FINAL PUSH - Lousiville VETO Ads

The pet owners of America and Louisville will not take it sitting down.

In the wee hours of Wednesday morning (0345) on the 20th day of December 2006 the Democrats pushed through an anti pet law that will shake the American pet community. Below is an email from Robin Harrison, one hell of a passionate animal lover and activist with a Mack Truck load of passion to achieve a positive result for the pet community not just in Louisville but the whole of America.


Hi folks!

Wow, whatta hot and heavy day! This is gonna be a wordy message. I've written it w/those who might want to forward in mind, so much longer than a typical status update. YES, please forward!

Now, grab a cup o' hot chocolate or a toddy and settle in for the story. I'm glugging down the last of the holiday egg nog in a Santa mug that hasn't been put away yet. :-P

There has been a change of venue. The short story is that the Louisville Courier-Journal was giving us grief about "legal department review" and not wanting to cut us a break on the ad cost. We didn't quite make it up to the 1,800.00 we needed for even a tiny print ad with them.

The GOOD NEWS is that we have a nice block of radio ads set to run on *8* Louisville Clear Channel radio stations over the course of Thursday! Barbara hammered out this deal for us literally in the final moment. The only time I had was to decide if this was an effective pursuit and send in the payment.

Total, there will be 40 (5 apiece on each of 8 stations) drive time billboard spots run for louisville-pets.com, as in "This traffic billboard is brought to you by www-dot-louisville-dash-pets-dot-com".

PLUS, 40 spots of 15 seconds apiece through the day on Thursday saying:

"PET LOVERS! LOUISVILLE'S NEW ANTI-PET LAW MUST BE VETOED TODAY. CALL 502-574-2003 AND TELL THE MAYOR TO VETO THE PET LAW! PLEASE HELP SAVE OUR PETS OR SAY GOODBYE!"

The wording has changed from the original "say goodbye to your pets along with your rights" because there was some concern from Clear Channel that this wording was too strong. They also fussed a little about partisan language and references to AC Director Meloche' immigrant status at louisville-pets.com . Barbara had a talk with the folks at louisville-pets.com and I think those things will be toned down some before the ads run.

Cost of the Clear Channel Ads - 1,600.00.

For another 110.00, we can have a total of 63 "billboard" and 63 of the 15 second spots. I haven't tallied what's new in the campaign fund yet, but I think we're real close if we're not already there. I tossed in an extra 200.00 above my pledge to get the space we got. I didn't have it to spend, but heck, to make a ground breaking stand for
persecuted animal owners happen? PRICELESS.

Barbara has also been in touch with Radio One of Louisville. They have 5 stations broadcasting to the Metro area and have offered us 15 weather sponsor slots (like the drive time sponsor spots above) and 15 of the 15 second spots encouraging citizens to call for veto. The cost is 500.00. For 1500.00, we can have a full package of 40/40 as we
have above with Clear Channel.

We're covering the gamut with Clear Channel - news, talk, adult contemporary, country, even hip hop. I feel that from a strategic viewpoint, we've done 1000% BETTER for the public visibility of this campaign by going with broadcast media over print media.

The campaign CONTINUES! We have through tomorrow to buy more radio ad blocks. The donation page will remain open, tho the references to a Courier-Journal ad are no longer current. I'll try to get in for an update before I crash tonight - http://www.ccdirtdawgs.com/vetofund.com

Hindsight is 20/20. If I ever did this again, I would start off with a MEDIA campaign instead of limiting to a single venue like a newspaper. Of course, now I know that thanks to Barbara Haywood of My Dog Votes http://www.mydogvotes.com. She's ACE for advertising! We were sent an angel in what could've easily turned into a darkest hour. THANKS Barbara!

A quick recap for those who are just learning of this campaign:

* This ad campaign is an INDEPENDENT one fueled and funded by concerned pet owners across the nation

* We are doing this because the good folks and pet owners in Louisville need and deserve GOOD animal law, or at least freedom from BAD law

* We believe that any victory for Louisville over BAD animal law will be a victory for ALL animal owners everywhere

Examples of the Louisville law and the full 90+ page mind-boggling text of it can be found at
http://www.louisville-pets.com .

The law was passed by Louisville Metro Council just before the holidays. Mayor Abramson has through Thursday (Jan 4th) to VETO. If he does not veto, the law goes into effect for the residents and pet owners of Louisville Metro.

Bless you all for helping me to chomp away at this elephant. We've gotten where we are since Friday on 10.00 here, 30.00 there, 50.00 from over yonder. Simply amazing. BRAVO!

G'night!

Robin Harrison
Clear Creek Dirt Dawgs
http://www.ccdirtdawgs.com/vetofund.html
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