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It's Officialy Time: Fund The US1 Billboard UPDATE: $3845 Raised!

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3K, not bad. But still sad considering the rock bottom we're at.

I've gone back through the thread and have collected good options for the initial polling. I feel like locking down the general message at least will put more wind in the sails. Aim to get that up soon.

I'm still waiting to hear back from the companies but two of them explicitly told me they'll be getting back to me on Monday with specifics. I think I'll probably preemptively increase the amount to raise to 5k since one of the reps did tell me the printing costs involved for traditional (vast majority of US1 bulletins) is pretty high which I didn't factor in, and ofc holiday season has these things in demand.

Happy Turkey Day everyone!
 
305_separatist said:
I hear you brother and I would love too, but like you said Epstein is tight with politicians like Diaz and their ilk. The fact that we are well within our rights will absolutely not stop him from suing someone that ****es him off by tarnishing his name in public. All he has to do is text his lawyer to do it and he won't sweat any of the time or effort involved personally. For me however it would consume a good deal of my attention and all of my funds for years potentially. They know that, and that's exactly why they do it. If we actually had strong anti-SLAPP laws in this state it might be a different story. But as it stands they have full license to do that with no real consequences. I've consulted with more than one legal contact about this.
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If you’re scared, then maybe you’re not the right one to be leading the billboard effort?

Donated, by the way.
 
OP, long time consultant here with years experience with high level briefings, and I also have an Ivy MBA. Think in this way:

Problem
Challenge
Solution

My advice...if you’re doing this, think it all the way through and take your time with it...don’t rush. Namely, think weeks - and that’s with your foot on the gas, and not days. You’re creating a high level marketing campaign and a pitch, so do it right. You’ll need a push-pull strategy to create stickiness (make memorable) so I see a three phased approach, not one...or two.

1. The billboard message must be simple, High level, targeted, and with punch. One must be able to digest it all in a glance....in 7-10 seconds.

2. Pull strategy. Build your website and added at the bottom of the build board (firewhomever.com), and the website should go into your high level points. Here, you’re “pulling” your audience in. Don’t turn it into a manifiesto that goes too deep in the weeds or it won’t get read. Have a good writer for this - don’t just throw it together. Make sure the website is vetted (have a number of drafts before finalizing) and completed BEFORE you put up the billboard.

3. Push strategy. include a social media campaign. This is 2020 folks, not 2002. Here, you are ”pushing” info to your target audience. This also needs to be developed and vetted before the billboard goes up.

Finally, after you guys get close to your message, I’d recommend working with 5-7 smart guys on this to sharpen it...find consultants, publicists, brand strategist or people that have worked on marketing campaigns before. You should be able to find plenty of them on this board or the WEZ, I’m sure.

Don’t open this up to the entire board. The messaging could get convoluted due to all the white noise (chatter). You be the liaison to give updates and provide status to the board, but work as a small group. Give everyone tasks and meet biweekly as a group by teleconference, Skype, etc to bring it all together and to finalize the deliverable
 
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The Svengali said:
OP, long time consultant here with years experience with high level briefings, and I also have an Ivy MBA. Think in this way:

Problem
Challenge
Solution

My advice...if you’re doing this, think it all the way through and take your time with it...don’t rush. Namely, think weeks - and that’s with your foot on the gas, and not days. You’re creating a high level marketing campaign and a pitch, so do it right. You’ll need a push-pull strategy to create stickiness (make memorable) so I see a three phased approach, not one...or two.

1. The billboard message must be simple, High level, targeted, and with punch. One must be able to digest it all in a glance....in 7-10 seconds.

2. Pull strategy. Build your website and added at the bottom of the build board (firewhomever.com), and the website should go into your high level points. Here, you’re “pulling” your audience in. Don’t turn it into a manifiesto that goes too deep in the weeds or it won’t get read. Have a good writer for this - don’t just throw it together. Make sure the website is vetted (have a number of drafts before finalizing) and completed BEFORE you put up the billboard.

3. Push strategy. include a social media campaign. This is 2020 folks, not 2002. Here, you are ”pushing” info to your target audience. This also needs to be developed and vetted before the billboard goes up.

Finally, after you guys get close to your message, I’d recommend working with 5-7 smart guys on this to sharpen it...find consultants, publicists, brand strategist or people that have worked on marketing campaigns before. You should be able to find plenty of them on this board or the WEZ, I’m sure.

Don’t open this up to the entire board. The messaging could get convoluted due to all the white noise (chatter). You be the liaison to give updates and provide status to the board, but work as a small group. Give everyone tasks and meet biweekly as a group by teleconference, Skype, etc to bring it all together and to finalize the deliverable
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Agree with all of this, especially the last paragraph. Too many people on this site want to mention too many things and alot of it comes off as reactionary (losing to FIU for example).

Like I've been saying, keep it simple and call for the heads of Blake and the administration. Period.
 
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I'm in with whatever yall wanna do, but i would damm sure name names, *** em. If the BOT has a problem with it they can make an intellegent decision for a change. Thats part of the problem, these people are never called out on their incompetence, and should be, not a damm thing they can do about it. Fifteen years of failure should be written on there somewhere, people will see it every day so by day 2 they will go WOW I cant believe they actually put that up there.
 
305_separatist said:
I started this campaign after the original thread gauging interest received overwhelming support, and well over 3k views. If every single one of those readers donated just $2 to this effort, we would have more than enough to get it done.

Truth is simple banners aren't going to cut it anymore. I gave it several hours before checking the news today, and laughed that the most embarrassing loss in school history hasn't merited any firings. Blake James should have been shown the door immediately to get the party started at least, when you compound this loss with the way all the major athletic programs have performed in recent years.

It's time to take matters into our own hands, and give notice to the entire administration from the community that we think them a joke and a clown show. Clearly being beaten by the commuter school in Sweetwater wasn't embarrassing enough for them. So throw in your money, and throw in your billboard ideas. The one requirement is that it needs to target the school/administration as a whole, and not any one individual. There is plenty of stink to spread around. Bonus points for creative ways to embarrass the school as much as possible without getting me sued for defamation lmao.

Fundraising link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/us1-billboard-protest-um-administration

UPDATE 11/27 :

Billboard
Billboard companies are being pretty slow in responding given turkey week, but I've successfully given specifics to one who will be emailing me options on the Dadeland - i95 stretch shortly. I told him it was for community outreach haha. The only definite info I got from him on the call is that digital is cheaper, both in terms of monthly price (since it gets cycled with other ads on the same board), and since print costs can be pretty high, like easily 1k apparently. Unfortunately vast majority of that stretch is traditional print boards, and to compound matters printing is usually backed up this time of the season with holiday advertising in full swing. I'll create an official update to the OP and fundraising page when I have more concrete details. Takeaway is that this will be a logistical challenge even with cash in hand. So the more that can be raised the better, as it seems likely the amount will have to be raised if we're forced to go the print route.

Legal
Messaging wise, I've made the decision that while I would absolutely love to, I don't feel comfortable putting up names of the BOT. Simply put, all the members of the BOT are very wealthy and well connected locally. Many of them are attorneys/politicians or have many attorney buddies. There are a category of laws called anti-SLAPP laws which aim to prevent abuse of the civil justice system by way of frivolous lawsuits. Unfortunately Florida's variety of these laws are extremely narrow and only apply where government agencies are involved, not disputes between private persons. The take away here is if I go after any one of them personally, they can easily sue me even if no laws are broken and I would be screwed. Even if it's highly unlikely that they win, they can still tie me up in legal processes and fees for years out of spite if they were so inclined. Unfortunately I'm just not willing to paint that kind of target on my back. The furthest I'm willing to go would be a simple "fire blake james" type of thing. Fortunatly I think we can still take an effective shot at the school and the BOT by extension without resorting to outright naming.

Actual Messaging
I plan on throwing up a poll of the top few general ideas I've seen so far to narrow it down substantially, either late tonight or early tomorrow in a new thread. My own submission to the poll is the following, the exact details of which can be debated and decided later via another poll if it edges everything else out:

U Should Be Ashamed (or, The U Is Dying)
15 years. 0 ACC titles, one division title, one 10 win season.
UM 24 - 30 FIU (or, can be excluded)
www.fireTheAthleticDepartment.com (or, fireblakejames.com)

I'd argue that it's a simple and attention grabbing message that will embarrass the school. As for the details, I'm genuinely afraid that if Blake James gets fired they'll just promote some other loser from the same failing group in his place, just like they did with Manny. So I want to send the message that they need to just clean house without having a laundry list of names. Flip side is it might lack punch, idk.

If you have a substantially different, but still simple and effective, idea petition me to include it in the voting as an option here over the rest of today.
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I really think putting stats up will dilute the message and would require "actual reading". Again, anybody who followed UM football and likely to be remotely interested in reading this message knows how bad we have been. Emphasis should be (My opinion) on pleading for the BOT to do something: The message is fire James is essential to saving UM athletics.
 
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The message needs to short. To the point. Something passersby you can read. They’re not going to read a list of names and a hashtag.

Otherwise this is wasted money, although I imagine it already is.
 
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If want to use names, try the "plastic cups on freeway overpass fence" strategy...

Anyway, most our freeways are parking lots during rush hour... beats texting on phones
 
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