A Tale of Two Church Ad Campaigns
by Mitch Lewis / February 2nd, 2010
Here are two ads from the United Methodist Church, the denomination in which I am ordained as an elder and endorsed as a chaplain. The campaign is called "Rethink Church".
By way of contrast, here are also two ads from the Catholic Church's "Catholics Come Home" campaign that has resulted in 95,000 inactive Catholics returning to active congregational involvement.
Hmm ... I think I am speechless.
Well done and evangelical ... in the best sense of that word.
Filed under: Observations
February 2nd, 2010 at 2257
Wow. Great ads by the Catholics.
February 3rd, 2010 at 1217
yeah, expecting the UMC to mention Jesus in an ad campaign, much less things like "trust in Jesus" or even language like "beginning a journey with God" seems reasonable on the one hand, yet a pipe dream on the other. What a wasted opportunity on the part of the UMC. Its not that I am opposed to asking people to reThink church in a broader sense - fellowship through sports or whatever, but to completely fail to represent church as a community with a common set of beliefs is to mis-represent the church completely. Sadly, IMO, for the UMC to really reThink church means actually asserting doctrine - how radical would that be for the UMC?
February 3rd, 2010 at 1442
Wow. These are dramatically different. The UMC ads are an embarrassment.
February 3rd, 2010 at 1522
What pains me is that the "rethink church" idea automatically says that the old way of church is useless. In the attempt to reach the lost for Christ, we forget that "rethinking" is not what we're called to. "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds..." In these samples, the Catholics have a better understanding of this renewal.
February 3rd, 2010 at 1701
If the UMC designed and ran 2 minute commercials, maybe they would be talky and preachy too. The 16 second ones are meant to "prick up the ears," nothing more.
February 3rd, 2010 at 2031
All pretty lousy from my perspective (as an ordained Elder in the UMC) though some other reThink Church ads are marginally better. Prior to ministry I was in the retail business world, and for one thing comparing 15sec commercials to a 2+ minute and 1 minute ad is apples to broccoli - as any advertising rep would tell you. They are not in the same ball field, or even the same game. The 15 sec reThink ads are geared toward the sound bite generation who may have little to no understanding of Church, while the long Catholic ads are geared toward those who, for the most part, have some basic understanding of the faith. The reThink ads here are probably not going to have much impact because there is "nothing there," so to speak. And what adult is looking to go to daycare!? Okay, well, it might work with the young mom segment, but it is so narrowly focused that it would be a waste of money in a mass media market buy. The Catholic ones are so long that younger folks won't stick with them to the end, and won't hear a message aimed at them anyway. (And my hunch is that the 95,000 who have "come home" - which IS a good thing - are primarily graying Catholics.) Where they all miss the mark is in presenting a compelling invitational message to emerging generations that either have no sense of Church, or primarily have a negative view of Church based on cultural impressions the Barna has well documented. While I understand Larry's point about wanting to support the "doctrine" of the denomination, that's something better done in a membership class than a 15 or 30 sec commercial. The idea isn't to educate or convert, or even name a set of beliefs, but to invite people into community. So the point about "community" is right on. As someone who has worked with media buys and an advertising budget, I wouldn't spend a dime on any of them. Time for the UMC to reThink the thrust of the campaign ! As one very successful campaign once put it "Where's the beef?"
February 3rd, 2010 at 2145
I like the first catholic commercial better but the second one is more about the church versus Jesus. They're both clear, though. I think the UMC is assuming way too much. If people aren't sure they're bing drawn to Christ, why would they come to a daycare and think that was church? I think the statistics bear out the fact that our expensive ads have done very little to actually get people in the door.
February 4th, 2010 at 0143
Yes, as a practical matter, I don't know when you would actually run a 2 minute spot. Even one minute spots are rare. And the target audiences are different. "Come home" is obviously aimed at those reared within the faith.
Thanks for all the insightful comments.
February 4th, 2010 at 0947
I wasn't as clear as I should have been - I didn't mean to imply to that the reThink campaign of TV commercials should assert doctrine, unless mentioning God, or (gasp!) Jesus is asserting doctrine. And I actually like the two 15 sec spots posted, they are just insufficient in my mind. I know there are more ads in the reThink campaign, and ideally, in my mind, at least one or two of them should highlight the church as a community bound by common belief, rather than a common physical activity like basketball.
I agree that the Catholic ones are too long and probably too preachy for effectively reaching non-lapsed-Catholics, but for their target, (retiring baby boomer lapsed Catholics who will have a ton of leisure time and financial resources, maybe starting to think about their legacies and/or mortality?), it probably hits home pretty well.
February 5th, 2010 at 2201
I get most of the comments people are making.
If we were going to do a 30 second or 1 minute ad, what would the "brand message" of the UMC be?
Open Hearts. Open Minds. Open Doors. was an attempt at a clear brand message. I think too many people thought it did not fit well for it to really work.
Holiness of heart and life?