Episcopal Press and News
OHIO: Look up -- there's a sign from God
Episcopal News Service. March 9, 2010 [030910-02]
Pat McCaughan
The Diocese of Ohio is counting on people looking up for signs from God.
In this case, four of them -- 23-foot by 10-foot, eco-friendly blue and white billboards strategically positioned in high-traffic areas in Cleveland, Akron and Toledo that convey the good news of the Episcopal Church:
"Welcome, regardless."
"God loves you -- no exceptions."
"Love God. Love your neighbor. Change the world."
"If you're looking for a sign from God, here it is."
And, beneath each message, a familiar tagline: "The Episcopal Church Welcomes You," along with the Episcopal shield and the diocesan website.
Part of a new advertising campaign by the diocese, the four billboards went up at the beginning of February. In little more than a month's time, they've ignited enthusiasm and "sparked requests for matching yard signs for churches, not only from around the diocese but also a few requests from churches outside the diocese," said Martha Wright, diocesan director of communications.
The goal: heightened awareness of the Cleveland-based diocese, located in northern Ohio, Wright said.
The signs also are movable and will be placed in different locations that "we want to target ... for about six months," Wright said.
It's all part of a marketing campaign that also combines teaching evangelism and learning to tell faith stories in appropriate settings, Wright said.
The campaign grew out of research with randomly selected groups of people -- some Episcopalian, some not -- who were asked what they knew about the Episcopal church.
"We were interested in their spiritual lives," Wright said. "Most people, who were randomly chosen and not necessarily Episcopalian, said 'we don't even know what the Episcopal Church is.' Or, the ones who did know would say things like 'Catholic-lite. Or, they're 'those people who are having all the trouble with sex.' But, for the most part ... people didn't even know what we were, didn't have anything to attach to us.
"Our purpose was to raise our profile so people would begin to hear about us."
The billboards were staff-designed; an advertising agency scouted the locations. The cost varies depending on the location, but has ranged a total of $800 a month for all four locations, according to Wright.
The diocese opted for a new approach because group advertising typically announcing service times during Christmas, Holy Week and Easter, just didn't seem to be getting the same "bang for the buck" in traditional print media anymore, Wright said.
Amanda Nicol, assistant director of development for the United Methodist Church and a parishioner at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, in Lyndhurst, Ohio, called the campaign exciting.
"I'm excited to see us being bold," said Nicol, 31. But she wanted to take it a step further. She came up with the idea to connect the billboards to local congregations by replicating them as yard signs.
The idea has taken off and the yard signs are on order.
Still other congregations, such as St. Timothy's Church in Perrysburg, are planning to take the lawn signs home.
St. Timothy's communications director Mindy Withrow said the church has ordered 25 lawn signs, for the church and also for parishioners' front yards.
"We have talked about creating yard signs that parishioners could take home and put in their front yards to let their neighbors know who they are and maybe invite them to ask about God. So, when the diocese decided to offer these, we thought it was a great idea," said Withrow in a telephone interview March 8.
While billboards and yard signs "are not as important as warm genuine effective follow-up with visitors or making sure that we appropriately invite newcomers into the life of the parish" they just might start a conversation, said Withrow recently.
"Those kinds of things are more important in the long run for parish growth but part of the process is letting our neighbors know we're here and that our doors are open to them. The billboard and yard signs are part of that process."
She is awaiting receipt of the order, to see if local lawns are dotted with Episcopal Church signs.
"I don't know that we can measure the results of it [the advertising campaign] at all but I do think it is all part of the process -- letting people know we're here in their neighborhoods and that we welcome them," she said.
It also helps congregations to know that "we're not in it alone," she added. "That it's not all up to us to build up our numbers. We don't want to be too complacent at the parish level and expect anyone to do the work for us, but when you know there's an effort behind you, it does raise the excitement level."
"I'm hoping that, when I present the initial 25 on order to the parish, there will be a mad rush for people to run home and plant them in their yards."
Excitement is exactly what's happened since the advertising campaign began, said Wright. The demand for church lawn signs has "happened very fast. We just put a notice on our website last week and we've already received close to 100 requests" for the yard signs from individuals and congregations.
Wright said the diocese is also considering radio advertising, starting with the back-to-school season this fall. "We will couple it with traffic reports, so the traffic report will be brought to people by the Diocese of Ohio with a 15-second message.
"We're learning as we go along," Wright said about the campaign.
After six months, the diocese plans to evaluate the campaign but already, "it's created excitement and energy," Wright said. "I'm amazed at how thrilled our parishioners seem to be about it. They're very glad their church is being advertised in this way."
She said Ohio Bishop Mark Hollingsworth Jr. also came up with a bumper sticker that's been reordered several times already: "I am Episcopalian. Ask me about God."
"I'm just thrilled about how proud our people are of being Episcopalian and how much they want other people to know about their church," she said.
The Diocese of Ohio encompasses 91 congregations representing about 19,000 Episcopalians in the northern half of the state.