ReligionLink

Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ soars to blockbuster status. The final book of the Left Behind series, being released March 30, sets records for pre-publication sales. Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life becomes a best seller boosted by savvy promotions to pastors and churches. What film critic Michael Medved last year called “the flourishing subculture of Christian media” has flowed into the cultural mainstream.

Mixing sophisticated advertising with sacred purposes has generated impressive sales, along with debate about what’s appropriate. Chevrolet was criticized for promoting a tour of Christian music. Some squawked when environmental activists asked, “What would Jesus drive?” The United Methodist Church was questioned for committing $20 million to a five-year advertising campaign that it says has boosted attendance. Roman Catholic nuns and priests have turned to advertising to bolster their numbers.

Religious speech is in the marketplace. Many welcome it. Some say it’s necessary to compete. Others worry that it’s too exlusive in a market of many faiths or that it diverts resources from more important ventures. But as Mel Gibson plans another movie and public relations firms scramble to connect with consumers of faith, more is coming.  

Why it matters

In religious circles, marketing can inspire criticism and suspicion, but it’s also a formidable skill for hire that can bring success. Is there a tension between getting out a religious message and worshipping mammon? Can a particular religious message be perceived as more exclusive than inviting and backfire on a group?

Questions for reporters

Religion and commerce can make uncomfortable bedfellows. What do local religious leaders think about the need for marketing a message? Do they have moral or economic reservations about commercialization, or do they believe that it is an effective way of reaching those who need to hear their message? Has marketing worked for them?

Reaching congregations taps a receptive and organized network. Many churches booked theaters for group showings of Gibson’s movie. Study groups’ use of a book produces sales of the title. Have your local houses of worship purchased such best-selling titles as Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Zondervan, 2002), which has sold more than 13.5 million, or booked a theater showing? Ask congregational decision-makers how they decide on group events or book purchases. What influences those decisions? What sources do they trust?

Call local business schools and ask marketing professors what they think about faith-based marketing as a type of “affinity marketing” that seeks to sell something to like-minded people. Do they think that religious marketing can backfire?

Traditional evangelical Christian retailers have some concerns that mainstream retailers will pick off their business through selling select highly popular items. What is the experience of local Christian retailers? What is the experience of other local book and music sellers?

Are mainstream merchants seeing more customers asking for evangelical Christian products? What about the experience in other religious retail stores? What do religious-goods merchants say about what influences customers to buy, and who are their customers? Do they think that marketing has become more aggressive, as some have said?

Many congregations work with consultants, from those who craft their image in advertising in the community to those who help “sell” the congregations on high-dollar stewardship or building campaigns. How have such campaigns helped churches?

Skip to background

National sources

• Larry Ross is president of A. Larry Ross Communications, the Dallas-based public relations firm that handled media PR for The Passion of the Christ. Ross’ firm was one of a network of agencies that handled PR and outreach. Billy Graham is also a client. Contact 972-267-1111.

• Jana Ford Muntsinger is president of McClure/Muntsinger Public Relations, which handles public relations for projects by major evangelical Christian figures, including Pat Robertson, PhilipYancey and Max Lucado. The firm is currently promoting a joint venture between Lucado and the band MercyMe that features the musical group and the pastor-author in a film that will show April 20 in select theaters and on pay-per-view TV. Contact 804-754-2118, jana@mmpublicrelations.com.

• Paul Lauer is president of Motive Entertainment in Westlake Village, Calif., and was the head of marketing for The Passion of the Christ. He employed a team of 15 companies for the grass-roots campaign. Contact 805-778-1930, paul.lauer@adelphia.net.

• Bill Anderson is president and CEO of the CBA in Colorado Springs, Colo., the trade association for evangelical Christian retailers and suppliers. Contact 719-265-9895.

• Kelly Gallagher is vice president of marketing and technology of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, a publishing trade association in Tempe, Ariz. ECPA tracks Christian retail trends through a proprietary sales reporting system. Contact 480-966-3998.

• Rick Warren is author of The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Zondervan, 2002), which has sold 13.5 million copies. He is the pastor of Saddleback Church, a Southern Baptist megachurch in Southern California. Contact through Forrest Reinhardt, 949-609-8010. A good source on marketing questions at Warren’s Michigan-based publisher Zondervan is director of communications Mark Rice, 616-698-3205, mark.rice@zondervan.com.

• Charles Futrell is a professor of marketing at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, with an interest in faith-based marketing. Contact 979-845-5889, c-futrell@tamu.edu.

• The United Methodists are conducting a four-year, $20 million campaign that is using TV, the Internet and other media – including a billboard in Times Square – to boost attendance. Read an Oct. 30, 2003, story posted on TheJournalNews.com about the billboard. A study says first-time and overall worship attendance has increased. Contact the Rev. Steve Horswill-Johnston, director of the Igniting Ministry campaign, 877-281-6535, stevehj@umcom.org.

• The United Church of Christ is spending $1.3 million to advertise in six U.S. television markets until Easter in a test of its first national advertising campaign. Contact Ron Buford of the UCC’s Proclamation, Identity and Communication Ministry, based in Cleveland, Ohio, 216-736-2180. Gotham Inc. in New York produced the ads. Bob Adler is media director there. Contact 212-414-7012.

Background

• The evangelical Christian trade group CBA says the Christian market is $4.2 billion, with $2.4 billion sold through Christian retail, $1.1 billion through general retail, and $725 million sold direct-to-consumer and through ministry sales channels.

• A Feb. 24, 2004, USA Today story summarizes a variety of strategies and goods that went into marketing The Passion of the Christ. Check The Passion’s current box office gross, which stood at $267 million in mid-March.

• A spring 2001 article in Religion in the News, the magazine of The Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life, discusses a grass-roots marketing campaign for the Left Behind movie that flopped.

• An Aug. 25, 2003, New York Times article describes the proliferation of monk characters in advertising.

• In 2002, Chevrolet received criticism from some Jewish groups for sponsoring a tour that featured Christian personalities, as described in a Religion News Service story in the Nov. 9, 2002, Holland Sentinel.

• Christian-oriented music sales in 2003 increased by 6.7 percent in mainstream retail outlets, according to the Gospel Music Association, and the year included mainstream hits by performers Randy Travis, Stacie Orrico and MercyMe.

Regional sources

IN THE NORTHEAST

• Shel Horowitz is a Hadley, Mass., marketing consultant and author of Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First (Accurate Writing and More, 2003). He can talk about contemporary marketing strategies that “create a buzz” and the importance of being true to core values. Contact 413-586-2388, shel@principledprofits.com.

• Apostle Advertising in Salem, Mass., serves the Catholic market. Contact 978-741-0866.

IN THE EAST• Sharon Farnell is managing director of a faith division of Planned Television Arts, owned by the ad agency Ruder Finn in New York, which specializes in promoting faith books, religious organizations and contemporary Christian music. Contact 212-593-6337, farnells@plannedtvarts.com.

• Robert Laurence Moore wrote Selling God: American Religion in the Marketplace of Culture (Oxford University Press, 1995) and is chairman of American studies at Cornell University. Contact 607-255-6750, rlm8@cornell.edu.

IN THE SOUTHEAST

• Rodney Sampson is CEO of the Atlanta-based Intellectual Currency Exchange, which worked with Mel Gibson’s production company on outreach to African-Americans. The agency has several divisions that work with churches and faith-based clients. Contact 404-995-7076.

• Cameron Strang is the 27-year-old president and CEO of Relevant Media Group in Lake Mary, Fla., which publishes books on popular music and films and Relevant, a magazine aimed at young adults. He is a good source on marketing to young adult Christians; read a Jan. 2, 2003, article at TheOoze.com, a Christian E-zine. Contact 407-333-7152.

• The Rev. Louis C. Scheuddig is executive director of the Episcopal Media Center in Atlanta. Founded in 1945, its mission is to lead people to the Gospel through contemporary media. Contact 800-229-3788 or 404-815-0640, lschueddig@episcopalmedia.org.

IN THE SOUTH

• Nancy Guthrie is a public relations specialist in Nashville, Tenn., whose clients include the CBA, the Christian retail trade association, and Anne Graham Lotz. Guthrie also marketed Gracia Burnham’s In the Presence of My Enemies (Tyndale House Publishers, 2003). Contact 615-376-4430, nancyguthrie@comcast.net.

• Evangelical Christian publisher Thomas Nelson launched in the evangelical market a yearlong “It’s All About Jesus” marketing campaign March 27, offering discounts on new and previously published books as well as an “It’s All About Jesus” Bible. See a CBA article and a Feb. 18, 2004, article in The Tennessean. Rodney Hatfield, vice president of brand strategy for Nelson, says the program was inspired by The Passion of the Christ film but also reflects core Christian values. Contact him at 615-889-9000, rhatfield@thomasnelson.com, or Jennifer Willingham, jwillingham@thomasnelson.com.

• PS: Media Relations in Nashville handles Christian books and music. Contact Shanon Underwood, director of client and media relations, 615-498-2189, shanon@psmediarelations.com.

IN THE MIDWEST

• John Ross is president of Daybreak Communications in suburban Chicago, which distributes information to the media through gospel-net.com and The Religion Wire. He publicizes books and events. Contact 630-879-8828.

• Kelly Hughes is president of DeChant-Hughes & Associates in Chicago, which does media campaigns for authors. Her clients include major publishers and authors ranging from popular evangelicals John Eldredge and Philip Yancey to outspoken Episcopalian Bishop John Shelby Spong. Contact 312-280-8126, kelly@dechanthughes.com.

• Nancy Clausen is the marketing manager for Tyndale House Publishers’ Left Behind novel series. Glorious Appearing: The End of Days, the 12th and final book in the series of apocalyptic novels, had advance orders of 1.9 million copies, making it a best seller before its official sale date of March 30, 2004. Contact 630-784-5257.

• The Church Ad Project in Winsted, Minn., has provided marketing and advertising materials to congregations for almost 25 years. George Martin founded it. Contact 800-331-9391.

• Sister Carleen Maly is director of vocations for the Adrian Dominican Sisters in Adrian, Mich., who are running TV and billboard ads in March and April in Detroit, Lansing and Toledo. Contact 517-266-3537, voc@adriansisters.org.

• Sisters Mary Rochefort and Nancy Flaig at the Benedictine Monastery of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn., were involved in an advertising campaign to raise the profile of the monastery and recruit women for the order. Contact 218-723-6505.

IN THE SOUTHWEST

• Tim Abare is chief executive officer of OnCore Group, with offices in Tulsa, Okla., and Los Angeles. The firm specializes in the “inspirational market,” doing marketing and distribution for faith-based projects. Contact 918-583-0555.

• Tina Jacobson founded B & B Media Group, which has headquarters in Corsicana, Texas. B & B has worked extensively in the evangelical market. Clients include Tyndale House Publishers, Prison Fellowship Ministries and Lisa Beamer. Contact 800-927-0517 ext. 101, tjacobson@tbbmedia.com.

• Susan Ligon is CEO of the Dallas-area The Ligon Group, a publishing consultant. Evangelical author Max Lucado is her client. She can talk about branding as a way of making something visible to consumers. Contact 214-349-5530, ligongroup@aol.com.

• Marika Flatt works with PR by the Book in Austin, Texas, which promotes religious authors and publishers. Contact 512-560-678, marika@prbythebook.com.

• Eric Gormly is research chairman of the Religion and Media Interest Group section of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. He teaches journalism at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. Contact 940-369-5975, gormly@unt.edu.

• Daniel E. Stout teaches communications and media and religion at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and is co-editor of the Journal of Media and Religion. He formerly worked in advertising at the Houston Chronicle and has written extensively on religion and the media. Contact 801-422-7551.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST• Scott Evans founded Outreach Inc., in Vista, Calif., which advises churches how to grow and evangelize. It promoted Gibson’s movie as “the best outreach opportunity in 2,000 years.” Contact 760-940-0600 ext. 3217, sevans@outreachmagazine.com.

• Jonathan Bock is a Hollywood publicist whose Grace Hill Media promotes films with positive portrayals of faith and values. Contact jonathanbock@gracehillmedia.com.

• Gene Jackson is CEO at the publicly traded Kingdom Ventures in Minden, Nev., which includes a media group and product group. It publishes Christian Times Today and operates JoBasic, an Internet marketing company. Contact 775-267-2242, Gene@kdmvcorp.com.

• Craig Detweiler chairs the mass communication department at Biola University in La Mirada, Calif., and is co-author of A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture (Baker Book House, 2003). He has worked in Hollywood as a screenwriter. Contact 310-497-7204 (cell), CNDet@aol.com.

• Mark Joseph is the author of Faith, God & Rock ‘n’ Roll (Sanctuary Publishing, 2003) and president of MJM Entertainment Group in the Los Angeles area. He has worked in media for years. Contact 562-943-5808, info@mjm.biz.

• Bob Siemon is president of California-based Bob Siemon Designs, one of three firms licensed by Icon Productions, producer of The Passion of the Christ, to sell jewelry related to the movie. Siemon’s firm also produces “What Would Jesus Do?” merchandise. Media contact is Dwight Robinson, 714-662-6172, drobinson@bobsiemon.com.

• Kyle Liedtke of Mediatalk in Bend, Ore., trains authors and artists to talk to the media. He has worked with evangelical Christian clients, including Darlene Wilkinson, author of The Prayer of Jabez for Women: Breaking Through to Abundance (Multnomah Publishers, 2002), and musician Phil Keaggy. Contact 541-390-9594, kyle@mediatalkcommunications.com.