@ Jess
Well, I did not persist but switced to HBO Game of Thrones instead.
Got no for an answer as usual and tried to get in touch with Carice van Houten, a Dutch actress who was participating in the series.
Unfortunately, she could only be contacted via her agent and these are too concerned about bad publicity and all that.
I am sure if I could get in touch with her personally, I could arrange for some Valkyries to be brought to one of the sets, either in Canada or Ireland. After all, these are people just like you and me and who doesn't want to ride along with a bunch of Valkyries one day, have a BBQ afterwards, etc.
You see, my aim was to get a sponsor to finance a completely restored Valkyrie that I planned to throw in a lottery with tickets for $5,- . The total cost would be around $8000,-
Now, sponsors are very reluctant to spend money on a target group of only a few hundred people.
So what do you do? You need publicity instead.
So my strategy was to approach public figures and companies well in advance.
You read up on their annual shareholders meeting and find something you have in common. So you mention a common interest and talk about the VRCC with over 20,000 members and international ties, invite the CEO to be the guest of honor at your Inzane dinner table for charity purposes. I always went straight to the top, otherwise you will end up with PR folks that have no real say.
Now these requests usually end up in a dustbin. Fine.
So after a while, you start asking the CEO that you did not get an answer to your (formal) letter.
This time, your letter will get more attention because they failed to reply to a possible customer group and CEO's don't like to get bad publicity. Remember charity is the magic word.
You don't talk about money yet.
I usually start with an actress, mayors or (national) beauty queen to be present as well, to break the ice for board members of these companies and let them know that you are serious.
9 out of 10 times you still get no for an answer but some CEO's will send your reminder to their staff with a remark to adress your complaint.
Now, you will get the attention you need and repeat your request with sponsoring for a charity purpose.
Timing is critical here, because you need to be in time when these companies decide on when and how to spend their sponsoring money.
If you are invited to present your case, even better. You go to the barber and travel to their HQ in a 3 piece suit. Act like a businessman, think grand.
You don't talk about pennies and dimes anymore but ask them to sponsor your Valkyrie. Bigger is always better, then you show that you mean business.
Hopefully, the PR folks have received a recommedation remark from their CEO, so they will cooperate more easily.
There are many ideas where you could get money from. I approached all the major fuel companies for instance, to sponsor the fuel that the attendants will use during their travel. I know that all these companies in the EU have discount tickets for expats, military people, etc.
So you adress your letter to some Sjeik and board member in the Middle East
Or ask some brewery to sponsor all your drinks and refreshments.
Or ask Honda to come over and show their latest models (and sponsor your event). If not, I followed up with a letter to the CEO of Honda Japan, complaining that the national Honda division failed to cooperate with you. Of course, the right wording and politeness is paramount.
There are so many possibilities.
Numbers is the key word here. If you send out 100 letters, you may get 3 or 4 for an answer.
To cut all this short, I managed to get the lottery Valkyrie sponsored and she was taken home by a happy French lady who attended the meeting.
