wfn.org | [ENS] Gen-X TV spots, NPR options widen national advertising

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Friday, June 24, 2005

Gen-X TV spots, NPR options widen national advertising

Dioceses, congregations share in new initiatives

ENS 062405-1

[ENS] -- Young adults facing everyday challenges are the focus of new
television spots inviting viewers to visit the Episcopal Church.

Designed for a target audience of Generation-X viewers unaffiliated with
any
church, three new 30-second ads are scheduled to air on national
television
in English and Spanish in late August, early September, and next May.
Air
time is also planned for overseas dioceses.

National air dates and stations will be announced as they are confirmed
through the Office of Communication at the Episcopal Church Center.

Dioceses and congregations are joining the initiatives by purchasing
local
and regional air time under a process coordinated by the Atlanta-based
Episcopal Media Center (phone: 800.229.3788). The overall initiative is
funded by a total of $750,000 allocated by General Convention in 2003.

Individual donors will also have the opportunity to make online
contributions to assist with the purchase of air time, a measure
approved
June 16 by Executive Council. This service will be launched on the
Episcopal
Church website in July.

The ad concepts are based on some two years of market research,
including
focus testing conducted in May by an independent Indiana firm. The
Office of
Communication has teamed with the Boston-based Partners+Simons agency in
producing the spots.

The May 2006 ad features the Rev. Paige Blair, 35, rector of St.
George's
Church in York Harbor, Maine, and follows a script that encourages
church
attendance as a source of grounding amid life's challenges. The ad opens
in
the church yard of St. George's with Blair gardening, not immediately
identified as the parish priest. The ad gradually reveals her role as
the
congregation's rector, and closes with the invitation: "The Episcopal
Church
Welcomes You: Come and Grow," listing a related website specifically
designed for Gen-X visitors.

This summer's upcoming August-September ads are timed for the
back-to-school
season, a decision based on research which confirms that Gen-X viewers
give
attention to important life issues and organization during this period.
Produced in English and Spanish, the back-to-school ads make their case
by
portraying -- on a series of television monitors -- the memories and
prayers
of four persons, one of whom is dealing with realities of military
deployment, another with a hospitalized child, another with overdue
bills,
and another haunted by an automobile accident. The ads subtly invite
viewers
to address their anxieties in the context of prayer and church
attendance.

The back-to-school spots were taped inside St. John's Church in Beverly
Farms, Massachusetts, and conclude with the "Come and Grow" invitation
and
website.

Not designed for church-goers

"Episcopalians should preview the ads with the realization that the
spots
are not aimed to reach people who are already church members," said Mike
Collins, broadcast and multimedia director at the Church Center. "Market
research and focus testing has shaped the new spots for a specific
demographic group, Gen-X people who do not attend church. Their
perspectives
are very different from the lenses of people of other ages and
considerable
experience with the Episcopal Church."
Final footage of the back-to-school ads, and a storyboard of the May
2006
ad, is posted online at the visitors website, www.comeandgrow.org, with
more
information on advertising at www.episcopalchurch.org/adcollaborative.

Also posted there are related print ads, and additional seasonal TV
spots
set to repeat this coming Thanksgiving and Christmas season on CNN
Headline
News and Airport Channel. Work continues on a radio ad to complement the
"monitors" TV and print concepts.

Michigan diocese, NPR build partnership

"New ways in which dioceses and congregations are implementing local
advertising initiatives is one success sparked by General Convention's
national initiative," said Canon Robert Williams, director of
communication
for the Episcopal Church.

The Diocese of Michigan's partnership with National Public Radio is one
leading example, and one that can be replicated elsewhere in the
country,
Williams said. Through a regional sponsorship arrangement, the diocese
receives regular mention in the course of NPR programming. Further
details
may be obtained from Canon Karen Bota, diocesan director of
communication.

Also strategic are new initiatives in Spanish, Williams said. "This
summer's
new TV and print ads in Spanish begin to address this need, and we are
working now on additional concepts to provide as soon as possible. The
excellent radio ads produced in Spanish by the Diocese of Puerto Rico
and by
the Diocese of Utah are model resources and much appreciated in this
effort."

Other model initiatives in English include local ads produced by the
Diocese
of Southern Ohio, site of the upcoming 2006 General Convention. The
Diocese
of Texas offers a variety of advertising and media resources and the
award-winning "Discovery Series" for seekers. The Diocese of Washington
(D.C.) has also produced ads for movie theaters, while the Diocese of
Los
Angeles offers large print display ads inserted in the Los Angeles Times
during Holy Week and before Christmas. Links to these resources are also
posted at www.episcopalchurch.org/adcollaborative.org.

Under the new ad collaborative, matching-grant partnerships have been
formed
between the Office of Communication and the dioceses of Delaware,
Louisiana,
and Seattle-based Olympia. To assist with necessary market testing,
initial
matching grants of $30,000 have been allocated to assist efforts that
will
result in strategic placement and evaluation of national advertisements.

For example, researchers identify the Seattle and wider Pacific
Northwest
region as possibly the most "unchurched" region of the nation, while
Delaware offers a manageable testing and measurement system among that
diocese's 34 congregations. The Louisiana partnership taps an affordable
local program offered by the state broadcasters' association, a model
that
can be replicated in other regions.

Advice on strategy and placement is offered free of charge to dioceses
and
congregations by the Episcopal Media Center's executive director, the
Rev.
Canon  Louis "Skip" Schueddig, and colleague Nan Ross.

Schueddig is also consulting on advertising development with a series of
dioceses, beginning with Arizona earlier this year.

"With our 15 years of experience in guiding congregations and dioceses
in
how to mount ad campaigns, we are glad to be in partnership with the
Office
of Communication," Schueddig said. "We at the Episcopal Media Center are
prepared to guide leaders in how to identify the necessary professional
media resources in their local community. This is still a rather new
undertaking for Episcopalians, and we are here to help with the learning
curve."

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