wfn.org | [ENS] TV ads: Online gifts will increase national air time

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

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

TV ads: Online gifts will increase national air time (English/Espanol)

ENS 081605-1

[Episcopal News Service] To increase air time for the Episcopal Church's
new
annual cycles of national television advertising, set to debut August
26, an
online system is now in place to accept contributions from individual
donors.

Fully secure credit-card transactions can be completed at
www.comeandgrow.org, the Episcopal Church's website for visitors and
seekers. All gifts will be used solely for purchase of air time to
augment
the core national buy, said Mike Collins, director of broadcast and
multimedia communication at the Episcopal Church Center in New York.

Approved by Executive Council in June, the online contribution system
follows a similar initiative through which the United Church of Christ
has
raised more than $500,000 for its current TV ads, according to reports.

The Episcopal Church's core buy, coordinated by Collins in partnership
with
Time Warner Cable, will air the new "Monitors" back-to-school ad
designed
and market-tested to reach Generation X viewers (ages 22-42)
unaffiliated
with any church.

The "Monitors" spot will air August 26-29 and September 9-12 in English
on
ABC Family Network, Discovery Health, Lifetime Movie Network, Hallmark,
and
in Spanish on Galavision (see related story). The ad will have at least
122
exposures during these dates. The channels were chosen for high Gen X
viewership, Collins said.

The new ads have been created as part of the $750,000 national campaign
funded by the Episcopal Church's General Convention in 2003.

Gen X was chosen as the primary target market on the basis of
consultation
among the Episcopal Church Center's offices of congregational
development,
ministry with young people, Hispanic ministries, and communication.

The ads employ the device of television monitors to portray personal
concerns-military service, a hospitalized child, accumulating bills, and
a
car accident -experienced by four Gen X'ers, and to suggest how church
attendance might aid in coping with these and other challenges.
The ads include an invitation to "change your channel" from anxiety to
peace, and bring viewers the message "The Episcopal Church welcomes you:
Come and Grow." The website www.comeandgrow.org is also featured at the
ad's
conclusion. (The ads may also be viewed online at the same online
address,
together with sample supporting print ads. A companion radio spot will
be
posted when completed.)

A new ad for Spring 2006 will also appeal to Gen X viewers using a theme
of
growing in faith. Recorded earlier this year, the ad features a garden
motif
and the ministry of Gen X priest Paige Blair, rector of St. George's
Church,
York Harbor, Maine.

The ad concepts have been developed through collaboration of Church
Center
staff and the Boston-based agency Partners+Simons.

Resources to help local congregations prepare to welcome and evangelize
Gen
X visitors and other newcomers were mailed to all church sites earlier
this
year. Titled "Groundwork," a new packet of materials is also scheduled
for
release this fall for use in Lent 2006.

The new back-to-school and spring ads combine with the Church Center's
previous Thanksgiving/Christmastide ads to form a complement of three
seasonal cycles of annual national TV advertising.

Congregations and dioceses are also buying local air time to augment the
national core buy, Collins said. Free consultations on purchasing local
time
are available by phoning the Atlanta-based Episcopal Media Center toll
free
at 800-229-3788.

Numerous regional local ad campaigns are also now growing in dioceses
ranging from Puerto Rico to Alaska, and in Bethlehem, Chicago, Delaware,
Iowa, Los Angeles, Michigan, New Orleans, the San Francisco Bay Area,
Seattle, Southern Ohio, Texas and Utah, among other participants, said
the
Episcopal Church's director of communication, Canon Robert Williams.

He said the Office of Communication looks forward to building additional
similar partnerships as work continues annually to widen the three
seasonal
ad cycles churchwide. New pursuits include exploring opportunities for
adding National Public Radio sponsorships, he said.

"The local initiatives show far-reaching creativity and evangelism
enhanced
by General Convention's commitment to national advertising," Williams
said..
"It's the local achievements are the primary success of the national
campaign. Together we're making a great start upon which we can
definitely
build and grow."