[Coral-List] Education of the masses

[Shelley.Dupuy at noaa.gov]

I was working for Steve when we implemented that project.

We did actually pay for the printing of the posters (through a donation
from the dive club, if I recall correctly).  Maybe a grant could pay for
the printing and the design could be contributed as in-kind
contribution.  The key will be finding an ad agency that holds the
contract for enough large advertisement venues in airports, etc to
really reach the masses.  Printing for multiple airport venues can be
challenging because the sizes are not standardized.  

Maybe an additional approach (since billboards seem to be more of a
standard size) would be to get a grant to print the billboard posters
and make them available to local groups who arrange deals with the
billboard owners.  I see a lot of vacant billboards along I-45 between
Galveston and Ft. Worth, TX.

The difference between the airport displays and billboards is that
airport posters are just slipped into frames and can be reused. 
Billboard posters are pasted on and have to be ripped down when a paying
customer comes along.  
There's also the labor of pasting the billboard poster versus the few
minutes it takes to change out an airport poster.  

Just some more food for thought.

Shelley Du Puy
Education & Outreach Coordinator
Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

----- Original Message -----
From: Steve Gittings <Steve.Gittings at noaa.gov>
Date: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 10:07 am
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Education of the masses

> An additional thought.  I used to manage the Flower Garden Banks 
> National Marine Sanctuary, off the Texas/Louisiana coast in the 
> Gulf of 
> Mexico.  We were approached by a firm that placed advertisements in 
> airports in the region.  They designed an add for the sanctuary and 
> used 
> it as filler when space was available, at no cost to us.  For 
> years, it 
> was almost always up somewhere in numerous airports.
> 
> If anyone has such ties, especially with national firms, it might 
> be a 
> very low cost way to get additional exposure for the messages, as 
> well 
> as some design help from experts.
> 
> Steve Gittings
> 
> Rogers, Alice wrote:
> > I think this is a great idea! Maybe we could have some sort of 
> coral-list competition to design a few and then put the designs 
> forward for funding?
> >  
> > Alice Rogers
> >  
> > PhD Candidate
> > Imperial College London
> >
> > ________________________________
> >
> > From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov on behalf of Antares 
> Ramos Álvarez
> > Sent: Tue 22/07/2008 18:00
> > To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > Subject: [Coral-List] Education of the masses
> >
> >
> >
> > ¡Hola!
> >
> > I've been brainstorming about how to get the message out on why 
> the reefs
> > are important...which I'm very grateful it was given such media 
> emphasis> during the closing of the ICRS.  And I just thought of 
> billboards, those
> > hideous and obnoxious adds we see when we are driving.  If we 
> can't beat
> > them, join them...
> > Simple messages such as,
> > "Did you know that corals are animals? We can still save them" (the
> > inspiration for this one I thank Sarah Frias-Torres, who was 
> telling me how
> > one of the main issues to get the Acroporas listed under the US 
> Endangered> Species List was that the public and politicians 
> thought that corals were
> > rocks).
> > "Did you know that coral reefs are responsible for providing food 
> to N% of
> > the world?"
> > "Did you know that corals are an important component in HIV and 
> cancer> medicines?", etc. etc. etc.
> > Simple yet informative and educational.
> >
> > BUT funding would definitely be the huge issue here.  Any ideas 
> on funding
> > bodies that would be interested?  Maybe the media could donate 
> space in
> > their papers and programs?
> > I think this could be a great effort and a great campaign to 
> start on the
> > year of the coral reefs to serve the purpose of educating the 
> masses.  Food
> > for thought...(pretty much literally!)
> > I'd love to hear any comments.
> >
> > With best wishes from Puerto Rico,
> >
> > Antares
> >
> > Antares Ramos-Alvarez, MSc
> > PhD Candidate
> > Tropical Ecology Group
> > University of Oxford, UK
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > "Some of the most peaceful moments are lived underwater, while 
> trying to
> > coexist with that world."
> > _______________________________________________
> > Coral-List mailing list
> > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> >
> >
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>