UUA ad in Times Square

[Green Gaia]

Times Square video will run 24 days around Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve.

By Jane Greer

The message of Unitarian Universalism will soon be broadcast from a 1,200-square-foot television screen in one of the commercial crossroads of the world: Times Square in New York City.

A 30-second commercial, designed to raise awareness of Unitarian Universalism, will be appearing eight times a day on the NBC Panasonic Astrovision Screen today through November 27 and December 23 to January 1. The spot will run during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the annual Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration, and 36 million people will see it over the 24-day period, according to the UUA’s marketing outreach consultant, Valerie Holton.

The opportunity for the $60,000 ad campaign, which is completely funded by private donations, came when O’hsin Technology, a company that sells advertising space, approached the UUA after seeing the Association’s pilot media campaign in Kansas City. The company contacted the Rev. Tracey Robinson-Harris, director of congregational services, and donors from several parts of the country supplied the funds.

The spot shows images of men, women, children, and families, alongside the phrases “Imagine a religion open and searching,” “Children learn love not fear,” “Everybody matters,” and “Different beliefs, one faith.” It concludes with a reference to the UUA’s website, www.uua.org.

Using large outdoor screens for religious advertising has precedent. The United Methodist Church ran a series of ads in Times Square in 2003. Later that year the National Council of Churches and United Methodist Communications cosponsored large television screen messages at the New York City entrance to the Holland Tunnel.

The campaign’s goal is brand awareness, said Holton, not necessarily a surge in church attendance. “We need to get our name--and our values--out for the world to see.” She said she hopes people will eventually visit the UUA’s website and find a congregation.

Related UUA article


What do you all think about this? Will we start seeing more advertising of UU?

 

[Davidium]

I was a part of the "Uncommon Denomination" campaign that ran here in Houston. As a representative to the Houston UU Network, I sat in on the pre-campaign discussions, as well as the post- campaign wrap up. Now, we did not do television, but we did do billboards, newspaper ads, direct mail, newspaper inserts, and radio ads. We've had radio ads for years on NPR, we just upped their frequency.

And we saw growth. Some churches had phenominal growth. One of our churchs has near doubled in size since then. In Galveston, we saw moderate growth, but we were not the focus of the campaign.

So, I think we do need to do more advertising. The number of people who discover that they are philosophically and religiously a Unitarian Universalist though the quiz on Beliefnet is shocking. It means we need to be more expressive of our faith within the world.

David

 

[Green Gaia]

So, I think we do need to do more advertising. The number of people who discover that they are philosophically and religiously a Unitarian Universalist though the quiz on Beliefnet is shocking. It means we need to be more expressive of our faith within the world.

I agree, of course. I'm sure you've heard the joke about how UUs will take anyone who is smart enough to find us. I love UU jokes, but always thought that one was a little too close to reality and that was very sad. I believe we have a lot to offer people who are searching for something other than the usual. I know we have a lot to offer our communities and to the world at large. It's a bit frustrating at times knowing how much and what we have to offer that so few people know about UU and know what we are really about.

I think we are MORE than ready to take this step. Not only in major metro areas, but nationwide. I would love to see this done on a national level (kinda like the United Church of Christ's welcoming ads from a year or so ago).

I think I need to find out what committee I need to talk to about advertising our church.

 

[Ciscokid]

I plan on buying some bumper stickers that promote the UU Church. I don't flaunt my religious beliefs but I do enjoy sharing them. I am glad to see that UUism will get a jolt of publicity as well...especially where I live [conservative Bible Belt] you never hear about other religions other than the huge ones.

 

[Davidium]

Cisco,

PM me your address and I will mail you one... If you will put it on your car. We had alot left over from the Uncommon Denomination Campaign. Alot of our older members just were not going to put them on their cars, so I think we ended up with over 500 (for our 100 member church).

They say "Room For Different Beliefs -- Yours The Uncommon Denomination -- Unitarian Universalism" and they give the UUA Website.

I have one on my car... but we have a lot of them.

Yours in Faith,

David

 

[Green Gaia]

David (and anyone else who might know),

Do you think we will see more advertising organized at the District level or will it mainly be left up to individual churches to do it?

 

[Davidium]

Maize,

In Houston, advertising is done at the "cluster" level, as well as at the individual church level. I'm sure Districts would love to do advertising, as well as the UUA as a whole. The problem is money... as always. The UUA runs on what would comparatively be very little money compared to other religions, and the districts even less. Our campaign in Houston was paid for by a coalition of donors, and was conducted in coordination with the UUA.

Now, there are 9 UU Churches in the greater Houston area... much more than in most other areas. But, St. Louis did something similar to us, and Dallas is working on a similar campaign. The two campaigns that already have all the graphics and the like that can be used are the "Uncommon Denomination" and the "New Trinity" campaigns. Valerie Holton at the UUA can help any church or district that wants to do something like this....

I think "Cluster" level is more realistic than District.

Yours in Faith,

David

 

[ALifetimeToWaitFor...]

I like the idea of UU and hope it spreads.

Let see UU beer cozies, UU t-shirts, UU pom poms. This could get really profitable for me . JK