Help me with the viral video for legislation

[integratyper777]

Hey,

Some of you know me from limited interaction, but I'm a resident of Washington, been dealing with the BS legislations since WA put the blocks on us playing across the major sites, before BF even.

I'm a full time marketer, I own a web marketing business that helps local busiensses, but more importantly, I'm looking to start doing things to help the cause, so I'm enlisting my full staff of employees, graphic designers, video editors, etc to help create a viral video for online poker support.

Here's what we need from you: Unique ideas and concepts you think you'd like to see included.

Here's our baseline concept to draw off:

• There are tons of legal forms of gambling
• Many of those forms have the same risks as online gambling - which - as far as we can tell - the risks, legislation, taxation, etc are all the main concern and reasons why legislation hasn't happened.
• Many of those forms aren't frowned upon
• To question motives and initiate forced response from the people who have the authority to help with this issue by basically calling them out in subsequent videos.
• To do this, we'll use juxtaposition of images, ideas, concepts, to draw parallels people can easily relate to, as most people - ESPECIALLY LIVE PLAYERS (namely the 35-65 age group) are clueless to the real legality of it, as well as the reason why it's now illegal, or even the events that transpired on black friday.

We want to make a statement. We just want more concepts. I don't have time with my commitments to draw them all away from their current projects to brainstorm and come up with these concepts for a week like I wish I did.

But you guys, I'm sure, have your own unique thoughts, feelings, ideas, principles, ironies, etc that we could use, and that you've already thought up.

We're going to start with one video, and then expand. Gradually, we want to make the videos more personal, pointing out flaws in the legislature, legislators, and even, the president himself for ignoring the petition we've signed.

We want to point out the flat out RIDICULOUSNESS of not being able to PLAY POKER in our OWN HOMES on our OWN COMPUTERS in the land of what is considered to be, "the free".

Think about it, from the most basic stand point. We're not allowed to play poker on our computers. How ridiculous is that? Now we just need ideas that are funny, ironic, etc. and convey that, so that we can create a video and distribute it appropriately.

For it to become viral, it has to be relatable - so I hope we can come up with some great ideas that we can use.

Thanks a lot for anybody that wants to help!

PS: When the video is ready, it'll get posted here first, then, we'll pass it onto YouTube for you all to start distributing, sharing, tweeting and retweeting, and hopefully with the help of the community, we can get it viral in a short time span. We plan on posting it to Facebook pages and Twitter pages of senators, representatives, etc.

It's proven that videos create action and emotional induction better than text, so we want to use this as a way to create a quick, widespread effort to make our voices heard in a way that can't be ignored.

Thanks again! Look forward to fielding ideas and doing my part finally.

- Brenden

EDIT: Mods/admins, feel free to move this to NVG if you feel it belongs there, as well.

[RollWave]

Originally Posted by integratyper777

feel free to move this to NVG if you feel it belongs there, as well.

^^ I would not wish this on my worst enemy.

------

On topic - I think its striking to note that in UIGEA, there were exceptions carved out for online horse race betting, state lotteries, and fantasy sports. So it might be nice to show how if you are rich enough or politically connected enough, like Churchill Downs' site Twinspires.com, your lobbyists can help give you a monopoly.

I think the common folk hate lobbyists and hypocrisy in general - so showing that you can today legally gamble online on horse racing, but not poker, that could be a nice segment of a video.

(though I mentioned lobbyists and how people hate them, its important not to focus too much on that aspect since the goal is not to bring down the horse racing exemption and make that illegal also. Since the goal is to show that horse racing is legal and working fine, that this is an example of hypocrisy and that poker should be legal also and that many of the fears of social problems that could result...you can point to the horse racing example and say - see, the world didn't explode when they legalized online horse wagering, everything is fine.)

I don't know, something along those lines where some types of online gambling are already legal and thriving and these 'world's gonna end' social concerns are pretty much debunked.

[TBadr]

The toughest part is to make it relate-able to a broad audience because your average joe just doesn't relate to poker just like us 2+2rs do. It will be even tougher to get support in tough economic times and in an election year when people are prioritizing different agendas that have direct impact on their everyday lives. When analyzing the anatomy of viral videos like KONY/Arab-spring, they tap into strong human emotions that we can all relate to at a primal level. Suffering, loss of loved ones, dispair etc.

It's hard to make the avg joe sympathize and feel sorry for you when what you are deprived of is "gambling" or playing a "game" especially when there are alternatives like B&M casinos or even play money poker like zynga.

imho, the video should not be about "us" and how WE are affected by black friday ... people just won't give a damn. Rather, it should relate our situation to to other more mainstream activities that might eventually suffer the same fate (can't think of any at this moment).
Maybe play on patriotism : legal everywhere else except in the country that it was born?
Hypocrisy from govt? as you pointed out other forms of gambling are ok but not poker? it's legal live but not online?

Just brainstorming here. Will post more if I can think of other stuff.

[jackaaron]

In order to reverse thinking, you have to challenge people's beliefs about status quo.

Most often this is done by highlighting a fear that someone doesn't realize they had until you referenced it.

If they don't fear it, they don't care about changing their beliefs.

Also, people have a VERY small attention span. Your point has to hit home almost immediately.

My opinion on changing this is you have to get the people that are likely to support someone LIKE (LIKE) Santorum (i.e. broader than JUST Santorum) and convince them that this idea that we want politicians to replace what our own Priests currently do is preposterous. Highlight reasons why, for example, way back we left England precisely because of things like this.

I realize many 2+2ers are not believers (I am a believer btw), but we're trying to appeal to the church goers looking for politicians to legislate morality, and tell them, "You do not want that. Your Priest, and you can discuss what's moral, and spread the word, but don't take that from your Priest(s) and put it in the hands of politicians."

I don't think our founders, in any way, intended for any of this.

You'd likely need many Priests to buy into this as well, and I would imagine they would. If someone is out there making laws of morality, then does that hurt their following? I don't know. But, the point is, EITHER non-believers choose their own morals to follow (e.g. most 2+2ers), or believers essentially follow moral code set by their church or at least what they believe in as it relates to a set religion. In neither instance is the government involved.

[kdub72]

Here's an idea...

Pretend like there is a Mexican television station doing a report on the immigration problem. Thousands of Americans are trying to sneak into Mexico so that they can play online poker and avoid government persecution.

[doobz89]

I like this idea, maybe we can use it to send the video to all the moron senators

[SuperRu]

My Idea:

Have a bunch of different scenes of people playing poker with the Feds busting in and arresting people. Different scenes could be:

1) Old people playing a basement poker game for penny stakes.

2) Someone playing online poker.

3) Strip poker game.

4) Goldman Sachs executives playing poker for 100s of thousands but then bribing them off.

5) Someone with a meth lab, Feds bust in while people are freaking and leave yelling "False alarm, we're only looking for poker players."

etc. etc.

I just envision this as a bunch of different scenes on top of each other.

[SuperRu]

Oh and maybe one last scene of government officials playing poker and saying "So should we make poker illegal? "Yeah sure whatever"

[dangerfish]

One thing I would be interested in finding out is how is online poker working out in countries where it is legal and regulated such as the UK. What has been the social impact if any?

[TheWorm967]

I think this is a great idea and 2+2 is a great place to go for something like this. Like others have said, no one's gonna give a damn about a bunch of twenty-somethings being deprived of gambling. It would have to be something that really grabs people's attention, or really funny. Like an old lady buying 300 bucks worth of lottery tickets but then getting hauled away for playing microstakes online. Anyways, can't wait to see how it turns out, good luck.

EDIT: superru beat me to the old person joke, damn

[integratyper777]

Originally Posted by RollWave

^^ I would not wish this on my worst enemy.

------

On topic - I think its striking to note that in UIGEA, there were exceptions carved out for online horse race betting, state lotteries, and fantasy sports. So it might be nice to show how if you are rich enough or politically connected enough, like Churchill Downs' site Twinspires.com, your lobbyists can help give you a monopoly.

I think the common folk hate lobbyists and hypocrisy in general - so showing that you can today legally gamble online on horse racing, but not poker, that could be a nice segment of a video.

(though I mentioned lobbyists and how people hate them, its important not to focus too much on that aspect since the goal is not to bring down the horse racing exemption and make that illegal also. Since the goal is to show that horse racing is legal and working fine, that this is an example of hypocrisy and that poker should be legal also and that many of the fears of social problems that could result...you can point to the horse racing example and say - see, the world didn't explode when they legalized online horse wagering, everything is fine.)

I don't know, something along those lines where some types of online gambling are already legal and thriving and these 'world's gonna end' social concerns are pretty much debunked.

We actually brought this up briefly as we were talking about it during lunch yesterday when I told them about the idea.

I think the parallel we will draw is something similar to:

"Poker is illegal because they say it is gambling, and not a game of skill. This is obviously a game of skill, though: and give some sounds/images of the starting bell at a horse track and the horses busting out of the gates."

Really good idea! Thank you!

Originally Posted by TBadr

The toughest part is to make it relate-able to a broad audience because your average joe just doesn't relate to poker just like us 2+2rs do. It will be even tougher to get support in tough economic times and in an election year when people are prioritizing different agendas that have direct impact on their everyday lives. When analyzing the anatomy of viral videos like KONY/Arab-spring, they tap into strong human emotions that we can all relate to at a primal level. Suffering, loss of loved ones, dispair etc.

It's hard to make the avg joe sympathize and feel sorry for you when what you are deprived of is "gambling" or playing a "game" especially when there are alternatives like B&M casinos or even play money poker like zynga.

imho, the video should not be about "us" and how WE are affected by black friday ... people just won't give a damn. Rather, it should relate our situation to to other more mainstream activities that might eventually suffer the same fate (can't think of any at this moment).
Maybe play on patriotism : legal everywhere else except in the country that it was born?
Hypocrisy from govt? as you pointed out other forms of gambling are ok but not poker? it's legal live but not online?

Just brainstorming here. Will post more if I can think of other stuff.

I was hoping that after the first video (which will be a general video) that some of the big online players that were affected the worst, will come out and do some interviews with me so I can string together their responses to questions. I ask "Did you pay taxes", "How much did you make before black friday per year", "How much after", etc. Maybe not those specific questions but something personal enough to create an emotional connection to the issue at hand.

Probably start that vide out with something like, "What if you had an MD, and they made it illegal for you to wake up and go to work?" or something similar to that. Just to make them realize how ridiculous it is that it's illegal.

More great points.

Originally Posted by jackaaron

In order to reverse thinking, you have to challenge people's beliefs about status quo.

Most often this is done by highlighting a fear that someone doesn't realize they had until you referenced it.

If they don't fear it, they don't care about changing their beliefs.

Also, people have a VERY small attention span. Your point has to hit home almost immediately.

My opinion on changing this is you have to get the people that are likely to support someone LIKE (LIKE) Santorum (i.e. broader than JUST Santorum) and convince them that this idea that we want politicians to replace what our own Priests currently do is preposterous. Highlight reasons why, for example, way back we left England precisely because of things like this.

I realize many 2+2ers are not believers (I am a believer btw), but we're trying to appeal to the church goers looking for politicians to legislate morality, and tell them, "You do not want that. Your Priest, and you can discuss what's moral, and spread the word, but don't take that from your Priest(s) and put it in the hands of politicians."

I don't think our founders, in any way, intended for any of this.

You'd likely need many Priests to buy into this as well, and I would imagine they would. If someone is out there making laws of morality, then does that hurt their following? I don't know. But, the point is, EITHER non-believers choose their own morals to follow (e.g. most 2+2ers), or believers essentially follow moral code set by their church or at least what they believe in as it relates to a set religion. In neither instance is the government involved.

That's a whole other sect that I never thought to even try to tap into. Great idea though - and if we could turn it into a human rights and morality issue of taking away a basic freedom, it might have a lot of effectiveness on emotions.

Originally Posted by kdub72

Here's an idea...

Pretend like there is a Mexican television station doing a report on the immigration problem. Thousands of Americans are trying to sneak into Mexico so that they can play online poker and avoid government persecution.

Now I REALLY like this idea. But even more so - I'm thinking of doing it with Canada. I think this might be more effective because honestly, it will be like, "People are trying to get into Canada? eh?" but YES. This is exactly what we might start the idea off with, then some type of "news report" that goes over the horse racing thing, then transition to one more point. We're aiming for around 1:30 or 2:00 for the first video.

Thanks a ton Kdub!

Originally Posted by doobz89

I like this idea, maybe we can use it to send the video to all the moron senators

Exactly my hopes.

Originally Posted by SuperRu

My Idea:

Have a bunch of different scenes of people playing poker with the Feds busting in and arresting people. Different scenes could be:

1) Old people playing a basement poker game for penny stakes.

2) Someone playing online poker.

3) Strip poker game.

4) Goldman Sachs executives playing poker for 100s of thousands but then bribing them off.

5) Someone with a meth lab, Feds bust in while people are freaking and leave yelling "False alarm, we're only looking for poker players."

etc. etc.

I just envision this as a bunch of different scenes on top of each other.

That's a really smooth idea too. We could base a whole video around that.

I think the right order of those scenes could make a big impact.

Originally Posted by SuperRu

Oh and maybe one last scene of government officials playing poker and saying "So should we make poker illegal? "Yeah sure whatever"

Along with this one ^^. Thanks SuperRu.

Originally Posted by dangerfish

One thing I would be interested in finding out is how is online poker working out in countries where it is legal and regulated such as the UK. What has been the social impact if any?

Yeah, that would be for more of the emotional involvement videos where I'm interviewing people. Recently the Canadian government said something to the effect of "We have better things to do than online poker" and we will most likely use that as well.


Tons of great ideas thus far, we're going to brainstorm a bit today and try to start building the first timeline for the first video. Gotta find a place to try to shoot the first video as well, but we'll see what we can do!

Keep you guys updated - and keep them coming!!

[integratyper777]

Originally Posted by TheWorm967

I think this is a great idea and 2+2 is a great place to go for something like this. Like others have said, no one's gonna give a damn about a bunch of twenty-somethings being deprived of gambling. It would have to be something that really grabs people's attention, or really funny. Like an old lady buying 300 bucks worth of lottery tickets but then getting hauled away for playing microstakes online. Anyways, can't wait to see how it turns out, good luck.

EDIT: superru beat me to the old person joke, damn

Missed this one - but I REALLY like the juxtaposition of the lottery idea alongside the video as well. We're definite integrating that with the poker playing ideas and people busting in and getting arrested.

Thanks!

- Brenden

[Fordham]

Have a picture of Lederer and Madoff next to each other.

Take a shotgun with the laser pointed and go back and forth to each picture as if you are decide which to shoot. Have a clock wind down like a online poker hand, and then when time is about to run out.

Spoiler:

BANG

Spoiler:

AND THE SCREEN TURNS TO BLACK WITHOUT SHOWING WHAT HAPPENED

[integratyper777]

Originally Posted by Fordham

Have a picture of Lederer and Madoff next to each other.

Take a shotgun with the laser pointed and go back and forth to each picture as if you are decide which to shoot. Have a clock wind down like a online poker hand, and then when time is about to run out.

Spoiler:

BANG

Spoiler:

AND THE SCREEN TURNS TO BLACK WITHOUT SHOWING WHAT HAPPENED

That made us think about an idea we had about doing a Saw spoof where an online poker player and a hardcore felon are both trapped in some type of death trap and they're told things like "You both have been convicted of committed a felony, so you're here"

He turns to the drug guys, "You smuggle drugs, kill people, rape people, etc."

And then to the poker player and says "You played poker on the internet and made all those things happen, yadda yadda"

In 5 seconds, one of you will die...

Then before anything rowdy happens it snaps to some words on the screen that says: "Get real" then "Online poker does not equal to ____" insert crime and they snap through them with somebody saying each.

Something along those lines.

[integratyper777]

Opening up the floor for suggestions on domain names - wish I could edit the original post to put it in it, but can't seem to do that.

Thus far, my group came up with LegalPokerVids.com - best and shortest.

Some of you might have something more creative, but for SEO purposes (search engine opitmization) it has some of the keywords to generate organic traffic, so let me know if you all think of anything more catchy with poker in the title.

Registering that one for now - and shortly starting on the first video timeline since I don't have any appointments today.

One of my friends Facebooked me with: "tookourjobs.com" I'm registering that one right now as well to protect it.

List:

legalpokervids.com - registered
tookourjobs.com - registered