The Free View-- weblog of a presidential candidate

Super Bowl Ad Idea

I've been brewing up an idea for the past week or so. It's still just the beginnings of an idea really.

I think I should try to get a Super Bowl ad for the campaign. It's one sure-fire way to break through all the clutter and let America know that "Freedom is Still an Option". Not only is the Super Bowl watched by 500 million people (or so I've heard), but the ads during it are a news story unto themselves. There are features done about the Super Bowl ads for the week or more before the bowl, and a couple days afterward. I'm sure I don't really need to even explain this, because most everybody knows that the Super Bowl ads are basically the Holy Grail of ad spots. So I'll just share with you the few bits of ideas and notes I've got so far.

--One 30-second ad will probably cost about $2.5 million dollars next year. I'd guess that will be closer to $4 million by 2008...maybe not that much. I'm focusing on next year for now. I hope to raise the money for the ad through targeted donations-- people donating specifically to pay for the ad. I think if I can sweeten up my web presence here, and present a compelling offer, it could easily become one of those things that gets spread around the Internet, and a lot of people would support it just for the "sticking it to The Man" aspect of the idea. I'm not counting on just those folks, but I really think it could grab people's attention as a sweet opportunity to shake things up. Plus there might even be some folks who'd like to help this particular outsider presidential candidate break through the muck. ;-)

--It would take 100,000 people donating $25 to pay for the ad. Call me an optimist, but I think 100,000 people is a feasible number of folks to raise $25 from. Actually...really call me an optimist, because 100,000 seems like a pretty small number of people in the grand scheme of things. (Not that I won't value their support in a big way.)

--The ideal result would be to have a Super Bowl ad each year between now and the big election, which would make 5 consecutive years of ads there. With no other campaigning at all, that would probably be enough to get me name recognition in most American households, what with the media flurry that would precede and follow each year. Of course I won't be doing "no other campaigning at all." I'll be doing lots of other campaigning pretty much the whole time.

--It's entirely possible I might not be able to raise enough money to get an ad for next year. If not enough was raised the first time around, the pot would just keep growing until the next year, or until it's enough to buy an ad. In a worse (but not worst) case scenario, I ought to be able to at least raise the money by the 2008 Super Bowl. It could end up that I raise enough to do one every other year, or 2 out of the 5.

--Next year would really be a big one, though, because it would be just bare weeks before the 2004 primaries, and could pave the way to me being able to haunt the primary season really well. If, through an effective enough ad (and my own skills and presence), I can become a mini "media darling" of politics at the end of January 2004, I could probably get camera coverage along with the 2004 pack of candidates. Particularly if I outshine or upstage them whenever possible. If for no other reason than they wouldn't know quite what to do with me, or what to think. A carefully orchestrated "haunting" tour could get a lot of media coverage, and help seal my recognition as one of the candidates to watch in 2008. When Election '04 ends, and in the next week the pundits start going "So, who are we looking at for 2008?", I want to make sure they all include me on their list. Even if it's as an oddball candidate, or "that young guy", or "the Super Bowl Ad guy". It's very important that my name gets on the radar as soon as the radar is turned on, and stays there for the duration. It might not be vital, but it's pretty close to it. A Super Bowl ad in 2004 would almost guarantee that my name would be on the commentators' lips on November 3rd, and a lot of media would probably attend my campaign launch press conference that day. Add the primary haunting efforts in, and I could earn a presence in the 2008 polls as soon as they start (in 2004). I would, after all, have already raised almost $3 million dollars, which might even make me the leading fundraiser at that point. That would open some eyes for sure. With that kind of a kick start, I should be able to pretty well get media attention most places I go from there on out. Especially if I continue to follow up with subsequent Super Bowl ads in the subsequent years.

--The kicker: I'm going to try to convince the guys behind South Park to create the ad. They're both self-described libertarians, they're just about my age (i.e., peers), and they love to shake things up. If I can get them to believe in me, and I think I can, then maybe they'd do an ad for me. If they did do an ad, it would greatly enhance my ability to raise money for it.

That's a lot more notes and bits than I planned to lay out. Now I went and hyped it all up, and I haven't even checked on what might be the biggest hurdle -- the TV network. If you know someone with serious clout at CBS or Viacom, drop me a line, ok?