It has been a while since we blogged.  We’ve been on the trail looking for corporate sponsors to assist us with our project.  And, I can tell you that the process of finding companies willing to participate in a pilot episode can be challenging.

Our search has led us from Oklahoma City to Denver, CO to Knoxville, TN and even to Montana.  Along the way we found several very excited companies wanting to assist us and gain some well-deserved product placement advertising.  Our website hosting company, Orbital Hosting, was more than willing to donate hosting services.  Possibly the easiest conversation we have had to date, simply because we already had a strong partnership with the owner on another business venture.

Then we started talking to Dru and Gary Bridwell with the Orange Power Group; one of the largest Ditch Witch Dealers in the world.  Through Dru, who is president of Ditch Witch of the Rockies, we were able to secure a product placement sponsorship where our trenching for water, power and septic will be provided in exchange for on-air time in the pilot episode.  Additionally, we are going to provide production ready 30 second to several minute videos, possibly including an interview, that can be used for viewing in the Bridwell’s Ditch Witch show rooms throughout the Rocky Mountains, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

A conversation over the cost of replacing windows on our pilot project led us to our third sponsor.  While estimating a construction budget, we called Sheila Poling at Southern Glass Company in Maryville TN; a suburb of Knoxville.  Sheila has committed her company to assist us with at-cost or better windows from a window manufacturer in Oklahoma that she works with, unless we find a better deal from another sponsor.  Another manufacturer in Oklahoma, Cimarron Trailers, provided us with a single item that we plan on using as a surprise in the pilot.  These two conversations made it seem so easy.  Boy, were we wrong in thinking that.  

As we chase a corporate sponsor for materials, tools, appliances, etc. with the usual list of home improvement stores, the work requires patience and dogged determination.  To me this has been a huge hurdle to scale, but Johnny Williams, our marketing and advertising guru, is using his 40+ years in strategic marketing and advertising to work his way through multiple layers of players in solving this problem.  The obvious targets here are Lowe’s, Home Depot or ACE Hardware.  If anyone has connections in the marketing departments with any of these companies, we would love an introduction to speed things up.  While Johnny is working on this one, I continue to talk to my contacts about how we find those individuals who want to see western U.S. history saved.  Putting a roof on a mining cabin, or restoring/preserving an entire ghost town is a monumental task.  We believe our show may be a conduit to bring these funds together.  This is not the focus of the pilot episode, but long-term there are many more stories than just homesteaders’ cabins to bring to life.

In addition to the big name home improvement companies we are pursuing, we are also talking to Everlog Systems in Montana.  We’ve had excellent conversations with Everlogs management so far.  One of their products is a perfect fit for our projects like our pilot episode that fits the “restore and reuse” category; restore a historically significant cabin or house so that it can be lived in and enjoyed as a family legacy for generations to come.  The Everlog concrete siding product replaces old damaged D-log siding and never has to be re-stained like wood products.  Hopefully, they will join the team as we get closer to production of the pilot episode.  The other areas we are focused on include finding a solar power company, ATV dealer or manufacturer (to assist with the high adventure component of the first episode), and of course individual donors interested in saving western U.S. history contributing to production costs of the pilot episode and donating towards a fund that will be used for future episodes if the series is sold to a network or streaming service.   

We aren’t sure where this phase of the journey will take us.  But, we do know that patience and determination is the best path forward.  As each of these sponsorship pieces fall into place, we are closer to making our vision a reality.  Stay tuned as we continue to build our corporate sponsorship team through product placement and social responsibility efforts.