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Originally Posted by meaubry
As far as promoting FIRST with the float goes, I think the cost expended for TV airtime wasn't very good considering how long the float and commentators discuss each float. I think the airtime is a relatively short amount - if the goal is to be on the national broadcast - it gets even more complicated when you factor in the position of the float in the parade, ect. All in All, I wish you Good luck though.
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The broadcast was from 9am -12 pm, right? That's 180 minutes of air time.
In the USA, for every 30 minutes of television, there is about 22 min of actual broadcast, with 8 minutes of commercials. For a 3 hour bit, that's 132 minutes of televised parade time.
27 floats and 22 non-floats (bands & special groups) = 49 attractions
132 minutes/49 attractions = 2.69 minutes per attraction, not including the introduction for each attraction. (This is assuming that all are shown, and for equal amounts of time, which is not the case). What I'm dying to know is the pricing structure, which is probably based on air time.
Also, it all comes back to the TV-friendly Theory. Something similar to 2001 is a tad harder to explain in a 15 second promo. Thus, the only really possible option is to just show the robots running around. In my experience in Watertown's Memorial Parade events (the Watertown Rotary has donated their float space to 237 since 2000), the offensive bots are much more of a crowd pleaser than the defensives. (To answer Billfred's question, you have people designated to catch the balls that are walking on the sides of the field).
So, anyway...nice idea, but not entirely plausible for a non-profit of FIRST's size without major corporate sponsorship, not to mention the issues we run into depending on which way Dean runs with the game. But all in all a cool idea.