-

This was a great place to post your comments. We'll just let this be the first part of the discussion for the recommendation for this week!

[B Sharp]

What's all your thoughts on the key advertisers for this week? I think I heard a proposal for Milton Bradley and Papa John's.

I haven't yet tried to put together a spreadsheet for the week, but I'll get to that in the next day or so.

Any proposals / recommendations?

[Kerlin]

Papa John's sounds good, they have been advertising quite a lot. Have we contacted them before? And we should be sure to send a lot of love to Toyota for sponsoring PK Tech Girl.

[Kerlin]

FYI: have updated the New Ep Excel sheet to include MAA and BHTB. Will hopefully be adding at least two more this weekend.

[Chaym]

I've just looked up the info for Papa John's Pizza. Did you know you could order online? (That's so frelling cool!...yes, I know it was in that movie with what's-her-name, but I've never actually seen it in RL before.)

Papa Johns - www.papajohns.com
Our Feedback form: Electronic Feedback Form -www.papajohns.com/feedback/ele_feed.htm

Our Mailing Address: Papa John's International, Inc.
Consumer Services Team
P.O. Box 99900
Louisville, KY 40269-9990

Consumer Services Team:
(open 9 am to 12 mid ET,
seven days a week) 888-777-7272
(TOLL FREE)

On their feedback page, they have pictures of what your pizza, slices, toppings, etc. should look like.

From only being on their site for a few minutes, plus the cool ads, it's looking like this is a good company. At least, they've got really good advertisers, PR people, and website designers. So many companies won't list any way to contact them. Last year we were having alot of problems with our local McDonald's and couldn't find any way to let the parent corp. know. But PJ is like, "Hi, here's how to contact us - 3 different ways!" You can be sure we'll be writing to them and buying their product. (Assuming they're local and if not, asking them to please set up a franchise near us.)

[Chaym]

More about Papa John's, for those interested in eating there. Below are the cities they're located in.

:)Washington, D.C.
:)Delaware: Bear, Dover, Hockessin, New Castle, Newark
:)Connecticut: Bristol, New Haven
:)Maine: Fairhaven, Fall River, New Bedford, Salem, Somerville
:)Maryland:Aberdeen, Annapolis, Arnold, Aspen Hill, Baltimore, Bel Air, Beltsville, Bowie, Brooklyn Park, Burtonsville, Catonsville, Chesapeake Beach, Chester, Chevy Chase, Clinton, Cockeysville, College Park, Columbia, Cumberland, Damascus, Deale, Dundalk, Easton, Edgewater, Edgewood, Eldersburg, Elkridge, Ellicott City, Forest Hill, Fort Washington, Frederick, Gaithersburg, Gambrills, Germantown, Glen Burnie, Greenbelt, Hagerstown, Halethorpe, Hyattsville, Jacksonville, Laplata, Laurel, Lexington Park, Linthicum Heights, Middle River, Mount Airy, New Carrollton, North Potomac, Nottingham, Ocean City, Odenton, Olney, Owings Mills, Oxon Hill, Pasadena, Prince Frederick, Randallstown, Reisterstown, Rockville, Salisbury, Severna Park, Silver Spring, Solomons, Towson, Upper Marlboro, Waldorf, Westminster, Wheaton, Woodlawn
:)New Hampshire: Manchester
:)New Jersey: Bellmawr, Cinnaminson, Cliffside Park, Clifton, Deptford, Evesham, Glassboro, Hackensack, Maple Shade, Medford, Mount Holly, Mount Laurel, Neptune, Pine Hill, Princeton, Somerdale, Toms River, Vineland, West Long Branch, Westmont, Willingboro, Woodbridge, Wrightstown
:)Rhode Island: North Providence, Pawtucket, Warwick
:)Vermont: no stores listed yet, but they did have a link on their map, so maybe they have plans for one there.

Concerning online ordering: I was trying to find out where they actually deliver too, since the closest place to us is about 1/2 drive, more with bad traffic. I entered all the required info into their form - name, address, phone number, addy, etc, then came to a screen about is this for delivery or take-out. The screen after that had an address confirmation and then buttons to take you to the next screen. That's where I stopped. So, from all this, I'll assume that if there's a place near you, they'll deliver, or else tell you at the end that they can't.

I'm going to suggest to the New Jersey Scapers that we either have our meet-up there or at someone's house and eat Papa John's pizza. Then take pictures, save the reciepts and mail them in. (I'm sure this has been done with KFC before.)

[Chaym]

Hasboro - Milton Bradley information:

www.hasbro.com/pl/page.corporate_info/dn/default.cfm

You can reach us during business hours: Monday through Thursday from 8:30AM until 6:30 PM ET and Fridays from 8:00AM to 4:30PM ET.

Games (Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers, Hasbro Games) - 888-836-7025 (not accessible from Canada)
Playskool (preschool and infant products) - 800-752-9755
:) :) Hasbro (all other Hasbro products) - 800-327-8264
Tiger Electronics - 800-844-3733

Email Page (you have to enter your birthdate first): http://hasbro.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/hasbro.cfg/php/enduser/age_verify.php?p_next_page=ask.php

The following address was found on a number of non-Hasbro/Milton Bradley websites. (They don't list their address on their website.) I found it on multiple websites. One PDF from 2002, from www.businesswest.com, which had a listing of Largest Employers, listed the Top Local Officer as a Mr. E. David Wilson. Whether or not this has changed, I don't know.

Milton Bradley Company
443 Shaker Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028

One site, updated Jan. 2003, also provided the following information, which includes a UK address:

Internet at: www.hasbro.com.
They can be reached by email at: mbconsumer@hasbo.com and consumer_support@hasbro.com.

Milton Bradley - owned by Hasbro Toys
Milton Bradley Co.
Attn. Customer Sales
443 Shaker Rd.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
United States
phone: (413) 525-6411
or
Milton Bradley Ltd.
Casewell Way
Newport, Gwent
NP9 0YH
United Kingdom
phone: (0633) 274778

[Chaym]

If anyone needs network or advertiser logos, just give me a shout over in this thread in the Graphics section.

http://www.watchfarscape.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9395

[blue]

I am finding people's attitudes very inconsistent about being reluctant to suggest advertisers to write to for Farscape if they appeared on a first showing of an offensive show that I will mention OT---I know that this other show is shown MANY TIMES throughout the week, and many--perhaps even most--of our advertisers for Farscape will be found within those showings- if not this week then another week--(I don't want to watch that bad, boring, and stupid show over and over and obsess over recording ads to demonstrate this statement, someone else can -- or not - but that's what I mean by the thinking being inconsistent--if you don't see the ad on a first showing but they advertised in it on one of the repeats and you ignore that, you are only considering the ads in the first showing for the other show, but the positive letters this thread is about are for ads in any showing of Farscape.)
As more weeks pass, more of our list of Farscape advertisers will also appear in the other show, because the advertisers bought the Channel and their ads occur many times within the shows on the channel-almost at random, well, maybe truly at random-- and the reluctance voiced above to send pro Farscape letters to these companies found on the offending show is going to shrink our base of possible companies to practically zero as the weeks pass)-- I'm pretty sure that as I channel surfed past a repeat of that other show on another day, I saw one of the above ads now being recommended. These ads ARE placed many months ahead of time into large blocks, not into specific shows--and they ARE eventually going to occur in the dreaded show. What to do? Abandon this whole pro Farscape strategy? I would hope not--but rather that the two are truly separated, and this forum only focuses on the farscape ads.
edited to remove what should not be here.

[AvengerCO]

Firstly, what or who are MAA and BHTB?
Secondly, Chaym, the film you're talking about is "The Net" staring Sandra Bullock (sp?).

Lastly regarding Blue's interpretations. If I get what he proposes correctly, he is saying if someone advertises on Farscape that we're not allowed to say it's a bad thing to advertise on Scare Tactics. As for obsessing over advertisers, I think it's more a matter of time and owning a VCR so one can fast forward past the offensive matter. The other prereqisite would be owning a pen and paper to write down said advertisers.
In reveiwing the advertiser list from the first week I can safely say that there was only one advertiser that overlaped. I will review my video tape for the second week sometime tonight.

The flaw I see in this reasoning, would make for a very bad coach. If for example a coach sees a swimmer, doing badly at a particular stroke then he is obligated to tell them. By the same token if this individual is doing the right thing, then he should tell them what they're doing right.

Under the proposed blue theorem, you are only allowed to tell anyone when they do something right all the time, or that they do everythnig wrong all the time. I do not believe this is the case we are trying to propose here.
Our points are 1) Advertise on Farscape = good.
2) Advertise on Scare Tactics = bad.

Both are entirely separate points and should be addressed in separate letters. Mostly since both points are valid in and of thier own independent rights.
As evidenced by the Prestone Corp. response, sponsors can indeed pull their advertising for a particular show, despite how far in advance they purchased their commercial air time.

I do not believe we are abandoning a pro farscape stance. We are simply adding a separate stance on another show that is a separate issue altogether.

[Kerlin]

MAA = Mental As Anything
BHTB = Bringing Home the Beacon

Sorry :) Tend to use shorthand as often as possible ;).

As for the Scare Tactics advertisers, I firmly believe that tracking and writing to those advertisers should stay an off-topic concern. It has little, if anything, to do with saving Farscape. It's obviously an individual choice to write one, the other, or both, but I think that it would be best not to mention Farscape in a Scare Tactics letter, and vice versa. It dilutes the message, IMO. But that's a personal thing.

[blue]

"if someone advertises on Farscape that we're not allowed to say it's a bad thing to advertise on.... "

Nope-that's not at all what I was saying-You totally misunderstand the point I was trying to make -I was saying just the opposite--- I'm just trying to make the point that ALL the advertisers are going to overlap eventually--not just one or two--if you consider ALL the showings.

My point is only about choosing Farscape ads to emphasize for pro Farscape letters--keep them separate---I've been seeing things like, company X was on the objectionable show, so let's not write to them about Farscape anymore, or lets skip them for emphasizing on a short list even though they are frequent Farscape advertisers. I am suggesting that excluding an advertiser from a list for that reason is a bad idea.

My only point concerned the idea that we might be moving in the direction of choosing ONLY the ads that did not appear in the other show as suitable targets for pro-Farscape letters, which seems to be what some are starting to do here, judging from posts above.

I was trying to suggest that this is probably not possible--that almost ALL of our Farcape ads will eventually show on one of these many showings of the other show--that it is the nature of how these ads are placed in repetitive blocks on the station that makes this inevitable, as long as that show continues, and the more weeks it goes on, the more likely that ALL our advertisers will be on at least one of its many showings during the week. What I would suggest is that the two shows be truly separated and that decisions about which Farscape ads to focus on be independent on whether they also advertised on an objectionable show, which is not happening now by choice, but by the accident of having only the first run showing monitored, not all the showings of the other show. If all the showings are monitored, you will see how many of our advertisers also appear.

My point is that there will be no companies left in a few weeks, who pass the purity test, if it begins to be required that they don't appear in one of the showings of this other show which is on many times a week.

edited to remove mention of the other show--I will post specifics OT.

[blue]

AvengerCO--we do not disagree--you are putting words in my mouth which I never said--I am just worried about the strategizing going on here that seems to be rejecting certain companies as a proFarscape targets because they were seen in the first showing of the objectionable show, ignoring that many of the others that ARE being suggested as Farscape targets are also advertising in the other show as well. I was pointing out the inconsistency and suggesting that the one idea be totally separated from the other, and that the other discussion remain OT.

[waltersgirl]

companies that advertise are in the business of making money. it is in their best interests to make as much money as possible. they do that by advertising everywhere. the two shows are two separate issues. we at this website want to promote a positive, reinforcing campaign. "hey dude, keep advertising on Farscape and i'll keep buying your product."

Scare Tactics is Scare Tactics and shouldn't have anything to do, campaign wise, with Farscape. if individuals have personal issues with the type of show that Scare Tactics represents and want to present those issues to advertisers of Scare Tactics, that's cool, but don't relate it to Farscape. don't not write to a Farscape advertiser because they also advertise on Scare Tactics. write twice and separately, once to thank them for advertising on Farscape and you'll support their product if they advertise on Farscape in the future, and once, separately, to express your dislike of Scare Tactics.

[blue]

Thanks, WG. Now I will also delete any mentions I may have made of specifics of that other show here, if you haven't already moved them.

[waltersgirl]

i haven't..thanks.;)

[AvengerCO]

We seem to be in agreement then that I have the right approach. I have been keeping two separate folders for two very different sets of letters. The one that congratulates those for playing commercials on Farscape and the other set that tells them it's a bad idea to advertise on Scare Tactics. So far I have only written 4 letters to mutual advertisers. I have used two very separate envelopes (and mailing days for that matter) to do so. My thanks go out to the individuals that do the homework on the commercial advertisers so I don't have to.:aok:

[B Sharp]

I agree we need not to editorialize or drag in the OT topic into this work, and I think blue has advocated that all along, as have most of the rest of us. I'll also admit to sometimes having some trepidation myself about the message we send if we focus our love and attention on advertisers that I wouldn't patronize, but....

I can set that aside since the goal here is to get our show back!!!

OK, so to get back to business, we need a recommendation/update for this week. I propose it be:

Annheuser Busch
Papa John's
Milton Bradley
HP

Haven't yet checked the spreadsheet (hey, I been sick!)....so, any other proposals?


I'm also going to update the schedule this week- I noticed that Terra Firma played in place of what I thought would be ITLD Part 1 (according to my last sched), so it's time to get everything synched up with the SciFi schedulebot. I'm assuming we'll stay with the same days of the week (hey, I'm not giving up partnering with akimbo, since it's made my life really easy...).

[Kerlin]

I'm still covering Tuesday night.

And did we decide to send some love Toyota's way, because they sponsored PK Tech Girl?

[blue]

yes to Toyota--all sponsoring is good and must be rewarded.
And I am now substituting for Chaim, whatever day that is.

[Chaym]

I'm still taping, logging and posting. I *never* said I could post the results at 1:00 am. In fact, when I signed up, I said that I'd probably be working the midnight shift for the post office and wouldn't be able to post till after 9 am.

I was late the other weeks because my son had surgery and was also taking some heavy asthma drugs which cause excitability in children. Hence, never a moment of peace.

I'm caught up now and still - taping, logging, and posting.

[Stargate2077]

Although, It would be great to have a backup for the Season 4 reruns!

[B Sharp]

OK, adding Toyota to the list, and updating first post.

Question: Anyone have better contact info on Toyota? I don't have anything other than the website info....

Re schedule:

I'm not sure I'm clear about changes to ownership....since our goal is to post as quickly and accurately as we can, then I'll put blue first on Saturday mornings, and Chaym second- does that work for everyone?

To reduce confusion, I'm going to move the schedule and assignments info over to this thread- I'll put it in one of the first few posts, so look there for it later today.

**Check out second post in this thread and get back to me with corrections, Please!!!**

[blue]

"I'm not sure I'm clear about changes to ownership....since our goal is to post as quickly and accurately as we can, then I'll put blue first on Saturday mornings, and Chaym second- does that work for everyone? "

I thought it was Wed night, Thurs mornings?
I think Chaym just misunderstood and didn't realize that when her name was listed first for the night it meant that everyone might wait for her to start the thread, and that the thread is best started as soon as possible after the show to allow others the most time to post and find addresses. Since she can't post right after the show, and I can, I can start the thread. I was under the impression that she was OK about me starting it when I asked her in a pm. I think it's just a misunderstanding.

edited--in fact, since no one who signed up is online tonight and I finished the list, I'll jump in tonight if the threaed still isn't up before I go off line, as I hope anyone would jump in for me or anyone else to get the list started if I or someone else wasn't available. I hope we all agree that we just want the list up, and the designated list of who starts it is only to try to make sure Someone starts it, rather than noone.

[B Sharp]

I updated the schedule list on the second post.

I agree about thread starting- anyone can do it, and anytime I'm up and online, I'll start the thread if I don't see it happen within the first half-hour or so...

sorry for my confusion...

[CosmicTheorist]

I can second Ammit on all Sundays.

;)

[blue]

Still waiting for a second post on last night's Rhapsody in Blue--did no one watch it but me? It was going to be two other people, I thought. I just put the thread up last night because it wasn't up yet, and the two who were signed up didn't seem to be on line.
Oh, just looked at the original signup--it was only one person signed up, who apparently couldn't do it--so PLEASE jump in, other people.

[B Sharp]

CT, updated the list with you as second on Sundays.

Sorry, blue, can't help with last night- didn't watch due to RL job interference...

[Kerlin]

::ducks in shame:: That was me, last night...COMPLETELY slipped my mind. This has been the week from hezmana to remember anything. Sorry, sorry, sorry!!! Hopefully someone else out there has it taped...

[CosmicTheorist]

I just needed enough time to go through my tapes, and I can help cover any day that I'm not signed up for. If we have one other Scaper also taping all the reruns on this project, then we have enough of a back up for life's inevitable mishaps.

So relax, Kerlin. I gave blue the info needed to identify the national ads.

[B Sharp]

bump - Update time- nominations for an update master list, anyone?

[B Sharp]

bump - update time again- any new thoughts?

[whatwasthequestion?]

Whats the best approach for contacting advertisers from the UK?

Are there any uk based ones you would suggest contacting, or should i plow on with the US guys?

[whatwasthequestion?]

i mean from me being based in the uk (i think that makes sense)

[CosmicTheorist]

That would be easiest and cheapest for you. Be sure to tell them you are in the UK and that you learned about their advertisement through this web site. One thing these advertisers are NOT expecting is to reach an international audience with these ads on an American cable channel. You are proof positive that advertising during Farscape gives these companies a much farther reach then they imagined, proof that Farscape is a better value then its Nielsen ratings predicted.

After doing the internet contact route, send letters to which ever companies you feel comfortable contacting. Use the same routine: tell them where you are and how you learned about their ads.

And most of all enjoy it. Do only what you can when you can and what you can afford. You have lots of company. Enjoy.

Welcome to the fight.

;)

[Kerlin]

A shameless bump, and announcement that I've collected all the information on the Season 1 & up-to-date Season 2 midnight reruns as Word Documents and have linked them for download on the first page in my "available for download" post. I plan on getting some more work on the Excel spreadsheets done this weekend, so watch for that!

[blue]

Re backup taping--I've been taping them all, but I goof occasionally and miss the beginning (@#$%#%$#&!!!!), so another backup person as well would be a good thing.
I made a few suggestions in another thread about thoughts re companies to focus on--maybe I'll recopy it here.

[blue]

Re updating--I would suggest the frequent large companies, like the GM (pushing Chevy Suburban a lot lately), Pfizer (they have sponsored a lot of episodes--most recently Dream a Little Dream with Zoloft), AOL, IBM, KIA because they are keeping their word about continuing their sponsorship and they have been responsive to our letters, maybe some food, like Dominos or Papa Johns? MCI sponsored Family Ties and has been appearing in various guises (Worldcom). ( This is not a systematic list--maybe someone has a better method than my semirandom glances?) Thoughts???

My one thought is that it would be nice to know who has been targeted on to do lists who has been responsive vs who has been totally unresponsive, that is which companies don't even bother answering with a form letter when they are getting lots of letters and which companies have answered in some way to letters. I would then suggest that more attention be paid to those who respond, since the ultimate goal is to get some of them to CONTACT NETWORKS which means they have to go the extra step beyond even responding. And of course we also want to focus on any large companies who advertise frequently who we have neglected.

Kerlin's complete list is in here:
http://www.watchfarscape.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10008

[whatwasthequestion?]

Originally posted by CosmicTheorist
That would be easiest and cheapest for you. Be sure to tell them you are in the UK and that you learned about their advertisement through this web site. One thing these advertisers are NOT expecting is to reach an international audience with these ads on an American cable channel. You are proof positive that advertising during Farscape gives these companies a much farther reach then they imagined, proof that Farscape is a better value then its Nielsen ratings predicted.

After doing the internet contact route, send letters to which ever companies you feel comfortable contacting. Use the same routine: tell them where you are and how you learned about their ads.

And most of all enjoy it. Do only what you can when you can and what you can afford. You have lots of company. Enjoy.

Welcome to the fight.

;)

thanks! (sorry i didn't acknowledge earlier but i've had computer problems)

[B Sharp]

:help: buBUMP!


Hey, have you written to an advertiser lately? They need your love and attention, Scapers!
:joy:


Check out the first post for the latest recommendations (just updated with the list of most common advertisers over the last several weeks)

:D

[B Sharp]

OK, another (mostly) shameless bump :jbox:

[blue]

Jpfarscaper compiled a list of responders to letters-please continue to write to these-and to any others you buy from:

Best Buy
CDW
Charmin
Clorox
ConAgra
Domino's Pizza
FedEx
General Mills
Gillette
Hershey
HP
KFC
Kia
Kraft
Long John Silvers
Mazda
Michelin
Mitsubishi
Nestle
Nissan
Norelco
Orkin
Post
Proctor & Gamble
Quaker
S.C. Johnson
TGI Fridays
Wendys
Visa

[B Sharp]

Yes, we are now a subforum, and the usual suspects are all mods...

heh heh heh :evil: now I finally have power!!!!

sorry, that slipped out- my RL has been miserable lately- more responsibility = less control over my life....

Also- please check out the Poll I put in Campaign advertising- add your own info, and feel free to add some comments too! It's my first attempt at cross posting (anticipated this move, since I had PM'd Jul to give her thumbs up.

Anyway- for those just now taking a look at this thread, please check out the first post in thread, which has our latest recommendations for who to contact,

and (this is to the usual suspects): Pls help me cross post some nice 'pot-stirring' reminders and helpful hints and so on to get some letter writing activity back up again- I'm not really thrilled with the results of the poll so far... I think we need to do some major eema kicking!

[B Sharp]

New focus = new recommendations?

Our current list of recommendations hasn't changed for this last week- but we did decide we wanted to change the focus in letter writing. Should we update the first post in this thread with the focus change and some new recommendations?

[Stargate2077]

So...are signup going to begin soon for the advertising project for the months of June and July?

[B Sharp]

ready when you are, Stargate2077- I think I was assuming that most of us would stick with what we've already signed up for (there's only a few us now covering all nights)....

[akimbo]

I'll keep my same days: Thursday nights and every other Tuesday for as long as they run'em at Midnight. :D

[B Sharp]

and I'll keep Wed and be backup for Thu, same caveat as akimbo's.

[Stargate2077]

As long as someone can take care of the last Saturday morning (5AM) episodes in June that would be great. I will be away during that time. Isn't CosmicTheorist taping those episodes along with me?

[CosmicTheorist]

I'm taping the Saturday morning eps, so I can take care of posting the advertisers in June. Are you still doing tomorrow morning?

As for June and July sign ups, I can continue posting for Sundays and Mondays and every other Tuesday not posted by akimbo for as long as they run reruns, which hopefully will use up their rights really, really quick.

;)

[blue]

Does that mean all nights are covered by one person? I'll be the second person for as many as I can, but I won't always be able to do every night (with an unpredictable schedule that I don't always know that much in advance), so I hope others will also be taping and able to be a backup second.

[blue]

"Letter writing focus - update the recommended advertiser list?

New focus = new recommendations?"

To get back to BSharps questions, I would say yes and yes. It sticks in my mind what the hp feedback is--and they have been advertising regularly lately. I think they should be included in a new list. I also think any list should be cross posted in a new thread on the main board until it falls off after a number of bumps from us. I don't think many people come to this subforum except us, and I doubt that there have been many letters to advertisers since this subforum was created.
Are there other suggestions about new letter writing recommendations? Other than the obvious one of pointing to the Henson sale making the show's return so much more likely? There is no point in asking advertisers to contact Showtime, but it may be worth asking them to contact Scifi or UPN about an interest in future advertising. What about contacting Henson? Would it make any sense to ask that Henson hear of their interest in advertising on Farscape? Or do we just want to keep Farscape a familiar name to these marketing people at companies so that they will be more likely to buy time in Farscape when it does return? Thoughts?
There are some good ideas in the discussion that was started here--
http://www.watchfarscape.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10391

[B Sharp]

I'll pile onto blue's comments in the previous post. I'm writing this like a global PM to the 6 or 7 of us that work on collecting advertiser info- but any Scaper opinion is welcome...

I set up a poll for letter writing to advertisers relatively recently, and (assuming you believe the the people responding to that poll represent the whole community, which is somewhat of a stretch....) a large number of Scapers have never written to an advertiser (something like half); the rest have written a few letters, but don't see it as a key activity at this point.

In addition, I notice that those of us involved now are the main people posting (or just paying attention to) the work of collecting the info and writing letters- and this was true even before we moved to this subforum. I'm not sure that cross-posting alone is enough to get action by the larger community. I think that's also true for the great majority of the work that goes on in the campaign, with a few exceptions that seem to get everyone excited.

I think the only thing that truly gets a large section of the community into action is to have something posted on the front-page, either as a to-do list item, or as a separate news item referring to a thread.

So- regarding our work. Now is a perfect time to reassess where we're at since we're coming up on a schedule change at month-end that drastically reduces the schedule on SciFi. At the highest level, I think we have 3 options:

1. continue as is (we're happy with the results we're getting).
2. stop altogether (we don't think it's having an impact).
3. change the strategy to get more focus and better results (we're still committed, but the results we're looking for haven't been there)

I'm personally not up for #1- I feel a bit like we're pushing a rope uphill. Since I work at hp and I do get some real info as well as rumors, I know for certain that the trend of letters has been down, down, and down. That means to the advertisers (the people that pay Skiffy, folks!!!) that we have given up, it's over. And it's not.

I also don't want to give up. I acknowledge that in general, Scapers now seem to believe that there are better ways to get FS back than writing to advertisers (and to go one step further, that SciFi is not part of FS's future at all), but I think that writing to advertisers (the revenue stream for any channel that shows FS now or in the future) should be, MUST be part of an overall strategy to get FS back on the air.

So- I'm left with the last option. Some way to get people interested in writing again, and in a way that is most (buzz word alert!) 'impactful' to what we want to have happen. To get our show back.

If you buy my logic that the only way that's going to happen across the community in any significant way is through something on the front page like a to-do list, then I think we may want to have a conversation with the people that write those lists, rather than just doing more cross-posting, or starting more threads, etc.. that's just doing more of the same and hoping for better results from the community (and I think it was Einstein who said that insanity can be defined as doing the same thing over and over in the hopes of getting different results).

OK- off of soap-box... What do you think? Should we go on? stop? refocus?

[akimbo]

I know I haven't contributed to the ideas lately, but I don't think we should stop.

I agree that something that goes out on the front page and to the email announcements Like an advertising todo, is the best way I know. Keep it to a couple of advertisers a week. Perhaps framing it as letting advertisers know that SciFi isn't going to air FS at midnight and that their commercials will go unseen by scapers (a wonderfully loyal group :D )

I know I haven't personally written a lot of letters recently to anyone: Henson when they rebought Henson. Showtime when their interest was touted, etc. Resent to Viacom and UPN today because its been awhile. But not advertisers.

But if we can concentrate on a few each week, I'd get back into the swing.

Also, LilOrion and I will be working on an update to the snail mail list from the finale commercial. We'll need to update them on which advertisers to hit as well.

[blue]

I'm going to repost this here:
I would like to see Kia, HP and many others on a to do list--

Here's the list of targeted responders:

Advertisers targetted and responsive
Best Buy
CDW Computers
Clorox
ConAgra
Domino's Pizza
FedEx
Gillette
HP
Kia
Kraft
Mazda
Michelin
Nissan
Norelco
Orkin
Proctor & Gamble
Quaker
SC Johnson
Wendy's

and there's

Advertisers not targetted and responsive

Charmin
General Mills
Hershey
KFC
Long John Silver's
Mitsubishi
Nestle
Post
TGI Friday's
Visa

plus those who have advertised a lot and have never been targeted, like Pfizer, I think. Does someone want to make a list of those?

And we have to think about not just whom to write to but also what to write about. Obviously, Showtime is indifferent to advertisers, but we might still want to suggest Scifi and UPN, as well as mention the Henson sale. Here are some suggestions posted by Kerlin on another thread that we might start thinking about:

"With the recent sale of the Henson Company, we now have more chance than ever for Farscape to return to the television screen. As a great admirer of your company due to your past advertising on Farscape, I will wait faithfully to see your commercials during the new episodes!"

or (slightly more specialized)

"Since the cancellation of Farscape, I have found myself watching nothing else [or little else] on television. If your company would like to continue to reach me with your advertising, I encourage you to make it known that you would like to advertise during any new episodes of Farscape that were produced - in order to better reach me, and any number of other very desirable viewers with similar demographics."

or

"The Jim Henson Company has always been known for quality programming, and recently it has been returned to the Henson family, who have great ambition to return the company to its rightful place in the entertainment industry. Among its high-quality productions is the program Farscape, which was cancelled recently. As a company that has advertised previously on Farscape, I encourage you to make it known that you would support the Jim Henson Company in all endeavours, and that you would appreciate once again being able to reach the unique Farscape demographic."

[Kerlin]

Okay, I just got back from vacation, and here are my thoughts on the matter...

B Sharp said:
If you buy my logic that the only way that's going to happen across the community in any significant way is through something on the front page like a to-do list, then I think we may want to have a conversation with the people that write those lists

You're already doing that. :) I'm on staff now, and in a position to suggest items for To Do lists (granted, as are any of you, it just takes an email or PM to editor@watchfarscape.com or farscape@watchfarscape.com)

Here's my thoughts...

We absolutely and 100% need to keep tracking the advertisers. They are vitally important to Farscape's continuation.

Here's a thought for a new strategy of publishing these advertisers as To Do lists: focusing them.

Say we pick a couple of different themes of advertisers. One week, we include the information for HP, Gateway, IBM and theme them as "tech advertisers." Another, we do Kraft, General Mills, and ConAgra and theme them as "food advertisers." This gives people a focus. "Hey, you like food, right?" or "Hey, are you sitting in front of a Gateway computer right now?"

Another thing we could do is theme toward demographics. We could pick a range of products and companies who are looking to advertise to - say, middle-aged mothers. We work up a short list of four or five advertisers whose products match those demographics, and we make it personalized for all those Scaper mothers out there to write in and give testimonial on these products and on Farscape.

And there's always the "advertised frequently but never targeted" advertisers like Pfizer that we could collect and simple spin with the Henson sale.

[B Sharp]

Wow, Kerlin, you're a staffer now!

I like the theme idea- it allows us to rotate better. I also think it's important to keep tracking the responses- some have definitely been more responsive than others, so we should work this into any recommendations (there's several posts on this topic already that can be used to start out...).

re demographics- I like the idea, but how would we 'connect' the demographics to the advertiser- just make an educated guess as to who the advertiser is going after?

[B Sharp]

Kerlin -

:joy: :joy: :joy:

Great job on the to-do list!!!

[Kerlin]

Thanks. :) I figured that was about what we were looking for? We need to keep organizing the information, though, now that To Do lists are going to be a regular thing again.