Who is writing to whom?

[Mondo Londo]

Well, if this next step in this campaign is to write letters, who has written? Who will write? And to whom will you write?

Sorta sounds like Galen, doesn't it...

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"What's up, Drakh?"

Michael Garibaldi

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I wrote to Bonnie Hammer at Sci-Fi as soon as the ratings picture became clear. I wrote all of the sponsors for whom I was able to come up with snail-mail addresses as soon as I could. (I think there are 21 on th current list, and I'll be adding more in the next day or so.)

This took a couple of days what with going through the tape and writing them all down, then searching on the 'net to find the company - or sometimes the parent company - to get an address. Adams, for instance, which makes Dentyne, doesn't publish a mailing address, so I had to go up the corporate food-chain to Pfizer.

(Who'd have thought that a chewing gum would turn out to be made by a major drug company? OTOH, "Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing" is a product of The Clorox Company - which doesn't bear thinking about.

)

Then I had to create the form letter, do the mail merge, edit the individual letters, print them and the envelopes, stuff 'em, lick 'em, slap stamps on 'em and get 'em out the door. But I got them out as quickly as I could. I also got in a plug for Rangers (and Crusade) when I wrote to the new head of marketing for Warner Home video about the upcoming B5 discs. I think I've spent more on postage this week than I have on gas - which has got to be a first.

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net

 

[Frizzell]

I have written to Bonnie Hammer and Tom Olson.

I have never written a letter in support of a television show before. I hope that in my attempt to assure them that I am an intelligent, capable female and not the typical Sci-Fi fan steroetype that I did not come off as narcissistic.

I did make sure to ask them nicely for a series.

Frizzell

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"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in a confederacy against him."
-Jonathan Swift

"Good in theory...
Lousy in practice...
It implies that I am expendable. I am many things. I am bright, personable, charismatic and not a bad dancer but expendable? No."

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Since the ratings information came out I've now written follow-up letters to all of the sponsors explaining why they should ignore the east coast ratings on concentrate on those areas that get the SFC west coast feed.

Also a couple of new letters (mentioning the above) to sponsors I found addresses for since mailing off the initial batch.

How about the rest of you? (So far only one person has written to ask for my Excel file, so I have to wonder. That and the delimited ASCII file should be available for download from a website tomorrow, by the way. I'll post the URL when I get it.)

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net

 

[Dave Thomer]

Call me crazy and/or unduly negative -- but if the message we're trying to get across is that the East Coast numbers are skewed, wouldn't it be good to try and find people who did not watch the first airing of the movie because of football but intend to watch a series? I mean, I know every little bit helps, but I'd kinda think Sci Fi knows that a lot of the dedicated B5 fans who DID watch the movie WOULD watch a series. What are we telling them that they don't know?

Or have I heard the whole 'networks are used to letter writing campaigns' tale one time too many?

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Dave Thomer
This Is Not News

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>...wouldn't it be good to try and find people who did not watch the first airing of the movie because of football but intend to watch a series?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If you'll read a couple of the other threads on that touch on this topic you'll see that's exactly what were are doing. Any number of people on this very site did not watch the early showing on the East coast, instead watching a tape later or watching one of the encores because they were watching the football game. But either way, it also helps to show an over-all level of support to the sponsors, which is where a lot of the effort is also being expended.

Certainly those who didn't watch the first airing should say so and why, but what makes you think that promoting this effort here doesn't constitute "trying to find people who watched the football game instead"? Anybody with an interest in the movie and a possible series is going to be looking at B5 sites, regardless of when they watched.

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net

 

[Dave Thomer]

I have been reading the other threads, but didn't get that overall impression. (I do recall one 'if you didn't watch the movie because of football, say so' comment that I think came from you, Joe, but I honestly did not recall that sentiment being more widespread.) Sorry. The vibe I was getting was more a 'if you watched the movie write letters to say you liked it' kind of thing.

I'm not saying letters are a bad thing, by any means. I was kind of thinking out loud about what *I* could say to convince either a sponsor or a network not to pay as much attention to the East Coast numbers. I'm on the East Coast, I watched the 9 PM viewing, so I'd think the network would just dismiss me as 'yeah, OK, we got you accounted for.'

I'm probably not articulating my point very well here, and I apologize, especially if I've seemed to denigrate any of the efforts thus far. Lord knows I want to see a Rangers series, and I'll probably write some kind of letter as soon as I think of something worth saying.

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Dave Thomer
This Is Not News

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I also watched the 9 PM showing on the East coast. In my letter to Bonnie Hammer I said as much, but added that I'd heard from a lot of my friends that they had watched the game and I taped it or watched an encore. I also said that I would have watched the game myself, except that I didn't have a rooting interest in it, all of "my" teams having managed to eliminate themselves early.

Anyway, the focus of the intitial campaign, which started before we heard about the ratings, was to write the sponsors because this is an indirect way of influencing the network that shows promise. If it came to a close call based on the ratings, feedback from the sponsors might make a difference. The same remains true now, as the network tries to make sense of mixed ratings and analyzes the results in the various ways Allyson has suggested. If it comes right down on the borderline between show and no show, letters to the network and the sponsors may help tip the balance - regardless of the ratings.

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net

 

[Dave Thomer]

Gotcha. Makes sense. (We need a UBB symbol for a light bulb appearing over the head.) And when it comes right down to it, whether it makes a whit of difference to the series or not, Sci Fi deserves to hear a word of thanks for reviving B5 at all.

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Dave Thomer
This Is Not News