» Eternal Vigilance: Making Sure This Show Never Dies Options

[Couch Baron]

For people who want to organize efforts to keep the show going, and going, and going. Post away!

[EMOjunky]

OOooooh - Bright and shiny new thread!! Let's Brainstorm people!

I put this in the EEEEE! thread - but since that's for celebration now - just wanted to post it here to get the ball rolling:

I'm wondering when the new CW website will be up. And I'm wondering if it will be more like the WB or the UPN site. I'm wondering this bc the UPN site? - kinda sucks. Not that the WB is that great - but they have alot more on it than the UPN site does. The WB site has message boards and I've noticed that quite alot of people get on them and talk about their shows - and there is alot of cross-talk between fans of other shows. I mean - we all used to talk about this - that most VM fans pretty much only watch VM on UPN - but most fans of a WB show watch more than one WB show. And I think it might be important that as soon as the new site launches that there are right-minded people (like us) making sure that VM is talked about on the site. I know this is down the road - but it might be important in making sure that WB fans become VM fans and I just wanted to put it out there.

ABout the only thing I liked about the UPN site was that they gave us the opening scenes from the next episode - that I may miss!

Plus - I'm just curious about how this whole CW thing is going to take effect. First we'll start seeing promos for it - then the channel will take affect - but all us internet junkies know - nothing is official til it has a website!!

[rowanceleste]

Pantastic..that's a great design for a mug but it would definitely be more of an 'insider' type item as the 'Veronica Mars' connection wouldn't really be that apparent to the casual viewer.

If we're going to do a coffee mug or mugs, I'd kind of like it to also be an apparent (but not annoying) advertisement for VM, so if people have their mugs at work or school, etc...it can be a conversation opener...what do you think? I realize we wouldn't be able to put the new date and time since that's not set in stone, but I'd like people to be able to glance at it and tell that Veronica Mars will be on The CW Television Network in Fall 2006...advertising as well as more money for DVDs

At least...that's my thought :)

Bringing myself over from the other thread to discuss mugs for the cafe press site

[Maka]

Yay! So a bunch of us here at TWoP already set up this LiveJournal Community called Cloud Watchers which we've used to help organize our plane stunt, and the DVD donation drives. There are some current campaigns going over there:

• Donate a DVD set to your local library.
• Help call libraries in markets that don't have UPN, but will have The CW, and see if they'd accept a DVD set.
• Make a monetary donation to help fund DVD purchases for libraries.
• Write to some of VM's advertisers and thank them for supporting the show.

Lots of stuff. We've been using TWoP as a way to toss ideas around quickly.

Also, there's a Café Press Store that's selling swag to raise $ for our DVD efforts and such.

This post has been edited by Maka: Jun 15, 2006 @ 7:20 pm.

[airylli]

Yay! Thanks, CB.

So what we've got so far: DVDs, seasons 1 and 2, the CafePress store, blackmailing/coercing/convincing/stalking Nielsen families, possible campus-wide viewing parties and screenings, thank you thingees for Rob, writers, Dawn.

If the fan preview spots rumor on UPN/CW is true, I think we should definitely pursue that angle, if only because the UPN promo department isn't exactly always great. Also, one of those recap episodes like they've got on ABC to catch people up quickly for the first two seasons might be a really good idea. It can go up on YouTube or something and take over the internet.

Contests are also always an excellent idea. Somebody had an idea from the former "Guarantee a Season Three" thread about having recruitment contests and raising awareness on the radio. How about if we did something along those lines, like the first person to convert a radio person or TV guy and get them to mention/promote VM on the air gets an awesome prize pack?

Cross-promotion is good. There was some talk about GG and the two Logans, and I think it would also be good to have a lot of buzz about the Arrested Development people (although I don't know how many fans of AD there are; from what I know, which is little, AD was another critics' darling but a ratings nightmare).

What about talk shows? I don't really know how those circuits work, but the Late Night shows obviously have huge audiences and they must be looking for fresh faces. Obviously the cast members have done talk shows before, but a new round, especially in late August/early September might get some new interest going.

Can we lobby to get VM on Itunes? CW must be thinking about an agreement, now that it's so very popular.

And some old-fashioned guerilla marketing never hurts - posters of the cast and the network, once they announce the timeslot, mysteriously appearing everywhere, maybe a lot of fans talking with local malls to put up stuff, the pilot episode somehow finding its way into people's mailboxes, etc.

Also, a charity drive that also promotes VM might be a really good idea to get attention. I don't know exactly how it would work, but I know there are many brilliant posters on here who could brainstorm together. The flooding in the Northeast (I'm in Andover, MA so this is sticking out in my mind) especially is going to need a lot of volunteer work to help people out. Local food drives, blood donations, etc. Non-profit, of course, but VM-related to raise awareness both for the cause and for the show.

This post has been edited by airylli: May 16, 2006 @ 10:51 pm.

[Moonlighter]

Thanks for the new thread, CB! And Maka, I may purchase something from Cafe Press shortly. Just have to decide on what.

This post has been edited by Moonlighter: May 16, 2006 @ 11:13 pm.

[mp405]

Please see the Cloud Watchers thread for info on our DVD campaigns. Not only do libraries get the sets in the hands of potential viewers who might not shell out for Netflix or their own sets, but your gift is tax deductible! You can donate cash and we will make the purchase and ship it to a library confirmed to put it into circulation, or we can walk you through the process of donating to your local library. Just make sure and let us know where your donation goes: we want to keep track!

Has there been talk about putting together a website devoted to this Eternal Vigilance? Something that we can point non-TWoP fans to that lists the brainstorming ideas we have come up with here and on livejournal? I know that navigating this thread can be daunting.

This post has been edited by mp405: May 16, 2006 @ 10:53 pm.

[EMOjunky]

Also, one of those recap episodes like they've got on ABC to catch people up quickly for the first two seasons might be a really good idea. It can go up on YouTube or something and take over the internet.

I think this is a really good idea for someone that is really gifted at vid-ing. (unfortunately that person is not me). We could inbed the Youtube recap episode onto sites like Give Me My Remote and other blogs -that already do alot to support VM a whole bunch. I'm almost positive GMMR would be willing to do this (I'll see about writing to her about it if we decide to go with this). But some of these blogs have a fairly large readership and if people are coming to the site to read about other shows and have a chance to catch up on VM - that could be a great way to hook new viewers.

Also - someone over at Eonline just posted this as a slogan: Exposure:That's the Watchword! And I kind of like it. Thoughts?

This post has been edited by EMOjunky: May 16, 2006 @ 10:58 pm.

[outoffashion]

I have webspace I can offer, if anyone wants to start up a site.

[airylli]

I really think the major Taser/Stun Gun companies should start seriously backing this show. I mean honestly, the sheer amount of free advertising they get!

Exposure:That's the Watchword! And I kind of like it. Thoughts?

I like it! Although it does bring to mind that nauseatingly repeated phrase, which I kind of hated. And below

I do as well; I just started a little project here.

I like all of the Latin. Goes well with the Hearst merchandise.

This post has been edited by airylli: May 16, 2006 @ 11:03 pm.

[justanothergirl]

I have webspace I can offer, if anyone wants to start up a site.

I do as well; I just started a little project here.

I like all of the Latin. Goes well with the Hearst merchandise.

Unfortunately, that's just lorem ipsum, which I don't think is even real Latin. It's filler text that simulates sentence and paragraph structure until the real content is inserted. =)

This post has been edited by justanothergirl: May 16, 2006 @ 11:09 pm.

[mikelesq]

If we're going to do a coffee mug or mugs, I'd kind of like it to also be an apparent (but not annoying) advertisement for VM, so if people have their mugs at work or school, etc...it can be a conversation opener...what do you think?

The noir poster from slaverats.com is my desktop wallpaper at work, and I get a lot of questions about it. Merchandising would seem to be a good way to spread the word. Of course, there's the copyright issue. I think that poster would make a great t-shirt, but anything that's explicitly VM couldn't be produced by CafePress or any other e-tailer without Warner Bros' permission. And it may not in their power to give it, since they may have limited rights to use the actors' images on merchandise (not to mention any rights an artist/photographer/etc may have).

Since apparently these boards get back to the Powers that Be, it might be good to put the question out there: Is there any way we can get Warner Bros to put out some merchandise, or give us a want/take/have image, that we can proudly display as Season 3 approaches.

[silvyme]

I can do basic vid slicing and dicing, but I am totally no master at that. I'm happy to see this new thread. I love the title. I think a new site is an excellent idea. Something simple to navigate. I think we should also probably get ourselves an email address - it would really work to have some standard contact information. Or I might just be sleepy. Nighty Night...

Yay! Season 3!

[mp405]

justanothergirl I love your scrolling list of things one might like, especially "Donuts." Hee!

Here's an idea I was toying around with as a combination iTunes campaign/fundraiser. What if we not only started a petition for fans who would be willing to download the show via iTunes, but also offered a higher level of participation in that campaign through the ability to make a "pledge" of $2/week (the amount that iTunes downloads would cost) towards fan campaigns for increased viewership/awareness of VM? I mean, I know we can't all keep contributing the amount we have in these past few crazy weeks, but $2 is nothing.

If we publicize the amount we are getting in those donations, it might increase the viability of our petition, while raising funds in a painless way. It would add up over the summer, even with just a few participants.

Or, I could be talking crazy.

[rowanceleste]

The noir poster from slaverats.com is my desktop wallpaper at work, and I get a lot of questions about it.

I don't think we can use copyrighted images plus I wouldn't want to get into a grey area about profit even though we're using the money to buy DVDs to donate to libraries. Easier if we just make sure that's a non-issue by sticking with non-copyrighted images, but I definitely want something that incites questions/conversations about Veronica Mars or at least makes it obvious that it will be on a new network in the fall so that maybe only question that needs to be asked is 'Is that a good show?'

Of course...now we just need people like pantastic that can make the pretty/interesting things I'm just throwing out in the air :)

mp405 - It looks like CW might be going with bittorrent (I heard) and I like both bittorrent and iTunes, but if we did a petition...I kind of would like doing a season swap or something instead with GG or AD fans so we can hook more viewers rather than making sure we're giving more people the option to download the show next year...even though it would be good for the show, I doubt TPTB would use bittorrent downloads or iTunes downloads as an indication of ratings and they'd go off Neilson ratings to decide whether or not we get our 3rd arc next season...what do you think?

SLEEP calls me though.

This post has been edited by rowanceleste: May 16, 2006 @ 11:15 pm.