We wish to create a new
social impact by the heavy use of advocacy ads, which
persuade the public not about products but about public
issues that according to our members could influence the
overall opinion.
Of the three major types
of political advertising we use--television, print, and
direct mail--TV is by far the most costly and, in the
judgment of most campaign experts, the most effective.
Television, on average, earns 21 percent of total
advertising expenditures (74 percent supplied by national
advertisers).
Edelweiss Media™ has
always made great use of low cost production methods and
distribution techniques. Such as using local party
members as staff trained on location for specific
assignments; renting available sites, locales and studios
on a short-term basis; the integration of the computer
with the visual media, has enabled us to produce more
interactive forms of entertainment, education, and
training; and the availability of the means of video
production--especially, the camcorder and related
devices--means that creating for the electronic visual
arts today is as easy as setting pen or brush to paper or
canvas.
The factors affecting a
voter's decision may go far beyond TV images and slogans;
and heavy TV ad expenditures do not guarantee votes. This
can only be achieved by devising carefully targeted media
campaigns that have broad mass cultural appeal; it
necessitates making a thorough analysis of target groups
with lists sorted by individual income, interests,
education; and any of a thousand other
politically--significant public relations
techniques--that have produced best positive results.
Different ad campaigns focus on different immediate party
goals. A political sign posted on a wall, for example, is
aimed at producing immediate voter sympathy, but it may
not be effective without previous ads that produce public
familiarity with the name, associate appeals with the
movement, and create favorable beliefs and attitudes in
society at large.
This is how we can play an important part in any
political campaign. As indicated in many of the pages of
this site, Edelweiss
Media™ builds broad
popular support by establishing a Western, Populist,
Cultural support base. We are able to do this without
using overt language or rhetoric, only well founded
arguments and a good dose of patriotism; we do not pose a
threat because we are only concerned third party members
coming to give support to local parties--usually we
operate from abroad and do not have local
representatives.
Our company always seeks
new markets, innovative communication methods and
motivation techniques to spread our political vision to
nations. We know that because television supplies sound,
pictures, and movement, it offers the most complete
message opportunity; but the media cannot distribute
coupons as can print. This is because television and
radio messages disappear after being aired, but print can
be saved for future reference. Radio, offering nothing
but sound, is the most limited medium. This is why we
give great emphasis to literary works, we were originally
a publishing company and we continue to publish books and
magazines. Newspapers are in fact the medium that offers
the highest proportion of total advertising expenditures,
29 percent of the total (of which 85 percent comes from
local advertisers). Magazines, 9 percent; and radio, 7
percent.
PRODUCTION AND MARKETING
Our agencies serve their
clients with a variety of experts. Our account executive
always acts as liaison between advertiser-client and
agency, meeting with the client to determine objectives
and budgets.
The agency's copywriters and art directors then take
their assignments from our account executive, who brings
their work back to the client for approval or
modification.
When decisions on content are completed, the next stage
is to conduct research studies to determine consumer
response. Our production department then prepares the
finished ads, with the aid of typographers, engravers,
printers, and local radio or television commercial
networks.
Our media department, in the meantime, has to prepare a
comprehensive media plan that will involve the purchase
of space in a newspaper or magazine or time on radio or
television.
After the completed printing plates, tapes, or films are
shipped to the appropriate media, our account executive
checks media performance for proper scheduling and
adequate reproduction.
Closely related
Marketing activities, such as Public Relations and sales
promotion, are handled by the agency, by other outside
organizations, or by the advertisers. Advertising is
always coordinated with these other activities and with
the company's overall objectives.
ADVERTISING MEDIA
Our most successful
national advertising campaigns in the States and Europe,
have been those that can promote the products or the
identity of a party, this is the dominant form of our
advertising objectives. Retail and other local business
advertising is second in importance. Others include trade
advertising, which addresses retailers--asking them to
stock and promote the advertised merchandise; industrial
advertising--which sells goods from one producer to
another; and professional advertising--from producers to
professionals such as book-store owners, collectors,
historians or researchers.
A magazine, television
program, or any other advertising medium is mostly judged
according to "exposure opportunity," the number of people
who might see the ad, and "message opportunity," the way
in which a particular medium allows the ad to
communicate.
The media vary in these
characteristics. Our research shows that television
provides high exposure and low cost per thousand gross
impressions (CPM) nationwide but is not efficient for
specific targets. Newspapers have much lower absolute
exposure but reach a higher percentage of the areas they
cover; they are excellent for geographic targeting. Radio
is good for targeting to various geographic, age, and
interest groups; its CPM is very low. Magazines provide
less exposure nationally than television but are highly
selective on audience interests; this is not cheap but is
the most selective of all, because the political message
reaches only the persons within a selected audience.
CUSTOMERS AND CLIENTS
Edelweiss
Media™ provides an array
of logistics support; we act as advisers on strategic
planning and public relations; fulfilling marketing and
advertising needs. We produce, package and distribute
printed and audiovisual materials; liaise with
manufacturers and export agencies worldwide; conduct
effective national campaigns by encouraging broad
collective membership participation.
We do this as a
completely independent agency. Our clients know that any
collaboration ends when certain precise set of objectives
have been reached. This is how we are able to guarantee a
high degree of impartiality, mobility and anonymity and
this is what allows us to create broader networks of
individuals that reach beyond party membership base.
Edelweiss Media Admin.