Fantastic promotion opportunity - win the cover of a high coverage newspaper

As you say that is a fantastic opportunity jh.....I hope you guys can come up with something.

Us guys? can't you help?

I'm a bit on my own here, but trying to set up a proper chapter for Reading with regular meetings and all, but I'll put down some ideas tonight and see if anyone can collaborate with me

Ok, I've come up with my first idea for this - I've posted it on the wiki here:
http://rbewiki.org/wiki/User:Jay/TZM_Activism

Please help me out with suggested changes to the copy, layout, etc.

Also, remember, this competition is one entry PER PERSON - so come up with your own ideas/designs too and submit them, the closing date is 3rd November.

I might come up with a few more ideas that I'm happy for people to re-purpose and submit as their own for anyone who's short on ideas.

Pete, no talent required, just an idea.

If you take a look at some of the examples they have presented it's mostly like short messages like a marriage proposal or coming out of the closet or an idea/invention looking for an investor, etc. - also take a look at the submission forms, you just fill in text with your message, some tips/description for their designer (how to lay it out) and upload some supporting materials (images, photos, sketches, whatever).

A few people have told me the wiki link is broken, and others have said it works... Can someone please reply letting me know exactly which link is broken, is it the wiki page link, or the image I uploaded? Also, is it affected by being logged in or not?

Wiki works OK for me. Thought it worth sharing the T&C part

How To Enter

Visit metro.co.uk/winthecover to submit your entry (message, photograph and/or other material). Criteria for successful entries is what we believe is an exciting, fun and interesting wrap for Metro readers to see in the morning.

Prizes: There are 12 prizes of a full page, printed on a wrap (either front, back or inside) around a copy of Metro. The 12 winning entries will be used to create three separate wraps. All prizes will be published before 1st December 2010

I think they are likely to shy away from any thing that directly publicises TZM. I don't think they will want to be seen to be as pushing a movement, especially one that is against the current world order, a bit too radical. Something personal, something subtle might work. Something alluding to an RBE as an answer to all the world troubles.

No harm in trying multiple approaches I guess. We might yet be surprised and see an earth with light beams eminating under the heading discover the future for mankind. Join TZM today. In my wildest dreams I think

This one:

http://www.thezeitgeistmovementuk.com/sites/default/files/think_about_mo...

gives me:
" The Zeitgeist Movement UK
Page not found"

(When logged in. Haven't tried it logged out.)

Jonno - yeah, I think it would be great if lots of people submitted something, things of varying subtlety. That's the good thing, it's one entry per person, so we can all have a go and they will even do the design work, all we need is to submit ideas with some text and a description of what it might look like.

I'm happy to help with anyone's ideas, would like some feedback on mine too if anyone can see the link! If we make this a coordinated effort we give the best chance of at least one of them getting used.

Took a look at your wiki and tried to provide an edit for you to review but the site crashed. Looks like we might have to do this as comments, especially if other people are having trouble accessing it

I asked Jarada to take a look at the problem with the image (it was there before), but the wiki page seems to be ok.

I was thinking of switching the text around a bit to elicit their emotions and really grab their attention more from the first sentence, something like this...

Have you ever wondered what you would do with your life if you never had to think or worry about MONEY? Now, OPEN YOUR MIND for a minute and IMAGINE that money is never an issue for you, not like you are a billionaire or anything like that, just pretend it doesn't exist and you can have whatever you want...
Would you: ?
After doing all that would you be SATISFIED? Or would you feel like you still wanted to CONTRIBUTE something to society? WHAT WOULD THAT SOMETHING BE?

Then at the bottom it has 3 quotes:
- Be the change you want to see in the world - Gandhi
- Physical slavery requires people to be housed and fed; economic slavery requires people to feed and house themselves. - Peter Joseph
- It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring. - Carl Sagan

Then The Zeitgeist Movement logo and website URL in the bottom right.

-----

Any feedback appreciated:
Could I use better quotes?
Is the PJ quote (from addendum I think) attributed correctly or did he get that from somewhere else?
What additional call to action could I put by the TZM logo?
What imagery should I use in the background or around the edges of the text, or should it be plain?
Should it be 'themed' and made to look like a pen-pal letter, a ransom note, an ancient scroll, a message on a fridge in magnetic letters, the ingredients list on a can of beans, etc.?
What colours?
What kind of emphasis should I use (the capitals in the text above is just to show what words I want to emphasize, not how they should be emphasized)?

Thanks.

I feel a bit of a let down. I've been thinking a lot about this but with the restrictions that the Metro impose, Ie no forms or direct contact, I just can't think of something that I think would be good enough to interest the judges enough to make them want to use it.

Hence my proposition. Do you think we could put this out on the global site and any good ideas we work on and and finished entries we can enter from a UK member as proxy?

Additionally there used to be on the old UK site a download section where there were flyers and posters. I can't finf this any longer. If soeone has access maybe some could be reworked or just issued as is to get the volume of entries up. Even if we don't get it but they get a deluge it'll put us on their radar.

Hi Jonno

I feel the same way, I suggested the same thing on the global site 5 days ago and nobody has responded:
http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_kunena&I...

I thought this would inspire people to take some action as it's so easy to do and the potential return is great, but even the active people on here don't seem to have taken much notice, even the ones I've directly asked about it haven't. And so far nobody has even given me any feedback/criticism to help me improve my entry. I'm very disheartened by the lack of support from the uk.

Regarding the direct contact, that's no problem, just put a link to the site! It's not as if you'd want your phone number or email address on the cover of a newspaper anyway. The last box on the submission form says:
Tell us about any supporting links to websites or social media pages you have to support your message
So a link to the uk site or facebook page is perfectly acceptable.

Hi jhabbott.
I thought I gave you some sort of feedback in my message? I said your proposal was good, but I couldn't access the sketch/illustration. I seem to recall making a comment on the quoted phrase below:

Didn't I comment in the chat box? Or did I just imagine I commented? Didn't I suggest that "want" should be replaced with "need"? Or "everyone has all they need"? Maybe I intended to tell you, but omited to?

Have you submitted your proposal? I believe you should. I know that, if ever I have an idea, I want reassurance that it is OK. I want reassurance that it is the best it can be. I guess I fear making a "tit" of myself and seek the approval of others. I guess this is an ego thing. It seems that we need to follow our intuition. I don't know how long the competition runs? But we can submit as many proposals as we wish? So we can all submit slightly different proposals?

So, if you haven't done so ...... please submit your entry.

@mrjonno

The Tool Kit, with the flyers, is still there:

http://www.thezeitgeistmovementuk.com/toolkit

You can access the page by clicking "Advanced" in top right corner, then "Tool Kit".

Or, if you go to the "Understandings" tab, along the top ........ "Take Action" is the bottom item of the list. Click on that and there is a "Tool Kit" clicky at the top of the "Take Action" page.

To be fair, you may have said something in the chat, yeah, and Jonno did try to edit the wiki, I guess part of the problem is that the tools aren't working properly. The sketch isn't as important, it's just the text drawn out on an A3 sheet showing the overall layout. I will submit it regardless of any potential improvements, but the closing date is the 3rd Nov. So I will try to improve it before then. I'd really like some feedback/ideas on the questions I posted in an earlier comment, and for others to start posting their ideas so we can all contribute

Ok, I've updated the link:
http://rbewiki.org/wiki/User:Jay/TZM_Activism

This also includes a working link to the layout sketch too, and on the same page my idea for a flyer to give to people in queues.

I will look into a link tracking system so that we can measure the success of different poster/flyer campaigns - if I can't find anything suitable I may just write one.

We really need to get on top of the UK forum issues, they are becoming devisive and not productive now.

Never mind, I'll just crack on using whatever tools necessary and make posts about any content created with links so that people can still access it. I'm not going to be held back by poor tools it will then become a separate task for me or someone later on to seek out all the different sources of different types of useful material, apply quality filters and categorise it, and organize it in some central repository, once that is available and usable.

Remember the closing date of this competition is the 3rd Nov.

I will be posting my entry over the weekend.

I've come up with a small article. I'll columnize it in Word and subit on top of the TZM world image. Anyone know the location for this image without any slogans?

Anyway here's what I have come up with by way of text. Improvements and corrections welcomed -

'Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth'

How many of you today on your commute or taking a coffee reading this Metro cover would have

conceived that such a thing might exist or anyone might have written such a document?

Not many I suspect. If such a document existed then you might think it would be either

official or a spoof. Neither is the case as this is an essay written in 1963 and published

in 1969 by a writer named Richard Buckminster Fuller, known affectionately as "Bucky

Fuller", this essay was one amongst many other scientific and philosophical works written

during the 20th Century by a true genius that we see rarely and whose legacy becomes

recognised only once they have gone. Seems to be the way of humanity, we're slow to learn

but slower to implement.

Do we change our cultures based on science? Very slowly and not without dispute based upon

the unscientific but held up nonetheless by 'intuition' based on 'feelings' and superstition

and irrelevant beliefs and customs.

We have created our ultimate destruction through the economic model of money. It isn't

science it is studied as an art subject, our forefathers were wise it seems not to elevate

its status. As a paradigm it has served us well and undoubtedly has led to some of the

greatest achievements of mankind to date yet is causing the suffering and death of huge

numbers within humanity, not to mention the natural world - species are becoming extinct at

an alarming rate whilst human population is increasing at an alarming rate. Now it is in

itself endangoured but we maintain it because we are afraid of a world without it. A 'drug'

and I am in the company of many in making this observation

Back to "Bucky". He understood the Earth's place within the cosmos and how it really

operates. Simply by energy supplied by the Sun and the Moon. Until we really comprehend

this and GROW UP from our petty squabblings, primarily centered on our fixation with burning

oil as a direct way to making money, and have some intelligence to look at the reality of

our dilemma we truly are doomed. On a universal scale does any of our financial debt have

the least bearing on anything apart from our demise?

"Our differences are far less than our similarities" (Carl Sagan). I'm certain Bucky would

have approved.

We don't have too much time left to make our future along with those of many other species

that we know of on planet Earth a probability let alone a reality if we are brutally honest.
In simple evolutionary terms we're a disaster. We've managed to destroy more of our home

than we've created. The tide is turning thanks to technology and an evermore connected

world but we need to come together as a whole to realise this. I have faith, there are many

people like me and thanks to the internet our voices are being heard and soon we will be a

chorus.

Jaque Fresco at 95 is a living testament to the wonders of the scientific world and the huge

strides that mankind has come through despite world wars, ignorance, denial and the cold

war. He's an inventor and a social engineer. He's the curator of the world movement known

as The Venus Project Despite his age he continues to travel the globe to spread the word of

a world based on a humane use of science and technology to benefit all people. He's a

beneficiary of the 'The Buckminster Fuller Challenge'. He's out their campaigning for your

childrens' survival in a world that understands science above all else.

Big words, big thoughts, big ideas come from individuals, not big individuals - just regular

sized - that's me too and the person on the train opposite reading the same words. We are

all capable of big things but we are our own servants unless we realise that this is all

about the energy provided by the Sun and the Moon. We ignore this at our own peril and

planet Earth will carry on without us.

'Take the initiative. Go to work, and above all co-operate and don't hold back on one

another or try to gain at the expense of another. Any success in such lopsidedness will be

increasingly short-lived. These are the synergetic rules that evolution is employing and

trying to make clear to us.' (Richard Buckminster Fuller)

This is our world today. Our destiny has been written in the past but money through greed

tries to write a new future which we are beginning to understand is a grave mistake.

Bucky's last words of wisdom in 1992

'The dark ages still reign over all humanity, and the depth and persistence of this

domination are only now becoming clear.
This Dark Ages prison has no steel bars, chains, or locks. Instead, it is locked by

misorientation and built of misinformation.'

'Doing the right things for the wrong reasons is typical of humanity. Precession — not

conscious planning — provides a productive outcome for misguided political and military

campaigns.'

'Dear reader, traditional human power structures and their reign of darkness are about to be

rendered obsolete.'

Please think about this and the pointlessness and waste in what you do in your lives if all

you do is for money. Money has divided us but we must not let it conquer. Money is our

invention but not our destiny or ultimate salvation.

We are mere passengers on 'Spaceship Earth'. We can destroy everything that is living now

but not the planet. It is a choice, one of information and education and not politics or

greed or superstition. Survival through understanding...

Very nice, I can't contribute much except a bit of proof reading...

"Jaque" should be "Jacque"

"He's out their" should be "He's out there"

I just submitted my entry, hope it (or another TZM entry) wins.

I've made my entry too. I've uploaded it to a wiki page in case anyone is interested to see

http://www.thezeitgeistmovementuk.com/wiki/metro-mrjonno

I think it's going to be far to controversial to win, I might be surprised, but I hope that I might have opened the eyes of journalists to see how our future is not set out based on a path that we have been following for at least a couple of hundred years.

I really like what you wrote - probably too long for what they wanted for the cover - but as many entries as possible in all sorts of styles is what we need.

I got this automated reply:

Best wishes Metro

So - remember everyone - the competition closes on Wednesday (3rd) so please submit something - anything - even just a short message declaring your dedication to the movement or your hopes for what we will achieve!