USA - Pro-Marijuana TV Ad Campaign Successful; More Are Planned

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Pro-Marijuana TV Ad Campaign Successful; More Are Planned

Over 500 NORML supporters donated slightly more than $16,000 (avg. donation was $32) in support of running the winning 60 second ad from NORML’s 2008 online ad contest.

The advertising media used by the campaign combined low cost national cable and Ohio News Network. For added exposure element a PR bonus blitz was distributed via PRweb.com.

Initially, it was difficult t get approval to run NORML’s PSA/Commercial. Ohio News Network was quick to be first but other media outlets passed. Finally, a national media vendor with homes in every market in the country, gave the go ahead.

The National Cable Homes buy (April 20-April 22, 2009) reached homes with ’smart cableboxes’, which tracks the precise networks and advertising spots watched. NORML only paid for the audience reached and who stayed tuned to the ads.

-97.5% of people who watched the stay tuned in.

-Average length of time they viewed was 59.2 seconds

NORML’s ad buyers viewed the PSA as being very effective, and for the very high percentage of the public who watched the ad, they apparently could not turn away.

The Numbers

7,700 spots ran across 210 markets over three days, in each market, 38 spots ran on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, CNN-Headline News, FX, Spike and Fuse.

-A total of 2,428,858 total viewing households were reached

-A total of 2,394,690 actual viewers watched the commercials live

-34, 168 additional viewers recorded the networks and watched the commercials within 7 days

-75 spots ran in 1.5 million homes on the Ohio News Network from April 23-April 28.

NORML’s PR package reached 30,000 journalists, 30,000 websites and 225,000 RSS subscribers, resulting in over 136,313 viewed packages, and 2,118 media outlets tracked the story.

The avg. cost was $2.07 per 60 second TV ad

You can find the video here.