Loomis Agency, Musician Join Hands To Target Christians

The Loomis Agency wants to help major brands reach out to evangelical Christians, in part through religious festivals that can attract as many as a quarter-million souls and reach thousands more through cable and broadcast channels.The Dallas-based independent has teamed with gospel musician and hip-hop star Kirk Franklin's Fo Yo Soul Entertainment to create P:19, a "faith-based marketing group" that will handle sponsorships and advertising for major Christian-themed events.It's big business: Witness last weekend's "One-in-Worship" event at Ford Field in Detroit that attracted corporate sponsors including McDonald's, Pfizer, Comerica Bank, Compuware and others who wanted their names in front of an expected 50,000 to 60,000 attendees per day. Franklin is scheduled to perform at a similarly large Christian event called "MegaFest" Aug. 3-6 in Atlanta, and P:19 will work on marketing for that and his subsequent record tour in the fall."There are a lot of advertisers out there who don't realize that they are missing a huge audience," Loomis president Mike Sullivan said. Among trends that support Sullivan's claim is the boom in media-savvy megachurches (defined as churches with more than 2,000 members), the number of which in the U.S. has gone from 10 in 1970 to 740 today. In the past year, the average number of worshippers per megachurch has grown 4 percent to 3,646, and the average annual net income of such churches has hit $4.8 million, according to tracking service Church Growth Today. In starting its faith-based unit with a staff of 12, Loomis is following a path blazed by The DeMoss Group, an Atlanta agency that does only faith-based marketing, including PR for MegaFest. Founder Mark DeMoss said advertising at religious festivals is relatively new and sponsorship rates—which can include signage, mentions in programs, booths, etc.—can range from $10,000 to six figures and beyond. "Because it's sort of new territory, my sense is that these organizations will sort of take what they can get," he said. "There's not enough history or data to have firm pricing schedules." Among DeMoss' former clients is Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A, a fast-food chain that operates under Biblical principles, such as closing its outlets on Sundays. Chick-fil-A was an early advertiser at religious events in the 1980s. In the years since, "positive acceptance of the faith-based initiative [by clients] does seem to be gaining more footing than when we were doing it," said company rep Don Perry.By creating P:19 with Loomis, Franklin gains an agency that can drum up sponsorships for his tours. But in seeking advertisers, he is also seeking investors in the urban minority communities where he is trying to raise hip-hop from its criminal and materialistic associations to something on a more spiritual plane. "We're talking about taking some of those dollars from branding and using them in situations that will help the communities," he said. At One-in-Worship, for example, organizers used funds from sponsorship to give away 10,000 meals to poor people who arrived early, according to Bishop Andrew Merritt, who recently appeared with President Bush in Michigan to promote Bush's faith-based public policies.Sanford Keziah, a Harvard Divinity School graduate who founded an agency in Boulder, Colo., said targeting faith-based festivals and organizations is "almost a next logical cultural step." As consumers, the religious community tends to take a deeper look at the client than most viewers, he said. "Instead of brand values, they're looking at a lot of brands with values."

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Loomis Agency, Musician Join Hands To Target Christians

Richard Williamson

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Richard Williamson