USA Today Full Page Ad

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

Byron Quick

Staff In Memoriam
No more. Not one more type of gun, variant of a gun, or individual gun. Not one class of ammo, caliber, nor type of bullet. Not a single accessory, tool or book related to firearms. No more limits on the types of guns, number of guns, nor amount of ammo that I own. Nor any restrictions on the frequency with which I may add more of the aforementioned to my collection. If you want them, come take them, all at once... or leave us the hell alone."

Rob wrote this on the topic "Where will loyalties lie?". It sounds good to me. I'm willing to contribute for an ad. And willing to sign my name to it.
 
I just sent a message to Lorraine Ross, their net.contact for advertising, asking about rates and length of run. Knowing the meedja's feelings about guns, I didn't say what the ad would be about :). When (if) she writes back, I'll post the info here.
 
Well, I wonder if we can get 1000 gun owners to donate $50 to the cause ??

Spend the money to run the paragraph in LARGE print and the 1000 names underneath, as representatives of "American Gunowners"


BTW-
Upon refelction I have re-written a few words:

To Whom it May Concern,

No More. Not one more type of firearm, variant of a firearm, or individual firearm. Not one class of ammunition, caliber nor type of bullet. Not a single accessory, tool nor book related to firearms. No more limits on the types of guns, the number of guns, nor the amount of ammunition that I can own. Nor any restrictions on the frequency with which I can add more of the aforementioned to my collection. If you want them, come take them, all at once... otherwise, Leave us the Hell Alone.


------------------
-Essayons


[This message has been edited by Rob (edited March 04, 1999).]
 
hell yeah, I'm in!
No problem signing my name to it.
I'll lay down $50 for the ad.
------------------


...... bk40




[This message has been edited by bk40 (edited March 03, 1999).]
 
I've posted a possible ad <a href="http://www.users.uswest.net/~coinneach/usa_today_ad.htm">here.</a> Criticisms and flames are of course welcome :).
 
I think that actually Typesetting the ad might be mocing a little too fast. For now, let's just see how many people we can get to sign on to the paragraph at $50 per.

Trying to get 1000 gunowners to agree on anything is going to be impossible, so let's not nit-pick the wording.
 
Just got the reply from Lorraine Ross at USA Today.

Well, the cost of a black and white page is $68,250 open rate (weekday) and $81,250 (Fridays). If you'd like to run every single day (as in 20 times), you'd want to use our Multiple Insertion Discount - definately the best for this scenario. MID offers a 20% discount off your second ad within five
business days, and 30% off the third, fourth and fifth.

I can work this up and fax you an investment summary sheet if you need.
Let me know,
Lorraine

So now we have a ballpark figure for cost. A thought: if we want to run it on one day, should we go for 4 July?


[This message has been edited by Coinneach (edited March 03, 1999).]
 
Okay, if we are really going to do this, we are not going to get 1250 people (or whatever) to say "I'm in".. right here on this thread. so let's think of some other ways to promote involvement.

Could we put the paragraph up in local gun shops and collect donations at the site.. Checks only with the name of the person to be included in the ad on the "Memo" line ??

Should I be so bold as to invite participation from Rec.guns ??

What if we only get 800 people? That is a LOT of money, but not enough for the intended plan. Do we run a 1/2 page add with the paragraph and people's initials?

Who do people right the checks to? (TFL ?)

There are definitely some issues here that need to be addressed. I do a lot of fundraising for charities, but I pass the cash on, so I don't deal with the money. Is anyone out there familar with different ways of handling this money without opening anyone up to too much liability ?

Don't get me wrong. I am glad you guys like the paragraph and I am excited about the idea of putting my name on it in front of the whole country, but We need to make sure we are doing it right.
 
Rob: To properly account for any money tendered for this project, recommend that a special checking account be set-up JUST FOR THIS PROJECT and NOTHING ELSE! That way, you're reasonably assured money will not get inadvertantly mixed w/other personal or TFL funds/accounts...it's just easier to account for all of it. You should probably talk w/a CPA or Tax Law specialist to ensure that there will be no chance of Fed or state tax liability for money taken in...if TFL is a non-profit outfit, that should not be a problem. By the way, count me in too.
 
TFL is Rich's deal, I dunno if he even has a seperate checking account for it, and doubt that he has actually set it up as a non-profit enitity.

All of my non-profit projects have their own checking accounts and I have someone else handle the money.

My company's accounting department is a little shoebox that gets a lot of activity from Feb-May, but then I forget about so much as saving reciepts for the rest of the year.. so you can understand where I am coming from.. I'm the creative one.. don't let me handle the cash!

(Volunteers with appropriate credentials/financial background needed!)
 
Is it even within reason that we set up the deal with the paper first with no fixed date and then we get the contributors to write their checks directly to the paper?
While the paper would not be likely to take on keeping track of the funds as they come in, would they talk over one thousand individual checks?

It might even be more meaningful in the aftermath if the participants had all paid the paper seperately.
 
Rob -

I would think that most papers wouldn't be comfortable with an arrangement like this (they run the ad on good-faith expectation of payment from several individuals). If we could find a paper with:

1) National coverage,
2) A pro-RKBA editorial staff, and
3) Seriously deep pockets,

it might be doable. Otherwise, maybe the best way would be to set up an NPC and collect as much as possible before setting the deal.
Unfortunately, that way would rely upon people's willingness to pay good money before seeing the finished product, which only seems to work for M*cr*s*ft.

Perhaps some of the bigger orgs, like NRA or GOA, would be willing to kick in a bit o' change...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top