NCC Marketing Plan

Section I: Situation Analysis Team Biographies Tim Facius Tim Facius is a senior with a double major in Public Relations and Marketing with a focus in Integrated Marketing Communications. He is proficient in both market and communications research. He has strong communicative and writing skills. He currently works selling auto insurance for State Farm, where he also completed an internship over five months researching advertising campaigns. He works in a call center so he is constantly refreshing his communicative skills both with the company and its customers. Tim also has entrepreneurial skills that were developed when he began a business finishing garage floors. Alex Garner Alex Garner is a senior with a Marketing major focusing on Integrated Marketing Communications with a minor in Public Relations. Alex has developed his marketing skills with two summer internships at a Forbes Top 32 corporation, State Farm. Focusing on marketing projects in a California zone, Alex’s group won California-wide competitions and enterprise-wide competitions both years. Alex has developed leadership and management skills by being the team lead both years of the marketing projects. Currently, Alex is furthering his small business marketing skills by working at a State Farm agent’s office in Bloomington-Normal. Alex has learned marketing tactics for both large and small scale businesses. Raquel Kink Raquel Kink is a senior Marketing major with a focus in Integrated Marketing Communications. She has a diverse skill set which includes event coordination, sales, fundraising, and the creation of a marketing plan for a client using advertisements through various media outlets. Raquel served as the Alumni Relations Committee Chair and was responsible for bolstering relationships between ISU alumni and current students. While in this position, she often planned social events consisting of at least 200 people in attendance. This experience with event coordination led her to an internship with Walt Disney World. At her internship, Raquel was an events coordinator intern for Epcot. In addition to event planning experience, Raquel was also a team sales lead for Vector Marketing, where she strengthened customer relationships by recommending products based on customer needs. Rather than collect sales commission, Raquel and her team donated their commissions to Homes of Hope, a charity offering homes to individuals with special needs. Her team commissions contributed money which allowed the charity to purchase a vehicle for their transportation needs. Raquel was also a team lead for a recent campaign plan submitted to the University Gaming Association (UGA) on campus. Raising awareness and increasing membership enrollment were two goals within the marketing campaign. The media campaign consisted of television and newspaper advertisements, web site design, and the creation of informational pamphlets. Sergio Mazon Sergio Mazon is a senior with a double major in International Business and Marketing focusing on Integrated Marketing Communications at Illinois State University. Sergio possesses skill in Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point. Sergio also has skill with the Adobe Creative Suites Programs; Photoshop and Illustrator. Sergio is also fluent in Spanish, English and Japanese and has acquired experience by working for the Japan America Society of Chicago, a cultural branch of the Japanese Embassy. Sergio is an assistant manager of a subway restaurant which has taught him to be a responsible and reliable person. Sergio is able to keep his mind focus and on track with all of his activities and always looks for ways to improve himself. Kraig Wicinski Kraig Wicinski is a senior Marketing major with a focus on Integrated Marketing Communications at Illinois State University. Kraig possesses competencies in conducting marketing research and managing organizational operations within a business environment. Through his personal experience from working in retail, he has extensive capabilities in both personal sales and customer service. Having the ability to relate to friends and strangers alike, Kraig find it easy to communicate his ideas and goals effectively. His passion is to find ways to market to consumers in new and sometimes unconventional ways. Jeff Voelker Jeff Voelker is a senior Marketing major with a focus on Integrated Marketing Communications. He is proficient in market research techniques including surveying and interviewing. He is also able to efficiently use Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. He also has a basic knowledge of Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Flash. He has experience creating a marketing plan for Composite Advantage, a bio-based plastics company. While working with Composite Advantage, he gathered data through phone surveys and industry research working with SWOT analysis and the Porter’s 5 Forces Model. Executive Summary This marketing plan was designed for New Covenant Community. Throughout the plan the team developed a situation analysis. This section discussed the current situation facing NCC and the environment affecting their growth. The analysis elaborates on such concepts as the strengths and weaknesses of NCC, as well as threats to the expansion efforts of NCC. NCC has a unique strength by being a liberal church as there are not many liberal churches in the Bloomington-Normal area. A major weakness that NCC has is their low awareness. An example of an opportunity is the opportunity to attract drop-out church attendees, while one of the major threats is people’s dedication to traditional styles of church. The team also provided an analysis of the market and industry which discussed current trends in people’s behaviors and attitudes towards church, as well as the Bloomington-Normal population and their likelihood to attend services. A survey was conducted (See Appendix B for complete results) and it was found that only 8% of the respondents had heard of NCC. Other significant data regarding the market and industry may be found in this section. Once data was collected, and information about the market was analyzed, the team performed an analysis on NCC’s competition. The primary competitors looked at included sporting events throughout the year, time spent with family, and sleeping in. Churches were not included as competition because NCC stated that they do not want to take members from other churches, but to attract members who currently are not attending a church. The team looked at past advertising and financial data about NCC. This information showed where the budget has been allocated amongst different advertising strategies in the past. In that information there is a clear presence of the slogan “a congregation for people who value spiritual searching over religious certainty”. It is clear that NCC’s past campaign efforts have targeted residents within the Bloomington-Normal community. The team briefly discusses the legal and regulatory constraints that NCC faces. The most predominant constraint is saying religious words like “God” in radio and television advertisements. Also, due to a lack of ownership over their location, NCC has signage restrictions as well. Next, a customer analysis is performed which is an overview of both actual and potential members for NCC. The current members of NCC are typically ages 30 and older. Most people currently have families or have had grown children. NCC is not a traditional church so it does attract the GBLT community. NCC also attracts people who have left their previous churches due to conservative viewpoints or disagreements with their belief system. This campaign will target an audience of mostly adults of age 35 or older that reside in the Bloomington-Normal community. This audience typically will be higher educated, democratic, and open to progressive religious practices. In order to keep this target audience in mind throughout the campaign the team has developed two profiles for characters that would fit this target audience. Campaign objectives were developed to create benchmarks and an effective strategic plan. The objectives include an increase in awareness, changing the current perspective, and increasing attendance in services. Gaining stronger awareness is a key factor in our objectives because it was found that 92% of those surveyed were unable to recognize the name NCC. A creative strategy was formed to create a unified message throughout and serve as a vehicle for this campaign. A theme was created using the slogan “NCC lets me be me” which is used throughout the campaign. The layout of our advertising will consist of one newspaper ad and one billboard ad that will center on the theme of “NCC lets me be me”. The newspaper advertisement is in black and white which is more cost-effective and neutral/distinguishable from other religious advertisements. The billboard uses blue, black, and white which is a more appealing color scheme and will draw people’s attention. Copy-testing was performed and determined that 64% of participants remembered the slogan. The Pantagraph was selected for the newspaper advertisement. There is continually an average readership of more than 107,000 people. The ad will be two inches tall by two columns wide and will be run every Saturday in April, January, and every Friday and Saturday in November and December. The billboard will be located on an electronic unit at the intersection of Veterans Parkway and Main Street. This advertisement will be run in November and December. The advertisement will run for 10 seconds on a rotation. There will be a second billboard ran in November only. Other options are included for an expanded budget. Supporting elements are also used throughout the campaign. These include a website redesign that will be able to track how many times the website has been visited to measure awareness as well as attendance at the annual Corn Festival. At the Corn Festival water bottles with bracelets around the water bottles. Note: The Corn Festival is only included in the expanded budget. Two budgets were developed for use of this campaign. The first budget is for $5000 which is what NCC currently uses for advertising. This budget outlines the money allocated for the newspaper advertisement, billboard, and supporting strategies. The second budget is an expanded budget if NCC is able to raise funds. The expanded budget is outlined for $10,000 and outlines the same strategies with additional uses or supporting methods. Finally, the team developed methods for measuring the outcomes of each objective for the campaign. Post-test surveys and attendance counts [both for website and service] will be used to measure the effectiveness the campaign had on each objective. Situation Analysis NCC is currently trying to expand their membership base and is having difficulty recruiting members to their community. NCC hopes to utilize marketing tools to attract new members. One of the primary issues NCC has is a low level of awareness. Also, they believe that there is currently a misperception of their name. A focus group was conducted with 10 members of NCC. Those results can be found in Appendix A. A survey of 377 respondents was also conducted. The survey results can be found in Appendix B. The Following is a SWOT analysis of NCC. A focus group was conducted with 10 members of NCC. Those results can be found in Appendix A. A survey of 377 respondents was also conducted. The survey results can be found in Appendix B. ,[object Object],Strengths Liberal church: Being a Liberal church has several unique advantages. First and foremost, there are few churches that are as liberal as NCC. Also, it is shown that Mclean County has liberal ideals at least on the political spectrum; noting that in the 2008 presidential election Obama won the vote for Mclean County (New York Times Dec. 2008). Registered Student Organization: Being a part of a registered student organization increases awareness and can be utilized to draw in more liberal college students. This makes it possible to increase exposures to the local population and host events for students to attract them. It also allows for NCC to broaden their reach into the student population by being able to specifically target students. Close-knit community: Having a close-knit community is something that many people look for when searching for a new church. By having a close-knit community members may feel a stronger connection. Also it is easier to spot new attendees and make them feel welcome to the community. NCC describes themselves as a community and not a church further strengthening this stance and reinforcing the accuracy of the perception new attendees may have about the social aspects of NCC. Open-minded and Supportive: Those members who have left churches previously for reasons such as scrutiny over lifestyle churches may find NCC to be a more accepting place. During the Focus Group (Appendix B) there was a lesbian couple that explained their acceptance into NCC and how it was unique to find an open-minded church such as NCC. Location: Being located on campus allows for a relatively strong reference point when attracting students and community members alike. This allows for an easy description of the location which will help draw new attendees. With strong descriptors to describe the location it will be easier to attract new attendees. Weaknesses Parking: Due to the location that NCC meets at parking is limited. This limited parking can affect attendance since a large portion of the attendees are within walking distance. This is a factor that may place limits on how many people attend NCC. Also, some potential attendees may rely on public transportation which does not run during Sunday. Low awareness: As seen in Appendix B, only 8% of respondents were able to recognize NCC. Of these respondents 16% were able to give a general location and 13% were able to specifically locate it. This is implicit that NCC is not well known. This is a weakness because it is difficult to attract new members if the potential new members do not know of NCC and further if they are unable to locate NCC. Misperception of the name: As found in the survey located in Appendix B, the word Covenant is viewed as a conservative descriptor. Due to this it may be causing a misperception of the belief system of NCC. This will harm the chances of recruiting new members due to the fact that NCC is very liberal which is a strong differentiating factor, and a key factor in attracting the new members. NCC does not own their own building: By not owning their own building NCC is not able to provide the comfort levels of a church that owns their own building. One issue is the comfort of the seating due to the fact that permanent seating is not available. Also, should NCC is not able to expand their building which may prevent expansion that may be needed after long-term implementation of a marketing campaign. Service style: Having a non-traditional service may drive away first time attendees that desire a more traditional service. It is possible that this drive away new attendees as it may be outside of their comfort zone. While this may cause new attendees to be comfortable, it may also make NCC more attractive to new members as many respondents indicated they would be comfortable with discussion during service. For further information refer to Appendix B Lack of set beliefs – Many church attendees seek a set form of beliefs or guidelines to follow. As NCC does not provide these, but more of a searching atmosphere many new attendees may not find what they are looking for in a church. However, if the proper individuals are attracted, this can be avoided as an issue. Lack of marketing specialization: NCC does not have anyone who specializes in marketing. This makes it more difficult to maintain a successful marketing campaign especially if adaptations are needed to change the campaign. For instance, if NCC is to gain the awareness levels they desire, a shift may be needed to change perception. This shift could be difficult without the help of marketing experts. Location: For those unfamiliar with the area, NCC may be difficult to find. Without proper signage NCC is difficult to follow. Also, they are located off of a one-way street which may confuse new attendees attempting to find their location or if they were to drive past the location. Liberal beliefs: While the community’s liberal beliefs may attract some visitors, it may also deter conservative Christians. Also, while some perspective attendees may be seeking a liberal church, they may have difficulties accepting all of the beliefs that the members of NCC Opportunities Gay and Lesbian lifestyle – NCC’s open attitude towards the homosexual population may be a strong attraction for homosexual or bisexual Christian individuals. Many homosexuals and bisexuals are still religious; however, they are unable to find a place of worship that is accepting of their beliefs. This may be utilized as a strong point to attract new members. Bloomington-Normal is a liberal town: As mentioned before, Mclean County voted for Obama in 2008 (New York Times Dec. 2008) indicating that it has democratic views which are frequently associated with liberal views. This shows that there are many people who may share at least a portion of the liberal beliefs associated with NCC and that may be interested in hearing a more liberal viewpoint on religion. Drop-Out church attendees: There are many dropouts from churches that have few options as to new churches to attend that will differ from their previous church. These members may have left for various reasons; however, it can be assumed that some have left due to the conservative nature of many churches. The survey located in Appendix B, contains results that states 14% of the Bloomington-Normal community members do not attend church. The majority, at 26%, only attend church 1-6 times a year. With these statistics, it can be inferred that church attendance is dropping dramatically. The liberal belief system may attract these members if they are searching for new religious views. As a self-proclaimed “dropout church” there are many opportunities to attract those drop-out attendees. Threats Tradition: Many people attach traditional beliefs to church and will not accept a non-traditional church. For instance, a member may desire certain rituals such as baptisms to be performed and be unwilling to attend a church that does not follow such traditions. Also, many people find comfort in tradition and may not enjoy churches that do not follow all the traditions they desire. Other Activities: Many people prefer to spend their Sundays doing other activities than church. These people may partake in such activities as watching sports or merely sleeping in. However, many also find it time consuming and feel their time is better spent preparing work for the next day. Many of the people who fit this description may not fall into the target market because they simply lack the dedication to church to submit that much time into regular attendance. Televangelism: With the growth of televangelism many people stay at home for worship. These people may have had negative experiences at churches or be seeking anonymity while worshiping. Televangelism allows for people to do many of the aforementioned activities while worshiping, though it will not be to the same accord as the worship that one. This is also a threat because many of the “drop-outs” may begin to watch televangelism rather than attend church and draw new attendees away from NCC. Market/Industry Analysis NCC (NCC) is a progressive, liberal spiritual service offered for people who do not want a conventional religious or church service. NCC offers a spiritual service that incorporates discussion along with spiritual guidance. Members are encouraged to debate and discuss topics at the service. NCC considers itself to be a “tri-union” congregation and is affiliated with three denominations: Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, and Christian Church Disciples of Christ. However, any religious creed or denomination is welcome at NCC to become a member and join in discussion. Also, NCC is not only tolerant of different ages, races, genders, and sexual orientations, but it is also inclusive of them. The service is offered every Sunday at 10:30 am. Communion is also offered, but it is not representative of Jesus, rather, it is a symbol of togetherness. NCC is located at 210 W Mulberry St. Normal, IL 61761 in the Campus Religious Center. Again the service is provided at 10:30 am every Sunday. Childcare and Sunday school are offered during the time of the service. NCC does not own the building, and therefore shares the location with other campus religious services. It does, however, assist in leasing the building to Illinois State University for math, science, and technology. NCC seems to have an awareness problem. It currently only has 70 official members, ones actually on a registry, and 30 unofficial members, those not on the registry. In a survey conducted, of about 400 members, 92% said they had never heard of NCC. The members of the congregation do like NCC. The fact that the service is centered on discussion and debate makes members enjoy the service. When participants of the survey were asked, “On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being conservative and 10 being liberal, what do you think when you hear the word Covenant in the name of a church” a mean score of 3.83 was shown. The next issue that NCC has is the misperception when it comes to their name. Another supporting survey response showed that 3 out of 31 people that had heard of NCC stated that NCC was liberal. The misperception is evident through these responses. An average of 60 people attends every Sunday, so the lack of audience is apparent which reflects the current market trend that less people attend church. One of the recent trends in religion is the support for same-sex marriages. A poll done by the Pew Research Center has shown that 42% Americans favor same-sex marriages and 48% opposed. This is up from 2009 where 37% of Americans favored same sex marriages as opposed to the 54% (Pewforum Oct 6 2010). For further information on these studies see Appendix C. On the political spectrum it has been shown by the Pew Research Center that the more frequently a Christian attends church the more likely they are to support the Republican Party. While many of the infrequent church attendees vote democrat, it is clearly shown in Appendix D that the more frequently a Christian attends church, the more likely they are to vote for the Republican Party. Within the industry, market profitability is not easily measured. Since churches and communities such as NCC are non-profit organizations, the profitability is hard to measure. The current efforts that NCC displays when it comes to distribution channels for delivering services are the Sunday services at 10:30am, book meetings, childcare and various guest speakers. The book clubs offer a learning experience in an atmosphere different than the Sunday services. NCC offers talk of social justice issues both in their book clubs and Sunday gatherings. This is a unique and distinctive characteristic that distinguishes NCC from other communities and churches. Another industry trend includes contemporary and traditional services. Through the survey, it was found that 42% of people prefer traditional services, while 29% prefer contemporary services, and 28% having no preference. None of the respondents thought that social justice issues should be discussed at a church service. This is another way that NCC is unique as they talk about social justice issues such as sexual orientation and civil rights. The Gallup Poll conducts annual polls asking “did you happen to attend church in the last seven days?” and then compares it to the economic confidence index. In 2008, 42.1% of Americans attend church “almost every week.” This correlates with an economic confidence index of -50. In 2009, there was a rise in church attendance to 42.8% with a confidence index of -35. The most recent year of 2010 displays another increase to 43.1% confirming they attend church. This is with a -26 economic confidence index and thus confirms that when economic times are good, there are more church attendees. The same Gallup poll asked “how often do you attend church, synagogue, or mosque?quot;
The slow increase of attendance at least once a week is displayed in the past 3 years. In 2008, 34% of respondents answered yes to attending at least once a week. This increased to 35% through 2009 and 2010. Competitor Analysis NCC is a liberal progressive congregation that holds views that some would consider extremely different than those of a traditional church. Accordingly, NCC offers a product that is rather dissimilar than those same traditional churches. Some would venture to say that NCC is a place for those who are not interested in the traditional church setting. Therefore, NCC is not competing with those traditional churches. Due to the fact that traditional churches are not considered competitors of NCC, the timing of their services plays a crucial role in determining them. NCC holds their services at 10:30 A.M. every Sunday. “Polls of Americans regularly indicate that around 40% attend church or other religious services every week. Studies of how many people actually appear in churches, though, suggest a much lower number - around 20%.” (Cline, 2005) For those who do not attend traditional churches, this time is used for a number of different things. These activities include: participating and watching athletic events, spending time with family, and also sleeping in. Considering more and more of the population are deciding against attending church, these competitors are becoming increasingly utilized. Sundays have shifted from a day based on religious worship to a day about athletic worship. Year round, athletic activities dominate Sunday itineraries. Baseball, basketball, football, and hockey are all sports that are competed on Sundays throughout the year. Professional athletic organizations utilize Sundays for their sports because Sunday is a day most working Americans have off of work to recreate and relax. Sunday football games have been a staple in American culture for the past several decades. The presence of Sunday football games continues to remain strong, and indications are that it is still growing. “According to Nielsen, viewership is up for all four of the networks that televise NFL games. More than 150 million people have watched at least part of an NFL game this season, the highest number for the first four weeks of any season. CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN each are averaging their most viewers ever to this point for their current packages.” (Associated Press, 2010) For those who choose not to attend traditional church services, Sunday football is a very attractive option. Baseball is another popular sport that is played for three quarters of the year. When professional baseball games are played on Sundays, a contract dictates that all but one game is to be played in the daytime. Major league baseball has a television contract with ESPN to air one “Game of the Week” on Sunday nights. Therefore all other major league games are to be played during the daytime. The games played during Sunday daytimes become direct competitors for NCC because people are choosing to watch baseball instead of attending religious services. Basketball and hockey are played during the winter and spring months of the year. Once again, the organizers of both of these professional sports understand that more people have the opportunity to watch these sports on weekends. The National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League have television contracts for Sunday games on ABC and NBC respectively. The games played during Sunday daytimes become direct competitors for NCC during the winter and spring because people are choosing to watch basketball and hockey instead of attending religious services. Some people augment their final day of the weekend by spending time with their families. “There is a wide range of social influences that can affect the buying process. Among these social influences, none is more important than the family.” (C., & Hartline, 2010) Going out to breakfast is a way that the population can spend their Sunday mornings with their families. Other families decide to cook breakfast at home. These families find ways to involve everyone with conversation and teamwork in a relaxed environment. Some members of the population use Sunday mornings to go and visit other members of their extended families in places such as their houses, hospitals, or nursing homes. Parents might choose to spend this time helping their children with homework or simply playing with them. At any rate, more and more of the populace is deciding to forgo church services in order to spend quality time with their families. Waking up early day in and day out on the average weekday wears on some people. Weekends are their chance to relax and not worry about work or meetings. Some people use their Sunday mornings to reach for the cold side of the pillow and sleep until noon. Sleeping in is a way for Americans to relieve stress and catch up on much needed sleep that was lost during the workweek. Waking up early on Sunday mornings to attend church services is an added stress for some people, therefore they choose the option to relax and simply sleep. NCC has to compete to find members for their congregation. They do not have to compete with traditional churches for members. NCC has to compete with the likes of Sunday football games, spending time with family, and sleeping in. These activities are becoming increasingly popular for a population that is attending church services less and less. In order to grow, NCC has to find a way to differentiate from these competitors. Analysis of Past Advertising & Financial Picture Over the past 3 years, NCC has made little changes to their advertising expenditures. A total table of their past 3 advertising campaign expenditures can be located in Appendix E. In 2008, NCC spent $3,250 for their internet website and advertisements in the local Yellow Pages, the Pantagraph and various program ads in the Campus Guide and other ISU production pamphlets. In 2009, NCC spent $1000 to continue their website and the running of advertisements in the Yellow Pages and various program ads. Unfortunately, they were unable to financially allocate money to continue their advertisements in the Pantagraph. In 2010, they were able to spend $1,975 in advertising. This allowed them to continue the upkeep of their website. They were also about to start advertising in the Pantagraph again along with the Yellow Pages, and various program ads. In 2010, they began to advertise in Gay & Lesbian Times, a local newspaper. A visual sample of the advertisements NCC currently runs in their various media outlets can be seen in Appendix F. From their current and past advertising, a clear strength is their slogan that states that NCC is “a congregation for people who value spiritual searching over religious certainty.” This slogan can be seen as a strength because it allows readers to understand what NCC stands for. In contrast, their website can be seen as a weakness because it does not provide the reader with a clear definition of who they are. Instead, they list everything that they do not consider themselves. Another weakness are the little changes that have been made to their financial allocations to their advertising campaigns. They continue to spend large sums of money; however, they have low awareness within their intended target market: the residents of the Bloomington-Normal community. This can indicate a potential flaw in how they calculate their advertising effectiveness. Continuing to spend money inefficiently will hurt their chances of financial support in the future. Legal/Regulatory Environment The legal and regulatory environment has an effect on the campaign in several ways. The most influential of these issues are the regulatory constraints. The first regulatory constraint is the signage issue. NCC shares the building with other organizations and therefore does not own the building. This puts a restraint on having outdoor signage in the front or back locations of the building. Since NCC accepts people of all diversities, there are no institutional limitations. The personal guidelines that are taken into consideration include NCC not being promoted as a church, but rather, a community. Topics like censorship and the basic industry advertising standards will affect the campaign. This includes the regulation of specific words like “Jesus” and “God” in radio advertisements. Section II: Target Market & Campaign Objectives Customer Analysis The customer analysis is the overall view of the actual and potential customer base. NCC offers a service. We will discuss who is using this service, and what types of information we can organize them by. According to the U.S. Census Bureau 2006 estimate, there are 121,651 people in the Bloomington-Normal area. Of the populace of the Bloomington-Normal area, approximately 49,664 have attained a Bachelor’s Degree or higher. The Bloomington-Normal area covers a land area of 35 square miles. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006) The types of people who currently attend the services of NCC are generally aged 30 and older. Most of the people either have families or grown children. NCC is welcoming to Gay and Lesbian couples as well. Overall, NCC offers services for those who value spiritual searching over religious certainty. People utilize the services of NCC for a number of reasons. We discovered some reasons from a focus group conducted with members of NCC. One reason is to be included in a religious community. Another reason is for Gay couples to be welcomed and embraced. Another reason is that families are welcomed with a positive and spiritually nurturing environment. An additional reason is the fact that questioning and critical thinking are encouraged. One final reason is for those who have stopped attending traditional churches. For this reason, some members have nicknamed NCC as “the drop-outs church”. All of these reasons explain what the motivation is for people to attend services at NCC. NCC is not like traditional churches. NCC offers very liberal-progressive views in their religious services. Members of NCC actively question the views of others in a mature manner. According to respondents of our focus group questions, NCC is a place that inhibits “thinking, questioning, and is spiritually alive.” One respondent stated that the members of NCC are “Inclusive, not just tolerant, this is really who we are.” NCC offers services for those that are looking to pose questions instead of asking for definite answers. NCC’s liberal-progressive stance puts forward an image that informed outsiders would view as open, inclusive, welcoming, and outside of the “mainstream”. However, according to the survey, respondents were asked “On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being very conservative and 10 being very liberal, what do you think when you hear the word Covenant in the name of the church?” Respondents answered with a mean score reported was a 3.83, which indicates a conservative connotation. 68% of respondents indicated a 4 or below. The nonusers are the ones who don’t ever go to church, or are affiliated with other churches. Students are another segment of nonusers. According to the survey 58% of respondents stated that they attend church once a month or less. Since the current members of NCC refer to themselves as the “drop-outs church,” those who left their previous churches are perfect for potential customers. Anyone who is seeking a new church because the last one was too conservative or too traditional is a potential customer. Also, potential customers could include anyone who wants to be a part of a congregation that promotes discussion and challenging ideas. Target Audience Proposed for Campaign The target audience for our campaign consists of adults over the age of 35 years that currently reside within the Bloomington-Normal community. Classified as thinkers on the VALS Lifestyle segment, they are a mature group of highly-educated professionals. They hold either a Bachelors or Masters Degree in their fields of study. They are involved within the community and are up-to-date on global events. These liberal democrats are progressive and accept change within society. They welcome new ideas and thoughts and often question traditional religious practices. They hold positions on social justice committees and participate in activities that fight for the equality of all people; no matter the race or sexual orientation. Continually seeking cultural enrichment, our target market often attends book clubs that facilitate discussion on controversial issues such as religion and politics. Some of our target market has stopped attending church because they are frustrated with their current church. Rather than sit in a pew and be told of their sins, our target market perceives religion as a time for spiritual enlightenment and a time to have their questions answered. They question the doctrines and policies of religion and often do not like to be told what to do. Two profiles of people within our target market are Gavin and Diane. These profiles have been created to continually serve as a reminder of who our target market is and how to best serve their needs. Gavin ,[object Object]

Huge supporter of the Democratic Party and President Obama.

Alumnae of Illinois State University with a Masters Degree in Insurance.

A risk-analyst for State Farm.

A church drop-out because of the reactions from others within his previous congregation towards his homosexuality and their judgments towards his partner and himself.

Attends local events to fight for gay, lesbian and transgendered rights.

Believes style as a self-expression. He shops at Macys and Von Maur.

Relieves stress and improves health by working out at Gold’s Gym.

Has an interest in justice. He has CSI, Criminal Minds, and Law & Order on his saved TV shows.Diane ,[object Object]

Resides in Bloomington with their two children, Alana (14) and Joseph (11).

Alumnae of Indiana State University with Masters Degree in Law.

Works as an attorney specializing in public benefits, evictions and foreclosures.

Volunteers free time to local homeless shelters and community food drives. At times, helps with Democratic political campaigns throughout the year when asked.

Active participant in social justice issues relating to sexual orientation and a woman’s right to choose.

Questions faith in religion because she does not agree with everything that is said. Has tons of questions, but scared to ask questions in church in fear of others judging her.

Appearance is everything. She dresses to impress by shopping at The Limited and New York and Company.

Watches the local news channel and CNN every morning before work.Campaign Objectives ,[object Object],Our main focus in this objective to increase brand awareness was chosen because of the low awareness NCC appeared to have from the survey results in Appendix B. Our target audience was chosen by geographical factors. NCC is located in Bloomington-Normal; it would be unrealistic to think individuals would travel long distances for a church service. We decided to only raise awareness from its current 8% to 15% because it is an attainable percent for the year-long timeline of our campaign. ,[object Object],In the community survey from Appendix B, only 4 out of the 31 of the respondents who had heard of NCC listed NCC as being a liberal church, this is 1% of the total survey respondents. One of NCC’s key features is their liberal nature; therefore, we have chosen to clear up this misconception by increasing their perception of being a liberal church from 1% to 15%. While our campaign will last only one year, our advertisements will push their liberal nature of accepting everyone into their congregation. Our target audience consisting of Bloomington-Normal community members ages 35+ was chosen because of their proximity of the church. Also, individuals ages 35+ would be suitable as permanent members within the congregation. ISU students who are not from the area would not be able to commit to the congregation like younger adults residing permanently in the area would. ,[object Object],NCC’s congregation consists of 60 individuals currently. We have chosen to increase this attendance by 25% to reach a congregation consisting of 75 people within our year-long campaign. Again, we chose Bloomington-Normal community members because our advertising will be displayed within the geographic area. NCC is a congregation that is largely intellectual and believes in the spiritual search for religion. Highly educated individuals who could contribute their ideas and beliefs would average 35 years of age. Section III: Creative Strategy Factors Affecting Selection of Basic Appeal/Theme & Copy NCC has low awareness within the community. In the community survey found in Appendix B, NCC was not mentioned once out of the 377 Bloomington-Normal community members as a church within the area. Our marketing plan has been designed to become the solution they need. This marketing plan will increase awareness of NCC among the residents of the Bloomington-Normal community. The target market for the marketing campaign is adults within the Bloomington-Normal community who are ages 35+. With a close location to the ISU campus, it would be nice to target students; however, students do not serve as a permanent solution for their awareness problem. The adults we are trying to reach are Democrats who are interested in social justice issues. They may even be church “drop-outs” because they have become frustrated with religion. Perhaps they have religious questioning they are too afraid to ask in fear of judgment. A selling point that NCC has that no other church in the community does is their freedom of expression. They accept individuals for who they are no matter their race, religious beliefs or sexual orientation. They encourage the questioning of religion. We have chosen to utilize this selling point as the central marketing theme of our campaign. The basic theme behind our marketing is based off of NCC’s greatest strength: the acceptance of all individuals seeking religious searching. To portray NCC as the welcoming, liberal-progressive congregation that it is, we developed the slogan, “NCC Lets Me Be Me.” This slogan will help individuals feel welcome within the congregation quickly. The slogan also serves as a testimonial appeal by summarizing why they joined NCC. Slice of life ads will be used to highlight NCC as a solution to those frustrated by judgment. Our message is intended to carry a soft, yet confident tone. We achieve this by using the tranquil color of Royal Blue because it makes our copy within the advertisement easy to read. Confidence can be seen by the photo of hands we have chosen to use. The hands photo was chosen because we felt that it represented strength in numbers. When you join NCC, you always have a support team by your side. Having a support system when an individual feels isolated or different from others is important. Presentation of Layouts & Analytical Criticisms of Proposed Ads The marketing campaign will consist of one newspaper print ad and one billboard promotional piece. A copy of these completed advertisements can be found in Appendix G. Newspaper ,[object Object]

The theme of our campaign is the importance of acceptance. Our slogan is the main focus of this advertisement, ‘NCC Lets Me Be Me.” We chose a large enough font for NCC to be read, but not large enough to take away from our slogan. To stand out, we bolded the slogan and made the font slightly larger.

We added the website address to direct our audience to the official NCC website for more additional information about NCC.

The elements of this ad were placed to resemble the outside advertisement suggested. The name of the organization on top, followed by the client’s current logo that people can relate to. After the logo, the slogan used on the outdoor advertisement is introduced to link both ads and create familiarity with the slogan.

The Facebook logo was placed in the bottom right-hand corner to catch attention. Facebook.com has more than 500 million active users. Using the logo on our ad will help capture our target market because of its reach capabilities. Once our first draft of the ad was completed, we copy-tested our ad with real consumers to get their opinions on the ad and suggest ways to improve the ad for the final completion. The complete results from our copy-testing can be found in Appendix H. Based on our feedback, additional changes were made. ,[object Object]

We kept our font: Andalus. This is because during the copy-test, 44% of individuals felt that it made the ad easier to read. In addition, 89% of individuals felt the font was aesthetically pleasing.

During the copy-test, all 100% of participants remembered information about the church service. It was placed within the ad to increase awareness and church attendance.Billboard ,[object Object]

The website and the Facebook logo were included to direct the target audience to more information about NCC.

The elements of this ad were placed to match the print advertisement. The target audience can read the name of the organization, followed by our slogan and the logo. At the bottom of the ad are the webpage and the Facebook logo to guide to more information. Just like the print advertisement, we also copy-tested the draft of our original outdoor billboard ad to make improvements based on consumer opinion. The copy-testing results changed our billboard dramatically. ,[object Object]

NCC Marketing Plan

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