• by August 10, 2005

Now ordinarily, the Minute doesn't get into religious issues, but when they dovetail with advertising, marketing, and media, well, all bets are off.

Take the example of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a Protestant denomination that traces its roots back to the pilgrims. Today, the UCC is a vibrant and growing church that is anxious to let people know that it welcomes everyone - no matter where they are in their life's journey, no matter how lapsed from religion. That means the UCC welcomes gays and lesbians, transgendered people, those who haven't set foot in a church since they were 6-years-old, and any other circumstance imaginable. In fact, UCC's TV ads say, "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we."

The UCC, under the banner of the "Stillspeaking Initiative," is preparing to launch a new ad campaign in December to remind people that it has an open door policy. The UCC encountered controversy over an ad it tried to air on ABC, CBS, and NBC last December. The networks rejected the spot presumably because it depicted gay men attempting to enter a church and a bouncer barring their entry. ABC told the UCC that it doesn't allow religious advertising, then went on to air a "Focus on the Family" ad this spring. Smells like hypocrisy to us, or just smells like the Bush administration.

The big networks' rejection of the ad, created by Gotham, New York, didn't stop the UCC. The church bought $1.5 million in media on cable networks including ABC Family, AMC, A&E, BBC, BET, CNN, The History Channel, Nick at Nite, TBS, TNT, and others. Interestingly, even Fox accepted the ad which ran from Dec. 1 to Dec. 26.

"The goal is simply to let people know we're there. We're saying that we'll accept you if you are rejected by others," says Ron Buford, director of the UCC's Stillspeaking Initiative.

The UCC is targeting people from 25 to 50, or simply anyone who is alienated and disaffected with the church-going experience, or simply indifferent. The church has 1.4 million members in the United States and nearly 6,000 churches.

Visiting New York to take a look at preliminary storyboards for its next TV spot, Buford says the UCC is prepared to do a cable-only campaign if forced. The estimated campaign spend is $3 million.

The networks' rejection of the ad helped the UCC rack up tons of publicity across all media. Buford says more than 1 million people visited the Web site Stillspeaking.org since last December and 275,000 of those entered their city or ZIP code to find a church near them. Prior to the campaign, Buford says the UCC had only 3,000 to 4,000 visitors per month to the site.

You can view the UCC ads here.