{"id":1336,"date":"2008-12-17T04:16:00","date_gmt":"2008-12-17T04:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/12\/wwja-what-would-jesus-advertise.html"},"modified":"2008-12-17T04:16:00","modified_gmt":"2008-12-17T04:16:00","slug":"wwja-what-would-jesus-advertise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/12\/wwja-what-would-jesus-advertise.html","title":{"rendered":"WWJA: What Would Jesus Advertise?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>The wickedly good ad campaign<\/a> for a Certain Religious TV Station<\/a> (ahem) has just gotten a nice mention in the Gray Lady<\/a> — along with a look at how churches are using marketing to get people in the pews: <\/p>\n

The most visible current campaign is an assertive effort from the Collegiate Churches of New York, with a budget estimated at more than $1 million. The campaign is being described as the first from the church to use a variety of media, including television, print, posters and the Internet. <\/p>\n

There is even an eye-catching tactic that Collegiate is calling reverse graffiti: The theme and logo of the campaign, \u201cPositive and inclusive,\u201d along with the church\u2019s Web address, are power-washed into a dirty spot on a sidewalk, usually near a phone kiosk or bus shelter displaying a poster from the campaign.<\/p>\n

The Rev. Robert Chase, the founding director of Intersections, a multicultural and multifaith initiative of Collegiate, acknowledged that the church is \u201cusing a variety of techniques from the advertising world\u201d to help disseminate \u201ca sacred message.\u201d<\/p>\n

After all, Mr. Chase said, Jesus \u201cpreached in parables, which are a story-telling technique.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think advertising is simply a technique; it\u2019s value neutral,\u201d Mr. Chase said. \u201cIt can be used to exploit, or it can be used to promote positive messages.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what this campaign is selling \u201cis certainly more of an enduring product than the latest potato chip,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The timing of the campaign makes sense, Mr. Chase said, because \u201cthere\u2019s a higher interest in the church than at other times of the year, which filters into the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the timing with the financial crisis, that is a coincidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was in place before the economy crashed,\u201d Mr. Chase said. \u201cGod works in strange ways, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who are at a loss right now are looking for a sense of community, a place to have some of the larger questions about the meaning of life answered,\u201d he added. \u201cWe want to be sure those folks have a place they can call home.\u201d<\/p>\n

The campaign\u2019s theme is expressed in ads that carry headlines like \u201cYou\u2019re invited. So are your questions,\u201d \u201cFaith is a verb,\u201d \u201cYou don\u2019t have to accept everything to be accepted\u201d and \u201cDiversity is what unites us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ads promote the four churches of Collegiate \u2014 Fort Washington Collegiate Church, Marble Collegiate Church, Middle Collegiate Church and West End Collegiate Church \u2014 as \u201cunited in social justice, affirmation and spiritual growth\u201d and invite people to \u201cfind your own faith in a welcoming, supportive community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Web site was created by the New York office of an interactive agency, Gravitate Design Studio. The media planning and buying for the campaign are being handled by the Ingenuity Media Group. The campaign was created by Gotham, a New York agency that is part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, which created campaigns for the United Church of Christ.<\/p>\n

The Collegiate campaign is meant to be \u201cnot preachy,\u201d said Peter McGuinness, chairman and chief executive at Gotham, to underline the intended message that \u201cwhoever you are, you have a place in a church that\u2019s nonjudgmental and inclusive and diverse in its views.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reinforcing the lighter side of the campaign, in addition to the reverse graffiti, are T-shirts, umbrellas and coffee mugs bearing the \u201cPositive and inclusive\u201d theme and logo, a plus sign inside a pair of brackets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re also doing pew pads,\u201d Mr. McGuinness said, laughing.<\/p>\n

That kind of humor is also being displayed in a campaign to rebrand a cable channel owned by Trans Video Communications that is affiliated with the Catholic Archdiocese of Brooklyn. The channel, formerly the Prayer Channel, is now known as Net, for New Evangelization Television.<\/p>\n

The campaign, by Cesario Migliozzi in Los Angeles, features an unusual spokesman for religious television: the Devil.<\/p>\n

He urges viewers to eschew \u201cgood TV\u201d for \u201cbad TV\u201d like \u201creality shows with mindless plots\u201d and \u201coffensive\u201d music video clips.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could have easily said, \u2018Net is the network you\u2019ve been praying for,\u2019 but we need to get eyeballs,\u201d said Michael Migliozzi, partner and creative director at Cesario Migliozzi. \u201cThe idea of having a little devil telling you not to do it would be a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

The campaign for Net, with a budget estimated at less than $200,000, includes TV and radio commercials, ads on buses and a diabolical Web site (stopgoodtv.com<\/a>) in addition to the channel\u2019s regular Web site (netny.net<\/a>).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The wickedly good ad campaign for a Certain Religious TV Station (ahem) has just gotten a nice mention in the Gray Lady — along with a look at how churches are using marketing to get people in the pews: The most visible current campaign is an assertive effort from the Collegiate Churches of New York,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-my-world"],"yoast_head":"\nWWJA: What Would Jesus Advertise? - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/12\/wwja-what-would-jesus-advertise.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WWJA: What Would Jesus Advertise? 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