k Wi fA ' HANDBOOK OF I CHURCH ADVERTISIN G f: i FRANCIS H. CASE ill :! II k t S 1 U 1 _• 1, i . ' ' 1, tt ) ^tate College of ^griciiltuie af Corned ©nibasitp StOaca. ja. §. Htbrarp Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014106466 Wat iHijingbon Beligioufl! Cbucation QTcxtS JBabib (@. iiotDnep, (General Cbttor CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP SERIES NORMAN £. RICHARDSON. Editor HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING BY FRANCIS H. CASE THE ABINGDON PRESS NEW YORK CINCINNATI Copyright, 1 921, by FRANCIS H. CASE CONTENTS PAGE Editor's Introduction 7 Author's Preface 9 I. Why Advertise the Church? 13 "The capital crime against the gospel is to hide it" — The inherent value of the church — A definition of church advertising — Truth in advertising — Early reli- gious publicity — Motives in church advertising — Per- manency of form — Stimulating productivity — Winning the unchurched — The motive of economy — ^The obli- gation to advertise. II. Some General Principles of Advertising Applied TO Church Advertising 23 Attention, interest, conviction, action — Selling an idea — Meeting competitive attractions — Elements that focus attention — Life as an object of hirnian interest — Exaggeration a boomerang — Line upon Une — Obeying the impulse — Symbolism, a shorthand of ideas — Test questions. III. Who Shall Have Charge of the Church's Adver- tising? 41 Means commensurate with the end — Does a minister know how to advertise? — Lack of time as an excuse for neglecting advertising — Actual work by a com- mittee — Its value to the church — ^The newspaper ex- pert — asset or liability? — The business manager as advertiser. IV What to Advertise 49 Features of the church and its work that should be advertised — Press-agenting the preacher — Strength and weakness in the sermon topic — ^The emphasis upon the whole program — Educating the membership — Arousing the indifferent — The mood of the militant church — Advertising results rather than contemplated projects — Christian modesty in the use of publicity — Learning from others. 4 CONTENTS PAGE V. Channels of Publicity 65 The advertising power and function of the pulpit — Using the spoken word — "Minute Men" — Direct ad- vertising — The letter — How to write it — One-cent postage or two? — The Bulletin — Extravagant make-up — Second-class privileges — Display advertising to reach the unchurched — Paper appeals — Bulletin boards — Newspaper advertisements — Prostitution of the press — Centenary publicity — ^The local editor and the pastor — Motion pictures — Truth in action — The universal language — Parables of the Master. VI. Making Type Talk 87 Killing good copy — Improving bad — Some sample set-ups — Half-tones and etchings — Type as expression of character — ^What makes for legibility — All emphasis is no emphasis — Ideas rather than words — Table of type fonts and space requirements. VII. Adaptation to Local Conditions loi Discovering the constituency — Skill in taking aim as a prerequisite for good marksmanship — The search- light on one's own church — Identifying competitors' methods of attack — Locating origins — Dealing the final blow — Completing the task — Being Roman in Rome — The challenge of the community — Civic pride. VIII. The Seasonal Approach 119 Making hay while the sun shines — How one church plans its work — Holy days and holidays — Capitalizing the currents of community consciousness — The ecclesi- astical year — Religious values in Thrift Week and other established institutions. IX. National Advertising and the Church 131 Responsibility for means by those who fix a goal — Appeal of a national institution — Limits of national advertising — Team work — Unity of action — Command of resources — ^Adaptability to the wares of the church — A universal market — No conflict between local units — ^Furnishing direction for a campaign — Expert counsel — Supplying the materials. CONTENTS S PAGE X. The Budget: How to Obtain Funds 147 Making advertising pay for itself — The blessing of mounting costs — Desirability of direct returns — An interchurch budget — How to start advertising — — ^Putting the cost in the budget. XI. How Advertising Builds the Church 161 The boomerang of insincere advertising — "We must make good" — The folly of spasmodic endeavor — When a well-known church speaks — Increasing financial re- sources — Multiplying the points of personal and com- munity contact — Church membership — Community interest and service. XII. The Goal of Church Advertising 175 Identity of purposes — Advertising an aid, not a substitute — Means never greater than the end — Join- ing power and instrument — The strategic position of the church — In the country — In the city — Sharpened competition — The answer of the church — The rebirth of zeal. EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION The science of advertising, applied to the problems of church publicity, is not only a legitimate and fasci- nating subject; it has come to be a practical necessity. The task of bringing the work of the church to the attention of all the people of the community is an essential factor in the success of the church. Other and competing institutions have been quick to take advantage of the technique of advertising as perfected by experts. Such institutions are getting the crowds. Their increased patronage is due not to superior service always, but to shrewd adoptions of the principles and methods of advertising. The purpose of the author has been the preparation of a handbook which will be of greatest service to the busy pastor or committeeman who is facing imme- diate and practical problems. Many principles and practical suggestions included in the treatise have been wrought out in the experiences of successful religious publicists. Whenever practicable the original phrasing has been preserved, for it reflects the personal attitude as well as the thoughts of those who have felt strongly about this matter. The backlying principles of soci- ology, psychology, and scientific management have been kept in the background. The chief concern has been with their apphcation to the particular problems of placing the church effectively before its entire and rightful constituency. This volume has a distinct place as one of the Abing- don Religious Education Texts. Church publicity is essentially an educative project. There are certain 7 8 EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION well-defined educational principles that need to be followed in creating a favorable public opinion toward the church. This work might well be used as the basis of study in a community training school or in any other place where the vital interests of religious educa- tion are being considered in a series of study periods. To know the educative process as applied in this par- ticular field is an essential quahfication of the director of religious education. He wiU find this volume in- dispensable. Norman E. Richardson. Northwestern University. AUTHOR'S PREFACE The Associated Advertising Clubs of the World chose well when they selected for their motto the word "Truth." Dishonesty in advertising is suicidal. But "truth" also is a freedom-giving idea of which the church has been and is the special custodian and pub- lisher. What more natural, then, than that these advertisers should desire to see the power of adver- tising appKed to the work of the church? In 1916, at the Philadelphia convention, the Church Department of the Associated Advertising Clubs was organized under the direction of Dr. Christian F. Reisner. At that time the parables of Jesus and the epistles of Paul were not commonly thought of as ancient applications of the principles employed to-day in picture presentation and printed publicity. Yet the pioneers in modem church advertising preached their convictions with such apostolic fervor that church leaders are now asking, not "Is it possible?" but "How can it be done?" At the Indianapolis convention in 1920 it was pro- posed that the addresses given in the Church Depart- mental be preserved and made the basis of a hand- book for the nonprofessional church advertiser. Most of the speakers furnished copies of their manuscripts for this purpose and from them this book was largely produced. The experience and knowledge of these specialists is the best guarantee that the suggestions herein contained have merit. The combined counsel lo AUTHOR'S PREFACE of these men means values that could not be had in a book written by one individual. The subject is one that will lend itself easily to the classroom method. For instance, Chapter II affords large opportunity for practice in preparing advertising copy to illustrate the several principles outlined. The laboratory work which may be done with Chapter V is similarly hmitless. Planning of an advertising program, an advertising budget, the organization of a publicity committee, the preparation of copy for different ac- tivities or for the several channels of publicity — these are all practical problems that will suggest themselves in the study of the several chapters. To each of the contributors the compiler wishes to express his sincere appreciation for their complete co- operation. Special mention should be made of the untiring assistance of Dr. Christian F. Reisner, presi- dent of the Church Advertising Department of the Associated Advertising Clubs. Church advertisers will be forever indebted to him for blazing the trail. Much credit is also due to Professor Norman E. Richardson, who originally conceived the plan of this volume, and whose generous editorial supervision is responsible for whatever merits of presentation it may have. The church is striving to usher in a New Day and take its proper place therein. In sending out this vol- ume at such a time, the compiler cannot but pray that it will be a true servant of the Truth. Chicago, Illinois. October, 1920. The Ust of those whose Indianapolis addresses are incorporated is as follows: The Hon. E. T. Meredith, Secretary 'of Agriculture, and editor of "Successful Farming," Des Moines, ' AUTHOR'S PREFACE ii Wm. H. Rankin, presidentW. H. Rankin Co., Chicago, with branches in a number of cities. Merle Sidener, Indianapolis, chairman of the committee which searches out and prosecutes dishonest advertisers. The Rev. P. A. Heckman, pastor Catholic Church, Waco, Texas. Lupton A. Wilkinson, advertising manager. Baptist Forward Move- ment. The Rev. Chas. A. Alden, D.D., pastor First Universalist Church, Columbus, Ohio. The Rev. Carl D. Case, D.D., pastor Oak Park Baptist Church, Chicago, who recently raised $500,000 for a new church by adver- tising methods. The Rev. W. R. Warren, D.D., editor The World Call (Christian Church), Indianapolis. William C. Freeman. The most widely known writer of advertising copy in America. Herbert H. Smith, manager of publicity for the Presbyterian Church in America. T. H. McGrew, superintendent of United Typothetas of America School of Printing, which is supported by all printers in America, Indianapolis. The Rev. Horace Westwood, D.D., pastor First Unitarian Church, Toledo, Ohio. The Rev. Roy L. Smith, D. D., pastor Simpson Methodist Episcopal Church, Minneapolis. K. H. Fulton, president of Poster Advertising Company, O. J. Gude Company, of all the biU-board organizations in America, and of the two companies that own the outdoor advertising organizations of New York. Homer J. Buckley, Buckley, Dement & Co., Direct by Mail Advertis- ing Agents, Chicago. A specialist in the preparation of sales- letters. The Rev. C. C. Marshall, D.D., director of stereopticon, Motion Pictures Department, Centenary Conservation Committee, New York city. Herman A. Groth, treasurer, W. H. Rankin Co., Chicago. C. S. Clark, director of advertising, Interchurch World Movement. Mr. Clark produced much of the copy for the campaigns of the Red Cross organization. Fraak D. Webb, advertising manager of the Baltimore News, the first and most successful daily to carry page advertisements of church activities. Wm. H. Johns, president George Batten Company, New York, and chairman of the committee which conducted the government ad- vertising during the war. W. F. McClure, publicity director, Fort Dearborn National Bank, Chicago, and chairman of the Advertising Governing Board in America. The Rev. C. Jefferson McCombe, Methodist Episcopal Church, Benton Harbor, Michigan. James W. Brown, publisher of Editor and Publisher, New York city, 12 AUTHOR'S PREFACE the weekly trade paper read by every maker of newspapers in America. James Schermerhom, publisher Detroit Times, Detroit. The Detroit Times was the first great daily to declare that religious principles would govern its selection of news and sale of advertising space. Graham Patterson, president and publisher. Christian Herald, New York city. The Rev. S. W. McGill, D.D., campaign manager, Presbyterian Progressive Program, Nashville, Tennessee. J. T. B. Smith, publicity director Centenary Committee on Con- servation and Advance, Chicago. E. A. Hungerford, director of stewardship Interchurch World Move- ment and International Committee of the Y. M. C. A., New York city. The Rev. Christian F. Reisner, D.D., president of the Church Ad- vertising Department of the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World, and author of Church Publicity. I WHY ADVERTISE THE CHURCH? "A city set on a hill . . . ." "The capital crime against the gospel . . . The Inherent Value of the Church What Is Church Advertising? A definition The basis of advertising Early religious publicity Motives in Church Advertising Putting the message into permanent form Stimulating the church's productivity Winning the unchurched The motive of economy The Obligation to Advertise WHY ADVERTISE THE CHURCH? "A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." — Matt. 5. 14-16. "The very word 'gospel,' 'good news,' involves publi- cation, proclamation, dissemination. To hide it is to de- stroy it. There can be no light except by shining. There can be no speech that is not spoken. There can be no gospel that is hidden. The capital crime against the gospel is to hide it."^ THE INHERENT VALUE OF THE CHT7RCH "The church is the most potential institution for uplift and inspiration in the world to-day." It was nof a preacher talking. It was Merle Sidener, of the Sidener-Van Riper Advertising Agency, of Indianapolis. And there is nothing startling about that. It is not exaggeration. It is plain statement of fact. Whether one be an active propagandist for the Christian religion or not, even the most cursory examination of Christian and non-Christian lands, their past and their present, forces such a conclusion upon one. "We represent the largest firm in the world. We have the best goods. We represent the greatest cause for time and eternity." The Catholic priest^ who, doubtless, was familiar with one of the most gigantic publicity schemes in America, spoke for more than his ovm church when he urged that the greatest firm sell its goods by advertising. There is no question about 1 W. R. Warren, editor of The World Call, Indianapolis. ! The Rev. Fr. P. A. Heckman, Waco, Texas. 15 i6 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING the church's having what the world needs. But can it convince the world of that fact? Can it produce those goods on a scale for world consumption? Can it find or create the market? WHAT IS CHURCH ADVERTISING? Advertising is demonstration of values, not inflation. That is the principle behind the statement, "A satisfied customer is our best advertisement." The art of ad- vertising is the art of bringing values before people in such a fashion that they will be stimulated to desire and ultimately to acquire them. As such it is an educa- tive process. It seeks the stimulation of existing poten- tial wants so that they become felt needs. The basis of advertising. — Modern advertising is built on the word "truth." That word is the kejrword of the Associated Ad- vertising Clubs of the World. Fictitious and dishonest inflation of values is not advertising, unless negative advertising be so called. Publicity permanently aids neither business nor religion unless truth be told. Church advertising, in a peculiar sense, is the dis- semination of truth. It is the creation or stimulation of desires on the part of people not already connected with the church to belong to it, to participate in its activities, and to declare allegiance to the One who could say, "I am the Truth." It involves the creation of confidence in the church as an institution capable of meeting the demands placed upon it; in short, it is selling the church to the community. It is keeping the program of the church, its special features and its mes- sage, before all people. Early religious publicity.— It is not strange that WHY ADVERTISE THE CHURCH? 17 this method of dissemination should have been early allied with the "most potential upUfting force of the world." "When printing was invented, the Almighty intended that this art should be made use of to promote his glory and the salvation of souls. One of the first books printed was the Bible."^ The amazing thing is "the extent to which the fathers of Christianity surpassed their age in the field of pub- licity. If ever the flaming word and its distribution aided a great cause, it was in the days when the religion of Christ was passing from outlawry to become a world institution. However much less the inspiration may be, there is a complete analogy, so far as method is con- cerned, between the modern mission story, reaching the rural congregation through plate service in the small papers, and those letters of the early church leaders, conceived in prayers and sent with peril to the Ephe- sians and the Colossians and the Galatians."* The refrain in that militant hymn, "O Zion, haste, thy mission high fulfilling," suggests the self-propagating spirit of the gospel, "Publish glad tidings, tidings of peace, redemption and release." MOTIVES IN CHURCH ADVERTISING And yet advertising is in no sense a substitute for the real work of the church. The disfavor with which it has been viewed in certain quarters has been due to the false conception that advertising is an end in itself. It is not. It is primarily, and sincerely, a means to an end. The church has something else to do besides putting on an aggressive program of publicity. It ad- vertises because of its mission. There is a divine com- ' The Rev. Fr. P. A. Heckman, Waco, Texas. * Mr. Lupton Wilkinson, publicity director, Northern Baptist New- World Move- ment. i8 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING mission which it is bound to fulfill. The sincere and humble desire to serve makes it necessary for the church to bring itself and its work before all people. Putting the message into permanent form. — ^There is a sense in which talk is cheap. "The modem man does not expect to get information by hearing. Even when he attends a meeting he is apt to give indif- ferent attention to what is said. He takes it for granted that if it is worth while it will be put into type for him to read and preserve. It is hard for us to believe that a thing is of much importance until we have seen it in print."^ It is so easy to print that thoughts of real mo- ment are expected to be put into this permanent form. Stimtjlating the church's productivity.— "It is often as hard to get the membership of my own church enthused about the work we are doing as to interest people outside the membership. To those who are really interested, a mere announcement is usually all that is needed. But to those who are half-hearted in their interest and irregular in their attendance, more vigorous methods are necessary. The reason for half- interest and irregularity must be found and measures devised to meet the situation."® Advertising may not only serve to interest half- hearted members in the work that is being carried on, but it will also stimulate them to greater endeavor. When Christ said, "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine," he was touching a prin- ciple that works in all fields. Wherever a church ad- vertises a program of service it becomes a point of honor to complete it. "Our church has adopted a slogan which is at once 5 Mr. Lupton Wilkinson. » The Rev. Roy L. Smith, D.D., Pastor, Simpson Methodist Episcopal Church, Minneapolis. WHY ADVERTISE THE CHURCH? 19 a catchword and a challenge. We call ourselves 'The House of Happiness.' By keeping the idea before the people it has acted as a stimulus to make it a fact as well as a phrase. It has done much to increase hospitality and friendliness."^ The failure of an advertised program is particularly hard to bear. Fear of failure is not a high motive, but under some circumstances it is legitimate. Do not ad- vertise unless you really intend to deliver the goods. On the other hand, remember that pride and the thrill of participation in a real project unite to achieve a promised goal. Enthusiastic and loyal interest is created by an ever-challenging objective. Winning the unchurched. — "At least twenty-five millions of our citizenship to-day rarely attend church. Great auditoriums are half filled Sunday morning, and scores of them are not even opened at night. Motion pic- tures attract thousands, and then give little moral food, much less anything about religion. Many of the remain- der of the people spend Sunday in playing golf, riding in autos, loafing in parks, playing cards, and dancing."^ The effectiveness of the church in competing with other interests for the allegiance of this nonchurched multitude is strikingly presented in the survey made of two days in a typical city by the Interchurch World Movement. The other agencies whose attendance was counted included such institutions as the theater, dance hall, and pool room. "The survey disclosed that the total attendance of boys and girls upon these other agencies on a Saturday amounted to 2,780, while that of adults reached 7,372, 'The Rev. Roy L. Smith, D.D., Pastor, Simpson Methodist Episcopal Church, Minneapolis. 'The Rev. Christian F. Reisner, D.D., formerly pastor of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, New York City. 20 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING making a total attendance of 10,102. On the following Sunday 3,436 boys and girls attended church, Sunday school, etc., and 5,904 adults, making the total attend- ance upon church services 9,340. So far as the number of children is concerned, this comparison seems not un- favorable. It should be remembered, however, that the church attendance is confined almost wholly to one day of the week, while attendance upon these other agencies TWO DAYS IN A TYPICAL CITY Population 51,000 SATURDAY FOLLOWING SUNDAY THEATRES. DANCE HALLS. POOL ROOMS CHURCHES, SUNDAY SCHOOLS.ETC. WHAT OF THE OTHID FIVE? is spread over the entire week, probably reaching its maximum, however, on Saturday."^ Advertising must be looked upon as a means to attract this unchurched multitude to the program of the church. No matter how great the plant, nor how comprehensive the plan of service, nor how determined the devotion, these will fail unless they be presented so as to interest this group. If advertising has "sold" these people some other values, why should it not sell >B. S. Winchester, "Are We in Earnest about Religious Education?" Tlie Church School, April, 1920. WHY ADVERTISE THE CHURCH? 21 the church to them? Has the church a program that is too small? Has it too few selling points? Did the Christ give to us a commission impossible of successful presentation against counter attractions? "The new program of the church must be advertised until it is understood. Then it will appeal to red- blooded folk by its call to man's implanted love of service. One great denomination will not aid in build- ing a church which does not include a community plant. Recreation rooms, entertainment facihties, edu- cation and industrial training, Americanization programs, religious education — these are to be carried on appro- priately in country, city, and congested neighborhood. Keeping a church open only on Sundays restricts the appeal to the unchurched masses."^" The motive of economy. — "The most expensive thing about a church is an empty pew," for, as Dr. Roy Smith points out, "it costs no more to prepare a service for a houseful than a handful." The colored man who refused an easy opportunity to earn a quarter with the words, "No, sah, I don' need to earn no quatah; I'se got a quatah in ma pocket now,"^^ has his counterpart in those churches which are content to minister to less than capacity. Large-scale production in industry has been made possible by the increased demand which adver- tising creates. That same agency stands ready to reduce production costs and to increase service for the church. But there is another sense in which advertising means economy. "I cannot afford, to speak to such a restricted audience," repUed a noted publicist when invited to occupy a conspicuous pulpit. Through his press work he was reaching tens of thousands instead of the few " Dr. Christian F, Reisner. " Mr. Homer J. Buckley, Buckley, Dement & Co., Chicago. 22 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING hundred who would have been within reach of his voice. "Talk is expensive and Hmited both in its reach and duration. Printing is cheap and unrestricted. It can be multipUed by the millions. If it comes to you when you are busy, it will await your leisure. If you fail to understand it on first reading, or forget it after a day or a month, you can turn to it again." ^^ THE OBLIGATION TO ADVERTISE Here, then, we have the church, the most potential institution for upUft and redemption in the world. Its message is sorely needed by the individual. Its program, unconsciously, yet none the less surely, is demanded by society. Its own membership needs the stimulus of an ever-challenging objective. Millions of unchurched peo- ple must learn of its program. And all this must be done in spite of counter attractions which are now ahead in the game. Why advertise ! — "If men can weave dreams and fancies and phrases about an automobile tire until readers cease to visuahze corded rubber and feel the joy of swift, sure movement," certainly reHgion can use for its sublime ends the same powerful medium. "There are two questions which I should like to ask every church leader in the United States: "First: If there were a preacher whose name was as well known as William Wrigley or Henry Ford, is it likely that the preacher's prod- uct would be less used? "Second: What would become of the theater if that institution advertised itself only within its own walls and by half-inch advertisements once a week?"^^ ■2 Mr. W. R. Warren. " Mr. Lupton Wilkinson. II SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ADVERTISING APPLIED TO CHURCH ADVERTISING The Identity of Principles Principles Defined and Applied Attention is fundamental Awakening a sense of values Truth in advertising Aids to memory The power of suggestion The Use of Church Trade-marks What a trade-mark does The tests of a good trade-mark Some final questions II SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ADVERTISING APPLIED TO CHURCH ADVERTISING THE IDENTITY OF PRINCIPLES The fundamental law of all good advertising is that an advertisement must be seen, read, believed, and remembered. Those four words indicate the problem of the advertiser, whether his wares be spiritual or physical. Unless the advertising be seen it does no good. The first problem, then, is that of gaining at- tention. But although seen, unless the advertisement is read, it will yield no results. When read, the adver- tisement must be believed. No one knowingly surren- ders himself to dishonesty and deception. Then, if an advertisement is seen, read, and believed, the only remaining problem is to have it stay clearly in the mind of the prospect, and he will, in time, demand the article thus advertised. Two corollaries are immediately evident. First: the advertiser must know how to present his proposi- tion so that it will be seen, read, believed, and remem- bered by the class of people to whom he wishes to appeal. This calls for an understanding of human nature, a certain knowledge of psychology as found in the con- stituency of the church. Second: the more readily a proposition lends itself to terms that will be seen, read, believed, and remembered, the more easily and the more successfully can that proposition be put across by advertising. 25 26 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING How do the message and mission of the church lend themselves to an advertising program? The president of a poster company declares: "An idea can be marketed just as easily as you can market a piece of manufactured goods. The necessity of supporting a church is just as much a heart-and-mind appeal as is the donation of funds to a particular needy and worthy society. If people will go to the store to buy something they had never even heard of before just because adver- tising brought it to their attention, then these same people can be reached for the church — to attend its services and to appreciate its work. Why? Because it is easier to sell the idea of morahty and good works to a man whose childhood was developed along those lines, whose soul is seeking the better impulses. In advertising parlance you have a market of prospects susceptible to what you have to show them."^ PRINCIPLES DEFINED AND APPLIED Applied to our problem, these principles have been stated thus: "The church must create favorable atten- tion, develop specific interest, impel thoughtful investi- gation, and arouse strong desires by all the laws of psychology in acquainting and familiarizing the com- munity with its stock and trade. We have traded heavily on 'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,' as though it were a reKgious virtue to seclude the things of God and sacrilegious to expose them. It is perfectly astounding the enormous volume of business the church has transacted without producing samples."^ Attention is fiindamental. — The advertisement must ' H. K. Fulton, president of Poster Advertising Company, and president of 0. J. Gude Company. 2 The Rev. C. Jefferson McCombe, Methodist Episcopal Church, Benton Harbor. Michigan. ADVERTISING PRINCIPLES APPLIED 27 be brought into the consciousness of the person to whom it is directed. What we call inattention is, in reality, merely attention focused upon some object other than the one desired. Pure inattention, as such, does not exist in consciousness. Obviously, then, gaining attention to a desired matter is a problem of making one attraction stronger than another, and the difficulty of the problem is measured by the relative strength of the competing attractions. The mind can picture clearly no more than four things at one time. If it tries to hold more, the result is blurred. If less, the picture becomes relatively clearer and more distinct. Have some one write a headline of three or four words. Then one of six or seven words. Give each an equally brief glance, and note which you can reproduce correctly. Try the same with four numbers, four articles, or four units of any sort. Then put down twenty characters. The same ability to reproduce four remains, but there is no cer- tainty that anyone at all will be remembered, for there is no focusing of attention. This principle has immediate application for the advertiser. Whenever a single line is meant to be read at one glance it will express an idea in five words or less. Headline writers on the daily press have a rule that each deck of a head shall convey a distinct idea. Test your lines. Do you have a central idea? Does it dominate the page? In the advertisement itself no more than five ideas, and preferably fewer, will be developed. No adver- tisement should have "fifthly," "sixthly," "seventhly," and "eighthly." The same thing may be said of a sermon. If there is one big, all-sufficient reason why a certain individual should get into the program of 28 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING the church, impress it upon him so that it will never be forgotten. Force it into his consciousness so strongly that it will exclude other considerations. Do not scatter attention and lessen the apparent importance of an issue by suggesting a multitude of minor matters. The famihar gospel mission slogan "Jesus Saves," when directed to those who want salvation, is perfect advertising. It is one idea, stated clearly and simply, and it is the complete answer to the felt need. As an idea competes for attention its chances of winning are increased in proportion as it differs from what has gone before. Color aids. There is sound psychology behind the use of red and green lights for signaling devices on railroads. Nor is it a chance affair that red is used for danger. It is the greatest chal- lenger of all colors. Blood has the inherent power to gain attention. Green comes next, and black is third. Contrasts command attention. Novelty is a primary quality. Sameness deadens sensitivity. This prin- ciple holds for both mechanical arrangement and subject- matter. It is to be remembered, however, that a jargon of noises or symbols is as confusing as anything else. The very strength of this method of compelling attention is an indication of the chance for its abuse. Use shockers with care. Remember the boy who cried, "Wolf, wolf!" when there was no wolf. Again, of two ideas before the mind, the one will gain attention which is most readily understandable. In display advertising make the head tell the story. Fancy and elaborately ornate designs which hide the meaning are to be avoided. They do not focus atten- tion, they divide it. Trick advertising cheapens. For most people puzzles are not attractions; they are dis- ADVERTISING PRINCIPLES APPLIED 29 tractions. Too long has it been a hidden gospel. Christ constantly endeavored to get his message into the lan- guage of everyday life. So prepare your church advertising that it wiU be immediately understood by the people to whom it is directed. Awakening a sense of values. — Every successful preacher knows that the first task in introducing a theme to an audience is to translate it into the experience of his hearers. A connection when once established may make possible new development, but the primary relationship must be secured. The same principle is followed in successful adver- tising. Specific interest must be developed. The advertisement should bring to mind positive and pleas- urable associations. It must be human. Give your church advertising such a personality that people will be as glad to see it as they woxild be to meet a friend. Much chvurch publicity had been characterized by Mr. Graham Patterson, of the Christian Herald, as directed to "Maiden aunts with one foot on the grave and with mighty little real interest in life. Across the colorless pages you could have written: 'If there should be another flood, For hither refuge fly, Though all the world should be submerged This book would still be dry.' We need men on the religious press who can tell a good, wholesome story and describe an amusing inci- dent with a touch of the dramatic instinct and who are not above printing it. If your editor lacks humor, get a new one. Religion is life, and anything that pertains to life belongs in the church's program and in its publicity." 30 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING Withal the highest possible standards are to be maintained. The use of cheap humor is disastrous. It is the peculiar function of the church to point out permanent values and to pass over the transitory and fleeting. It is this which gives the church a tremendous advantage over the commercial world. It deals with eternal and universal values. It is intimately related to the deepest emotional experiences of life. Its adver- tising should take advantage of the fact. Truth in advertising. — ^Tell it as it is. Exaggeration is a boomerang. The church may here put in practice a principle which it appreciates in the nature of the case, but one which business had to learn by costly experience. "Honesty is the best policy." Paradoxical as it may seem, the disseminators of "Truth" need to use especial care at this point. "It is true that we can never overestimate the goods, the eternal goods, which through God's goodness we have at our disposal; but how often do we read in the pages that 'the Rev. So-and-So will deKver a sermon. He is a silver-tongued orator, the greatest in this sec- tion of the country,' when it is well known that he is a past master in the art of gently putting folks to sleep by his preaching."^ It is very easy to promise something which is not produced. Any reputable business is dependent upon repeat orders for its success. If the goods delivered do not measure up to what is claimed for them, the institution might as well close its doors. It will have to do so, ultimately. We live in an intensely practical age, and it is no less the task of the church to pro- duce the goods advertised than it is of any other respectable institution. ' The Rev. Fr. P. A. Heokman. ADVERTISING PRINCIPLES APPLIED 31 Complete sincerity is an important attribute of honesty. Certain unusual presentations commend them- selves as an aid to attention, but care must be taken to see that the idea is not too novel, that the theme is sincere. Slurs and sarcasm are always dangerous weapons. Keep your advertising optimistic, yet sin- cere. "A clergyman once gave his subject to the pub- licity committee as 'Are you a Man?' To his horror, they advertised it as 'Do You Wear Pants?' Freakish advertising is always questionable."* The crux of the question is this: Is the tone of the advertising warranted by the goods that wiU be de- livered? Do not advertise sensationally unless you have sensationahsm to deliver. The tragedy of mis- leading advertising with us is not merely lost business, but a toll in human Uves. Indifference is no chance affair. There are but three explanations of the unchurched in America. The first is that our message is not great enough, that it does not answer human needs. To admit such an explanation is to confess defeat. The other two explanations are inadequate presentation of what the church has to offer, or superinflation with inadequate production of the goods advertised. If our message is needed by the world, and the world does not receive it, either the people have not been properly introduced to it, or, having been introduced, they have found that it did not come up to what was claimed for it. Neither of these explanations is an excuse. Rather they are indictments. Honest advertising is the answer. "If you have nothing which you can advertise honestly, get busy, 'The Rev. S. Walters McGill, campaign manager, Presbyterian Progressive Pro- gram, Nashville, Termessee. 32 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING or get out of the business," is an admonition which need not be conJ&ned to one under suspicion for fraudu- lent promotion of worthless stocks. Aids to memory. — It is extremely important that advertising should have a cumulative effect. There is value in a name. Memory is built by repetition, asso- ciation, and cultivation of the apperceptive faculties. This does not mean that one advertisement should be an exact repKca of what has gone before, but there should be a sufficient number of recognizable elements in an advertisement to link it unmistakably with what has preceded. Educative advertising is essentially "Hne upon line, precept upon precept, here a Uttle and there a Httle." In these two advertisements there is some similarity. Both are clearly from the same church. Yet each carries a distinct message. One deals with "The Re- sponses of the Congregation," and the other with "The Music of the Church." But the reiterated message of "The Peoples Church Seats Free" will eventually come to the consciousness of the people in the com- munity just as "Eventually, Why not now?" will eventually come to the consciousness of the purchaser of flour, regardless of whether subsequent considera- tions lead to the purchase of a particular brand or not. Ivory soap is advertised in many ways, and with differ- ent textual and illustrative material, yet "It Floats" and "qqtVtt pure" always identify it. \4^^'iv^HYH^y^'iY^Y^Y^yr(^'iv^'iy^yrr^y^r^. i •!ai-:it §11!?^ S « « o «• e , u jq , u Id j5 tj-s 2 c - - 5 g i- j: CO - "5 ■- c « _ « lu "t oJ.S °i E «J c X 2i « i -^ ^ c 2 S-5 W S? > 01 C 43 Ed: §^ 5 5 9 -r i.g'l.ls 8 sJ i3 41 2 o a - CJ cj t) a CO j5 ™ to o ADVERTISING PRINCIPLES APPLIED 35 An advertising campaign, by arrangement of words, type, and pictures, should suggest a related idea. The text of forty words should suggest a sermon of one hundred and fifty. A headline should start a complete train of thought. "If my appropriation allowed me to purchase only four hundred inches in the course of a year, I should infinitely prefer to use eight inches per week throughout the year, than ten displays of forty inches each. Spasmodic advertising may produce results, but it wiU not produce permanent results." * The power of suggestion. — "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." All exhortations to right thinking have a sound principle of psychology for their justifi- cation. All thought tends to be reproduced in action. If I ask, "What is that crawHng object on the other side of the room?" your inclination is to look for it. The old game of "Simon says 'Thumbs Up,' " has its interest in the fact that the suggestion of "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down" is apt to be followed regardless of whether Simon says so or not. Hold your hand before you. Think of moving your index finger. Can you do it? The motor activity is the result of the mental stimulus. Much good advertising matter is weakened by the omission of a direct suggestion. "Go to Church" is a slogan of great value. "Hear the Music at Trinity" is probably better, for it not only gives the suggestion to the motor senses, but it accompanies it with an indication of the value to be gained by certain conduct. Most boys would respond to such advertising as this: "Can you swim fifty yards? All Scouts at First Church Can. Be a Scout!" "Know that handshake at St. Paul's" is another slogan with drawing power. A ' The Rev. Horace Westwood, D.D. 36 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING certain Western university centers all its advertising about the words, "Attend the University." When the Baptists of Oak Park, Chicago, undertook to build a church by advertising they saw to it that "in every advertisement there was a suggestion of something to be done by the reader. Partly, it was the announcement of meetings to attend, of addresses to be heard, of pictures to be seen. The interest aroused was given a chance of motor expression. Chiefly, of course, the suggestion was to subscribe. The aim was to repeat the idea so often that it would become a Banquo's ghost unless the reader jdelded. To produce by the law of suggestion, a restlessness until something is done — that is good advertising." ^ THE USE OF CHURCH TRADE-MARKS The significance of association and symbolism already has been mentioned. Their highest development is found in the employment of trade-marks. The Cadillac Motor Company makes a certain coat of arms carry the idea of "The Standard of the World." The Hudson triangle and the Maxwell shield are similar identifica- tion marks. To see them on a machine means that a certain performance may be expected. The Dutch Cleanser girl chasing dirt is another well-known trade- mark which has the particular value that in itself it carries a suggestion of the work done. What a trade-mark does. — AH use of trade-marks, symbols, and slogans is an attempt to do for an idea or a commodity what shorthand does for writing. It is to make something which is readily and quickly recognizable stand for a larger idea. The principle of psychology back of this is that whenever one element "The Rev. Carl D. Case, D.D., Oak Park, Illinois. "The average man sees the church lighted up — at night. A U^^hted church is more famiUar than a dayhght picture. For this reason we have used the lighted church. A golden orange color gives the hghted effect." ADVERTISING PRINCIPLES APPLIED 37 of experience comes to consciousness, the entire expe- rience tends to be reproduced. This thought is not new to the church, but it is safe to say that it has not been fully developed. Mr. O. J. Gude, of the O. J. Gude Advertising Com- pany, is quoted as sajdng that church steeples were the first form of outdoor advertising.^ Church bells are of the same nature. It should stimulate thought to know that a prominent manufacturing company, specializing in wedding rings, has lately adopted four well-known church edifices as the main feature in its advertisements which inaugurated a national selling campaign. The reason is obvious: those churches typified the wedding service. It would be instructive to go to the man in your community who has no church affliation, and ask him what church he thinks of when he reads the word "church." The association will be the habitual one. Likely it will be the one which is doing something that repeatedly comes to his attention. If whenever Chris- tian service is mentioned in your community, your church is thought of, you have been delivering the goods advertised. If no activity of any church has come to consciousness sufficiently that the public mind will associate some definite institution with the word church, what a golden opportunity there is for some home missionary work! "When you see an arrow, think of Coca-Cola." When you see a spire, think of a church. But does the spire stand for merely a building, or does it stand for the service rendered? Does it suggest a Christian life? "The House of Happiness" is an exceptionally good slogan, for it suggests one of the products of the insti- tution behind the name. ' Dr. Christian F. Reisner. 38 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING May not your church stand for so definite a piece of work, that its central motif may be caught up in a phrase or symbol and made to stand for all time as the embodiment of a permanently dependable ideal? The tests of a good trade-mark. — There are two tests for a trade-mark. Objectively, it must be of easy and certain recognition. Subjectively, it must be an unfailing guarantee of quality of service. The use of trade-marks is built upon confidence. A trade-mark must stand for something dependable. If a trade-mark meet the first test, and fail the second, woe is the busi- ness, for the s3Tnbol will then become a danger signal to the public. But if a trade-mark meets both tests, if it swiftly and surely s3anbolizes a church doing its full part for the advancement of Christ's kingdom on earth, who can calculate its power? Some final questions. — ^The bulletin of the Chicago Y. M. C. A. School of Advertising, directed by Mr. W. Frank McClure, now ia charge of the pubHcity department of the Fort Dearborn National Bank, and one of the original sponsors for the Department of Church Advertising in the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World, suggests the following questions as tests for good advertising: "Is it true? Does it ring with sincerity? Does it 'knock' or even slur? Has it too much novelty? Is the language too flowery? Is it grammatical? Is the wording as simple and direct as it should be? Does each word best express the meaning you want to convey? Can any part of your text be misunderstood? ADVERTISING PRINCIPLES APPLIED 39 Are the punctuation and spelling correct? Is there too much copy for the space? Will your text of twenty-five words or less make the reader think of a hundred? Does the illustration link up with the text? Does your 'ad' as a whole have the atmosphere of the goods advertised? Will it get your message across? Will the type set-up and the general lay-out permit the text to be read easily ? Will the 'ad' appeal (Meetly to the audience you want it to reach? In gauging the sales value of your text, have you put yourself in the reader's place? Will it sell the goods?" Ill WHO SHALL HAVE CHARGE OF THE CHURCH'S ADVERTISING? The Minister as a Sales Manager Knowledge of the proposition Knowledge of advertising Time for doing it A Publicity Committee Getting a committee The scope of its work An asset to the church The Advertising Expert Limitations of the ordinary newspaper man The business manager as advertiser Ill WHO SHALL HAVE CHARGE OF THE CHURCH'S ADVERTISING? Clearly, if the church should advertise, some one must carry the responsibihty. Any ecclesiastical gather- ing or organization which formulates a church policy has the obligation to inaugurate an advertising pro- gram commensurate with the task to be done. The matter of national advertising will be reserved for a later chapter. Here the direction of advertising for the program of the church in its community will be considered. THE MINISTER AS SALES MANAGER The traditions that have grown up around the office of the minister make it inevitable that, in many churches, he will be thought of as the one most able and available to carry the responsibility of the church's advertising. Knowledge of the proposition. — The minister who is doing his task wiU know the religious needs of his community and will know what the several agencies in his church are doing to meet those needs. "In busi- ness terms, the minister is the general sales manager of the church. He is under the necessity of knowing the facts concerning his market as well as his product. If his organization is not working to capacity, it is his business to find out why."^ There is no more profitable bit of self-analysis in the world for some churches than that necessary before advertising can be done intelligently and efficiently. It involves two questions: What are the religious 1 Dr. Roy L. Smith. 43 44 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING needs of my parish? What does my church have to offer? The minister can well afford to spend much time in studying the answer to those questions. The actual advertising may be done by the pastor, by a special committee, or it may be done by hired experts. Regardless of who does the actual work, however, the minister "should approve all plans, and in most cases he will supply the most valuable suggestions." "But," adds Mr. H. A. Groth, of the William H. Rankin Company, "the mechanical end of the advertising and the detail work should be delegated to those whose special duty it is to see that the advertising is planned and executed. This applies no matter what the type of advertising; advertisements appearing in the news- papers, printed matter as letters, cards, invitations, church bulletins, outdoor signs, indoor signs, and window cases." Knowledge of advertising. — Much as the pastor may know concerning the goods he wishes to sell, it is not usual to find one who has a great acquaintance with the principles and methods of advertising. And while enthusiasm and zeal are invaluable aids, they cannot take the place of technical knowledge of the game. The minister is not one whit worse in this re- spect than most business executives. Few of them are able to construct really good copy. It is done for them. The advertising solicitor, to-day, if he is even moderately successful, knows that he must be prepared to take data on certain goods and write the advertise- ment himself. When that is done, the executive and the minister may be able to tell whether it is well done or not, even though they could not have constructed it themselves. "It is high time some theological seminary should WHO SHALL HAVE CHARGE? 45 introduce into its curriculum a course in advertising, designed to induce more people to come to church; a course in publicity, teaching how the press may be utilized to give information to thousands where preach- ing reaches only scores; a course in the stimulation of reading, intended to inculcate the art of training others to read."2 Time for doing it. — "Frequently the minister ad- vances as an objection the fact that he is too busy to come down town and turn in his copy."^ This is a very practical problem for most pastors. Even if they had the knowledge to prepare good advertising, the time to do it would be a severe drain on their limited stock of time for doing many things. "The soHcitor meets that objection by agreeing to call him each week on the phone and take his change of copy in that manner. Or if the minister has no telephone, a post card will be sent to him, addressed to The News, so that all he will have to do is to jot down the title of the sermon and any other points which he wants to go into his copy. From this the advertise- ment will be carefully and attractively prepared."* Yet the plain fact remains that in hundreds and hundreds of instances the advertising will never be started unless the pastor takes the initiative. Neither scarcity of time nor imperfect knowledge of how to do it on the part of the minister, however, can remove the obliga- tion to advertise. If there is no one ready to take up the work, the pastor must begin it. He should carry into the task an intense conviction that his church is offering something needed by the community, apply all the principles of approach which he uses in his 2 Mr. W. R. Warren. • Mr. Frank D. Webb, advertising manager, Tlie Baltimore News. * Ibid. 46 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING ordinary ministry, study some compact and reliable treatise on advertising, and then advertise! A PUBLICITY COMMITTEE Immediately, however, the pastor should arrange to organize a Publicity Committee to assist in the details of the work. All the study of advertising which he can make wiU be of incalculable value in directing the advertising, even when the committee or advertising expert is ready to take over the greater share of the actual work of preparing the copy. Getting a committee. — There are few churches in which there is not some one who has been attracted by the possibilities of advertising. It may be a member of the local newspaper's staff. It may be some one who is experimenting with a mimeograph. It may be that the pastor will have to go over his lists very care- fully, but he can find some one who can be interested in and who will accept at least partial responsibility for the advertising of the church. The most promising field of discovery will be the men's brotherhood or the young people's organization. Here is an oppor- tunity for lay leadership and service. The scope of its work. — Some one person must be responsible. Assistants may be added and the work divided, but responsibility should be centered. Avoid a large committee. Two people carmot prepare copy together. Let one prepare, and another revise if it is desired to do so, but have one person plan and prepare the original. The experience and general reliability of the member- ship of the committee will determine, of course, how much work may be intrusted to it; but encourage its development by leaving to it more and more respon- WHO SHALL HAVE CHARGE? 47 sibility. The ultimate direction and plan of campaign, of course, will be in the hands of the pastor, except in cases where a real advertising expert is obtainable, one who knows the point of view of the church. In all cases consultation with the pastor will be necessary, and the more he knows about advertising the better wUl be his advice. An asset to the church. — Such a plan, quite apart from the direct and inherent value of the advertising itself, may mean much to the church in giving an oppor- tunity for definite lay service. Some energetic and ingenious persons may be used here who would other- wise feel left out of the church's program. Talents will be discovered and unfolded, and many an obscure church will find and contribute to the church at large a much-needed leader in the great field of church pub- licity. THE ADVERTISING EXPERT For many churches, the question of the regular services of an advertising expert is closely linked to the matter of expense. In special campaigns the ex- pense question may be met with comparative ease. For all cases the answer must be that "systematized effort pays for itself. Make the advertising a business proposition and you will have businesslike returns."^ The limitations of the ordinary advertising man. — In advertising with the daily press, the services of the advertising man are readily obtained in most cases. But this by no means solves the problem. The work of the advertising man may easily be somewhat slip- shod if the minister does not know what is good copy. When no direct pay is given for the aid furnished it 6 Mr. Herman A. Groth, treasurer the William H. Rankin Company, Chicago. 48 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING is only natural that less care should be taken than otherwise. In most instances the newspaper staff man has insufficient knowledge of the complete program of the church to make possible his formulating an intel- ligent and comprehensive scheme of publicity. Wherever possible "those who understand the work should have it in charge even if it means the hiring of assistants outside the membership of the church."® For many rural churches this will not be practical. In some city churches the same thing will seem to be true. The safe rule is that the church's advertising must be better than that of competing interests. Time spent in educating a friendly newspaper man so that he comes to appreciate the interests and policies of the church, is time well spent. The business manager. — Churches that are fortu- nate enough to have a business manager and a business office that is not the pastor's study (!) will have no difficulty in answering the question, "Who shall have charge of the church's advertising?" It is one of the primary functions of this officer to study the channels of publicity, to "play up" special features of the church's program, to interest a new and ever-enlarging constitu- ency, to cultivate friendly relations with the newspaper men, and to find out what methods of advertising are most effective. A word of warning is necessary in this connection. The commercial interests of the church, though ab- solutely necessary, must not be permitted to overshadow those that are distinctly religious. An efficient business manager is only the accompanist. He is not the chief artist. He should follow the lead of the minister in projecting the program of advertising. • Mr. Herman A. Grotb. IV WHAT TO ADVERTISE The Preacher Sermon theme insufficient Emphasis on service The Policy The mission of the church Advertise religion The Program Good copy Educating the membership Arousing the indifferent The thrill of the miUtant church The Product Results attract Proper modesty Learning from others IV WHAT TO ADVERTISE What features of the church should be advertised? How can one determine the aspects of the church's ministrations that should be included in its program of advertising? The answer to this question is not easily found, for the work of the church is often intangible. It does not yield to photographic reproduction. If a firm has shoes or scissors to sell, pictorial representations of these articles can be made easily. A cut of the church building may be used to decorate a church advertise- ment, but the physical properties of the church should not be made the focal point of interest, except as they suggest spiritual reaHties. Nor is the ordinary mind sure to catch all the rich values symbolized. Spiritual values tend to become hidden the moment they are forced into the restraints of material presentation. The heart and core of the church is spiritual. No man hath seen it. This sacred institution has inherited immeasurable riches of truth and an exalted passion to carry them into the lives of all who come within range of its ministry. It holds the impulse to go into all the world and make disciples. Its problem is this. In order to further this project, what phases should be advertised? THE PREACHER "Most churches in cities, whether from example or from other motives, advertise the man and his sermon. There are strong defenders of this type of advertising. 51 52 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING They may be right, but no one has brought forth the facts from a thorough investigation to substantiate the claims that this is the best sort of copy. "Except in a few instances, church advertisements have been written by pastors inspired with a desire to get larger audiences. Perhaps this aim is the reason for the large proportion of copy which advertises only the sermon. Of course the sermon is the weekly big job of the pastor. When he writes an ad he naturally thinks more of it — 'the newest thing of the week' — than of the general activities of the church. But the fundamentals of religion as applied to life are new to many of the folks he would reach. Sermon theme insufficient. — "To sell what the church has to offer to the community, more is needed than the mere invitation to hear a preacher talk on a certain subject. The theme of the sermon should be included in the church advertisement and readers invited to attend church. This takes the place of the coupon in commercial copy," or a request to send for a trial package. If, however, the entire advertisement concerns merely the topic of the next sermon, the reader gets nothing from the announcement. From a similar bank advertisement he would get some idea of thrift or the reasons why he should make a will. "The purpose of church advertising in newspapers, in outdoor posters, and in all general efforts is largely to reach those outside of the church. The members who come regularly can be told the week previous what the sermon subject is to be on a particular Sunday. The aim of church advertising ought to be to further the effort of the church, which primarily is the con- verting of individuals to Christianity. The 'market' for this idea is not the present church membership so WHAT TO ADVERTISE 53 much as it is that class which does not now attend church. The merits of religion and right hving should be set forth in the church advertisements which seek to attract their attention."^ Emphasis for service. — ^The preacher is not to be left out of the advertising copy, but the church is not primarily concerned with press-agenting any one indi- vidual. As a rehgious expert, the minister should be known to the community as one ready to offer counsel and spiritual guidance. As an interpreter of the best things of life, he should be advertised for his ability in that line. The major emphasis, however, should be upon the contribution which the entire institution is making to life. "Among other things the church has for sale: Companionship Opportunity for Commur Salvation from Sin nity Work Bible Study Comfort in Distress Community Uplift Instruction in Christian Life Service of the Highest Living Type Inspiration to Higher Ideals Only a few of these are vigorously sought after by the average inhabitant of the U. S. A. The desire must be awakened."^ THE POLICY The preacher often has been the sole subject in church advertising copy, for the simple reason that there has been nothing else to advertise. The respon- sibility for such a condition rests upon both pastor and congregation. Every church should have a policy and a program worthy of advertising. The reason why so many churches never get anywhere is because they 1 Mr. H. H. Smith. » Ibid. 54 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING are going nowhere. Seneca once said, "No wind is favorable to the ship which has no port." The mission of the church. — "Jesus thought it wise to set forth his mission clearly: 'To this end was I bom, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.' And again: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliv- erance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. . . . This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.' "^ What is the policy of our church? Here is a man whose childhood memories may be of dry, uninteresting sermons and disagreeable memoriter work in Sunday school. He does not attend church. Here is another who declares that his com- munity is overchurched. And he himself attends no church. Here is still another who looks on the church with a sort of benevolent patronage, considering it a necessity for burials and weddings, but in all things else almost a nuisance. Here is one who calls the church an institution for organized begging — but his contribu- tions haven't made it appear so. Here is one indifferent to the church because one church he knew was unre- sponsive to its opportunity, lacking a modem message. And he makes no effort now to know what the church is doing. Have we no answer to all this? The church as a vital institution with a necessary message must be brought to the attention of such men as these. The idea that churches thrive on cut- ' Dr. Horace Westwood. WHAT TO ADVERTISE 55 throat competition with each other must be replaced by a vision of church cooperation for one supreme cause. The opinion that church unity calls for the obliteration of denominational hues must be revised with an appreciation of the fact that an interchurch movement presupposes distinct churches as its com- ponent parts, each one serving those persons whose desires and temperaments it best interprets. The mental image of church members who "sing psalms all day Sunday and skin their neighbors all week long" must be replaced by one of men who regard all their tasks as God-given. The accusation of self-seeking must be given the lie by demonstration of unselfish service. And our answer must be placed effectively before the people we wish to convince. Advertise religion. — "The big problem is advertis- ing religion. If we can get the message into the hearts of men the church as an institution will take care of itself. Every manifestation of modernity in thought and tolerance makes for desirable copy. To news- papers, dogmatism is indeed pup-ism grown up. Thanks- giving services are a first-page event in Detroit every year because all faiths — Protestant, Catholic, and Hebrew — come together in this festival of gratitude. United in endeavor, the churches stand a chance for space; divided, they fall into the wastebasket."* Specimens of suitable copy are given on pages ^2> and 34. Other topics might be: Baptism The Church and the State Family Worship Tithing The Benevolences Pew Rentals « Mr. James T. Schermerhorn, publisher the Detroit Times- $6 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING Religious Education Church Cooperation The Church Ritual Sabbath Observance The Budget System Music in the Service The Church and Education The Church's Holy Days The Social Creed of the The Value of Worship Church The Bible Our Church and Community Development But we cannot stop here. The stereotyped church falls. There is an insistent demand for definiteness in service suited to the changing as well as the perennial needs of the people. Advertising calls for self-searching. If we have no more to advertise than regular services on Sunday, with a revival next January, advertising money is going to be wasted. This is no day for new wine in old bottles. A new life demands a fitting policy by the church. Does our policy meet the conditions? Is ours a city church with a rural program, or with none at all, or one that has no relation to the particular needs of the city? Is ours a church in an industrial center? Is our constit- uency composed of college students or of retired farmers? Is the church downtown or suburban? True, the fundamental message is the same for all, but just as the religious needs of a community differ so must the religious ministrations. Have a policy. Advertise it. THE PROGRAM Policies must grow into programs. If the policy of the Christian Church is one of ministry to life, there must be a program of action which can be effectively presented to the people for whom it exists. The problem of presentation has different aspects, depending upon whether the advertising is general publicity addressed WHAT TO ADVERTISE 57 to all persons through a medium such as a newspaper, whether it is directed to the constituency of the church by direct advertising, or whether it is specifically di- rected to those outside the membership of the church. There are, of course, certain features of a comprehensive program which are the same in appeal to all classes. Good copy. — The possibilities of general pubhcity through the newspapers with the kind of copy de- manded is indicated in the statement of Mr. James T. Schermerhom: "One downtown church produced fine copy by getting strangers together for an Acquaintance- ship Meeting every Sunday evening. The idea and the resourceful way in which it was worked out in an at- tractive program drew such crowds that the church had to beg the newspapers not to urge any more to come for a while. Acceptable stuff "There are thrilling stories of the missionaries, who come back at intervals from 'over there,' the mission- aries whom Henry W. Grady styled the 'stoutest apos- tles of the church.' "There are sermons in stones, books in the running brooks, tongues in trees, and good copy in the collec- tion box. How many foUow the scriptural tithing system? What sacrifices contributors with scant re- sources make to support the enterprises of the church. Causes to which the collected offerings are appKed, and the distant fields to which they go upon their errands of mercy, education, and relief. Here are possibihties for the feature writer deaHng with that part of church worship which prompted the police- man to show his star when the plate was passed to him. The public might be surprised to learn that there are churches that give as much or more to benevolence than to the maintenance of their own worship. 58 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING "Just why the photographer is excommunicated passes understanding. He is a preliminary factor in everything else, sacred, social or profane. There are resplendent feast days and ceremonials in the sanctuary, Christmas, Easter, Children's Days which should be saved to the larger congregation through the news- paper art. Pictures of interior church scenes on the great occasions are bound to be acceptable." Educating the membership. — Frequently there is a real need to "educate the congregation concerning the program of the church. Representatives of Sunday- school classes, basket-ball teams, young people's organ- izations should make announcements of their activities from the pulpit and bulletin. Committees with real achievements to their credit are invited to make public reports, using time during the morning service. This has done much to reveal to the people the scope and variety of the work. "The front page of the Bulletin each week is devoted to the 'Pulpit Editorial.' This is a brief message con- cerning the achievements of the problems of the local church. Each one aims to develop loyalty to the church, its labors, and its public services. Because of brevity the little editorial is eagerly read. Because it is put into the hands of the people the very first thing of the service it has a clear field in which to present its appeal. "At regular intervals space is used to present some striking facts concerning the church and its work. One week I gave a statement showing the number of children in Sunday school, the number of families reached through our various activities, the amount of money expended during the previous six months, the number of pastoral calls made, the number of societies and committees with some of their achieve- WHAT TO ADVERTISE 59 ments. Each week record is kept of the attendance at all meetings. This appears next week under the heading 'The Church Thermometer.' Whenever some member of the church enjoys some special honor or distinction the Bulletin carries a mention of the fact. This is especially helpful in holding the interest of the young people. Arousing the indifferent. — "To reach the indiffer- ent, you must advertise where the indifferent people are. I have always tried to make the street-car adver- tising preach a sermon first. During the great Minne- apolis Go-to-Church Campaign, we used four cards with copy as foUows: (I) (3) A MAN NEEDS GOD In times like these Go to Church Sunday Why live in God's World WITHOUT GOD? Go to Church Sunday (2) (4) MAKE MINNEAPOLIS A CITY OF GOD Go to Church Sunday FEBRUARY 29th God's Extra Day Go to Church Sunday Each of these cards preached a brief sermon and ex- tended an invitation. The effect was remarkable. "It is also possible to make a direct appeal to a man's conscience. One piece of our advertising carried the query: 'How much is your money costing you?' This was followed by an appeal to spend some time in the cultivation of the higher values. 'Make your Sundays show a profit,' is another appeal in the same direction. 'Is your boy getting as much as your father gave you?' is a very effective appeal to fathers. 'Would you live 6o HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING in a churchless town? Are you helping the church in your town?' are fair questions. It cannot be called 'catchy' copy, but it starts men to thinking."^ The thrill of the militant church. — "The new pro- gram of the church when advertised until understood will appeal to red-blooded folks by its call to man's implanted spirit of service. Recreational rooms, enter- tainment facihties, education and industrial training, Americanization programs, religious education — these are to be carried on appropriately in country, city, and congested neighborhood. "Worship must be shown to be as necessary for man's spiritual health as sunshine is for physical. God's pardon is to increase man's liberty and efi&ciency and not to avert future punishment. Prayer is to bring to man all necessary optimism, courage, confidence, and persistency. Bible-reading is to stimulate high ideals, stiffen lofty purposes, and to bring God so near that men, recognizing themselves to be sons of his, become incapable of defeat. Neglect of religion must be shown to mean depreciation of ability, undermining of con- fidence, weakening of judgment, cheapening of per- sonality, and the cheating of oneself of the highest possible energy. "The false notion that a saint is a halo-crowned hermit must be supplanted with pictures of Florence Nightingale on bloody battlefields; John Wesley preach- ing to miners who mobbed him; Wendell Phillips and Frances Willard maltreated while fighting for moral reforms; Jacob Riis using a consecrated pen, and Theo- dore Roosevelt dominated by high ideals, but keeping a big stick handy to enforce righteousness."® ' The Rev. Roy L. Smith, D.D., Simpson Methodist Church, Minneapolis. « Dr. Christian F. Reisner. WHAT TO ADVERTISE 6i THE PRODUCT Much church advertising fails because it prates of plans, but passes over actual results. It is always easy to talk in abstract terms of the glories in a to- morrow that may never come, but it takes honest effort to make history. Why is it that records of per- formance make the best copy for automobile adver- tisements? Why do the patent-medicine people advertise cures? It is because folks respond to this kind of ad- vertising. They want cars that go. They want to be cured. The most effective evangelists of the church have been those who could speak from their own religious experience. The best advertisement of a church is the Christian. And the best copy for church advertisements is that which sets forth the actual work done. Results attract. — Advertisers who indulge in copy of the promissory-note type might well recall the story of the man whom Christ healed of leprosy: "And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away; and saith unto him, See thou say nothing ta any man : but go thy way. . . . But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, inso- much that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places; and they came to him from every quarter" (Mark i. 43-45). Few records of advertising can boast of better results. In your copy emphasize results. What does religion do for a man? What does it do for a community? What does it do for society? Has it changed Uves? Has it "done it unto the least of these my brethren"? Has it raised social standards? What evidence is there that the church is succeeding? 62 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING Proper modesty. — To be sure, there is a proper sense of modesty which will keep us from cheapening the sacred work of the church by boasting. We may not point to this man of the community and say he is a shining example of what Christianity does for a man. That is purely a personal matter; but we can use his- toric examples, or in an impersonal way refer to other special instances. The work of the church on the mission field can be set forth concretely. Social service may be suggested as a very definite way in which the gospel works. The service of the church as a whole should be constantly reiterated. And by "church" is meant not any one denomination, but the church at large, for we wrestle not against other churches, but against the dark powers of this world. Learning from others. — Whenever you see an ad- vertisement that teUs of things done, ask yourself, "What is there in our church work which may be treated of similarly?" Every advertiser, every feature writer on a newspaper is constantly on the alert for that indefinable something known as "human interest." The work of the church, when properly done, is nothing if it is not running over with human interest. Now and then these interests are reflected in or suggested by the material included in publicity programs. New types of experience, new attitudes, new relationships — these are the victories of truth. Transformed life is the work of the church. It is also the church's most direct and powerful appeal. If a steel corporation considers it profitable to use space to tell of the spirit of goodwill which is bred in its institution, why should not a church tell of that exalted fellowship which is so characteristically its product? None but the most characteristically Christian tone WHAT TO ADVERTISE 63 and treatment should be permitted for church adver- tising. The pubhcity of many churches suggests chiefly how not to do it. Practical considerations make it necessary to count the loss as well as the gain in the use of questionable methods. No church should permit itseK to be drawn into competition upon a vulgar basis. Many of the ministrations of reUgion defy imprison- ment in cold t)^e, and we prize them because they are too fine to be expressed in a material way; and yet we may be sure that the more clearly we let the indi- vidual know what the religion of Jesus Christ can do for him, the more quickly will His kingdom come; the more concretely we inform society of the contribution of the church, the more speedily will His will be done on earth. V CHANNELS OF PUBLICITY The Pulpit Its function "Minute Men" Direct Advertising The letter The church bulletin Display Advertising Outdoor advertising Newspaper advertisements Publicity in Periodicals What constitutes acceptable copy An example of good publicity The editor and the preacher join hands The Moving Picture A universal language Proper use of the parable CHANNELS OF PUBLICITY The director of the church's advertising very properly asks, "What is the method of publicity which will bring the largest returns for our investment?" That is a fundamental question for all advertising whether it be of a commercial or religious nature. No hard-and-fast rule can be laid down. In some localities one method of advertising will have a marked superiority over all others. In some places a combina- tion of methods will prove most satisfactory. Ingenuity of adaptation is the quality for which all advertisers strive. The present consideration of the various media of publicity is designed to point out the particular goals in the advertising of the church, for which special forms of advertising are most suited. In applying these suggestions to a local problem certain questions should receive primary consideration: What is the object we wish to attain? Is it to fill the church? Is it to cultivate a certain attitude regarding the church? Is it to carry the message to a wider group? Is it to be educative in character? And for all advertising, it should be remembered that to reach any particular group of people requires that we advertise where those people are. THE PULPIT The channel of publicity most accessible to the church is the pulpit. It gets the attention of many people regularly, and under favorable conditions. 67 68 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING Its function. — ^The use of the pulpit for advertising purposes is essentially that of placing the complete program of the church before its own constituency or calling that program to the attention of the stranger who happens to be within the gates. A recognition of the necessity for this task should not be lessened either by a desire to preserve the service of worship from interruption and incongruity or by abuse of the plan through making it a carryall. This use of the pulpit is essential in any forward movement. It is of incalculable value in acquainting the new attendant with the work of the church. Successful pulpit publicity consists in properly pub- lishing that which is worthy of emphasis. Make the members of the congregation feel that pulpit announce- ments are something of special interest. Insist upon carefully prepared announcements given according to a clearly formed plan. A cluttered batch of announce- ments cheapens the whole service. • If some department of the church has a new program, if it has a remarkably good report, it is well to have attention called to it by some one who can do it quickly and effectively. "The pulpit may be profitably used to give pub- licity to special features of the church's program. The people in the pews should be made familiar with the facts concerning it. This calls for autlioritative knowl- edge on the part of the one who makes an announce- ment. The speaker, the music, the singers, the place, the date, and every outstanding feature of special meetings should be constantly kept before the con- gregation. Naturally, this method of publicity should be used in the Sunday school, young people's society, and similar organizations."^ 1 The Rev. S. Walters McGill. CHANNELS OF PUBLICITY 69 "Minute Men." — One of the most recent develop- ments of pulpit publicity was the laymen's organization known as the Methodist Minute Men, created to pro- mote the interests of the Centenary Movement. They were directed by Dr. Christian F. Reisner, president of the church advertising section of the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World, on a plan similar to the Government Four-Minute Men who did such valuable service during the war. "The Methodist organization reached a membership of more than sixty-five thousand, whereas the organ- ization of the government did not at any time exceed seventy-five thousand. In this group no preachers and women were admitted. These men made five- minute speeches at many of the church services for some weeks preceding and during the week of the intensive financial drive, presenting in terse, meaty speeches the story of the Centenary from the standpoint of the business man, or the man in the pew."^ In many communities these men still constitute a force which can be called into service whenever the work of the church in its local or connectional interests is sufficient to justify it. DIRECT ADVERTISING The letter. — ^As regards constituency, there is no limitation on this method of publicity, whether di- rected to the communicant or to the noncommunicant. "In the letter the church advertiser has the most power- ful single medium possible, because the letter, whether processed as a form letter by mimeograph, Rotospeed, or duplicator, or whether personally written, carries with it the personal element of an individually dupli- 2 John T. Brabner Smith. 70 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING cated and individually typewritten appeal. This is always effective, even though the letter may not be filled in with the personal name of the recipient. "The church will, of course, provide itself with a complete mailing list of its members and of its prospective members. Besides this there should be classified lists of the various departments of the church, such as the young men's club, the young women's club, the Ladies' Aid Society, the junior organizations, etc. The matter of lists is of vital importance, as upon the lists depends to a great extent the success of an advertising campaign. "The letters sent out by a church should always be carefully produced and signed in ink with the name of the pastor or some official of the church. They need not be signed individually by that individual, but his name should be filled in, so as to give them the great- est possible personal effect. "Every letter should have a definite subject, and that subject should be presented in a concise, brief way, but thoroughly telling the story. A series of letters should be a continued story, every letter being a chapter. And letter advertising should constitute a series. It is the follow-up that counts in letter advertising just as it does in advertising through house organs or in newspapers. "It is of the very greatest importance to have the idea of the letter expressed in the first paragraph or at the very beginning of the letter. Then if the entire letter is not read that one thought which lies behind the letter can be put across. "When possible, inclosures can be used to fine ad- vantage with the letter, as they present additional information which the letter cannot be made to carry without overloading it. This information can be brought CHANNELS OF PUBLICITY 71 out in illustrations as well as type matter, and can be made interesting and attractive and carry valuable additional appeals in behalf of the church.'" Dr. Roy L. Smith, of Simpson Methodist Episcopal Church, Minneapolis, reports having thus distributed thousands of copies of leaflets relating to missions, tithing, family worship, temperance, and other matters of general educational value in the work of the church. "There are many who claim that two-cent postage with its undoubted superiority in the personal effect secured is a better investment than using one-cent postage with patent Neo-style type of envelopes. But for the average church letter one-cent postage is effective in securing necessary delivery and the fact that the letter is from the church should be of sufficient interest to insure for it a reception and a reading by the average person addressed. "In any considerable amount of advertising the cost of two-cent stamps over one-cent stamps would become a considerable item in a year's time; and if this saving could be put into copy and the literature in the shape of strong, well-supervised letters, careful mechanical work, and good paper, the results will be satisfactory."^ Basing his statement on the result of continued experiment and observation, Dr. Horace Westwood, Pastor of the First Unitarian Church, Toledo, declares letter advertising to be the best form of direct personal advertising when written intimately and otherwise care- fully prepared. The letters become a regular feature of the church life to the member and they are partly respon- sible for making permanent additions to the congregation. ' Mr. Homer Buckley, of the Buckley, Dement and Company, Direct Mail Ad- vertising Experts. Chicago, Illinois. 72 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING The church bulletin. — This method of publicity is probably the form most commonly used to-day, and one may get any number of suggestions by studying the various specimens which are easily secured. Few bulletins, however, attain their maximum amount of usefulness, and three common faults may be pointed out. These are a waste of space by constant repetition of directories or other form matter, an undue proportion of space devoted to the order of worship, and an un- necessary restriction in circulation. PubUcation of the church officiary is undoubtedly valuable, but once a month is surely sufl&cient, while in most cases a quarterly publication of it is all that a carefully considered plan of pubhcity would author- ize. How large a space may be devoted to the order of worship should be determined by the amount of money available for advertising purposes and by the relative value of other items that might be used. The average church bulletin circulates only among those who attend church. It is an enterprising director who sees to it that Saturday's mail takes to the people of a community a bulletin of church news, with especial emphasis, of course, on the services of the morrow. The cost of additional copies for distribution at the service is relatively small, for the initial cost of com- position is the big item. A weekly publication may be admitted to the mails at second-class rates, making the cost of postage rel- atively insignificant. This fact is of immense value to the church which publishes a weekly bulletin. It should not overlook the opportunity thus afforded. Application for second-class privileges can be made at your local post office. The loss due to poorly used space becomes more CHANNELS OF PUBLICITY 73 apparent as one studies the uses to which it might have been put. Items of parish interest, brief pulpit editorials, short poems, inspiring thoughts, preserva- tion of facts and figures indicate the wide range of suitable material. INFORMATION FOR THE PASTOR: Recently come to the city Desire to Unite with the Church Send Church Envelopes Have moved to address below Sick Name Address Please check with an X and drop in the collection basket or mail. WORTH THE SPACE IT TAKES The educational possibilities of the church bulletin cannot be measured. Statistics on missions, on church progress, and similar matters are not always realized when given orally in a sermon, but if these are concisely set forth in the bulletin, they will be appreciated and perhaps filed for reference. The laws of good display hold good for the bulletin and overcrowding is to be avoided. Yet, relatively speaking, the church bulletin may be more compact in its make-up, for it is the most carefully and most completely read piece of publicity known. The reader is unhurried and somewhere before or after the church service he will find time to read every line in it which he finds of interest. It is not too much to say that the church bulletin is the most potential piece of direct but impersonal advertising in the advertising world. 74 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING DISPLAY ADVERTISING "2^0 reach indifferent people, you will have to advertise where the people are.'"^ This opens to the church ad- vertiser the entire realm of moving-picture slides, street-car advertisements, bulletin boards, banners, newspaper advertisements, and posters of all descrip- tions. Even a sign painted on the sidewalk will be found to be an effective means of attracting attention. "The use of display advertising is limited only by one's energy and ingenuity."^ Outdoor advertising. — This is the day of outdoor advertising. People are flocking to the towns and cities where they are continually using street cars or automobiles. Those who do remain in the country are visiting town more often than formerly due to the modern means of transportation, and the development of good roads. These facts mean that increasingly, outdoor advertising will reach people where they are. Our wartime experience demonstrated its tremendous power. Wherever one turned, moral issues were being sold to the people by posters and painted publicity. The Liberty Loan drives, the Armenian, Syrian Reliefs, the United War Work Campaign, and the Red Cross turned to posters when they needed big help. "Why is it that posters are so effective? It is because outdoor advertising makes a universal appeal to two very elemental traits in human nature. Colors and size predominate. They are both elemental appeals, whether a man be a university graduate or illiterate, whether white or black, whether born here or in another country. Colors please. We all like the rainbow, the green grass, the blue sky, the sunset. Think of how * The Rev. Roy L. Smith, Minneapolis. ' The Rev. S. Walters McGill, Nashville. CHANNELS OF PUBLICITY 75 size impresses; the big metropolis, the Rockies, the Woolworth building, the ocean, the statue of Liberty. Size is a most remarkable thing to the mind." In all of the forward movements in the various churches posters were much used. "The Methodist Centenary made use of a series of posters in from two to eight colors that were displayed in bulletin boards in front of the churches. Those churches that did not have the bulletin boards outside the church suitable for these posters were sent specially prepared oak bulletin boards, which were sold at cost, and thus the posters were given an effective showing for a period of twenty weeks, one week for each poster."® There is no reason, however, why a church's bulletin board activity should cease at any time unless the activity of the church itself has ceased. In other fields if an institution finds the demands for its output greater than it can supply, it immediately advertises that fact, and meanwhile sets itself to increase its plant to care for an even greater volume of business. And, surely, the church which contemplates any outdoor advertising will see to it that on the exterior of the church is some means of identification so that it will be recognized as the church which is behind the pro- gram of Christian service advertised. This does not call for any gaudy plastering with flaming posters. It does not call for anything that would improperly represent the goods which the church has for sale. But a bulletin board with its weekly message can be a real means of furthering the interests of the Kingdom. A revolving gold cross, or an electrically lighted emblem represents the more elaborate t)T)es suitable for church use. How much a lighted cross could mean in some communi- « John T. Brabner Smith. 76 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING ties as a symbol of the service which a church is rendering! The Wayside Pulpit. — The root of the idea of the Wayside Pulpit is for churches to adopt buUetin boards of a uniform size so that one printer can print sheets for all of them. This plan was originated by the Rev. Henry HaUam Saunderson. The idea was received with enthusiasm, and now there are hundreds of churches of ten different denominations which have adopted the Wayside Pulpit, of which Mr. Saunderson is the manager. The sheets are 32 inches by 44 inches, the long way horizontal. The churches change the sheets every week. The sheets are mailed about ten at a time to cover that number of weeks. The sentences printed on the sheets are selected to express the great thoughts of religion in a very effective way. Some men have had counts made of the people who stop to read the sentences, and it is estimated that more than two million people every week, in American cities, receive the message of the Wayside Pulpit. The same bulletin board which carries the sentence may be adapted to the announcement of the sermon subjects the latter part of the week. Many ministers have a Wayside Pulpit sheet posted on Sunday night and then, on Friday, post the sermon announcements. People who become interested in the sentences read also the announcements. The average church bulletin board is empty most of the time. The result is that people form the habit of passing by without ever reading it. The Wayside Pulpit is always saying something worth while. The result is that millions of people are forming the habit of always reading it. To build an effective church bulletin board is an achievement; but The Wkyside Pulpit : TRUTH AND^v'''fr::l,„ FREEDOiil ^j^'^lWO^i I have been driven many times to my knees by the over- whelming conviction that I had no where else to go. ii'.K iimt 1 1\( 111 \ V Courtesy American Unitarian Association, 2S Beacon Street, Boston CHANNELS OF PUBLICITY 77 to build these habits in human beings is a greater achievement. Part of the complete equipment of the Wayside Pulpit is a well-built changeable letter device for the local announcements of the church. Newspaper advertisements. — Here we have the greatest medium for advertising if our object be the immediate gathering of a crowd, or the filling of the empty pews, according to Dr. Horace Westwood, pastor of the First Unitarian Church, Toledo. "Use large spaces if finances will permit," he urges. "Yet large display with poor copy is not half as effective as small display with good copy. A two-inch double column is just as effective in making an announcement of a sermon as three times the space, providing the advertisement is distinctive and not too crowded. "The trouble with most display church advertising is that it contents itself with simply making an announce- ment of a sermon topic, trusting that the topic will draw the crowd. Few there are who can tickle the public palate with sermon topics. The more effective way is the educational way. The immediate results will be less gratifying, perhaps, but the cumulative effect will be greater. Church advertising to he effective should be based upon the conveying of ideas rather than making public announcements." The efl&cacy of newspaper advertising for religious wares was well demonstrated in connection with the Methodist Centenary celebration at Columbus. Upon the advice of Mr. William C. Rankin, advertising counselor in New York City, every daily paper in Ohio was used with the exception of Sunday editions. Some of the Indiana dailies were used in addition to some selected papers situated in large manufacturing centers. 78 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING On July 4 there was a prize-fight held at Toledo. It had been heralded throughout the country on every sporting sheet. It had been predicted that the Toledo affair would have an attendance of one hundred thousand while the Centenary exhibition would be under-patron- ized. The results showed only forty thousand at To- ledo and one hundred and twenty-five thousand at Columbus. One natural outgrowth of purchasing space in the advertising columns will be the increased attention given to religious events in the news columns. Not only is there an element of "quid pro quo" in this con- dition, but the very fact that a church has started to advertise will be an indication to the editor that it has a Hve message worthy of increased attention. PUBLICITY IN PERIODICALS AND NEWSPAPERS The age in which we live is propaganda-ridden. So flooded are newspapers and periodicals with "colored" stories of all sorts that publication in itself cannot be considered as a guarantee of pure motives. Yet such a condition far from being discreditable of the press, is a tribute to its power. As for us an ag- gressive attitude must be taken. "Be ye not over- come with evil, but overcome evil with good." We must always bear in mind the fact that publicity of itself is not an end, but a means to an end, and that all freedom of speech rests upon the assumption that the best test for truth is its ability to endure the search- light of pitiless publicity. The only antidote for the prostitution of the power of the press is its redemption by making it the organ to promulgate the truth. It is not representation that we are to fear; it is wwrepre- sentation. CHANNELS OF PUBLICITY 79 What constitutes acceptable copy. — The problem of the average church advertising director is to get his copy accepted. This involves three things: the attitude of the newspaper, the way in which the copy is prepared, and the inherent value of the news. The last is by far the most important. No more author- itative statement on this subject can be found than that made by Mr. James Brown, editor of Editor and Publisher, at the Church Department of the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World. It follows: "The great trinity of moral and educational forces touching the American home and vitally affecting the youth and man-power of the nation is the church, the school, and the newspaper, each essential to the highest development of the other — all interdependent. "The attitude of the newspaper to the church may perhaps be best illustrated by the fact that in a recent joint campaign of thirty denominations to raise large funds for church and missionary activities, more than six thousand newspapers cooperated whole-heartedly and freely without any compensation whatever, and eight hundred and fifty of these newspapers published edi- torials favorable to the movement. "It may be safely asserted that the newspapers are altogether friendly and sympathetic to the churches. The reason they do not print more so-called church news is because the average church message lacks vitality. As a rule, it is weak-kneed and pussy-footed. "This fact is transparently obvious when viewed at the copy desk in competition with the hundreds of messages from hve, strenuous, intense people whose views and activities fairly clamor to be mirrored in the small amount of space which the editor has, these high-cost days, at his disposal. 8o HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING "Don C. Seitz, the business manager of the New York World, known wherever the newspaper is printed as the discoverer of the agate line, has said: "There is no answer to this question outside of the churches themselves. If they are able to rouse sufficient interest by operations to attract editorial attention, the return in space I am stire will be quite adequate. "The need of the hour is for a militant Christianity and press. O for a John the Baptist or an apostle Paul! Too many ministers are like the Roman gov- ernors Felix and Festus — 'willing to show the Jews a pleasure' — and so they go about 'showing a pleasure' to every one they meet by agreeing on almost every subject instead of declaring to all men all the time their divine mission and continually reiterating the age-old story for which a hungry world is athirst. "Paul was so vigorous and intent on his ministry that he was called a 'pestilent fellow,' a 'preacher of sedition,' a 'ringleader of the Nazarenes.' for more Pauls in present-day ministry! Mankind is hungering for the truth. Paul's cause goes marching on. "Editors of American newspapers occupy the front trenches in the fight for public good. They have sensed the lack of sincerity and vitality in the average church- man and have classed their leaders and their messages as largely impotent. "A friend of mine, the sales manager of a big news- paper supply house, told me at luncheon the other day that in his career as salesman and manager during the past twenty years he probably had become in- timately acquainted with upwards of five hundred preachers, and that most of them were politicians. CHANNELS OF PUBLCCITY 8i Not more than twenty-five, he thought, were in deadly earnest, absolutely sincere^ "If further evidence of the ineffectiveness of the average church is desired, why not consider the fact that the enrolled membership of evangelical churches in America amounts to 25,000,000, the Catholics an- other 15,000,000 — a total of 40,000,000, affiliated with churches out of a total population of over 105,000,000? "In New York city, with a population of 7,000,000, the church membership is 1,200,000, including the Catholics, with a Protestant membership of less than 400,000. "The reason the newspapers do not print more so- called church news is not the fault of the newspapers, I say, but, rather, the fault of the churches. " 'What would God do about it?' would make a lively theme for a series of sermons that would get on the first pages of American newspapers if they proclaimed vigorously the truth that Christ died for you and me and that his philosophy contains the solvent for all the evils and ills that beset the flesh. "Moreover, that sort of vital, militant Christianity with members of churches boldly proclaiming their faith and fearlessly declaring for righteousness would result in the appointment of a competent staff man or woman on a good salary to specialize upon reUgion; such a one would know churches in general and local churches in particular. "Newspapers will seek church news and feature it when it is made vital, containing the divine spark of truth for which the world seeks. Until then I am inclined to think that most church advertising is a ' It is the author's opinion that either this friend of Mr. Brown's was unfortunate in his ministerial acquaintances, or else, unconsciously, he judged them by inap- plicable standards of earnestness and sincerity. 82 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING sheer waste of money because the church is 'not making good' its advertising." An example of good publicity. — The possibilities of publicity through periodicals is indicated in the recep- tion accorded the article "Civilization Imperiled," published in the Saturday Evening Post just as the intensive financial campaign of the Methodist Cen- tenary was beginning. "The attention of the Centenary Publicity Department was called to this article in letters from all parts of the country; college professors discussed it with their classes; pastors read it to their congregations at their evening services. It provoked editorials in papers. Even one of the area secretaries, ignorant of its origin, wrote in to say that such an article was available, and that he had purchased five hundred copies for special distribution. "As a matter of fact, this article was written by arrangement of the Centenary Publicity Department. It was known that Mr. Noyes was lecturing on the moral condition of the world. A member of the staff went to Mr. Noyes with a copy of the Centenary Survey and several campaign pamphlets. Mr. Noyes became so interested that he was glad to write the article and charged a much smaller price for it than he is accus- tomed to receive for his work. The word 'Methodist' was used only twice in the article and the Centenary Commission was mentioned but once. "The article when prepared was sold to the Saturday Evening Post for the amount paid to Mr. Noyes, with a perfect understanding as to its source and purpose. The editor really wanted the article."* The editor and the preacher join hands. — In the instance just cited the three conditions of suc- ' Mr. John T. Brabner Smith. CHANNELS OF PUBLICITY 83 cessful publicity had been met. The author knew how to write. The editor was glad to use such an article. But underlying the whole matter was the fact that there was something to talk about. That makes publicity. Papers should not be expected to carry free advertising for a church any more than for any other institution. And as for the "press grafter, that one who has no conception of the value of white paper, who insists on riproaring publicity, face and all, his name is anathema among journalists."^ But the church that makes its work indispensable to the welfare of a community may be sure that it has taken the basic step to insure that its copy will be welcomed by the press. Every pastor should cultivate a feeling of fraternal- ism with the local editor. Jointly, they wield an in- fluence over the combined adult and child population of a community as no other people do. This mutuality of interest should be recognized and encouraged. Just as the pastor seeks pubhcity in the press for the work his church is doing, so should he accord the editor proper appreciation for his own efforts and for his cooperation with the church. When the pulpit and the press join hands to effect a community transforma- tion, no power on earth can stop them. THE MOVING PICTURE "Innovations are resisted until their worth is proved. This is as it should be. Putting the Bible into print when printing was new was resisted. But it justified itself. So with printed hymnals and psalters. From the printed word page to the picture was but a step. We can all remember when the stereopticon was de- • S. Walters McGill. 84 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING nounced. By slow degrees it won its way because it was found to work powerfully for education and in- spiration. "But it is only a step from the still picture to the motion picture. Instead of one picture before the eye for sixty seconds, the motion picture puts a thou- sand pictures there every minute and the result is life on the screen. The motion picture is to the still picture what the great three-manual pipe organ is to the wheezy reed organ. It visualizes truth in terms of life and motion. "Many people still believe that pictures have no place in the church. They think they should be left alone. The trouble is that they won't be left alone. Almost twenty million people in America go where pictures are shown every day. A universal language. — ''Motion pictures speak in the universal language. Rich and poor, learned and un- lettered, understand the picture language. Wyclif clearly saw that the thing which retarded the spread of evangelical Christianity in his day was that the Bible was printed only in the Latin Vulgate and at the disposal of priests. He translated it into the vernacular and put it into the hands of people. Wyclif became the 'morning star of the Reformation.' To-day life is strenuous, and claims upon time so multitudinous that fewer people read the Bible with an attempt at under- standing it. But where is the man, woman, or child who does not understand the motion picture? "When the proper subjects are shown with high-grade physical projection, the same attraction which draws millions every day, the motion picture will bring the multitudes to the church. That this is the result is attested by every church that uses the picture method. "And the picture method can give something worth CHANNELS OF PUBLICITY 85 while when the people come. It aids in the three-fold ministry to body, mind, and spirit. It is the great medium for instruction. The whole world is brought vividly before the eyes. When the picture 'The Stream of Life' was shown daily by the Centenary Conserva- tion Committee at the Casino Theatre, New York, during Easter week, at the lunch hour, the men who gathered off the streets — Jews, Catholics, Protestants, and the unchurched — all tarried for a brief address, and over ninety per cent of them held up their hands for prayer. Remarkable incidents of changed lives can be cited. "No one would say that the picture should supplant the preacher, but it can tremendously supplement and vitalize the preacher's message. Proper use of the parable. — "Here is a mighty possibility for Kingdom service on which we may well pray God's blessing and guidance. One of the most prominent Episcopalian clergymen in America has declared that if Christ were here to-day he would utilize the motion picture. We do not know what he would do, but we do know that he taught and preached in parables (pictures) ^and without a parable spake he not unto them.' "^° Let the church which contemplates use of the mo- tion picture be very certain that its presentation of the message is worthy of it.- The youngest child can tell the difference between a good "movie" and a poor one. Care in selection of films, together with standard equip- ment, are two specifications which are absolute. The day of the film suitable for church presentation is just dawning. Companies are being formed to pro- vide pictures which will adequately and sympathetically 1° The Rev. Chester C. Marshall, Centenary Conservation Committee, New York. 86 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING present the message of the gospel. The general church boards are forming committees of censorship who will issue lists of approved films. No church should under- take to run a film which has not been properly investi- gated. But if all the art of the great cinema masters, if all the skill of the latest inventions in the realm of motion pictures be brought to sympathetic presenta- tion of the age-old, age-new message, what triumphs may not the church of Christ witness! VI MAKING TYPE TALK Attractiveness Some sample displays Type as an exoression of character Illustrations Legibility Some sample paragraphs Emphasis Bold face or italics Position and color Clearness Ideas rather than words Some examples Size of Type Tables of different fonts Tables of measurements VI MAKING TYPE TALK The one who has made no study of the subject has little conception of the tremendous power wrapped up in proper selection and arrangement of type. Good display can make weak copy strong, and poor display can kill good copy. Although complete understanding of the subject would require years of study and prac- tice and is dependent upon a certain natural artistic sense, the most elemental consideration of type selection and arrangement will pay the advertiser very large returns. The average man at the case in the composing room has neither the time nor the knowledge that will enable him to set copy most effectively. Mr. T. G. McGrew, superintendent of the United Typothetse of America School of Printing, Indianapolis, who is responsible for the illustrations used in this chapter, told the Church Advertising Departmental Conference of an experience he had when working in the composing room of a small paper. A church advertisement had come in. It was to be run without charge, and in return the publisher was to be credited with a contribution to the funds of the church — an abominable practice, and one which cripples the church in more ways than one. As the manager handed the copy to Mr. McGrew, he said: "Here's a church ad. Slam it up and don't spend too much time on it." This attitude argues for two things in properly con- ducted church advertising. All advertising should be 89 "A" t f ♦> The Story of the Man Who Ran Away ♦!♦ A to Keep from Being Made King. But X ^ t T t God Made f ♦I* X T SAUL KING k t ♦ ^* J« Then "In the fierce light which beats upon a throne X ♦!♦ And blackens every blot." A % Saul Failedl *! A Among the many traits of Saul's character, humility A ♦|« and bravery stand out against jealousy and insin- A Y cerity. In the Series of Bible Stories at the <♦ t t I Presbyterian Church | X SUNDAY EVENING at 7:00 !£ Reproduction of original as appeared in Newspaper. 90 "B" L The Stoty of the Man Who Ran Amy. to Keep from Being Made King, But — God Made Saul King Then, "In the fierce light which beats i^n a throne and blackens, every blot" Saul Failed Among the many traits of Saul's character humility and bravery stand out against jeal- ousy and insincerity. In the Series of Bible Stories at the Presbyterian Church Sunday Evening at 7:00 Practice work of Rehabilitation Student. 91 92 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING paid for as a business proposition so that good service may be demanded; and, secondly, there should be a knowledge of what constitutes good display on the part of the director so that the best may be obtained. The only way to have effective set-ups is to know what constitutes them, and then to specify what is wanted when the copy is turned in to the printer. The average printer cannot always be depended upon to use the most artistic and effective set-up. Composition is to advertising what advertising is to the subject of which it treats. It is good or bad as it succeeds or fails in putting across the message de- sired. Type is merely a tool for expression. Primarily, then, the composition of an advertisement must attract attention; it must be readable; it must drive its message home; it must leave a definite desire to do some one thing. Thus the aims in set-up should be to get attrac- tiveness, legibility, emphasis, and clearness. These quaHties overlap, of course, and each aids the other. ATTRACTIVENESS An indication of the possibilities in type selection and arrangement to gain attention is indicated in the two set-ups of the same copy shown on pages 90 and 91. Although neither of these may be considered a model, yet they indicate what may be done by type selection and arrangement. In "A" the border and style of type for "Presbyterian Church" would be quite as suitable for plows as for a church service. The idea which first meets one is "Saul King" and if it strikes any response in the mind of the reader, it is that some star performer by the name of Saul King is to perform somewhere. "B" suggests the clash of ideas: here is a man made king, and he failed. It is true that a more MAKING TYPE TALK 93 striking subject with a better application might have been found, but we are Umited to this actual copy as used in this instance. Tsrpe as expression of character. — It may be new to think of expression of character in type, but a mo- ment's reflection will make it seem no more strange than the expression of character in architecture and designs of all kinds. Note how the very meaning of these words is cormotated in the type used: Massive dignity TLuxuvp PRICES SLASHED! Mythology Sincerity The advertiser can get a specimen tj^ie book from his printer and study what style will most effectively attract attention and reflect the character of the mes- sage he has in mind. Illustrations. — Given two advertisements competing for attention, one of which is illustrated and the other not, with other things equal, the illustrated one will receive the greater amount of attention. The reason 94 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING is simply that we are naturally drawn to anything that depicts life, and consequently the more there is in the picture to suggest life the greater will be its drawing power. As a general rule, one large picture is worth half a dozen small ones. Illustrations are reproduced for printing in what are known, as half-tones and line etchings. The half-tone may be made of either copper or zinc, the latter being cheaper but not suited for high-grade work. Half- tones are used to reproduce photographs or drawings of which pictures are made. Care should be taken to see that the "screen" — that is, the number of lines to the inch in the half-tone or cut — is suited to the finish of the paper that will be used. Your printer is the safe guide here. Line etchings are reproductions in zinc of pen drawings or prints which call for a repro- duction of pure black or other single colors on white. All cartooning and sketching can be handled with etchings if the lines be drawn in heavy color. India ink is best. LEGIBILITY The advertiser cannot afford to say, "Here it is. You can read it or not, as you choose." It is the business of the advertiser so to put up his copy that it will com- pel reading. The entire militant spirit of the church which would carry its message to the one who needs it rather than putting it up on a shelf to be called for when ordered, must be put behind the attempt to get advertising that forces the one who sees it to read it. The t3T)e must be arranged and selected with a view to its greatest legibility. The following paragraphs supplied by Mr. McGrew suggest the basic principles in selection of type for the purposes of legibility. MAKING TYPE TALK 95 When we use many btffecent tacti an)) 6i^es of tppe together the effect is confusing and difficult to read 1 tEDppe of tijtst &tn)) ii btfficult to reab. Jit ii muti) uaieb for cfjurctj anb etclesiasftital prtnting, ' bott) asi a iiobp anb btfiplaj* tppe, but stiboulb not be u£jeb for long parasrapi)£i or aiben sipectal pref- erence. M toulb sell fjiab arabe jetoclrp, but tfte ctiurci) ^ai a untber^ial. not a clasis:, appeal. 2 Caslon type — a beautiful roman letter of legi- bility and utility. Note the ease with which this paragraph is read and its pleasing appear- ance to the eye. 3 Italic is not good for large amounts of straight composition. Its use as a body type tires the eye in a few paragraphs and renders comprehension difficult. 4 The top half of a line of type is read. There- fore this lower case composition is easier to read than lines set in capitals. Capitals lend dignity, but small letters legibility. To test this, lay a paper over the upper half of a line and read. Then try it over the lower half. 96 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING THE TOP HALF OF A LINE IS READ. THEREFORE THIS COMPOSITION SET IN CAPITALS IS NOT AS LEGIBLE AS IF IT WERE SET IN LOWER CASE TYPE. 6 Body type set solid as shown herewith makes a compact page, but is harder to read and less pleasing than the same type set leaded (spaced between the lines) as shown in the following section. White space is essential. 7 Body type set solid as shown in section 6 makes a compact page, but is harder to read and less pleasing than the same type set leaded (spaced between the lines) as shown. 8 Bold face type is useful for emphasis, subheads and display, but is not pleasing as a body type. It makes a black page and is tiresome. Lighter face type is much more legible, agreeable and effective for the main part of the text. EMPHASIS Since type is merely a means to reflect thought, the same effort will be made at emphasis as is used in the spoken word. Avoid a monotone when emphasis is the goal sought. At the same time avoid such a confusion that illegibility results. Italics is growing into disfavor as a means of emphasis because of the MAKING TYPE TALK 97 strain it causes in reading when used for any consider- able amount of copy. Boldface is becoming more common. Just as in speaking, continual emphasis is no emphasis, so in printing, a continual use of boldface would destroy emphasis. Note how the one word in boldface in this sentence stands out, whereas in the foregoing sentence nothing pre- dominated. Emphasis may also be secured by position, by use of color, and by illustrations. The size of the type is an important factor. The one who can speak with well-calculated emphasis should be able to understand where to emphasize in printed matter. It is essential to have a thorough understanding of the meaning of the text-material. CLEARNESS A determination to do some one thing is dependent upon a clear, dominant idea. All devices that can aid in clearness are to be used. To gain this, a smooth artistic effect may sometimes be violated. The ad- vertiser must think in ideas and speak so, rather than by words or syllables. Have your Hues break according to the meaning behind them. Compare the effective- ness of the following arrangement of the same headings. Scattergood and the Prodigal's Mother Scattergood and the Prodigal's Mother Rule-of-thumb composition obeying the injunction to have the longer line at the top would set the heading as first given, but observance of the laws of psychology 98 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING as to what the mind can grasp would make the second arrangement the better. The following setting of the same copy will also illustrate this principle: "Christianibr applied to the City's Street Car Strike" will be considered at the First Baptist Church, Sunday evening, at eight o'clock. Dr. R. H. Butler will talk. A special violin solo will be given by Mr. Arthur Hansen. All seats are free. Come early. "Christianity applied to the City's Car Strike" will be considered at The First Baptist Church. Dr. R. H. Butler will talk. A violin solo by Mr. Hansen. All seats free. Come early. Or consider the methods used to set forth certain ideas and make them dominant in this display: Christianity Applied to The City's Street Car Strike at THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH Sunday evening, at eight. Dr. R. H. Butler will talk. A special violin solo will be given by Mr. Arthur Hansen. All Seats are Free. COME EARLY. MAKING TYPE TALK 99 The biggest word in getting type to talk effectively is "Care" — care in preparation of copy. The writer should have in mind his aim, singular not plural, and should write toward it. Just as a speaker outlines a speech to be given in a certain period of time, so the copy should be definitely written for a certain space. If the message will not go into the space assigned, get another space, or get another message. For the convenience of the church advertiser the following tables are appended: SIZES OF TYPE Six Point The messatfe of the ohuroh to the farmer THE MESSAGE OF THE CHURCH TO THE FARMER Eight Point The metsaCe of the ohuroh to the farmer THE MESSAGE OF THE CHURCH TO THE FARMER Ten Point The message of the church to the farmer THE MESSAGE OF THE CHURCH TO THE Twelve Point The message of the church to the farmer THE MESSAGE OF THE CHURCH TO Fourteen Point The message of the church to the THE MESSAGE OF THE Eighteen Point The message of the church to THE MESSAGE OF THE loo HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING Twenty-four Point The message of the THE MESSAGE OF Thirty Point The message of the THE MESSAGE The next table gives the average number of words per line for representative lines in the various sizes of type. In figuring the space in terms of inches, one can use six ems, or picas, as being the equivalent of one inch. Most newspaper columns are thirteen and one half ems wide; two columns are twenty-seven and one half, the additional half em being the measure of the space occupied by the ordinary column rule. Number of words to a Line Measure 6 pt. 8 pt. 10 pt. 12 pt. 13K 8 7 6 S 14 9 8 6 6 18 12 10 8 7 27 18 IS 13 II 42 28 25 Lines to the Inch 20 17 6 pt. solid 12 10 pt. solid 7 leaded 9 leaded 6 8 pt. solid 9 12 pt. solid 6 leaded 7 leaded S VII ADAPTATION TO LOCAL CONDITIONS The Discovery of Your Constituency Half-hearted membership Taking the church to its members The Identifying of Competition Its location Attacking its origin Starting church attendance Building the habit The final blow to competition The Challenge of the Community Civic pride Special religious needs A community survey VII ADAPTATION TO LOCAL CONDITIONS Our problem as church advertisers is to transmit to all the people, as far as their capacities make it possible, the full message of the Christian religion. Each local branch of the church must be responsible for the accomplishment of the task in its particular community. This task calls for intensive study. It would be superficial to say merely that the church has a message for everyone, since religion is a universal demand of the human race. If the answer were bound up in any such general term as "religion," then the appeal in its behalf should be met by a corresponding response; that is, a universal one. But the demand is, rather, for definite and distinct elements. There are particular messages to meet particular needs. It is true that certain general wants are satisfied without particular emphasis upon special phases of religion, and to that extent advertising of general principles is helpful. But the value of church advertising will increase in more than geometrical proportion if it is directed by one who has a knowledge of the specific needs of a community and also a conviction that an adequate answer is being offered those needs. Whether advertising be employed to awaken a sense of need, to stimulate the consciousness of an existing need, or to argue the efficacy of certain divinely attested facts to meet a need. Us intelligent use is dependent upon a survey of needs and the agencies which are operating 103 I04 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING to meet them. No other kind of advertising is profitable. Accuracy of aim is necessary. THE DISCOVERY OF YOUR CONSTITUENCY One characteristic which distinguishes such institu- tions as the school and the church from all others is that the best measure of their success lies in the degree to which they lose themselves in their tasks. The aim of the church must not become the perpetuation of its own existence. Such an aim is suicidal. Existence is justified and permanency insured only by what an institution does for society. The church must take particular care to render specific service. Its service includes succor to the ones within the church as well as to those without. Half-hearted membership. — "It is often as hard to get the membership of the church enthused about the work we are doing as it is to interest people outside the church. To those who are really interested, a mere announcement is usually all that is necessary. But to those who are half-hearted in their interest and irregular in their attendance, more vigorous methods are necessary. The reason for half-interest must be found and measures devised to meet the situa- tion."i Suggestions have been made in other chapters which have a bearing at this point. Adaptation to local conditions is that difficult study known as the analysis of the obvious. The answers to such questions as the following should aid the church advertiser in his at- tempt to acquaint the members of the church with the work of the church and to gain their complete support. ' The Rev. Roy L. Smith. LOCAL CONDITIONS 105 Taking the church to its members: Is our church membership typical of the entire com- munity? Or does it represent a special type? A distinct class? Does this mean that our church is making a limited, a class appeal? Is it the function of our church to make a restricted appeal? Is our church composed primarily of old folks? Of young folks? What measures are needed to attract all ages? Can the youth of the church find a satisfactory answer to their social needs in the activities of the church? Is there sufficient opportunity for religious expression for all ages? For all groups? Is the church contributing its rightful share to the com- plete life of its members — physically, mentally, spiritually? Is our plant giving the maximum return on the money invested? Is church attendance spasmodic? Regular? What is the cause for the regularity or the irregularity as the case may be? Is there some agency of the church which is not being fully utilized by its members? What activity or what service always attracts a full house? Is the entire program of the church being unanimously supported? If there is dissension, have we some great program, in the emphasis upon which all factions may be- come united? Is a growing religious life evident on the part of the members? Is there a family or group consciousness among the members? io6 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING Do they feel that they are consciously and systemat- ically working to realize a great ideal? A great program? Just what is the weakest point in the church's rela- tion to its membership? The strongest point? THE IDENTIFYING OF COMPETITION If a church is meeting its obligation to its own mem- bership, if the membership is entering whole-heartedly into the work of the church, it should be comparatively easy to advertise to the outsider. The question, how- ever, should be attacked in a positive manner. Its location. — "It is a great day in the history of any church when it has located its competition. A prom- inent member of one of my churches once said, 'The ■ Church is your keenest competition in this town.' Three weeks in the town revealed his mistake. Our keenest competition there was the Sunday morning post office and the corner barber shop. Those were the two institutions that were getting more men on Sunday morning than any other place in town. My task as a pastor was to find some way to beat that competition."^ When competition has been located, the church advertiser should determine its cause, and then combat it by showing the falsity of its position, or by showing the superior merits of what the church has to offer. Attacking its origin. — "A variety of groups are prejudiced against church attendance. One group has no idea of what the church is actually doing in the community and continues on a prejudice formed, per- haps, years ago. Moreover, a prejudice against one church is apt to communicate itself to all churches. 2 The Rev. Roy L. Smith. LOCAL CONDITIONS 107 The man who has a grievance against 'the church' makes no distinction between individual churches. Labor sometimes says that the church is run by rich men. I have advertised that the average contribution to my church is less, per year, than the annual dues of certain labor unions, fraternal orders, or business clubs. Others have said that the church was 'im- practical,' giving its attention solely to the interests of the 'other world.' I have advertised the week-day activities, the social privileges, the charitable interests, the community program of the church. Starting church attendance. — "Many a prejudiced or indifferent man could be persuaded to form the habit of church attendance if he could be brought into the church once. I have followed the plan of inviting groups to attend in a body. I have invited the street- car men, the railroad men, the telephone operators, the firemen, the Advertising Association, and other business and labor groups, to attend the Sunday evening service in a group, bringing their band or other musical organization with them. Their loyalty to their crowd impels them to come. My workers have assured me that we have never held any such service that we have not added new members and communicants. "An appeal to curiosity will sometimes be best. An advertisement of a 'Bag-pipe Band,' playing Scotch airs, supplemented with a sermon suggested by Burns's birthday, attracted an enormous crowd and netted some conversions. People like to go where there are crowds. The crowds which come are a reason for others coming. Illustrations of crowded churches or masses of people are very valuable. "Frequently a man may be shaken from indifference by a startling announcement. But the danger of io8 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING offensiveness due to cheapness or near-deceit makes this a measure to be used with great caution. "The most deep-rooted prejudice will eventually surrender to the onslaught of facts. Men refuse to believe anything that does not first commend itself to their judgment. Many think that church member- ship is a surrender of that right. I try to tell men what they can beheve, rather than what they must believe. In the advertising, I urge men to think for themselves. "A reference to a man's mother, if done delicately, will usually awaken a train of happy memories and religious ideals. 'Mother's Day' and similar occasions have tender associations. A reference to childhood training will capture many men. The sweet faces of children have an irresistible appeal and can be effec- tively employed in church advertising. They suggest purity, innocence, honesty, guilelessness— all virtues that the church undertakes to cultivate. Building the habit. — "But the task is not done when men have been brought to church once. We must get them back. Every effort must be made to develop the churchgoing habit. Sermon series are helpful in this respect. If a man's interest in church- going can be sustained through a series of discussions, you have bridged over that dangerous period of 'strange- ness,' and he has grown accustomed to coming. My experience has been in favor of the four or five subject series. One paragraph in the Bulletin always announces 'Services Next Sunday.' "We make a special effort to get the names of strangers who come into our services. Watchers supplied with cards and pencils are assigned supervision over pews and at the close of the service the names of such strangers are turned in to the office. These names are put into LOCAL CONDITIONS 109 the hands of persons who agree to call during the fol- lowing week. If they seem to be good prospects, the caller reports the fact and the name is put into the classified card index, and they begin to receive the mail matter. Church visitors follow them up and every effort is made to interest them in the activities of the church. "We have a splendid post card showing a Sunday evening audience. These cards are distributed from time to time with the request that those in the audi- ence shall address the card to some friend, together with an invitation to attend the service. The cards are dropped in the collection plate, returned to the office and mailed out by the church secretary during the week. The names thus secured constitute a val- uable list. "On occasions we have distributed blank cards through the audience with the request that each person present sign up, giving name and address. These cards, re- turned to the office, are sorted out and the names of strangers listed. Callers follow them up and excellent results follow. A frank explanation of the purpose in view will usually result in an almost unanimous re- sponse to the request. The final blow to competition. — "Just as important as getting the crowd is the matter of taking care of it. We undertake to have our ushers ready when the crowd gets there. If we have advertised a welcome, we try to deliver the goods when called for. Good- natured appeals to the regulars will in time develop in them the habit of speaking to the strangers and welcoming them. We try to, avoid trusting to luck, however. Certain people are responsible for speaking to all strangers in certain sections of the church. This no HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING organization is so well placed that every pew in the church is 'covered.' These same people quietly get the names of visitors. "We are aiming at an organization which will get its own members, and thus build itself. We seek to get the unchurched into the church and then to identify them with its work, so that each in time will become an enthusiastic 'salesman.' Then can we say, " 'Like a mighty army Moves the Church of God." '" THE CHALLENGE OF THE COMMUNITY In every community certain local problems arise. These must be treated as opportunities to enlarge the contribution of religion. The church advertiser should study such matters as civic pride as well as the specific religious needs if he wishes his advertising to be most effective. Civic pride. — Just how certain community antip- athies may be overcome and civic pride awakened is told in the story of "How Advertising Built a Church," being the First Baptist Church of Oak Park, Illinois. Dr. C. D. Case, the pastor, says: "We made much of the civic challenge. Our lot is the best location for a public building in town. One of the village papers had some time before declared in an editorial that a grave responsibility rested upon the people of the First Baptist Church because they were to build, on what was perhaps the most conspicuous lot in the town, a building which would form a background for our civic center, around which were grouped monumental buildings. « The Rev. Roy L. Smith. LOCAL CONDITIONS in "We told the people in our advertising that they would not be ashamed of our contribution to the town. We did not say so, but we hoped the citizens of the town would respond to our suggestion through civic pride and help us. They did not, but we had spurred on our own people to greater achievements by such advertising. They did not propose to put up a build- ing which would belittle the town and the church to which they belonged. "Then we went back into the history of the church and made public a fateful hour when, two years before, the people of the church sacredly committed themselves to a larger policy, and on the basis of splendid com- prehensive plans for expansion, called the new pastor to the pulpit. It was a courageous thing to do, this revelation of the solemn vows to the whole community. But it worked. ^The world knows our pledge,' the people said. 'We must make good — we will not fail.' We bound the past and present together. We did not forget the advertising value in the story of the fifteen men who half a century before met in a sitting room to establish the church." * Special religious needs. — And from a consideration of social standards, of civic pride, advertising designed to appeal to the community must show that the church is prepared to meet and does meet the religious needs of that particular community. A city church with a city program; an industrial church with a program that adjusts to the working program of its people; a college church which makes much of its college folks and dis- charges its full obligation; a dov^^n-town church which has its noon-day meetings, its get-together meeting for strangers; a rural church which assumes its rightful « The Rev. Carl D. Case. ri2 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING place of community leadership — this is what our ad- vertising must show our wares to be. The church advertising its program. — ^A striking illustration of the value of setting before the com- munity the entire program of the church is seen in one aspect of the publicity carried on by the Olivet Baptist Church, of Chicago. The present membership of this church is 8,743. In an attractive eight-page booklet the following information is set forth: This Church Has 1 . No. of Departments and Auxiliaries 42 2. No. of Church and Department Officers 512 3. No. of Compensated Full Time Workers . . 16 4. No. of other Compensated Part Time Workers. 8 5. Total No. of Paid Workers 24 6. An Auto Bus costing $2,600 (a) It brings children to and from our Kindergarten and Day Nursery. (b) It brings old and decrepit members to the Church worship. (c) It gives recreation rides to needy convalescent members and others. 7. A Day Nursery. 8. A Free Kindergarten. 9. A Free Labor Bureau. 10. A Helpful Social Service Force. 11. An Experienced Charity Committee. 12. A Brotherhood and Sisterhood. (a) It dispenses annually for the relief of its own members more than $2,500 13. A Boys' Industrial Organization. 14. A Girls' Industrial Organization. 15. A Mothers' Community Meeting. 16. A Children's Church. 17. Enrolled in its Sunday vSchool 3,100 18. Five Regular Choirs. LOCAL CONDITIONS 113 19. Two Sunrise Prayer Meetings every Sunday at 6:30 A. M. 20. Organized the First Community Flat Owning Association known among Colored People. 21. From 3 to s Preaching Services every Sunday, 1 1 :oo A. M. (a) We worship in two (2) large church houses, Twenty-seventh and Dearborn Streets and Thirty-first Street and South Park Avenue, and great crowds are turned away at 1 1 a. m. every Lord's Day for the want of more room. 22. Two Pieces of Property at 3144-46 Vernon Avenue Costing $8,250 (a) This Property is the Home of our Day Nursery. (b) And the Proposed Home for Working Girls. 23. A Cooperating and Advisory Board Made up of Leading Persons of White and Colored Races. 24. A Daily Vacation Bible School enrolled. . . . 316 25. The Generous Support of The American Baptist Home Mission Society, The Women's Amer- ican Baptist Home Mission Society, The State and City Baptist (white). 26. The Approval of the Chicago Day Nursery Association. 27. Publishes Weekly a Paper to Promote Its Work. Some of Its 1919 Achievements 1. Its Church Home was the Headquarters of 71 meetings of The Chicago Peace and Protec- tive Association, an organization, which, more than all others, helped to check the Chicago race riots and gave substantial relief to needy and worthy riot victims. 2. No. of Needy Persons Aided by the Church. . 440 3. No. of Needy Persons aided by the giving of information through our Information Bureau 265 4. No. of Legal and Personal Contests Adjusted. 38 5. No. of Persons securing Positions through our Free Labor Bureau 268 114 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING 6. No. of Community Meetings held: (a) For Mothers 56 (b) For Women 16 (c) For Fathers 12 (d) For Men 8 (e) For Children 104 (f ) General Meetings 42 (g) General Health Meetings 12 (h) Meetings on How to Get and Hold Positions 106 7. No. of Community "Sings" given 8 8. No. of Persons Influenced to buy Homes 26 9 No. of Other Properties purchased by the Church and others being influenced by the Church 9 10. Total Cost of said Property $217,000 11. No. of Constructive Enterprises Helped to Launch and Maintain 48 12. No. of Visits made by Workers to Sick and Needy 16,000 13. Total Amount Collected (1919) $56,209.72 14. Disbursements: (a) To Geileral Expenses and Special Contributions, . .$37,114.87 (b) Improvements, Furniture, Loans, etc 17,844.41 (c) Total Disbursements 54,959.28 15. No. of Additions to the Church: (a) By Baptism 480 (b) By Christian Experience and Letters 2,243 16. No. of Ministers Aided in Securing their Edu- cation 4 17. No. of Ministers Supporting in Africa R. M. Sissusa, M. D., and wife. Grand Basso (these have three children). 18. No. of Trips Made by Auto Bus 288 19. No. of Persons Conveyed on All Trips 20,080 (a) Children 17,600 (b) Decrepit Convalescent Members, Wounded Soldiers, Sick Committees and Funeral Attendants 2,480 20. Money Spent for Operating Expenses of Bus. .$1,150 21. Total Received from Parties Enjoying Bus Privileges $216 LOCAL CONDITIONS 115 What We Need 1. A competent man to direct our boys, and his salary provided for. 2. Some more aid in maintaining our free IQnder- garten and free Day Nursery. 3. Enough money to equip our Working Girls' Home and employ a competent directress. 4. A visiting nurse with expenses guaranteed. 5. One man and one woman Social Worker for work in large factories and industries. 6. A Specially prepared woman to help develop the girls and young women of the church. 7. Seventy thousand dollars to pay for the church property purchased by the church in order that it might successfully operate its various enterprises. Many of our most loyal members have come to Chicago recently and sorely need the influence and ministrations of our church, while they themselves can contribute but little toward its maintenance. The larger number of the members are con- tributing to the full limit of their ability, but they need and deserve sympathy, cooperation, and financial aid. 8. An auditorium with a seating capacity of six thou- sand to accommodate the eager, surging, needy crowds, who wait each Sunday to be built up by the ministry, ac- tivities, and worship of the church. Hundreds every Sunday leave dejected and discouraged, because of the press of the crowds and lack of room. 9. Friends to visit, observe, and get acquainted with us and our work. "Good understanding giveth favor." A "problem" is a thing to be done which is not done because of a lack of understanding. With better inter- racial knowledge and more courage, race relations would be better. Note: — For further information write Pastor L. K. Williams, 3142 South Park Avenue, Chicago, IlHnois. Bayside, New York, is a town which has an un- certain population. To meet the peculiar problem of a constant incoming of strangers, one church devised a ii6 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING little folder, on the outside of which was a good photo- graphic print of the church, and this greeting printed in two fcolors: "To the Residents of Bayside — and in particular to those who have just come to make this town their home." The text of the folder as printed on the two inside pages was as follows: All churches of Bayside will give you a cordial wel- come. There are four churches here — All Saints Episcopal Montauk Avenue and 2nd Street, Rev, C. A. Brown, Rector Bayside Methodist Palace Boulevard and West Street, Rev, P, E. Shoemaker, Pastor Church of the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Warburton Avenue and 4th Street, Rev. W. J. Dunne, Rector Bayside Lutheran Mission Park Avenue and 2nd Street To one of these you should owe your allegiance and give your moral and financial support. Select the one that yovir early training or that your later choice or membership dictates — but — go to one of them regularly for its good and for yoiu- own. If you are an Episcopalian, by all means let us see you at All Saints. If you have not worshiped at the Epis- copal Church before but it is now your choice, a wel- come awaits you. All seats are free. Sunday services are as follows: Holy Communion 8 o'clock, a.m. Morning Prayer and Sermon ii o'clock. Evening Prayer 4: 30 o'clock. Simday School at 9:45 o'clock each Sunday morning. Bring the children. We have a large and ably conducted school which your little ones will enjoy. LOCAL CONDITIONS 117 If you desire more information, a note addressed to the rector will bring immediate reply by mail or in person. We hope you will go to church — to some church — to All Saints if you so prefer. Rev. Charles A. Brown Rector WARDENS Elmer G. Story William H. Johns VESTRY Chas. L. Willard William Teller Archibald Nesbett R. I. Whitesell Thomas Rumney A. M. McKnigbt Robert B Everett, Clerk A community survey. — If a religious survey. of your community has been made by one of the church boards, get it and study it to discovei- just how your adver- tising can be made niost effective. Of what use is a survey unless it is followed by a program? Be sure that the survey is constantly reHable by being kept up to date. If one hasn't been made, write your general board for proper blanks, and then join hands with the other religious forces in your community to put it on and determine just what is needed in your community to make it a part of the kingdom of God. This detail work may remove some of the glamour which apparently characterizes certain conceptions of advertising. The halo may disappear when it is found that advertising is not a substitute for, but a creator of work. There is no substitute for service. Church advertising seeks primarily to extend good works, and if in doing that it brings to a church a more complete revelation of its obligation in a community, the results will take care of the halo. VIII THE SEASONAL APPROACH A Local Program The calendar of a frontier church Local conditions control The Ecclesiastical Year The yearly cycle Cultivating rehgious associations Currents of Community Interest Usmg Thrift Week Religious values VIII THE SEASONAL APPROACH The commercial advertiser says, "Advertise Baby Goods in Baby Week." That admonition has immense significance for the church advertiser, for certainly in no field of endeavor is there more value to be realized from planning the advertising with a view to capturing the currents of community interest than in the field of church advertising. Much of the average com- munity's life is irrevocably linked with the high points in the church calendar, and if the church is occupying its true place, there will be no event in the community's life with which it is not actively and dominantly asso- ciated. A LOCAL PROGRAM Something has already been said regarding the church's program as subject-matter for its advertising. It was assumed that every church would have a definite and carefuUy considered goal to be achieved in a definite period of time. But the facts are, of course, that many churches proceed in a haphazard way, neither ready to take advantage of opportunities that may arise nor striving to create favorable situations. Opportun- ism is better than indifference, yet when it is possible to have a schedule of work, and then to work that the church may deHver per schedule, no church advertiser should be content with less. As with all schedules, even those of a railroad, specials may be run in and time tables altered for sufficient reason, but with a schedule there is a prospect of arriving. Far too many churches fail to arrive simply because they have no destination. 121 122 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING The calendar of a frontier church. — The following calendar suggests the seasonal approach with a local adaptation as worked out by the First Methodist Church, of White River, South Dakota, a frontier town twenty-eight miles from a railroad, that wasn't even recorded in the census of 1915: PROGRAM FOR 1920 Sunday School Jan. II, Sun. Graduation Day. Feb. IS, Sun. Child Labor Day. Ingathering — Enlisting Campaign. Mar. 14, Sun. Get Ready Day. Mar. 21, Sun. Every-Member-Present Day. Mar. 28, Sun. Every-Member-Bring-One Day. Apr. 4, Sun. Easter Service. Jvm. 6, Sun. Children's Day. Sep. 17, Fri. Sunday School Social. Sep. 26, Sun. Rally Day. Nov. 7, Sun. Temperance Day. Dec. 19, Sun. Christmas Cantata. Dec. 26, Sun. Christmas Program. Dec. 27, Mon. Annual Meeting. Ladies' Aid Society Feb. 14, Sat. Valentine Social. Apr. 3, Sat. Easter Bazaar. Aug. Frontier Days. Nov. 2, Tues. Election Dinner. Dec. 18, Sat. Christmas Bazaar. Epworth League Jan. 29, Thu. Rainbow Supper. Feb. 19, Thu. Contest Social. Mar. 18, Thu. St. Patrick's Social. Apr. I, Thu. Fete de Feux. Church THE SEASONAL APPROACH 123 Apr. 18, Sun. Morning Watch Services. May 20, Thu. Banquet. Jxon. 24, Thu. Rural Social; Jul. 4, Sun. Patriotic Program. Jul. 22, Thu. Aug. 19, Thu. Sep. s, Sun. Win-My-Chum Week Sep. 12, Sim. Rally Day. Sep. 30, Thu. Beef Steak Roast. Oct. 28, Thu. Hallowe'en Social. Nov. 25, Thu. Thanksgiving Social. Dec. 27, Mon. Home Coming Rally. Dec. 31, Fri. Watch Night Service. Jan. I, Thu. New Year's Calls. Jan. 15, Thu. Social for Married Folks. Feb. 12, Thu. Evangelist Day for Church. Feb. 26, Thu. Father-Son-Big-Brother Ban- quet. Mar. 3 to 14, Evangelism Campaign. Mar. 18, Thu. St. Patrick's Social. Mar. 28, Sun. Palm Sunday. Apr. 4, Sun. Easter Sunday. May 9, Sun. Mother's Day. Jun. 6, Sun. Second Anniversary. Jun. 13, Sun. New Comers Day. Jul. 4, S\m. Patriotic Day. Jul. 18, Sun. Automobile Day. Aug. 8, Sun. Methodist Jubilee Day. Sep. 5, Sun. Labor Day. Sep. 19, Sun. Annual Church Rally Day. Sep. 21, Tue. Every-Member-Friend Canvass. Oct. 3, Sun. Harvest Home Service. Nov. 25, Thu. Popular Thanksgiving Enter- tainment. Dec. 9, Thu. Annual Chvirch Social and Business Meeting. 124 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING This calendar, with other appropriate information concerning the work of the church, was printed on a folder and mailed to every legitimate prospect in the church's territory. Under the direction of the pastor, the Rev. Fred Richards, a publicity committee conducts a planned advertising campaign to correspond with the church's activities. A weekly news Bulletin, entered as second-class mail matter, is sent to the complete mailing list, which includes people in the country for eighty miles away. A first-class moving picture machine is used in the church, and recently advertising was used to invite subscriptions for financing "the building of a fence and to equip the vacant lot west of the Method- ist Church with swiags, slides, sand pile, basket ball court, and other equipment suitable for a public play- ground; also free educational motion pictures for the general public." Local conditions control. — Obviously a local pro- gram must be plaimed by the ones who are to use it if advantage is to be taken of local needs and local interests. The program of White River would not fit a city church without some modifications, but the idea of a timely, community policy is clearly evident. An aggressive, militant church will have an aggressive and progressive plan of campaign. The circle of warming up and cooling off inversely with the sea- sons, a revival in winter and a vacation in summer, is routine spelled rut-ine. It is the high privilege of the church advertiser to insist that there be a planned program for local achievement by which he can direct his efforts. Not only is this necessary if he is to keep within his budget of expenses, but it is necessary for the effectiveness of the advertising itself. THE SEASONAL APPROACH 125 THE ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR The church, as one of the oldest institutions of society, has an immeasurably rich background of holidays and holy days. Just how greatly the eradication of all religious sentiment from Christmas, Easter, New Year's, Thanksgiving, and even Memorial Day, would weaken the meaning of those days we cannot calculate. Most of them would lose much of their significance and some of them would be utterly destroyed. It is, therefore, to the interest of Christianity that we conserve and take advantage of the fine rehgious values so naturally associated with them. The yearly cycle. — The religious Hfe of the majority of people is Hved in a yearly cycle. There are high points of interest that occur annually. Just as the physical body adjusts itself to the conditions of spring, summer, fall, and winter, so the spirit of man passes rhythmically from one religious emphasis to another. The Easter message of immortality wakens a popular response. There is a distinct Easter atmosphere, and all the people within and without the church are aware of it. Then with the coming of the harvest festival, or of Christmas, new thoughts are widely current. There are forty days, in every year, when the spirit of Lent permeates the religious life of multitudes who are not nominally Christians. To ignore this fact is to disregard one of the most important and fundamental principles of advertising. Interests already awakened should be capitahzed. This is particularly true if the popular raind, for the time, is concerned with spiritual things. There are tides in rehgious thoughts of men which, taken at the flood, lead on to further interest and higher regard. 126 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING Christmas advertising differs from the method of publicity most suited to Thanksgiving or Easter. The wide-awake advertiser is quick to catch folks in their best mood, and to catch them appropriately. This calls for planned advertising to relate these events in an even greater degree to the church, and especially to do this in the minds of those who have no other connection with the church. Demonstration by advertising that the church is responsible for the values attached to these days is an unparalleled avenue of approach to the unchurched masses. Cultivating religious associations. — In the planned program for the community the church, of course, will take into account all those events which have religious significance. Even though the church should not have special services on New Year's Day or similar days of lesser ecclesiastical significance, it is always possible for the church's advertising to show how religion conserves the best associations and impulses of such occasions. The church advertiser, in outlining his special pro- gram, is not confined to the definite program of the church's activities. It is his duty and privilege to seek constantly the religious interpretation of life. This does not mean advertising piety, nor the church itself, necessarily, but it means emphasizing those values which aid in the building of the world order for which Christ yearns. If a bank or a clothing store considers it worth while to devote some of its advertising to the Christmas and New Year's message, is it not equally so for the church? If a jewelry store finds it of value to donate advertising space to the Boy Scouts or the Red Cross, should a church do less? And when we come to those days which are pe- THE SEASONAL APPROACH 127 culiarly - religious in their associations, the church advertiser has a position of untold opportunity. He will seek to get other advertisers to carry into their copy the spirit of the occasion, while in his own ma- terial he will seek to crystallize the sentiments and impulses thus aroused and to give them a chance for definite reUgious expression. CURRENTS OF COMMUNITY INTEREST In his ministry, Christ continually sought to capital- ize the currents of interest in those about him. To the fishermen brothers, Simon Peter and Andrew, whom he saw casting their nets, Christ said, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." To the vine- dressers he compared himself to the vine and them to the branches; to the woman at the well he told of the water of life of which one would drink and thirst not; to the shepherds he spoke of the Good Shepherd; to the weary, worn peasants he said, "My yoke is easy and my burden is fight"; to the multitude who fol- lowed him after the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, instead of saying "I am the Messiah," he turned and said, "Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled .... I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger." In its advertising, the church can well afford to follow the Master's example. It must seek to capitalize the currents of community interest. It is a question of plajdng the game with all the socially constructive forces of the community. If the pubhc attention is focused upon an important baseball series, why should not the question of a wholesome and comprehensive recreational program for the entire community be 128 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING considered? A church founded upon the life of one who devoted so much attention to the healing of the sick should have a direct message whenever the social consciousness is aroused on such questions as civic sanitation, motherhood, a pure water supply, good government, a national anti-tuberculosis campaign, the week of prayer for the colleges, or the blessings of polit- ical Kberty and religious freedom. Using Thrift Week. — Previous to its reorganization the Interchurch World Movement had prepared a plan for an educational program in stewardship in 1921, which, in a most natural way, was to cooperate with the agencies which promote National Thrift Week. "The outline of the program for this period is as follows: January 17-23: Cooperation in the observance of Na- tional Thrift Week with special interest in 'Share in Others' Day.' January 24-February 20: Intensive educational period in Stewardship. February 20: Beginning of enrollment period of Chris- tian Stewards. "National Thrift Week is based on the following ten-point financial creed: Work and Earn Own Your Own Home Make a Budget Make a Will Record Expenditures Invest in Reliable Securities Have a Bank Account Pay as You Go Carry Life Insurance Share with Others Religious values. — "Different days were designated for emphasizing these several points. The purpose of the week is to help the individual to fit his income and abilities into the purposes of a well-rounded Christian THE SEASONAL APPROACH 129 life. Every one of the ten points in the Financial Creed had character-building value, and therefore should be of interest to religious leaders. It is impossible for any person interested in the church and other worthy causes to express his stewardship by the giving of money except as he has been able to live within his income sufi&ciently to have accumulated the money to give. "Budget Day is one in which the church should be especially interested since the individual who keeps a budget and records expenditures is very much more apt to know what proportion he is giving to religious purposes. Ministers have also found that failure to keep family finances by the family budget plan has been the cause of much unhappiness in home life and has brought many financial worries, which make it impossible to enjoy a full Christian experience. "National Thrift Week is usually observed in a local community under the auspices of a local Thrift Week Committee, which is organized under the leadership of the Y. M. C. A. in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce, Clearing House, Real Estate Board, Life Underwriters' Association, Credit Men's Association, Rotary Club, Women's Clubs, and other organizations interested in the general welfare of the community. It is not a campaign to promote the sale of life insur- ance, real estate, or anything else; it is purely an idea campaign to encourage the individual to put himself on a character-building money basis."^ Some wares have a Umited selling season. Um- brellas are sold especially in rainy weather; artificial stimulation must be relied upon to sell summer furs; but there should be no such necessity for the church 1 Mr. E. A. Hungerford, of the Interchurch World Movement, tso HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING which relates its program to the dominant needs of society. It is the duty of the church advertiser thus to identify the church with every legitimate interest of society in the minds of all people. It is his opportunity to do so by planning the advertising program to coincide with and capitalize the currents of social interest. IX NATIONAL ADVERTISING AND THE CHURCH The Function of National Advertising Its limitations Its possibilities Adaptability to the Wares of the Church The universal market Local representatives, non-competing Aid to the Local Problem Direction Counsel Cooperation IX NATIONAL ADVERTISING AND THE CHURCH The creation of the national magazine, the invention and improvement of automatic addressing machines and letter writers, the development of circular printing and outdoor posters have produced what is known as national advertising — a distinct addition to the ever- widening group of economies made possible by large- scale production. A century ago Ivory Soap as we know it, in Maine, in Plorida, in Ohio, would have been impossible. But to-day if a manufacturer has a product which is needed equally in Maine and in Cali- fornia, there is no reason why he should limit its sale to the place of its origin. He arranges for agents in all communities where the product can be sold, and then announces a national selling campaign, the most important part of which is a nation-wide plan of ad- vertising. The Christian Church has set itself to a program, the accomplishment of which means nothing less than a world brought under the sway of the Son of God. This universal task has been apportioned to the various local churches with a more or less exact statement of what each is expected to do. But the responsibility of the church as a whole does not end when it has de- fined its aim and has distributed the work to the local organizations. It is only fair to demand that the ecclesiastical body which formulates a policy or sets a goal should include in its program a corresponding 133 134 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING and adequate plan of advertising. The fixing of the goal makes the adoption of the most effective methods of attaining it an inescapable obligation. The church at large should do for its local representatives no less than the manufacturer of shaving soap does for his local salesman or retailer. If patent-process breakfast cereals made in Battle Creek, Michigan, find their way to the desert sands of Africa because advertising has told of their value, surely the soul-satisfying values of the Christian life can be carried to the uttermost parts of the earth by the same medium. There is immense significance in the statement of Mr. Charles F. Higham, European vice-president of the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World, and one who has studied advertising on both sides of the Atlantic: "I mean exactly what I said when I told the members of the Advertising Club in New York that I believe the time is coming when you men are going to sell ideas, morality, and health to the world."^ "The average man's feeling toward the church is a good deal like his feeling about the express company. He does not see the vast, efficient organization which handles express so rapidly and at such a comparatively small cost. He knows nothing of the part that the express companies have played in the development of the country's economic life. All he sees is one local expressman, whom he does not like very much, and who, perhaps, once smashed his trunk. In the same way the average man sees only one little church which may be unpainted and filled with people whom he does not particularly like, and rninistered to by a rather mediocre pastor. On this basis he judges the whole 2 Advertising and Selling, June 5, 1920. NATIONAL ADVERTISING 135 church and condemns it, seeing nothing of what lies behind. "3 The local church organization, so conscious of its embarrassments and Kmitations, needs the moral sup- port, the heartening assurance that comes from the knowledge of its being an integral part of a powerful, national institution. THE FUNCTION OF NATIONAL ADVERTISING The nature of national advertising already has been suggested. In order to understand this function, an exact determination of its limitations and its possi- bilities is necessary. Its limitations. — The general church organizations can do the national advertising, but "unless the local churches will do local advertising, a big, broad cam- paign will be a good deal like that of a manufacturer who undertakes to advertise his goods nationally, but no one knows where to go locally to get the goods."* The immediate community interest must be supplied by the local institution. Community adaptations of the general message must be made by the community representative, the local church. In a very true sense national advertising is educa- tional in nature. As the director of publicity for the Interchurch Movement said: "All this copy is entirely educational and makes no direct appeal for funds. The actual funds that are to be raised must be raised through church and community committees organized very much along the lines followed in the Liberty Loan and Red Cross campaigns."* Its possibilities. — "In union there is strength" is an axiom which indicates the power of a nation-wide 3 Mr. C. S. Clark. ' Merle Sidener, Indianapolis. ' Mr. C. S. Clark. 136 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING advertising campaign. The compelling power of a mass movement is brought into play. Expensive over- lapping within the same denomination is eliminated. The general church, because it reduces overhead ex- pense, can command the very best talent for drawings, display, selection, and preparation of material. With its representation in practically every community it stands in a way to reap the greatest possible results of its advertising. The national advertiser who has no local representative where his advertising goes, must consider that he is not harvesting the crop he has sown. And, finally, in the conception of the great universal message of the church on which all denominations agree, the Kingdom at large will profit by all advertising done relating to religion, and the charges of certain critics that churches are selfish, seeking their own institutional advancement, will be effectively re- futed. The advantages of working toward one goal are so obvious that it hardly seems necessary to dwell upon them. Team-work, cooperation, harmony are inherent parts of the church's message. National advertising focuses the activities of the local units upon some common objective. If unity of command was necessary to achieve victory for the AlHes on the battlefield, does it not have value for the forces of Jesus Christ? The liquor trafl&c was abolished because attack upon it was centered, consistent, not spasmodic. "National advertising sets a standard. It can com- mand copy that is dignified, frankly spiritual, and strong in its appeal. Artists like C. B. Falls, H. Fuhr, Denman Fink, Jessie Wilcox Smith, and Leon M. Bracker, who were enlisted to paint subjects suitable for poster production in the Interchurch campaign, can NATIONAL ADVERTISING 137 be employed for subjects which will have the wide use that national advertising makes possible."* A local church whose advertising would be produced but once does not have the resources to get the very best illustrative work, or the best preparation of copy. So much of the message of the church is as applicable in Oregon as it is in Texas that the motive of economy is a great reason for national advertising. There is no waste in religious advertising due to a lack of local representation. Few denominations are so limited in their extent that they will not reap directly the results of national advertising. But in the truest sense of the term, no national advertising of Christianity can be considered lost to the Kingdom. When we put Him above man-made institutions, the ilKmitable results become apparent. ADAPTABILITY TO THE WARES OF THE CHURCH The fundamental requisite for a product to be adapt- able to national advertising is that there shall exist a wide territory in which a demand for it exists or in which such a demand may be created. From the stand- point of efl&ciency in advertising it is desirable that the product be one which can be obtained at all local dis- pensaries. On both of these points the gospel is far and away more universal and adaptable to local needs than any other commodity that exists or that can be imagined. The universal market.— Advertising the message of the church is like advertising a general commodity such as bread. Everyone iieeds it. It is 'Hhe bread of life." In the commercial field the advertiser of Panama hats recognizes that he has little business in « Mr. C. S. Clark. 138 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING Alaska. The maker of fur coats does not advertise his wares in the tropics. But the Church of Christ can send its message to all lands. Indeed, the essence of its commission is that it shall penetrate all regions. Where the need of the Christian religion is not recog- nized there it is to be awakened. Where it exists, it is to be satisfied. Ours is a universal, a world-wide market. "One of the greatest opportunities for church adver- tising to-day is the tremendous movement for waking people up to the church, the Go-to-Church movement that is being prosecuted regardless of denomination. This is being promoted on a national scale, and the local church that does not take advantage of this by a parallel campaign in its community is over- looking an opportunity that may not come again for years. "^ Local representatives, noncompeting. — When a manufacturer of soap wishes to sell his product, he cannot advertise merely soap. He must advertise it from a partisan point of view. He must specify the particular brand of soap in his advertising, either directly or by suggestion. Fundamentally, national advertising for the church means advertising Chris- tianity, and not Presbyterianism, Methodism, Congre- gationalism, Unitarianism, or any other ism. Church advertising does not carry such cautions as "Look for the little red label," or "Insist on ," or "None genuine without signature of — ." or "Refuse all substitutes." When the druggists began to apply the lessons of national advertising and large-scale production with lessening of overhead expense, there grew up several ' Mr. Homer J. Buckley. NA'JIONAL ADVERTISING 139 syndicates, so that the several ch-ug stores in a com- munity might each have a nationally advertised product. "Rexall" stands for one brand. "A. D. S." calls for similar goods in another store. "Nyal" is another store name. True, a community offers different churches, but the function of each is not to tear down another. It is to defeat the forces of iniquity. It is not necessary to the progress of our cause to advertise denominational differences on a national scale. Herein lies a suggestion for the churches of a community. "Much might be gained by the forming of one committee composed of members representing all denominations in the com- munity which should have charge of all publicity or advertising. A regular ofl&ce force could be maintained and the entire work carried on in a businesslike manner v/ith very little additional cost to the individual churches. The added costs would be easily covered in the added results obtained."^ A step in the right direction has been taken by the denominational colleges in many States. Recognizing the inherent unity of their appeal, and the non-com- petitive cliaracter of their work, in several States they now regidarly do tiieir advertising together, even to the printing of the several college calendars side by side in the columns of the daily press. A larger, more attractive space can be had at less cost. The spirit of good will thus manifested reacts favorably upon both the colleges and their prospects. The day of recognized national advertising for the church does not spell tlie end of denominations, but it does promise an end to the accusation of selfishness, the charge that one church thrives upon the defeats of another. ' Mr. Herman A. Groth. I40 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING AID TO THE LOCAL PROBLEM There are two sides to this question. One is the responsibility of the local church to take advantage of the demand created by national advertising; the other is the responsibiUty of the general church to give the local church directly the benefit of its larger organ- ization. This it can do by acting as a clearing house to coordinate and give direction to local advertising campaigns, by furnishing counsel when a local church has some problem to be solved by advertising, and by supplying high-grade material for copy, properly pre- pared or arranged. Direction. — ^An example of how the general pub- licity department of a church 'may unify and direct local efforts was that afforded in the Methodist Cen- tenary Campaign by the "pubhcation of a Bulletin for the Four-Minute Men under the name of 'Missiles.' This was issued every other week, size 8 by ii, con- taining from i6 to 20 pages. As a 'house organ' it would rank among the best in the country."' In the chapter on "The Seasonal Approach" mention was made of the fine opportunity which National Thrift Week gives for the presentation of stewardship. The detailed directive plan of the Interchurch World Move- ment for the observance of this period in 1921 might well serve as an example of how national advertising can help the local church advertiser. "On 'Share With Others Day,' January 23, and on the day previous, Saturday, January 22, the news- papers should be dominated with the ' Share- With- Others' idea. The local ministerial association might invite representatives of the local press, both of the »J. T. B. Smith. NATIONAL ADVERTISING 141 editorial and advertising departments, to attend one of its meetings to discuss the possible ways of cooperating in regard to publicity. "Newspaper advertisements may be secured in several different ways: "i. It may be possible to get the local Thrift Com- mittee to buy liberal space out of their Thrift Week budget. This was done in 1920 in such cities as Cin- cinnati, Sacramento, Topeka, and Saint Paul. As an illustration of the copy used, the following was taken from the Topeka Daily State Journal: Share With Others Day "And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not." Thrift for the sake of money alone is a cold thing, but Thrift for the enlargement of life is a very hu- man thing. Go to Church Sunday And hear your minister connect Thrift with Rehgion. "2. It may be possible to get local business men who are members of the church or congregation and who contract regularly for advertising space to adapt their copy on the dates desired for 'Share-With-Others' idea. This can be done by simply running at the top or bottom of the copy 'This is Share With Others Day,' or by changing the copy itself. For instance, a bank in Joplin, Missouri, put the following in its regular space: 142 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING Share With Others Day No man can live all to himself. Cooperation is the watchword of success in every relation of human life. To succeed, you must share with others. It is, therefore, both a duty and a privilege for you to cooperate with others in making National Thrift Week an overwhelming success in Joplin. Your savings account started any day during Na- tional Thrift Week at the Conqueror Trust Com- pany will receive interest at 3^!^ per cent from January I, 1920. "Local department stores in most instances will run at least a box in their advertisement with the words, 'This is Share With Others Day of National Thrift Week.' "It may be possible on this occasion to get all the churches to unite in advertising, enlarging their space and devoting the copy to the 'Share-With-Others' idea. In all of these advertisements, however, and in all of the meetings advertised, there should be no special collections nor solicitation of funds. "It would be very appropriate if the local Ministerial Association could appropriate funds from its treasury or from a specially raised budget to take a fuU-page display advertisement in all of the Saturday news- papers of January 22. While the principal copy would be devoted to the 'Share-With-Others' idea, it would also be possible to list the various churches, especially those where 'Share-With-Others' sermons would be given. "One of the most effective and least expensive means NATIONAL ADVERTISING 143 of advertising National Thrift Week is the window display. It will be an easy matter to secure permission from local business men interested in the church to place 'Share-With-Others' posters in their windows and to allow the placing of original displays which can be worked into a window exhibit using the poster as a central object. It also will be possible to get some of the banks to use both the poster and the 'Budget- Day' poster and to offer a budget book to anyone who will enter the bank to ask for it. "It is desirable, through newspaper articles and the use of paid space, to advertise the special Stewardship Study Courses which will be conducted during the period from January 24 to February 20. It is even more important that such newspaper publicity be used in advertising the enrollment period, which begins Sunday, February 20, in which it is hoped that every Christian in the community will be systematically offered the opportunity of acknowledging his steward- ship by signing a statement agreeing to give a definite proportion of his income to the Lord's work."^" Counsel. — This is a feature of national publicity bureaus which has not developed greatly as yet. But as the possibilities of church advertising are more completely developed it will be possible for a local church facing an important building campaign, or an evangelistic campaign, or a community building cam- paign, or any other special or protracted endeavor, to write its general board and ask for expert assistance. Plans will be standardized to cover the majority of conditions, and the local church will no longer be de- pendent upon the immediate local talent. The execu- tion, of course, will rest with the local committee, but '» Mr. E. A. Hungerford. 144 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING they will have something to guide their efforts. The Epistles of Paul are an historic example of how the solution of local problems may be aided by expert advice. The Presbyterian Department of Publicity, with offices at Chicago, is one of the pioneers in this field and has a program of cooperation with the local church which extends from pamphlets suggesting copy for "Bulletin Board Sermonettes" to expert advice for any phase or problem of local church advertising. Something of this nature is now being done in some fields of church activity, and as soon as advertising becomes a more commonly used agency a similar de- velopment is inevitable. Cooperation. — The whole proposition of national advertising rests upon the fact that there are common interests. The entire project is one of cooperation, but here is meant particularly cooperation in the way of furnishing cuts, copy, and statistics for local adver- tising purposes which could not be obtained by local effort alone. "One of the most effective of the many means of publicity in the Methodist Centenary campaign was a series of twenty posters in from two to eight colors that were displayed in bulletin boards in front of churches. These posters were prepared by eminent artists. The series ran twenty weeks. "A series of 'Graphics' was prepared to present effec- tively the story of the sixteen great divisions which constitute the work in the home and foreign fields. These 'Graphics' were 9 by 12 inches in size. They contained sixteen pages, were printed on heavy cameo paper, the cover of the same stock as the inside but of heavier weight, with from three to four colors on the NATIONAL ADVERTISING 145 cover and either one or two on the inside pages. They covered such subjects as Africa, China, India, European Reconstruction, the Frontier and City Mission. They were sold at cost sufficient to cover manufacture and made possible to the smallest church a grade of adver- tising otherwise absolutely impossible."" There will be some who will ask: "Does not a thor- ough plan of national advertising mean an increase in the bureaucracy of the church? Will it not become top-heavy?" The answer must frankly be given that it will unless the church hold itself rigidly to the great task before it. If the institution becomes self-conscious, or if it becomes the end rather than the means, then there is a real danger to the Kingdom. But this ques- tion appears in all Hnes of effort. It is an unsolved problem in the State. It is a recognized condition in capitalistic industry. There is no dogmatic answer. The only guarantee that the machine will not become greater than the message is the character of the men who compose it. And that will be true for every kind of an organization. We surely can hope that men engaged in the work of spreading the gospel of service will be true servants of the cause rather than masters of a machine. » John T. Brabner Smith. X THE BUDGET: HOW TO OBTAIN FUNDS The Cost of Advertising The cost of advertising in sixty churches The mounting cost of advertising Why Spend Money for Advertising? Is the money thus spent justifiable? Reasons for church advertising Plans for a Budget An interchurch budget If not in the general church budget Advertising properly included in the church budget X THE BUDGET: HOW TO OBTAIN FUNDS "It was not many years ago that worthy church members would have been greatly shocked at the mere thought of applying business methods of getting business to the church organization as a means of increasing attendance, collections, and gifts. But that antagonistic attitude has to a very great extent dis- appeared,"^ and "now cost is usually the first objection advanced at the suggestion of church advertising. 'The high cost of hving,' the minister says, 'will not enable me to spend a penny that isn't absolutely neces- sary.' Against such an argument, as in the develop- ment of commercial advertising, the solicitor is simply up against the necessity of proving that it is not a dead expense but a productive investment."^ THE COST OF ADVERTISING In planning a program of church advertising the question "What will it cost?" is raised immediately. Granted that it is not a luxury but a necessity, there remains the problem of actually approving it as an item in the general budget. The cost of advertising in sixty churches. — "A questionnaire on this subject, sent to some two hundred ministers of churches of varying denomina- tions, brought sixty most interesting replies. For example, we learn that approximately I210 is the average amount yearly spent for advertising. The ' Mr. Herman A. Groth. ' Mr. Frank D. Webb, the Baltimore News. 149 ISO HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING amounts varied from $5 spent by a church having three hundred members, to the sum of $1,500 spent by a church having a membership of two thousand. Of those who spent money for this purpose 80 per cent reported that the money was provided by the church treasury, the amount being an item of the church budget. Ten per cent stated that the pastor per- sonally financed all of the advertising. Another 5 per cent explained that the fimd was raised by personal subscriptions of a few members, while the remaining 5 per cent reported a specific subscription fund for this purpose alone. EVERY CHURCH to become a more IMP0RTA[^ TACTOH Ll/e (^ the "eommunlty. In which it is established must - ADVERTISE as a regular part of- THE CHURCH BUSINESS. JI It inus-t Apply BusiWESs Principles- 1 It must use methods of Interesting **>■ Public in its message Detail s. Mechanical end of Advertising Not dutj^ gf MlnlstGr biH delegated io Special Committee Type ly Adi/ertising Newspaper Alvertlsement Follow-up WorK Printed Matter Invitations TonuKe Casual \Asitan Regular Members Cards in Bulletins. butdowSgns Indoor Signs Wfndiw&nls ISI 152 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING SvsihMiZED Effort Pavs>r itself In every case. Cost ^f Anything can be measured only by Benefits Derived •nieCost subscription. 1 eiriouritin^ to *51,069 ADVERTISING BUILDS THE CHURCH 173 were written commending the project. Eight days had been assigned for the raising of the amount needed, $100,000. In less than five days the quota was over- subscribed. Of this achievement Dr. McCombe said, "We believe this would liave been utterly impossible in the absence of an intensive and extensive publicity campaign, which not only sold the church temporarily to the town for the purpose of obtaining from Jew and Gentile, Protestant and Catholic, colored and white, saint and sinnei, the amount necessary for its erection, but incidentally through their investment, we have secured their permanent interest, and the whole county became familiar with the plans and purposes of the new Temple." Where the people's treasure is, there will their heart be also. In demonstrating how advertising builds the church it is very easy for the advertiser to lay the emphasis upon those features which are quite apart from the real mission of the church. It is to be borne in mind constantly that any attempt to estimate the value of church advertising solely on its material returns is misleading. A true test of the efl&cacy of church advertising cannot be made without considering the ultimate goal of the church itself. The more immediate returns suggested in this chapter are all necessary and vital benefits which should be sought for, but the final test is determining the degree to which the adver- tising helps the church to achieve its real mission — to do its essential work. XII THE GOAL OF CHURCH ADVERTISING The Message Supreme Advertising is an aid to, not a substitute for religion The Strategic Position of the Church The rural church The city church The Tasks of the New Day An intensiiied appeal A day of innovations The Church Aggressive and Resourceful Fields white unto harvest Advertising an evidence of spiritual hardihood and vision xn THE GOAL OF CHURCH ADVERTISING The goal of church advertising is not the church. It is not the building of any temporary structure. It is not the making of a name for anyone who in the role of pastor is guiding the spiritual lives of a church group. The goal of church advertising is identical with the goal of the church. All advertising must stand this supreme test. One of the speakers^ at the Indianapolis Convention called attention to an editorial which appeared in The Continent in March, 1920. In part it said: "There has been manifest during late years in many places a good deal of craze about religious publicity, but much of the talk that one heard and the writing that one read on the subject exposed a very low conception of the purpose to be aimed at through this means. It has seemed, indeed, to associate itself with that whole misthinking notion that curses the church everywhere: that the church exists to make a success in the world — that is, a success in fame, numbers, and wealth. . . . For this purpose they want not a publicity man, though they wish to call him such, but they want a plain press- agent." THE MESSAGE SUPREME We need to remind ourselves over and over again, and in as many ways as possible, that church adver- tising is an aid to, not a substitute for, religion. Mr. Lupton A. Wilkinson, who was quoted in the last 'The Rev. Charles D. Alden, D.D., pastor of the First UniversaUst Church, Colmnbus. 177 178 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING chapter as to the efl&cacy of publicity for raising money for church purposes, declares: "The future of church advertising, and the vital need of the church for its increase, Ues, however, far removed from the financial campaign. Only lack of constructive effort on the part of the advertising profession can delay the day when religion will tell its story from the educational and inspirational standpoint, from month to month and week to week, in the great organs of written sales- manship. A campaign of common-sense sermonizing in the press, on a scale surpassing any industrial dis- play campaign, is certainly within the range of events which the advertising man can bring to pass. "It is the glory of the church that the argument of efficiency alone will never convert the church whole- heartedly to advertising as a major tool. The question which I have had constantly to face in the develop- ment of the advertising idea among Baptists is: 'Is it bibUcal? Does it follow the basic principles of the New Testament, or is it some material substitute for the proper way of advancing the kingdom of Christ?' "This attitude is a problem the advertising man must face. If industry had to be sold, painstakingly and with infinite skill, the realization of the full value of advertising, is it not natural that the church, which feels it has a sacred trust, should demand that it be shown in the matter of ultimate spiritual gain? "That which is most Ukely to hold back the progress of church advertising is the attitude that religion and religious leaders are out-of-date and that advertising is the summum bonum which will save the church. If a man holds to those beliefs, he should, in justice to himself, his profession, and the church, devote his energy to some other section of the advertising field. GOAL OF CHURCH ADVERTISING 179 "For the church has the divine fire within it. It is the highest expression of the idealistic impulse in man, the spirit of aspiration that distinguishes him from the lower orders. Advertising must, to achieve full fellow- ship, come to the church, not with a boast to improve, but with a sincere and humble desire to be of service. Advertising owes the church far more than the church will ever owe advertising, and if you are skeptical enough to doubt that, note for a while how consistently the unselfish ideal set forth in the Sermon on the Mount illuminates the higher levels of industrial display copy." THE STRATEGIC POSITION OF THE CHURCH In making advertising an ally of the church we are uniting one of the most powerful agencies for dissem- inating truth with the greatest institution representing truth that the world knows. Here indeed is message and carrier united. The rural church. — In discussing the strategic posi- tion of the rural church before the Church Depart- ment at IndianapoHs, the Hon. Edwin T. Meredith, secretary of agriculture, told of the study made by the Office of Farm Management of the Department of Agriculture. The community about Belleville, New York, is found, in the past forty-five years, to have contributed to the other parts of the nation a total of two hundred and seven young people to points outside New York State, and approximately two hun- dred and fifty to points within the State, but outside the home county! Then said Mr. Meredith: "Here is the point I wish to emphasize: Aside from the schools, the institutions in this little community that gave form and character to these four hundred and fifty-seven lives were two i8o HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING country churches. . . . Foremost among the institutions in the rural community is the rural church. "We recognize the importance of guarding the purity of a spring; we do everything possible to protect the sources of a community's water supply, but are we doing enough to make pure and strong the moral forces in rural communities from which flow these Kving streams that enrich even the remotest parts of the nation? Who can measure the vital part of these typi- cal country churches? Nowadays we know enough of psychology to realize that the most lasting influences in life are those exerted before the completion of the adolescent period. The young people who went forth from Belleville were what Belleville homes, Belleville churches, and Belleville schools made them. Do you wonder that I urge the importance of the rural church, particularly when we remember that the history of Belleville is multiplied hundreds, if not thousands, of times in this country?" The further point which this study revealed makes the case complete. "These maps show that in the past generation the migration has been very largely to the great cities. If we can make adequate provision for the moral and religious life of our rural commu- nities, we shall have gone a long way toward keep- ing pure and eternally vigorous the life of the whole nation." The city church. — Neither rural nor city church can escape the responsibility. The one, in the heart of the country, must guard the purity and integrity of this important source of the nation's ideals. The other, in the heart of the congested city districts, must con- serve the work of the rural church under heavy handi- caps; it also must build religion into the lives of sue- VOUR WORLD MARKET Population I fi^ 0,000,000 1,000,000,000 Heathen Des tructivQ Civilizt3tion <3nd Progress 6^0,000,000 ? 39^ 61*?^ OiRISTIANITY MAKES PEOPLE HEALTHY HAPPY &. PROSPEROUS 181 i82 HANDBOOK Oi: CHURCH ADVERTISING ceeding generations of city-born and city-bred children. It must pass on its message to those new Americans who come from other lands. Both churches, rural and city, must discharge their permanent responsibility for all who come within their reach. In coming as an ally of an institution with so great a charge, and occupying so important a position, ad- vertising should develop its best forms. In such a position of trust, the church has a responsibility to use the most efficient instruments of carrying its message that the modern world affords. THE TASKS OF THE NEW DAY In the swift reshaping of institutions and practices following the world war, there is no time for the church to consult its injured feelings if some of its traditions or customs seem overthrown and rendered obsolete. It can afford to surrender verbiage in the interest of living truth. While society is again crystallizing about new ideals and adopting new standards, the Church of Christ has an imprecedented opportunity to present its case. "New York city, having considered a $20,000,000 Inter-Church quota for a year as a staggering proposi- tion, is revealed by the Income Tax Collector's report to have spent in excess of $100,000,000 during each month in the spring of 1920 for taxable luxuries. "Surely, the church would be the last institution to maintain that these contrasting figures are due to any inherent insensitiveness on the part of mankind toward appeals to the higher instincts. The basic theory on which the church has advanced is the belief that the tendency toward religion is inborn in all of us. Even the great atheists, defiant in their blasphemy, GOAL OF CHURCH ADVERTISING 183 admitted freely that the desire to worship and the impulse toward spirituality are implanted in every human breast. "The church has come to the point where it must ask itself, not the boy in Sunday school nor the business man in his ofl&ce, why other institutions and other influences have more hold on the daily Ufe of milUons, even of millions who rate themselves Christians, than the church itself?"^ The present-day conditions force upon the church consideration of the need of a more intensified appeal. Concerning the intrinsic value of the Christian message there can be no doubt. The human heart does respond when the full, true story of the Son of man is adequately presented to it. The problem lies in the method of presentation. Competitors are numerous, attractive, persistent. The spoken word should be supplemented by the written page and by various kinds of pictures. Ancient methods of spreading the gospel must be tested for present-day practicabiUty. Let us match problem with solution; twentieth-century weapons for twentieth- century wrongs. A day of innovations. — The sober mind of the world is asserting itself again after the heated frenzy of war. But the memory of war and of the unrealities which it ground to powder remains as an influential factor in the thinking of the new day. Sincerity and honest frankness are virtues that are rated more highly than ever before. It is more difficult for shams to survive. The church will not escape this pragmatic searching because of any alleged divine right of existence. The iconoclastic spirit of the age is demanding merit as the sole test for survival. If the church grasps at ' Mr. Lupton A. Wilkinsou. i84 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING advertising as a saving straw without regard to its own character, it wiU indeed prove a feeble support; but if it looks upon advertising as an ally for the ad- vancement of Christ's kingdom, tremendous chapters of progress will be recorded. The goal of church adver- tising is not the preservation of the institution as such, but the extension of its service, the accomplishment of its mission. "Too much of our church advertising is frankly selfish in its aim, and the man of the street knows it. To convey the impression that the aim behind your advertising is to get people to join YOUR church will in the end defeat itself. The church is an altruistic institution, and however efl&cient it justly and rightly strives to be in a business way, this is a means and not an end. The best church advertising, therefore, is that which is not aimed at results in the form of filled pews and large collections, but which seeks to meet the hunger and need of men. "Paradoxical as it may seem, this is the kind that will pay, though the feature of gain should not be the end. The ideals for which our church stands are needed by the community. We advertise those ideals because we sense this need, leaving the immediate results to take care of themselves. We believe that if our ideals reach the community irrespective of the growth of any particular communion, we are rendering the community effective service. "The objection will be raised that we are mixing faith with business, and that they won't mix. Too long has the world labored under this delusion. They must mix if civilization is to endure. All permanently successful business is built upon two principles: first. Faith in the best in human nature; second. Service to GOAL OF CHURCH ADVERTISING 185 mankind.'" If that be true for an ordinary business, why is it not for the church? THE CHURCH AGGRESSIVE AND RESOURCEFUL Roger Babson, the business statistician, says, "The need of the hour is not more legislation; the need of the hour is more religion." Similar opinions may be gathered from scores of authorities in widely distributed fields of endeavor. But side by side with them may be placed as many charges by careful students that the church is finding it difficult to make the readjustments demanded by the new situation. Of one thing we may be sure: the world never abolishes an indispensable in- stitution. Institutions are indispensable to society so long as they make a definite contribution to human welfare. The most superficial survey of the world's present conditions reveals the limitless need for those virtues and those ideals for which the church stands. It is largely through the ministry of this venerable institu- tion that the much needed increase in religion will come. Fields white iinto harvest. — ^With nerves worn by disappointment, hearts made sick by following blind trails, and patience exhausted by the alarms of false prophets, the world turns its attention more and more to the time-tested spiritual realities. It is not for the church to berate the world. It is, rather, for the church seriously to search itseK to be sure that it has pure motives, an unchallengeable desire to serve, a courage that is heaven-bom, and an intelligent pro- gram for service. Then it may approach the world, using the most effective methods of publicity known, and offer its message, being confident that its ministry will be gladly accepted. ' Dr. Horace Westwood. i86 HANDBOOK OF CHURCH ADVERTISING Advertising an evidence of spiritual hardihood and vision. — -The church that holds clearly before it the supreme goal of its endeavor is in a position to acquire good judgment with reference to both materials for and methods of advertising. Having once set its mind to accomplish its divinely accredited mission, the power of initiative descends upon it. Resourcefulness is developed. Greater freedom of action is inevitable. Enthusiasm, courage, and self-forgetfulness follow in- evitably. Under such conditions advertising is inevitable. It reveals the church's determination to win souls for God. It means the waging of an aggressive warfare. The challenge of competitors is readily accepted. Con- fident of ultimate success, it attacks the strongholds of evil. Advertising is a weapon of the church militant. When properly made use of it suggests the presence of missionary zeal. It is not the method of shameless self-exaltation or of wanton intrusion into the shop and market place. It is, rather, the method of the one in the parable of our Lord who went out into the highways and hedges and compelled others to come in. The boldness of Peter on the day of Pentecost is not unlike the spirit of the modem church that has set its heart upon a campaign of witnessing to the truth of which it is the custodian. Paul met the people of Athens and Corinth, of Ephesus and Philippi, more than half way. He took the initi- ative in calling their attention to the Good News, the Gospel. In the parable of the sower, the seed was scattered Uberally — we might almost say as recklessly — as are handbills, to-day. Some fall upon stony ground. But some take root and yield abundant returns. Sf! 4m H'.i H K :.!,! Til 1 ,t'.iHJ