Jump to content

Faith-based marketing

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Latebatman (talk | contribs) at 02:11, 10 December 2015 (Added leading companies in list). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Faith-based marketing is the integration of religious faith into marketing and business.[1] Agencies such as Propeller, Working Title Agency, Front Gate, Grace Hill Media, Buzzplant, and Graf-Martin Communications Inc specialize in marketing faith-based products and creating partnerships that target specific groups, such as the family-based audience. In the United States this type of marketing can help reach Christians, who enjoy an estimated purchasing power of over $5.1 trillion a year.[2][3]

Market segments

See also: Inspirational fiction

Many Christian book and music titles have become successes in the mainstream world.[4] The best-selling Purpose Driven Life by Christian pastor Rick Warren became the bestselling hardback non-fiction book in history, and is the second most-translated book in the world, after the Bible.[5] In 2004, the Mel Gibson-directed The Passion of the Christ opened to $83.8M domestically and went on to gross $611M worldwide.[6] In 2014, the Christian films Son of God, Noah, Heaven Is for Real and God's Not Dead, enjoyed box-office success.[7][8] Faith-based marketing is also seen in the tourism industry. The UN World Tourism Organization estimates that 300 million to 330 million people a year participate in faith-based travel.[citation needed] The U.S. Travel Association reports that 25% of all travelers are interested in a spiritual vacation.[9]

Many companies incorporate faith-based ideas in their operations, mission statements, or even their packaging, subtly or overtly.[5]

Costs of faith-based marketing

Efforts to market or run a business based on religious faith can face unique challenges.

In 2012, Chik-fil-A, who has "made a name [for itself] promoting Christian principles in its charity work", drew controversy after its CEO Dan Cathy suggested the he opposed same-sex marriage, which led to protests.[10] Those protests did not appear to damage the company's sales.[11] Hobby Lobby, another Christian business,[12] filed a lawsuit, now styled Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby, arguing that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's mandate for coverage of emergency contraception violated their First Amendment, religious rights.[13] Oral arguments were heard by the Supreme Court of the United States in March 2014.

References

  1. ^ Hutchins, Bob; Stielstra, Greg (2009-04-06). Faith-Based Marketing: The Guide to Reaching 140 Million Christian Customers. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 9780470483060. Retrieved 2014-05-31.
  2. ^ Liza Porteus Viana. "Faith-Based Marketing Can Tap Into Powerful Consumer Base | Fox Small Business Center". smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  3. ^ The 2007 Leisure Market Research Handbook. (2007). Faith Based Activities, p. 180-183.
  4. ^ "The Great Christian Cash-In". TaipeiTimes. Retrieved 2014-04-07.
  5. ^ a b "Short Takes: Gauging the impact of 'Purpose Driven Life,' 10 years on – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs". religion.blogs.cnn.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06. Cite error: The named reference "cnn" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  6. ^ "'Noah', 'Son of God' Part of Recent Hollywood Faith-Based Film Trend -- But Will It Last?". deadline.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  7. ^ "Why Christians Now Rule Hollywood - The Daily Beast". thedailybeast.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  8. ^ "Year of the faith films: Movies that tell stories of religion doing well at the box office - Washington Times". washingtontimes.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  9. ^ "Travel Market Report :: Login". travelmarketreport.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  10. ^ "Chick-fil-A: Will the controversy hurt chain's expansion plans? - CSMonitor.com". csmonitor.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  11. ^ Stafford, Leon (January 29, 2013). "Chick-fil-A keeps growing despite uproar". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 2014-05-31.
  12. ^ Hutchins, p. 207
  13. ^ "Here’s what you need to know about the Hobby Lobby case". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.

Further reading

  • Einstein, Mara (2007), Brands of Faith: Marketing Religion in a Commercial Age, London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 0415409772
  • Kuzma, A; Kuzma, J. "How Religion Has Embraced Marketing and the Implications for Business" (PDF). Journal of Management and Marketing Research. 2: 1–10. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
  • Van Wyk, K; Ratliffe, C (2007). "Developing and Marketing a Faith-Based Practice: Mission and Business". Journal of Psychology and Christianity. 26 (3): 246–250.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Faith-based_marketing&oldid=694568839"