Episcopal News Service has announced the latest in a series of tv ads for the Episcopal Church -- this time oriented toward the concerns of unchurched 30s-40s.
oung 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.