Should HTF solicit donations for a VARIETY AD? Poster Enclosed (1 Viewer)

[Charles J P]

Damn, Brenton, I like that

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

Since pan and scan usually chops on both sides, might it make more sense to have both sides of the $20 ripped off? Good concept, though.

 

[Jussi Tarvainen]

One idea would be to list a few titles that are currently available in p&s DVD only under the studios' names.

For example:

COLUMBIA!
Midnight Clear, etc, etc,

 

[Reginald Trent]

IF HTF choose to run ads we should also suggest in that ad that people rent or purchase the Die Hard DVD to see the OAR PS example.

 

[Tim Hoover]

I agree that Brenton has made a tremendous ad. I also like Ricardo's revised tag line and Mark's suggestion of both sides of the $20 being lopped off. Maybe the end could read "Sincerely, your 20,000+ friends at the Home Theater Forum" to give us some weight.

 

[BobV]

Brenton's image is inspired and simplistic, and almost perfect. Personally, I would not have the bill ripped on both sides, I think it gives the right message as it is. P&S is wrong and a butchery... it seems as though someone picked up their $20 and ripped it in half and threw it on the table... sort of a "here, take this you hack" kind of a statement.

I also think that to keep it simple and not 'muddy' the waters no mention of films should be made, whether listings of films only in P&S or demo discs that show the differences, or whatever. A nice, simple, effective, recognizable message with impact is what is needed and like I said, I think Brenton's basically hits the nail on the head. Maybe somne slight tweaking is needed, such as adding the number of members for weight, or maybe even doing it in conjunction with other DVD and Home Theatre forums culminating with a number around 100,000 or so.. (you know, AVScience, HTF, etc etc). Or maybe something like "Sincerely, the Home Theatre Enthusiast, 5 million strong and growing" or something.

 

[Brenton]

And here's the revised version:

I hope it's not noticeable that I used the same tear on both sides. If it is, we can always change it before it's final.
Any more suggestions?

 

[Andy_MT]

why limit the efforts to just magazines/papers. how about the internet ? perhaps someone could come up with some shockwave banners demonstrating widescreen. then circulate these on high volume generic web-sites (not necessarily specialised to movies/dvd); yahoo; amazon (& other dvd e-retailers). not sure of the cost, but probably cheaper than magazine placement. perhaps if there's any cash left over.

and what about publicity ? how about trying to sell the story of this escapade to any entertainment news entities ? or is that going to far ?

 

[Colin-H]

I think we're going too far too fast. I haven't seen one design posted here that deserves to be placed in a major magazine or newspaper. We're still in the idea stage, here, no need to talk about things becoming "final" yet.

I think "selling the story" is going a little overboard. That's not cheap.

 

[Charles J P]

No offense Colin, but its responses like yours that are the reason the last two dozend threads just like this one have led to absolutly nothing being done. I like the ripped bill idea, I like the idea of getting other forums involved, and I like the idea of using the advertisement on the internet as well. I think we need to start the money collecting stage here first, and then start threads on other boards with the owners/admins permission, and say, help us with this project, here is the ad copy, and we have already raised X thousand dollars and our goal is X thousand more.

 

[Andy_MT]

you're absolutely right Charles, all we seem to be doing is sitting on our bums talking about how we're going to change the world. that's not going to change the world
i say it's time to put our plan into the next gear.
so what's happening about this collection ? can one of the moderators set up a paypal account (expenses to be taken out of collection), put up a link at the top of every HTF forum and post the info at the other forums. i haven't seen anything like this, so i'm assuming it hasn't been done yet.
if the moderators are too busy keeping control of us rowdy lot, then perhaps some of HTFs members can volunteer their services
it's not going to hurt to start collecting. if everyone chips in a couple of dollars, we'd at least have something to start off with. and i can't imagine many people are going to miss a couple of dollars - considering how much they spend on dvds (we can still carry on with the ideas in the meantime)
if we don't start soon, we're going to be up to our eyeballs in disney and columbia P&S dvds. that's not a world i want to be in.

 

[Brian E]

I think we need to start the money collecting stage here first, and then start threads on other boards with the owners/admins permission, and say, help us with this project, here is the ad copy, and we have already raised X thousand dollars and our goal is X thousand more.

That's great and all, but it's kind of hard to solicite donations when a fixed target hasn't even been decided on yet. Is this going to target the studios or is it going to be an education campaign? Both ideas have been floated in this thread and others, but there's still not an agreed upon purpose to all of this. The focus needs to be one or the other. Eventually it might be able to be both, but not right away. So what does everyone think the intended goal of this should be? Studios or Education?

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I don't think it is either, but maybe education. I think what we are trying to do is to let everybody that reads 'Variety' know that the studios are chopping movies up. We cannot convince the studios to change their ways, so someone else has to do it.

Glenn

 

[David Lambert]

Brenton, I hope you don't mind. I figured the easiest way to make more suggestions was to demonstrate them, since this is really fine-tuning.
This is a damn fine ad concept, and makes the point simply and in a way that will be understood what we're talking about.
It should draw attention to the cause, without explaining everything up-front. That will lead media to ask questions, which will give us the opportunity to respond and ask for a choice for OAR.
We need not appear overly complicated about what we want.
We need not appear like loonies, or be overly demanding (like saying there should be no other version but the one we want).
We simply explain that we want in our HOMES the **EXACT** same thing we saw in the theater. "That's why they call it 'Home Theater'!"
Anyway, here is the revised layout I thought would be more appealing. Flame away:
[c] [/c]

 

[Brenton]

Brenton, I hope you don't mind.

Hey, it's public property as far as I'm concerned. The best way for us to fine-tune the design and content of the ad is for all of us to squeeze in here and get our hands on it.

 

[Joe D]

One of the big problems with saying Pan and Scan is that most people don't realize what this is. Saying Full Screen = Pan and Scan or something like that would be more effective.

 

[Andy_MT]

i'm still keen on the concept of tv/cinema version. i think it's the clearest way to get the idea across to j6p, without having to use confusing terminology (like pan and scan). if they want to buy a film, the idea of seeing the "cinema" version would probably sound much more appealing. it even sounds like a superior product. whereas the "tv" version sounds much inferior.

the problem with using pan & scan in the advert, is that studios don't use this terminology on dvds. they use full frame. and full frame doesn't work in that dollar ad.

trying not to ruffle any feathers, but i don't think that dollar ad works. IMHO. it's too abstract - for j6p. i think we have to target the ad as if it were being presented to a small dull child. aim for the lowest common denominator. it's the only way you're going to be sure it'll reach everybody that reads it. what happened to the idea of just showing screenshots of films. i think it was David Lamberts' ads that did this. i personally think these would be better as a base to work on. they're direct. no bullshit. they tell you exactly what's so special about widescreen. and the visual examples demonstrate these effectively. anybody can understand.

 

[Francois Caron]

"Hey! Where's the rest of the bill?"
When you purchase the pan & scan version of a DVD disc or VHS tape, you're paying full price for half a product.
Widescreen. See what you've been missing.

 

[Colin-H]

Charles, I'd just like to say for the record that it was an off-kilter comment of mine that spawned this specific thread.
Advertising is a tricky thing. Most of the money invested in advertising goes into researching the ad -- finding the proper approach, not into designing or creating the ad. That's the simple part. It's easy enough for a bunch of us to post some clever ads we threw together in Photoshop, then take a vote and find a winner, but is that how we want to spend $7,000? What the members of the HTF expect to be effective is not necessarily what is going to sway our target, whether it's the public or the studio execs.
I'm not suggesting hiring an ad agency here. We can do research without spending money. I think it would be a good idea to do some J6P polling. Develop a survey, either get permission from a local movie theater or video store to poll people leaving or be renegade about it and poll them in the parking lot. Then we take the results of this survey, design a few test ads based on them, do another survey and see what the public reacts to.
We have to realize the advertising is not for us. I'm sensing a lot of activist mentality around here. Do we want to do this to appease ourselves, to make it feel like we're doing something about the things we whine about, or do we really want to make a difference? If we want to make a difference, we have to put some time and effort into it, not just money.
The problem is not "responses like mine", Charles, the problem is we're trying to come up with an ad that we like. That is not the most effective or productive approach to take. In fact, if we keep going like this, I doubt we will ever come to a consensus. Brenton, I must respectfully disagree. I believe the best way to "fine tune the design and content" is to get out there and see what people react to. I also believe that this ad should have a more professionally designed look. While I know we all love DIY here and we think we're all Photoshop jockeys, in a magazine or newspaper, DIY look = page turn.
This is not something that should be solved in one thread.

 

[Ricardo C]

Honestly, I don't care too much about targetting J6P. Most of them GET what widescreen is, they just prefer P&S. I think we'd be wasting money if we targetted them in any way.

Studios, however... They have profits to maximize. Showing them that they are losing potential earnings WILL drive the point home and will hopefully lead to some studios to rethink their "P&S exclusive" strategy. That's why the $20 bill piece is so brilliant. Money seems to be the only language they understand. We can argue artistic integrity till we're blue in the face, and they won't listen. Let them know we will not, under any circumstances, buy MAR'ed product, and they'll get the message.