Kevin, I will have some alcohol-related decks and singles at the convention. I’m always interested in more. You’ll be able to buy, sell or trade singles and decks.
To you and our leaders about convention publicity, a few suggestions. Yes, this rambles a bit. There are some good, specific, easy-to-accomplish ideas here with local TV the week of the convention and with other local and social media before and during it.
The group had a nice response from a TV news feature reporter in Orlando a few years ago. That segment from WOFL Fox 35 may still be linked on the club website. It’s a great example.
Start with an email to specific Cleveland TV feature reporters and their show producers. Contact information should be on stations’ websites or call the switchboards and ask for their emails.
Journalists appreciate brief, specific, to-the-point emails to start. Ask if you may follow up with a phone call at a later time that’s best in the weeks or days before the convention.
WJW Fox 8, WOIO (CBS), WEWS (ABC) and WKYC (NBC) each do lengthy morning news programs and daily “lifestyle” shows eager for swift and engaging content. The more we help reporters and producers with an interesting hook, supporting visuals and lively interviews, the more likely they will want to do segments with us. Be prepared to get up early for morning news live shots (4:30-10 a.m.) or go to the studio.
In any pitch, make promises (teases in TV talk) that catch reporters’ and producers’ attention. In turn, these may show up on the air.
“That solitaire app on your phone started with these. Look at these eye-catching designs.”
“The item buried in your junk drawer that’s a work of art — and maybe worth some money.”
“54 works of art for your next card game.”
Have plenty of decks to see, perhaps cardistry moves to share and anything visual and interactive for at least six, two-minute live, remote segments or one, three-minute segment in studio.
Interactivity and one point per segment are key, plus the reporter can use the visual material for social media slideshows on the station’s website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. These segments generate page views after they air, especially as viewers seek the time, date and place for the convention. Ask that station web and social media posts link to the club website, which, in turn, should have the pertinent convention information front and center on the homepage before a segment airs. Don’t make viewers hunt for it. They also will want to know if they may bring cards to the convention for members to examine or buy — and if there’s an admission fee.
Link any current TV segments on the club site as soon as they are posted by the station. Send a link to Card Culture subscribers in a special email and post to this site soonest, too.
From last year’s convention, it was obvious our deck designer members can explain their card designs and their meanings and nuances succinctly. That makes them good interviews with a bIt of prep,
Why does that back design symbolize wood and paper? Show me and explain in a 20-second answer. What attracted a 20-something person to design and publish analog playing cards in a digital age? How has crowd-funding jumpstarted interest in cards as a collectible art form?
In general, show a viewer why and how our hobby goes well beyond the Bicycle Rider Back or grandma’s bridge decks. Focus on the “new and now” first, then some of the cool history or older decks.
The original and colorful art especially in the “custom” and crowd-funded decks, new mass-produced specialty decks such as Emoji, Fire, Stargazer, Craft Beer, Zombie, Tattoo and Sharks (to name a few widely available examples and not just USPC); advertising decks, pinups (Is that really Betty White on that card?); decks with Cleveland themes, unusual jokers and old/new transformations are a few more visual suggestions.
Do whatever we can to make a viewer look at the screen, say “I didn’t know that,” and “That’s really cool,” and become eager to learn more about the cards she or he probably never gave a second thought about — beyond a simple card game. Mention how easily cards of all sorts are available — and that it’s an affordable hobby.
TV is best for the week of the convention. Stations rarely want to do anything that’s too far in the future. Viewers will forget.
Pre-convention publicity is easier from other forms of media locally and otherwise.
Use these ideas and others to pitch NPR stations in Cleveland and nearby Kent, plus print media or alternative weeklies. They will appreciate visuals for digital coverage or maybe want to do videos and podcasts beyond the traditional print or radio stories,
A special, email blast to Card Culture subscribers asking them to share a convention graphic on their own social media now and in repeat blasts closer to October is another idea. Take advantage of that subscriber list! Pages 7-10 of the current Card Culture could be easily adapted.
Members on Pinterest or Facebook’s various card groups can post it there. (I posted images and convention information on Playing Card Collectors, Bicycle Collectors and Joker Collectors FB pages to start. It includes personal photos from last year in Erlanger. Hope that is okay.)
A post on Cleveland, Akron and Kent Craigslists the week of the convention can’t hurt. A calendar listing can be emailed now to the local convention and visitors bureaus, Ohio state tourism, to Antiques Weekly and similar entities. Don’t forget notifications and a convention graphic to ACBL for its website and social media. Email any Cleveland area bridge clubs. Maybe any of the poker players’ magazines would be interested in a feature or a calendar listing.
Club members will have additional suggestions to boost interest via other outlets and forms of social media.
Chris Turner
Jeffersonville, Ind, (Louisville, Ky. area)
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