Can advertising sell Jesus? A new Irish made €1 million multimedia campaign breaks on RTÉ, TV3, UTV, Channel 4 and Sky next Monday in an attempt to do just that.
The testimonial advertisements show people whose lives have been changed through their Christian belief, and the budget and media strategy make it the biggest religious advertising campaign ever aired here.
At the corner of the screen is the logo for Power to Change, a ministry for Campus Crusade for Christ, the gospel-promoting organisation founded in Canada in the 1950s.
The campaign is being funded by a cross-Border consortia of business people who saw how the Canadian organisation used the media to sell their message and decided to copy it.
"The church here has done a bad job in terms of PR," says Mr Basil Good, a Dublin-based businessmen who was prompted to instigate the campaign by a personal desire to "stop the trend in the decline in Christian values and commitment".
Most of the funding came from a handful of "high-worth individuals", according Mr Good, whose business interests include Isaacs hostel in Dublin.
Other members in the committee behind the campaign include financial consultant Mr Paddy Monaghan, IT consultant Mr Joe Kelly, and Mr Tom MacGuinness, the 2001 Ernst & Young Industry Entrepreneur of the Year. Chairman of the Northern Ireland committee is the Belfast accountant Mr Michael Fitch. "We went with the Power to Change brand name, but this is an ad-hoc group formed simply for this media campaign," says Mr Good, adding that there is no formal link between the Irish committee and the Canadian group. However, the Irish campaign appears to be part of the Power to Change strategy and it features on its website.
The testimonial advertisements finish with a direct response message urging people to either telephone or go online to the Power to Change website to request an information pack. Some 75,000 packs are ready for distribution. Part of the offer is a 25 per cent discount voucher off the price of a bible.
The campaign was devised by Belfast communications agency Fire Imc and the commercials will also be shown in 450 cinemas, North and South. The outdoor campaign includes 400 poster sites all around Ireland as well as on 250 Dublin Bus sides.
The face-to-camera testimonials feature a young Irish female student who talks of being close to suicide before finding God, a Dublin youth worker who had been a drug addict and a man whose son was killed in Northern Ireland by terrorists.
The advertising strategy of Power to Change in Canada includes testimonials from sports celebrities and the Irish campaign features golfer Bernhard Langer. Clannad singer Maire Brennan's testimonial is included in the printed publicity material.
The committee have also liaised with the main Christian churches to organise "specially branded" events to coincide with the advertising campaign.
A key factor in any advertising campaign and particularly one that spends €1 million in a month is measurability. Mr Good admits that this will be difficult although, presumably, the demand for information packs should give the organisers an idea of how effective their communication message is.
"The concept of using the media to communicate a Christian message is not new," says Mr Good.
The average media spend per head of population in developed markets is $250 (€255), according to Mr Peter Davis, managing director of McCann-Erickson WorldGroup Dublin. He added that, in Ireland, the spend is approximately $180 per head. This, he said, indicates that there is room for growth despite the current downturn.
Mr Davis was speaking at the September Marketing in Action seminar organised by the Marketing Institute.
He warned that times are about to get tougher and that marketers needed "to raise their game, work harder and adopt a new set of marketing rules".
He predicted that the marketing communications industry will continue to the grow in the next five years in Ireland but that the ratio of advertising spending to spending on below-the-line activity will also change from 70:30 to 50:50.
Baileys has introduced a €250,000 single-serving brand extension. Baileys Minis will be aimed at 24-35-year-old females and supported by an advertising campaign devised by J. Walter Thompson.
For the launch, they've rolled out the marketing speak and the bottles are for home use for "informal and personal treat moments". The new product will "extend the occasionality" of the brand and position it as an "everyday product".
C&C has repackaged its Tayto crisp brand with a more modern-looking pack that focuses on brand icon Mr Tayto. The company has invested €1 million in the new look and campaign launch. The brand's recently appointed advertising agency, Young, has devised the outdoor and television campaign to advertise the new pack and the brand's new flavours, chicken curry and chilli.
