[meteorite-list] Meteorite Men Promotion

From: MeteorHntr at aol.com <MeteorHntr_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:04:54 EDT
Message-ID: <c60.48a22326.378c1a76_at_aol.com>

Hello List,

I am sending this out without Geoff's review, without his editing and
without his approval. The opinions shared below belong solely to me, and do
not necessarily reflect on the opinions of this meteorite list, our TV
network or our sponsors. :-)

Due to much of the feedback I have received, there is a lot of support for
what we doing with the TV show and our promotions. There is no shortage
of good vibes coming our way. For that I am grateful. Thanks.

Of course, most of the people who are close friends of ours are more in on
the details of what is happening with us, while others that are more
removed might be seeing things from a skewed perspective.

Let me take a little time to explain the journey I have been on, much of
which includes Geoff as well.

Back when Phil and I found the Brenham Main Mass in 2005, we hired Geoff
Notkin to help us with a press release and with fielding media inquiries
that the buzz was creating. I have not had much experience with professional
full time public relations experts, so I don't know what they are all
capable of, but in my opinion, what Geoff did was outstanding.

With a carefully crafted press release, and with him manning the phones
and the emails, we got some very good coverage of that find. In Public
Relations, it is my opinion that it is not an exact science. While some things
lead to another, often it is a combination of things that lead to other
breakthroughs.

I think it is more a strategy of "throwing as much mud up as possible on
the barn wall and see what sticks." One can send out 100 press releases,
but it might just be one place that runs with it, then like a wild fire it
can take off...or it can still fizzle out.

Here is how our story went. With the Brenham Main Mass find, we sent out
a press release, that led to the ABC affiliate in Wichita wanting to air it
as their the story of the night live. Since they used a satellite uplink
to broadcast it live from near the find location, it was open for all the
other networks to rebroadcast it. The Weather Channel ran a blurb on it
about 3 am the next morning. Then the NBC Today show did a live broadcast
with me that weekend.

The newspaper story in the Wichita Eagle paper might have had a
contribution to the Today Show being interested because as that took off on the AP
and via the Drudge Report (and it's 10,000,000 viewers a day) so that first
print story end up running in over 300 papers world wide. The Today Show
led to a couple other things. And we continued to pursue the idea of the
story of the find to be featured in a TV show. We contacted Discovery,
History Channel, Nat Geo, Science Channel and some other obscure networks, all
with no avail.

Then seemingly "out of the blue" Travel Channel called us. Travel
Channel? What in the world would the Travel Channel want to do with a meteorite
story? Sure, the meteorite traveled a long way to get here, but still?

Well, the producer told us they were making a show that was about treasure
hunting where families could do what the host does and have a real shot of
finding something worth money, and they loved the Brenham story. I
cautioned them that what we were doing at Brenham really isn't what the average
family could do on the weekend to make money, and the producer quickly shot
back "Oh, we know that, but this story is so cool we want to do it anyway."

The way the production company found out about us, wasn't initially from
the other media, but from someone in the meteorite world that tipped them
off. But I am sure that the previous media reports helped establish our
legitimacy as a good story.

In the mean time WIRED Magazine ran a feature story on me that lead to a
segment with Geoff and myself on the pilot TV show of WIRED Science on PBS.
That led to the L.A. Times doing a front page story about me. Then the
morning the L.A. Times story ran, Ruth Riven, an executive producer at LMNO
Productions in L.A., sat down to breakfast and opened her newspaper.

Ruth read the story and thought "Hey, maybe a TV series about meteorite
hunting could work?" And she contacted me.

Now, leading up to that, Geoff and I were pumping different angles for TV
promotion. After doing the Cash and Treasures program, we thought we could
do a TV series, at least we wanted to give it a shot. We talked with the
field producer of the Cash and Treasures program, and he liked the idea.
Well, he at least said he liked the idea, and the idea was put on the back
burner until our episode actually aired 8 months later.

After our episode ran (and re-ran) with the 15 other first season shows,
we were told the Meteorite Hunting episode consistently did double the
ratings of what all the other shows did, and that the whole series itself was a
hit. For some time there, Cash and Treasures was one of Travel Channel's
anchor shows.

After the ratings came back, Indigo, the production company who made Cash
and Treasures, all of a sudden really DID like the idea of a pitching
Meteorite Hunter's series to different networks. So off they went to pitch it.
I am convinced they did their best, but for whatever reason, their best
wasn't good enough. Maybe it was just timing. Who knows?

So, after being disappointed with a dead end once again, the call from the
LMNO producer in L.A. seemed to come "out of the blue," and she asked me
if I had ever thought about doing a TV series? I asked her if she saw Geoff
and I as guests on the Travel Channel, and she had not. We told her about
it, and that in fact, Geoff and I had given it a LOT of thought about
doing a TV series. We told her that the other production company had pitched
it, with no success, but she and her boss still though it was a good idea,
and they had a lot of conviction that they could make a pitch that might be
bought.

Meanwhile, Geoff had kept plugging away "throwing mud up on the wall"
every chance we could get. We were also trying to promote the sale of the
Brenham Main Mass directly and eventually at auction during all this time.

So Geoff and I gathered all our ideas together and sent them over to Ruth.
 They sent a producer to the 2008 Tucson Gem show to get some tape of us.
They used that to throw together a 5 minute "pitch DVD" to send to the
different networks. Three networks were interested enough to meet with us in
person. So, about this time last year, Geoff and I flew to Washington D.C.
to meet with executives of the 3 different networks. We came home to hear
two were interested and one very interested. The Science Channel made the
production company the best offer, so our production company made the deal
for the pilot.

A deal was struck to shoot a pilot with it being open that we might do a
series if the pilot went well. Last October we shot "Meteorite Men" in the
field. Then on May 10, the show aired for the first time.

While Geoff and I love the Science Channel, we started to get a little
frustrated. They asked for extra footage so a promo commercial could be made.
Our production company understood the network was all excited about the
show and even decided to run it during sweeps. This was a double edged sword
as ALL the other networks were pulling out the stops to run their best
shows at the same time and all the others were busy promoting them
extensively. We could easily do bad against all that competition, but if we did good,
it would look real good.

About a week out from the May 10 airing, not a single promo commercial had
run on the network. No press release by Science Channel. I don't know,
maybe that was their strategy, to toss the "child" in the lake and it would
either sink or learn how to swim without any help?

In any case, Geoff and I finally realized that if there was going to be
any promotion, it would be up to us. Fortunately, G.I.A. did a press
release, that probably helped a little that last week before the airing, but it
was basically all on us. So we launched an all out attack. We started
networking, with friends, family members, our customers, anyone we could.

Of course, those of you on the Meteorite List got a front row seat to all
of this. In fact, many of you chipped in and helped. You linked our
newly launched MeteoriteMen.com site to your sites to help with our Google
rankings, and some of you sent out notices to people you know. Geoff had been
writing for some time with massively popular Geology.com and they eagerly
agreed to assist us in several ways.

Some may criticize us over our promotional efforts, but we saw this as our
one chance at a series. Pass or Fail. No in between. Actually, there is
a bit of an in between. With Science Channel being on cable, they will
rerun the pilot show many times whether the series would get picked up or not.
 But while the one show was nice, we wanted more. We wanted a series.

Now we find ourselves 62 days out from the first airing and a few weeks
ago we got word that the network was interested in a first season of 30
minute shows. Then they came back and said they wanted 60 minute episodes
instead. For those of you who don't know, things in show business travel real
slow, with lots of red tape, then all of a sudden they want all their
episodes delivered in an almost impossibly short period of time so they can get
them up and running generating ad revenue.

Well, we are now very close to a signed deal. Everything is agreed upon,
and we are waiting for signatures on the paperwork for our first season.
Part superstition, and part reason, says announcements shouldn't be made
until AFTER the ink dries on the paperwork. But we have known for a little
while now that we are heading for a series.

So, if anyone out there thinks we are going to let up now on our
promotion, you are freaking crazy. If a few competitors get upset with us, well
tough.

I found myself in Baltimore all of a sudden, chasing this new fireball.
Baltimore is just down the street from the international home office for
both Science Channel and their parent company Discovery Networks. Are we
going to mention the show when reporters talk to us? On a front page story?
Hell yes we are!

Is that the "only reason" I headed to the northeast? No. I really want
to find this rock, if possible. But I also want to get exposure while it is
being offered to us on a silver platter.

"A rising tide lifts all ships" as the saying goes. Some dealers that
like to squeal because they are so "sick of Meteorite Men hype" should realize
that their bank accounts are fattened by any good exposure we get.

Now some people might argue that the "Meteorite Men" show was a bad show.
Or some might feel that it was bad exposure for the industry as a whole.
OK. If that is your stance, make your case if you will. But trust me,
Geoff and I are not able to capture all of the sales that will come from all
the new meteorite collectors that will come in from us being on a series.

A series is such a huge step up from a "one off" show.

It is my opinion that a TV series could easily bring in 1,000 to 10,000
and maybe even more new collectors over the next several years. If just a
tiny fraction of 1% of viewers decide to start collecting meteorites, being a
dealer is going to be fun.

Yes, there will be more hunters generated at the same time. And there
will be more dealers generated as well.

But in the past it has seemed like all the dealers were fighting to get a
bigger piece of the limited pie.

May I suggest that all the dealers stop thinking of getting a bigger piece
of the small pie. Let's start thinking about making the pie bigger! How
about let's start a bakery and start making pies!

Will Geoff and I give it our best shot to capture as many of those new
collectors as possible? Of course! In our pilot, I mentioned something about
Ebay. I didn't do that by accident. Does it then make sense that I would
continue to promote on my Ebay lots as well?

But we are under no delusions that we can supply every one of the new
collectors with every specimen they will ever want. There will be plenty of
business for everyone.

The way I see it, this is Geoff and my best, and really our only shot at
taking this to a new level. If it doesn't happen now, the odds of us or
anyone else getting their own series is really low. It isn't because we are
so great, or that anyone else couldn't do it better than us. It is just
that it took SO much to build up to this point. For someone else to do what
we have done to get to this point, almost 4 years after the Brenham find, is
hard to imagine.

One reason it has been so hard is because we are breaking new ground.

No one has done this before.

In fact, the Main Mass find story in the Wichita Eagle got more website
hits than any other story in the history of the newspaper! Who would have
thought it?

The Wichita paper did 4 or 5 follow up meteorite stories, and each one of
them got the top hits for the paper for that week, and sometimes for that
month. They were all scratching their heads.

The Cash and Treasures show, same thing. Wow? Go figure?

Then the pilot, against all odds, hit the ball out of the park.

If we fail now to get a series, or we get it, and it doesn't continue to
do well, it sets a precedent that this new type of show just can't make it.

Now, do Geoff and I get all of the credit? Hell no!

If it wasn't for hundreds of other people, there is no way this would have
happened. In fact, maybe some of you that sent out Facebook and Myspace
notices to your friends because we asked you to, might have talked a friend
with a Neilson Box on their TV set to watch the show. One Neilson person
represents, I don't know maybe 50,000 or 100,000 viewers or something
obscene like that in the ratings.

I strongly contest any suggestion by anyone that word of mouth "hype"
didn't help us. In fact, with a poorly promoted first airing, it is hard to
say that anything else did work.

So when a certain meteorite dealer comes on this list whining like a
little spoiled brat, it almost makes me want to turn it all up a notch just for
the fun of it. It is kind of like teasing the monkey at the zoo who throws
crap at people.

But in the event there really are some of you that are concerned, I have
taken the time to write this.

Let me address a few other things while we are at it.

The "Meteorite Man."

In my book, there has only been, and there will only be one "Meteorite
Man" and that is the great Bob Haag. One day, when I grow up, I hope to be
half the Meteorite Man that Bob is. In fact, if everyone in our business
would stop and say "What would Bob do? in whatever situation we are in, we
would all be better off.

Bob has done more for our industry than anyone else alive. Next to Harvey
Nininger, we all owe the most gratitude to Bob for all he has done.

It was not Geoff's idea, and it was not my idea to use the name "Meteorite
Men" for the show. Understand this, we signed a contract to do the shows
before there was any name and before there was any deal with the network.
The suits at the Science Network chose this name, not us, and not our
production company. In the industry, we are called "talent." (Please no jokes,
it is just the term they use.) Geoff and I are not writers, producers,
editors or executives, we are the talent. We do not own the show. While we
have some input on ideas, and where we want to go to hunt, that is about
all.

Now, the smart people at the network could have chosen "The Meteorite Peo
ple" or "The Meteorite Hunters" (but I think the copyright wasn't available
on that one) or "The Meteorite Guys" or "The Meteorite Boys" or the "The
Meteorite Boyzzz" or any other name, but they chose "Meteorite Men."

Now, when we knew the name was narrowed down to a few options, we ran out
and bought all the appropriate URLs just to be safe. When we got word that
it was "Meteorite Men" we were ready to build our meteoritemen.com site.

And to be honest, Geoff and I are indeed: men. And we are into
meteorites. As awkward as "Steve Arnold of Meteorite Men" or "Geoff Notkin co-star
of Meteorite Men" may sound, it is who we are and it is the show we are the
co-stars of.

Speaking of the terms "star" and "co-star" if anyone has a problem with
those terms, we don't really have alternatives when it comes to our role in
the show. Sorry.

That is what we are. We are not "hosts" like Becky Worley was with Cash
and Treasures was. We are not "expert guests" like Mini and Laurence were on
our pilot. We are not "bit actors" or ones with "supporting roles" as a
drama might have. And since we are not acting, we are not "Leading actors"
either.

It isn't an ego thing. We could be the "stars" of a lousy show. Being a
star doesn't mean we are good at it even, just that we are in that role.

Now, if we start using the title "super star" you all might want to get
concerned for us.

I would hope no one gets their panties all in a bunch over something as
trivial as that, but just in case I thought I would clear that up. If anyone
has a better term to use, please offer it. Unless we get one, "co-star"
is probably going to be what stays on our business cards.

And as for marketing and using the publicity for profit, all I can say is
"God Bless America!"

Of course we are going to do that. In fact, I think we haven't done
enough of that yet. At least my bank account isn't reflecting that I am doing a
good enough of a job of it...yet.

Geoff and I made up and sold out of our Brenham part slices in Lucite. We
plan on selling other meteorites and things in the near future. In fact,
I am about to put some "Meteorite Men" Collectible Limited Edition
meteorites up on Ebay very shortly. I was going to hold off on them for a while,
but now that I know one brat is "sickened by all the hype" I am almost
obligated to do it now.

I understand that some of you are so close to the forest that you can't
see the trees. Or is it that you are so close to the trees that you can't
see the forest? Anyway, you know what I mean. The Meteorite World has heard
a lot about "Meteorite Men" the show the last 3 months or so, but 99.9% of
the rest of the world hasn't heard anything about it yet.

In fact, there were probably more people reading the meteorite story with
the mention of the TV show on the front page of the Baltimore Sun on Friday
than all the people who have tuned into see the actual show on the 8 times
it has run already.

Hopefully Science Channel will start promoting the show when the first
season starts to air. Hopefully the popularity will take on a life of it's
own, and we can sit back and just ride the wave. But we have come too far to
quit promoting now.

I know this has been a long post, and thanks for bearing with me through
it.

If any of you have any other concerns, feel free to write me off list and
I will be happy to address them.

Thanks,

Steve Arnold
of Meteorite Men



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Received on Mon 13 Jul 2009 01:04:54 AM PDT