Bitcoin Forum

We are working on a Bitcoin TV ad.....  to be broadcast on ALL the major television networks within the USA.


This television commercial will be advertising the basic benefits, for both consumers and merchants, of using bitcoins.


If you're interested in helping out in any aspect of this project, please send me an email or call me.


Bitcoin TV Ad Donation Address:    19ChNLmVHAcUDXUQ7grtUvWSBL9DwUwdU3

Go on...

Do you have any screenplay to reveal or is that under wraps?

Regardless, thank you. I will donate a Bit or two when I have the chance.


This.

Cool

Remember this: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html (http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html)

:)

I hope your ad production skills are greater than your web video skills.

Wasn't there some other thread about a television ad?

Anyway, more information would be nice and what donations actually can help out with would be nice.
If this has any connection with the other thread (that i think i have seen?) a link to that one in the original post might also be helpful.

[edit]
And also if there is any other way but donations to help the project.

Try not to make it look like some wacko fear mongering/anti government or cash for gold nonsense. IE: http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=24506.0

Good luck I hope you know what you're doing and who your audience is.

Hahaha. Well, that one is already funded and is being created as we speak.

No no... It's not a show...  No screenplay.

Just a little TV commercial.   I expect it to be the normal 30 to 60 second commercial.

Because it will be very brief, it will only cover the most basic concepts --- the most important features and benefits.

In order to get placement on ALL of the networks.....  at off hours....  ( unsold inventory slots )....  at super-discounted rates.... It will need to actually sell a product.

Most likely that product will be an ebook about Bitcoin...  sold and shipped on a CD-ROM...   essentially sold at a price that only covers the cost of duplication and shipping.

( Selling a product is the only way to get such super discounted rates. )

We're working with real professionals in mainstream television commercial production....  In fact, this whole idea was theirs.

I think that it could be a great opportunity to get the word out to the masses...

I'll keep you informed of how if goes.

Excellent. This is great. : ) Again, thank you.

run it on GBTV.com

Are you trying to insult him? Haha.

A bitcoin infomercial idea that was thought up by tv producers that are mainstream...........color me not interested. Having a bitcoin infomercial that airs late at night will more than likely make it look like a joke. Let's think about who watches tv at 3am........

Selling an ebook on late night tv? Seems like it will come off looking a whole lot like a scam to me. :\

Better have it link to a really professional looking website with cross links to articles by major news organizations.

Seems a little bit suspicious if you ask me. But that's just me, and I'm a total crack-pot.  ;)

I was thinking the exact same thing.

Come on now the last few shows, the sound was great.  Before that it was pretty horrible but what do you expect.  My local tv public tv station stil cant get it right after like 20 years. lol

Everyone watches TV at 3am...... sooner or later.

The script will be written by me ( and by you - I plan to have you all review it before it airs ).

They will produce it.   They have won many awards for producing some of the most famous television commercials... you know and certainly would recognize.

The networks I'm talking about are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_over-the-air_television_networks#Table_of_broadcast_television_networks

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cable_and_satellite_television_networks#Documentaries.2FEducational

Selling an ebook on a CD for like $4.95.... or $8.95...  is just a way to get it on the air.   It's not the point.   The book will be clearly an EDUCATIONAL book.   And clearly no profit motive there.

And, yes, my plan is to have it route viewers to an educational web site for more information.

The POINT here is:   Millions of Viewers will Be Exposed to the word Bitcoin

Think about that.

Great news. Excited to see the completed work.

I think that without a serious improvement to the client and usability, attracting "normals" to Bitcoin in droves is a recipe for a flop.

This.  Not only do I think it's too early for this kind of promotion, honestly, it makes bitcoin look like a scam.  I don't see why we need to be in such a hurry.  A few months, even years, for infrastructure build-up would go a long way for the staying power of bitcoin.  This screams pump and dump.  Sorry, Bruce.

I'm sure you're still going to go for it anyway, so please, please make this look professional.  No promises of big returns.  No "you can be an early investor" stuff.  Advertise the fundamentals; the real lasting benefits of this sort of monetary system.  Please don't make this about quick, easy money (i.e. quick increases in purchasing power).  Ultimately, that's not what bitcoin is about.

Please focus on this stuff:

Distributed
No intermediary
International
Low Friction
...

Was he talking about the sound quality or about the fact that Bruce spends the majority of the show looking to his laptop and not to the camera?  ::)

About the ad: It's a great idea. Good Luck Bruce!

Yes.

Let's not introduce the world to Bitcoin: The Infomercial Scam.

Hulu + Daily Show

I think we should use the money to do some sort of promotion on facebook since we all know that people on facebook are somewhat savvy and have a computer. That isn't always the case for tv viewers.

A good idea would be to pay people to, "like" bitcoin on facebook. Kind of like the bitcoin faucet. That way people can get some few bitcents to play with and in the mean time help promote the idea of bitcoin to their friends.

Remember people, facebook now has 750 MILLION users and is used MORE than google. Also your friends, "liking" stuff will get more attention and action from them instead of just using an ad, which most people have learned to ignore.

We have to promote on facebook.

Have you heard the show before? Have you seen late night infomercials? Of course it is going to sound like a house flipping ebook. Dont think it will help or hurt things much long term though. But a shame to see such a powerful idea becoming turned into the latest WarriorForum post.

Yeah it's really hard to explain this and to get people to know how to get coins.  Basically the thing will end up being an ad for Mt.Gox.  Get then to donate.  

Advertising isn't what bitcoin needs. Core development on alternate clients, usability, etc are needed first.

LOL!  The majority of people on facebook have a computer, but the average facebook user knows next to nothing about security, money or the reasons for Bitcoin to exist.  Posting on facebook, twitter or youtube is not a skill; it's simply a process.  Most users have no better understanding about how it all works than the average 16 year old "valley girl" understands how her engine in her new convertable works.  Asking your average facebook user anything specific about the functions of the Internet that s/he utilizes many times each day is like asking that same "valley girl" how to check the oil.

Wow.    You new people in the forum have become such cynics....    That's sad.

Anyway...


My vision of what the commercial would NOT be about:

• bitcoin as an investment / it would not mention that at all / not at all
• political or philosophical benefits of bitcoin / again, no mention at all

My vision of what the commercial WOULD be about:

• easy to use
• no transaction fees
• transactions that can't bounce or incur chargebacks
• no need for bank approval
• you can start using bitcoin within seconds with no technical skills necessary
• the world's first decentralized currency
• the world's first currency with a limited supply, yet extremely divisible

On the topic of Facebook, I am working on a simple, yet brilliant   ;)  project there too....   I'll post about that soon.

It's certainly better than nothing. Why not $5 in BTC on a USB wallet and a free book?

We'd rather it did not actually SELL bitcoin directly.

+1

Will there be a section in the e-book written by Carlton Sheets explaining how to make millions in real estate with no money down?

A late-night TV ad that sells an e-book might spread the word, but what word will it spread?  Bitcoin will be forever associated with the Ronco smokeless ashtray or pocket fisherman.

The "What is Bitcoin" video is superb.  No, it's brilliant.  Use that.  Pay more for airtime, play it less, and don't sell it like a salad shooter.

Okay, then go work on making the client better then. Its open source for a reason.

This is...interesting...

do people still watch tv?

What makes you people so cynical?

I guess you didn't read my post.

Now hang on just a sec.  That pocket fisherman is damned useful.  Not for fishing, mind you, but for slinging a field expedient wire antenna over a tall tree limb to get your ham radio DX'ing in a hurry at the campsite, it's the best tool evar!

Promoting on FB is fine, but that number is misleading. My wife and I represent about 5 of those "users" and don't use FB at all anymore.

The way I see it, the day PokerStars offers bitcoin betting, we'll have our next big round of publicity and won't need to do a thing.  Certainly this must already be in the works.

Good, I really hope Atlas' end-of-days crap doesn't actually make it to air. That is exactly the kind of crap that will either kill Bitcoin or keep it in the fringes. What is with you financial rapture types anyway? It's like you are praying for some sort of "final showdown" moment.

I hope it's not campy, and that's it's won't go on during the same time slot as infomercials, because that would just be counter productive.

Bruce, I apologize for coming across as poo-pooing the idea.  I do admire your enthusiasm for bitcoin.  I think we share the same appreciation and excitement for it.  However, I'm just worried that it isn't ready for primetime yet, and that for most people, especially non-technical folks, the current bitcoin experience will leave a negative impression.  Anyway, in terms of advertising lets think Apple.

We already have a video that would make for a great TV spot (except maybe we mention Bitcoin.org at the end rather than weusecoins.com):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um63OQz3bjo

This sounds good and all but shouldn't we make securing wallets stupid easy and make the bitcoin client easier to use/better looking before introducing it to too many people? Either way, will be interested to see the results.

Way too much focus on mining. If that section was cut out it'd be much better.

interesting.. wouldn't have thought I'd see a ham radio operator in the bitcoin world :P

hello from VE6 land
/ot

Its a good idea, although I agree with others - such thing shouldn't be rushed.

I don't know about rest but for me personally "e-books" associate with quick buck schemes, buy my book and i'll teach you how to make and sell e-books or be master of ebay, etc.
instant negative impression.

With a built-in wallet-stealing trojan?

This video has only a half a million view count. I can't envision a Bitcoin video reaching the one million view count mark. (tongue in cheek)

Exciting!

I have not bitcoins (yet) to speed the campaign along, but I'd love to feature it on my blog/website.

A preview before it airs, would be groovy! And you wouldn't have to pay me to feature it, obviously.

your site sucks.

1) wants me to allow java
2) throws up a content warnings
3) can't get past the content warning because the links don't work

makes me think it's a scam.

Challange excepted.

I'm sure I can hit f5 around half a million times.

Well, Sir (and I used that word advisedly),

Seeing as you've not actually accessed the site, you don't know that it sucks at all. Do you?

But yes, you're right, it's a scam, just like bitcoin. What are you? 15?

I've read many blogger sites that have the content warning just fine.  None asked me to enable java.  all of them had links that work.

Excuse me for being a paranoid old man (I am 41) but with the various hacks and trojans going around, I am cautious.  I see a "chick" in a predominantly geek male forum, luring users to her website, and that website doesn't work AND needs java?  I'm suspicious.

Even the "Blogger" link at the top is broken.  Red flag.  Thankfully I do not use Windows, or I'd probably have all my BTC stolen already.

I think its a great idea to get the word out to the masses. Bitcoin is not a stock and there are a lot of people who really want to promote the idea behind Bitcoin - this has nothing to do with pump and dump!

There will always be people who think its a scam, no matter how well you place it in an ad or how polished the Bitcoin client will be. This is not about getting the masses to send all their savings to Mt. Gox but to make people aware of an alternative money concept.

I don't think we should worry too much about the client being not ready for those people yet either - a single ad like this won't get many of them to actually install the client.
If people can even remotely remember to have heard about an actual product that you can buy with Bitcoin they will probably be more open to Bitcoin once they hear about it again from somewhere else.

Also, there are plenty of people who give something they saw on TV more credibility than some random new thing on the Internet.

Keep up the good work Bruce!

Heaven forbid a "chick" be interested on bitcoin, right? Sure you're not 15? You do realise that for bitcoin to really take off it's probably going to need "chicks," people of other faiths and colours to use it. And the best place for them to find out about it is, um, a bitcoin forum...

You give geeks AND men (yes, there are girl geeks) a bad name.

Hands up, though, you've got me. I am, indeed, a siren luring geeks to an unfortunate bitcoin demise.

 ::)

The rest of your posts seem legit, so you are probably legit also. I still say your website seems suspicious.  With all these "all my BTC got stolen" posts, bitcoin related websites need to be squeaky clean, and yours is not.

I was harsh in my initial "your site sucks" remarks, and for that I apologize.

graet idea!
but bitcoin is still too young, and its is still testing/beta software.
wait maybe 2-5 years then it would be the biggest thing, but right now it could be more like a major FAIL!

+1

I think we'll all know when Bitcoin is ready for mainstream*. We'll know it. Pushing it too hard before then might cause damage. Careful.

(*For me, this would probably be indicated by the existence of a serious online bitcoin bank and a smartphone app that lets you exchange bitcoins as easily as cash.)

Apology accepted.

My site was created using google's "Blogger" tools and, from my vantage point (windows, firefox) all the links seem to work just fine, even when I'm logged out of the blogger site.

The site's just over a week old and have had no mention of broken links so far (then again, I've only had 100 or so visitors, none of whom have commented). The java script is probably from my BitcoinPlus pooled mining plugin, but now that you mention it, a plugin that steals bitcoin would be a fabulous idea!

Looking forward to seeing a well done ad show up on the tv machine. I agree that bitcoin isn't ready for prime time yet, but these commercials won't be playing in prime time. So it all works out.

Bruce, that might be a good idea.
But check if the timing is right, for the last 2 months the bitcoin has been under heavy attack by the bad press, press that lies and does not say the truth.
But a TV add  maybe very costly, I have no idea how much a tv commercial could cost, but if it raises money that money could be spent on open source projects for the bitcoin that could be great.
Something that is important at present is securing the wallet using encryption since the average user uses windows and it is not technical.
I think before making massive publicity we should make the bitcoit idiot proof, something that would be needed is to secure the wallet somehow.
The technical person already uses bitcoin or will very soon, it is the non tech person where the tv add will be great, but for the non tech person bitcoin has to be extremely easy to use and secure by default, the average person has a pc full of viruses and under that environment the wallet has to be secure not an easy task. The tech person is safe he/she runs linux and probably already using bitcoin.

So I think a TV commercial would be great for the bitcoin, but the proper timing for it has to be studied with great detail, I think it might be a little too early now,  if it is too early it could cause the bitcoin to skyrocket again to later come down in price, if the timing is done right once a significant portion of the population knows about bitcoin, it will cause the price to skyrocket but stay up, which is better.

Something good about the TV add if it gets a lot of people to use bitcoin, it will be harder for legislators in USA and other countries to pass laws against bitcoins, and if bitcoins get very popular maybe we could have laws protecting the bitcoin.

Bruce you are doing a great job on the bitcoinshow, congratulations.

Those saying that non-tech folk might not be ready for btc just yet may have a point. You might want to consider teaming up with the guys doing the bitcard and release something in tandem with them, as that would at least make btc seem that bit more tangible to the masses, and more akin to the plastic that they're already used to.

http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=25258.msg314300#msg314300

Question..

• How much will this nation wide advertising campaign cost?
• How long will it take you to convert the donated btc into usd?
• Have you even spoken with network advertising departments?
• With networks rejecting many religious and political commercials, do you have a writen guarantee that you can provide donors that your commercial will not be rejected?
• How much of the donated btc will you be putting into your pocket?
• • Are you willing to provide all documents to verify the accounting process?
  
  

I let my VK2 ham ticket lapse many years ago, but I would be interested to see someone connecting a bitcoin client via EME ("moonbounce (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EME_%28communications%29)").

Just because they can.

Max Keiser on Russia Today.

Good luck with that.  I think you're marketing to the wrong audience.  You're throwing your advertising dollars away.  I know you say you're not doing it for a profit but I almost wish you were, because that way somebody gets something out of this.

Your first tier marketing should target web merchants: Getting merchants to put the BTC logo on their payment option list.  That's face to face, hit the pavement, cold calls, basic high-end sales work.  Take the money you would have spent on cheesy late-nite ads and spend it instead on taking successful and rising web merchants out to expensive lunches with lots of booze.  Succeed in that and the rest will take care of itself.  

First, what Bitcoin really needs is more merchants that accept it, not more people who can't do much with it.

Second, if you're going to promote Bitcoin to the masses, you need to come up with something they can use it for and some way they can use it. This means you should *not* be promoting mining, investing, or running the client. You could promote use of Bitcoins through a web site that is easy enough for ordinary people to use.

That said, I think it's a great idea if you can do it well, and even if you do it badly, I think it will help at least a little.

this


*I live in the east
I can do with paypal like these :
(sell product online)(using paypal button) -> paypal -> local bank  (3 step)

But, I have todo more stepsss with btc :
(sell product online)
(you must install online btc wallet, enhancing your code, so you can know whos pay, who hasn't, etc2, kindda building your own paypal button)
 -> btc exchange -> liberty-reserve -> local exchange -> local bank (5 step + extra)
*So, actually using btc as a payment system in the east, I lost more money (unless we can make those, same 3 steps someday I believe  :D )

IMHO I think put video adv on sites will have more value.

I am wondering how that is anything other but the most obvious thing I've ever seen.

That is fundamentally good for bitcoins adv  :)

download links

You don't understand me. The speaker just says the obvious. I don't see any news in that talk.

Bruce, I appreciate your enthusiasm.  And I agree that we need to put more effort into marketing Bitcoin.  But before you spend a lot of money on TV, please take a look at this wikipedia page on Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore and think about where Bitcoin lies on his adoption curve: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm

To me, it's clear that Bitcoin is still at the level of adoption somewhere between innovators and early adopters.  If that's true, we need to still be targeting the rest of the early adopters before we even think about targeting the mainstream.  So I think your idea of using Facebook to market Bitcoin is a great idea.  A good many early adopters still use Facebook.  Why not put all the resources you're devoting to Bitcoin to Facebook.  If you're wanting to make a little money off of an e-book while you promote Bitcoin, then I think you'd have a much greater chance of selling it on Facebook where users can easily click on your e-book landing page.

Just something to think about.  I'd probably throw in a few Bitcoins to efforts to promote Bitcoin on the Web.  It's still way too early to move to TV, in my opinion.  Once Bitcoin is being used by 15-20% of the population, then I think it'd be smart to move to TV.

Also, marketing Bitcoin as an e-book on late night TV will place it in some very unsavory company.  Is that who we want to be associated with?

But again I appreciate your promotion of Bitcoin and wish you well in all your future endeavors.

This wouldn't have anything to do with the exchange rate would it? Or is it just a strategic preference?

Sent a small donation.

This is somwhat of the chicken and the egg problem - do people have a desire for a Bitcoin market, or does a Bitcoin market exist before people aquire a desire to use that market? However, I agree with the many posters who think that it is too early to market Bitcoin to a wider audience. Presumably a number of people who see the ad will view the webpage, but if that webpage cannot display the usability of Bitcoins, not many will take any further steps. To target "the masses" a marketplace must be in place. In my humble opinion, it is better at this stage to target early adopters of users and merchants, which of course the upcoming FB campaign does. Since word-to-mouth is the best form of marketing, people's positive experience from using Bitcoin would have a far greater impact, which would promote Bitcoins further.

As to the forum of the ad; call me stereotypical, but most people that buy products from infomercials are not consumers of the type that search for information about products, instead they prefer to sit in their couch and digest whatever the merchandise presenter says, why the impact of this ad is likely to be rather small. Has paypal ever had tv commercials? I have not seen any, although I do not watch that much TV. TV is probably not a good marketing forum at any stage of Bitcoin, in a cost/benefit sense. Of course, "the only bad exposure is no exposure" or something like that, so I do not see that the ad will have a negative impact; almost all viewers who may think that Bitcoin is a scam are very likely to forget about Bitcoin in a very short time span.

This, if you want bitcoin to look like a late night infomercial scam then doing this to bitcoin is a great idea! This has the potential to crush bitcoin before it ever gets started. How did facebook become popular? Through word of mouth, not through late night infomercials that cheapen the product. This will relegate bitcoin to cheap scam status.

I couldn’t agree more. We don’t even have encrypted wallets yet, nor do we have mature exchanges. Really, the entire ecosystem needs work. Even the bitcoin.org website doesn’t look professional at all. I don’t want to see more bubbles and pump and dump, thank you.

Let’s consolidate and make Bitcoin ready for the next wave BEFORE it hits.

Agreed 100%

We need to face the truth: The Bitcoin client is difficult to use at the moment and for average folks it’s even dangerous to use the standard client if they have a non-negligible sum of Bitcoins. Our infrastructure (exchanges etc.) is getting better, but overall still sucks.

Yes, the bitcoin.org is not at all professional. Wiki? Users can edit the pages? The "Disclaimer" page is empty, etc.

Perhaps the ad could just run online... until the timing is right for TV? By which time you could make another one with more mass appeal.

some nice quotes on this thread!! weusecoins+facebook word of mouth, but yeah tv ad would be like the new bricky, build your own garden shed lol.

Don't be creating any infomercials about selling a book/cd. Bitcoin should never stoop that low.

First hit search "bitcoin" on youtube

Gavin Andresen and Amir Taaki, Bitcoin

TWiST #140: Bitcoin, with Gavin Andresen and Amir Taaki www.facebook.com What if--instead of whipping out your VISA card--you could pay just as ...

by ThisWeekIn | 22,451 views Uploaded by ThisWeekIn on 10 May 2011
Featured Videos <_PAID
Thumbnail1:44
What is Bitcoin?

next vid is weuscoins.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KsxHlJuVBU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KsxHlJuVBU)

Bitcoin music video! Actually not bad; has a catchy beat.

Hope there will be a tiny bit of bitcoins thrown in for the user to experience on a user friendly bitcoin client that does not have to download a multi megabyte blockchain before experiencing the excitement - webcoin (bitcoinjs) is a possible sollution, Bitcoin-qt will only download headers as a lightweight client as well and not the whole blockchain.  Exciting times.

I completely agree with this. I'm surprised people think it's a good idea to "advertise" bitcoin. The media is already doing a fine job advertising bitcoin. What we need is more infrastructure. Then the media will have more reasons to keep talking about bitcoin.

I think MyBitCoin is a totally underutilized resource in regards to the client usability issues. Hopefully we can get a better UI and maybe a much more secure place for online wallets, but so far it seems to be the fastest, easiest way to do transactions if you have a crappy PC like me.

I used to be a regular person, just like everyone else. But now, here I am using the coins. Advertisement is obviously not needed.

Hi Bruce,

Sounds great - let us know if you need anything.

I might add to the list some variation of the following:

- much easier international wealth transfers with lower fees
- doesn't require a debit or cc card to buy stuff on-line ( will be big in EM countries )
- traceability of coins although the user can be anonymous

The first two kinda fall under 'no need for bank approval' but the third is sometimes overlooked. With enough research coins can be traced back to their origin. That's a big advantage over fiat cash where both the user can be anonymous and the history of the cash is untraceable.

This is cool - goodluck

Adam

myBitcoin has locked dozens if not hundreds out of our accounts and refused to answer our emails about it.

I agree with those who say we should focus more on infrastructure than advertising for now.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

No kidding? were you using mybitcoin for a high volume of transactions or something? I really just started using it but...man. Guess I wont be keeping too many in there. But I can say from my experiences its been pretty fantastic.

Yes, of course every problem in someone's post is actually a reading comprehension problem on the other end.  I think what flaxceed is referring to the reputation that product sold on late night TV has (and perhaps implicitly the reputation that people who buy stuff off late night TV have).  It doesn't matter how noble your intent is.  It's hard to imagine a product sold on late night TV as serious and legitimate (and yes I get that you have a justification for selling a product).

In fact, in retrospect most of this more like a monetary venture for yourself than an effort to publicize bitcoin.  While I'm certainly not against people making money.  I'm a little bothered by people asking for donations so they can make money. (Yes, I read where you said that the book is "not the point" - but that's not the same as 'this is revenue neutral - I am donating my time')

What would be a show of good faith is what others have suggested.   Include close to the purchase price of the book in bitcoins with the "educational" book.

I do agree that this is not the time for a mainstream commercial. You could use that money to develop a more user-friendly wallet. Something more secure, attractive, and mostly EASY for non-tech people. It is the key, I believe, for bitcoin's success. Nonetheless I highly appreciate the intention.

Bad idea as a means to popularize bitcoin. Don't know if it's any good as a means of selling a digital product (likely not)

The best idea ever on these forums was paying bitcoins for getting merchants to provide bitcoin payment option. I think it should be expanded upon (one could make a website where some could donate bitcoins for the purpose and others could earn them by getting a website to accept bitcoins).

When the usage of bitcoin is so easy, that also non-geeks can easily join the party, and not before, I want to see a Big Bang Theory episode about Bitcoin, with their appartement full of mining rigs and a cool story around it ;-)

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I don't think the bitcoin client software is ready for the mass public yet...

The mainline version must include:
option in the client to back up wallet(dropbox or other integration would be a plus)
not be in beta
offer encryption, making the user 100% aware that if the password is forgotten, the coins are lost forever, and weak passwords are worthless, the client should not accept weak passwords
api to connect to websites to manage coins online instead of on the machine. this means a website gives you a piece of text to paste into the client, then you can not have to worry about your wallet file. the user must be forced to log in if the site requires it.

But all that is just my opinion so disregard it if you want.
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sadly i didn't read all the pages of comments :P we may be better off getting the people that make southpark to have bitcoins in an episode, they would probably bash it, but as they say 'their is no such thing as bad publicity'. though we still need better 'stuff' before we can really sell bitcoin to the masses.

Hrmmmm.....as mentioned previously the usability problems remain until the client is at a stage where the public will embraced it.

Also:
The Comprehension Gap
Watch all the troll videos on youtube and one thing quickly becomes clear - People do not have a comprehension of bitcoin as a publicly shared and verified cryptological ledger! These people don't have a fucking clue!

Now you can get all up on your high horse and call em stupid, but the fact is that we still haven't communicated the nature of our technology here in simple terms that the every day layman can understand, and as long as this is the case, Bitcoin will remain a divisive subject which does absolutely nothing for the further of bitcoin! 


Before we go selling a product, how about first we document and explain just what the hell we are selling!

Pfft, Sales guys.....Operations FTW! ;)

Look up "south park" and "space cash".

It's pretty good.

So your saying we need a trusted famous person to make a statement about how they use and trust bitcoin? I vote for Remi Gaillard and LulzSec! and maby Notch... Gabe...hmmm who else? BENDER!

edit: i found a real tool http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko5lOc4nsac please ban him from life...

No, I didn't say anything about a famous person.

I am saying that the underlying fundamentals of how the system actually works is not being communicated in a clear and concise manner that *everyone* can understand.

If you look at most of the anti-bitcoin videos it quickly becomes clear that these people think bitcoins exist as some kind of unit that can be pushed around when in fact the system works as a public record that recognizes what quantity you possess based on your public key and only verifies your right to spend on the basis of your private key.

If we can't communicate the exact nature of what we are advocating, then what the fuck is the point of advocacy in the first place!

The video that explains bitcoin on weusecoins, briefly touches of this by explaining the signing of bitcoins to your recipients address, but doesn't go far enough.

Put it this way, Toyota don't simply sell the Prius as just a car, they sell it as a hybrid petrol/electric car that stores energy for driving as you drive with resulting higher mileage. Apple don't sell the iPhone as just a phone, they show you it's workings to communicate how it will empower you and yet still manage to keep it simple.

This is how it is, we either get our message straight and market it as such.

Or we don't, the potential user never gets it, and as a result we are worse off for it. We can only achieve mass market penetration by having it possible that people can share the idea in simple communicable terms meaning that our revolutionary technology can become viral in everyday conversation.......or bitcoin can remain the currency of early adopters and geeks.

Not at all, a difficult task but not an impossible one. The vast majority of the public only have a enough approximation of how a plane flies, yet that is enough to engender trust to fly on one. In a way bitcoin is similar, the absolute trust in the veracity of the technology is a must, but it is more then achievable to communicate this given we can find a medium to do so.

 

BITCOIN

Now 0.3.23 beta!  Looking for suckers who will support the market value of a digital commodity that has little to no use, generated by nerds with GPU farms!

Secure currency now featuring no real-world uses and plaintext wallet file!

do you have a time frame for us?
I'm sure everyone will want to know a few weeks in advance before it airs
I for one will want to buy a few more bitcoins right before  :P

If it was so obvious, dinosaur corporations such as Nokia and Microsoft wouldn't be languishing.

I was thinking about how to make an analogy for bitcoin without mentioning cryptography and whatnot, but it's rather hard… Glass deposit boxes where everyone can see the contents, but no one knows who holds the key? Hrm…

Also, do let me know when this will be aired. I'd love to buy in before that :)

People who buy things on infomercials are not the type who will be interested in Bitcoin.  Infomercials are associated with snake oil products and telling people to get involved in an internet commodity is a sure way to get educated people uninterested. What is the selling point, if not ideology? "Register on a Bitcoin exchange today and you can transfer funds from a Dwolla account - which you will need to sign up for - and transfer money from your bank account so you buy Bitcoins and buy things on Amazon - well, sort of. All for a low fee!" Why not just use a credit card?

 The best thing we can do right now is get certain "underground" geek product providers - VPNs, seedboxes, etc - to accept Bitcoins. The first ones that do will quite a few extra customers.

View count update: 9,294,935 views

Perhaps bitcoin advertising is a really good idea. Many people have heard about it, but very few people understand why it is needed and how it works. I do not know whether the advertising, which says the author of the topic, but I think it is still necessary for cryptocurrency.

I will send you a small amount of money to help you implement your idea because I also hope that Bitcoin is well known. But I hope that you can make it more precise because I don't know how this will happen and what advertising network you will advertise ?

Way to necrobump a Bruce Wagner thread ::)

Do I win a trip to Pataya?

Hi, any update on that BTC ad? its liek 8 years after your first post - people would love to watch the ad you made :)

Television add regarding bitcoin can make a huge different if done properly and specially because it is broadcast through majority of USA channels it might do a real change  but I hope you will at least share a screenplay or a proof of work in this very thread so donors who are willing can donate without hesitation for sake of bitcoins future and it is a good idea but it should be execute properly

By the way promote and advertise bitcoin by using Television is more effective than using other social media and other advertise way, many people always watch television program every time and have billion people watch their favorite program every day. By using television as media for advertising we can promote bitcoin faster than using social media program and will make many investor know about bitcoin for investing or payment transaction.

Advertising on TV needs huge budget. Those projects who got some funds I think should be doing it instead like the ETH and EOS and TRX projects which already gained a lot. Bitcoin doesn't need advertising since its already known. The good thing about advertising one crypto project is that all other blockchain will be put in a spotlight. Those projects supported by billionaires like Tim Draper or Elon Musk can potentially be known if flashed on TV.

Thats true, moreover who will prepare the budget for bitcoin on television? I think bitcoin doesn't need to do that. and besides that various projects in cryptocurrency have also promoted in various media such as youtube, google, even television, of course indirectly bitcoin will also get influence from that ads

It might be useful to reach people who doesn't spend time on internet so much. There are many people who prefer to watch TV and these people might be informed directly about crypto currencies by advertising. These people's interest in crypto currencies can be increased by the direct access to accurate information about crypto currencies, and thus can lead to faster adoption of crypto currencies.

not a big fan of television ads as they just tease cryptos and more clear explanation is always needed

but I guess is still good as it adress that part of population that don’t hangout on the internet

I think cross collaboration between different media can ultimately help and spread blockchain tech to everyone but we still need education

Still majority of citizens in the world watch television advertisements and it can be consider as a effective way to reach a higher amount of population in a short period of time so television add regarding bitcoin can make a huge different if done properly and specially because it is broadcast through majority of USA channels it might do a real change so bitcoin enthusiast will definitely donate if this advertising project continues properly with more visibility

This, by the way, is a good idea. I think, those who receive news from the Internet — social networks, YouTube, and others — are well aware of bitcoin. And those people who watch television every day, and barely sit on the Internet, know very little about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Therefore, such advertising and information will be very useful and will be able to increase the popularity of bitcoin among more people.

I would like to see what you got in the end. I also think that it will help to attract even more people who are not on the Internet. After all, our main task is to expand the crypto community, so your idea of advertising on television is a great way to do it.

Bitcoin advertising on networks is a good idea, and we can combine many different advertising models. But I think there should be a group created and receive support from certain whales or a nonprofit group. We need an actual organization for this.

TV now almost no one is watching, except for the elderly. They are unlikely to be interested in hearing about bitcoin. A large number of young people are concentrated on the Internet and this is the main contingent that may be interested in crypto. But in any case, your idea can be a very good way to spread.

Tv ads are good way to promote and make the general people accept bitcoin. I hope the show is popular so as to make the target people have acess to knowledge of bitcoin

Many people have heard and read about Bitcoin, but very few understood on how does it really work and how helpful it is. TV ads for Bitcoin are one of the best venue to promote Bitcoin as it would attract, gain trust and interest from the public to spread awareness and would help educate people of its importance. It can also teach us on how to deal with its volatility patiently, positively and strategically. If only everyone is well-calibrated and educated then we could achieve prosperity and welfare in crypto world. It's also very important that these TV ads are well-presented, well-executed, and are not misleading.

- I don't think television advertising will be too effective for bitcoin because it's a part of government, the government manages all the news and so what television introduces bitcoin, I believe it is just warnings, negative information and advice for people to stay away, the government will never support bitcoin, which is what they are doing. In addition, TV ads will not have enough expertise to introduce bitcoin clearly, they can give people the wrong knowledge, which will greatly affect bitcoin, the best is still for people to automatically update information online

Television advertising is one of the most effective ways to attract consumers to buy or look for something offered.
Of course advertisements regarding bitcoin in television networks have a big impact, because viewers are becoming increasingly curious and finding out the advantages and disadvantages of bitcoin investment.

TV is still a huge market with the younger crowd.  People love to watch sporting events on cable especially, just because you don't watch tv doesn't mean other cultures don't.

People that use the internet heavily already know about bitcoin so it is redundant to advertise that way.