Fall 2023 This American Life PREMIUM Fundraising Episode V2 - PLEDGE LEVELS NOT MENTIONED
From This American Life | Part of the This American Life Fundraising and Generic Promos series | 40:00
Use this episode if you are offering the Ira Glass/Neil Patrick Harris livestream event premium, but do NOT want it offered at every pledge level. This version mentions nothing about pledge levels. You can set whichever level you prefer.
The show contains 3 segments totaling 40:00, plus 2 standalone modules, all of which have pitches for the event.
Full details are in the long description and the Timings & Cues.
We have brand new fundraising episodes for Fall 2023.
And more excitingly, a brand new thank you gift: Tickets to an upcoming LIVESTREAM EVENT with NEIL PATRICK HARRIS and IRA GLASS! – tickets that cost your station nothing.
This version of the pledge show pushes the livestream event, and does not mention pledge levels. But we encourage you to set a low level because the idea is to help you bring in NEW members, who often initially pledge at lower levels.
Another version of the pledge show pushes the Neil Patrick Harris event at "any level offered by this station."
Two short standalone premium modules accompany each premium version of the show: this version that mentions no level, and the other version specifying ANY PLEDGE LEVEL. You can air them during Morning Edition or ATC or anywhere during your schedule when you want to get new members using the livestream event.
A third version of the pledge show mentions no premium.
Here are additional details about the livestream event with Neil Patrick Harris and Ira Glass:
WHEN IS THE EVENT?
Later this Fall, with the exact date to be decided. The plan is for it to happen in October or November, after the majority of stations have completed their Fall drives. The audio in the pledge shows and modules say “later this Fall." And for any listeners who pledge and end up being unavailable to watch it live, the video will be available.
This event came together very quickly in the last few days, and we wanted to get this pledge audio to you now before the coordinated drive! We recommend the following for local live announcers or pre-taped tags after the modules or segments: “Pledge now and get access to this event later this Fall. Exact date is to be decided by Ira and Neil… and don’t worry, if you end up being busy, you’ll get to watch it on video!”
WHEN WILL YOU KNOW WHEN IT’S HAPPENING?
Not sure. We will update stations as soon as it’s set, but you should proceed and use the pledge audio with the date unknown. Think of it this way: without a set date yet, people can’t go “I can’t attend then.”
HOW DOES MY STATION GIVE EVENT ACCESS TO LISTENERS WHO PLEDGE?
Email our station rep Marge Ostroushko at marge@thislife.org if you plan to use the event premium. Let her know the dates of your drive. Email her again once your drive is complete. She will update you when the event date is set, so you can communicate that with listeners. Later, she will send an access link/s in advance for you to send to listeners who pledged to attend the event.
WHAT ARE IRA AND NEIL GOING TO TALK ABOUT?
Lots of stuff! Journalism. Storytelling. Memory. Dogs. They’ll take listener questions via chat. The background is that Neil Patrick Harris reached out to interview Ira for his newsletter Wondercade, and they ended up having this surprisingly great and long conversation. So we thought, let’s do something like this for the pledge drive! They actually recorded the video of their initial talk, not with the intention of releasing it but just so it could be transcribed. But there were such nice moments, that they’ll play some clips of that video in the live event. And also ask each other new, burning questions. It’ll be like a conversation you’d see at the 92nd Street Y in New York or City Arts and Lectures in SF, but your listeners can attend live from the comfort of their homes on their phone or tablet or computer.
IT’S REALLY FREE TO MY STATION?
Yes. This American Life will cover all costs associated with the event. We wanted to come up with something alluring that wouldn’t require you to pay for and order some kind of physical swag. We think it’s going to be great and hope that you and your listeners do too!
WAIT, WHAT ARE THE TWO VERSIONS OF THE PREMIUM PLEDGE SHOW?
One version says that you can get tickets to the event at ANY PLEDGE LEVEL offered by your station, in addition to any other thank you gift they’d get at that level. This is to encourage new members, who tend to come in at lower levels. The other premium version doesn’t mention any level (that's this version!).
Good luck with your drive!