The Anglican Marketing Train-wreck
The Anglican Church of Canada announced that it has launched a corporate sponsorship program to fund their upcoming national convention (Synod) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, June 3-11, 2010. Globe and Mail story…
Business vs Religion Debate
This is an interesting move by the denomination which its director of communications admits is motivated purely by money:
“The genesis is the need for money.” In particular, the church must find private money to pay the $10,000 cost of live-streaming the nine-day gathering, Synod on Demand, or cancel the web-cast.
Over my corporate career I have attend and organized conferences of various sizes. A national conference is a big undertaking. So, should a church denomination approach conference organization any differently than a business? The church is after-all an organization in its structure like any other. It is merely the mission it undertakes that is different. Or is it? Well, that in itself is a great debate. The business side of me sees nothing wrong with the sponsorship idea. Having been in a corporate roll as “sponsor”, I have my doubts about whether corporate sponsors garner the attendee loyalty, attention and subsequent marketing value they hope for when they sponsor an event, conference program etc. Our culture is so saturated with advertising that I think we are being conditioned to block most of it out.
The Christian side of me doesn’t struggle with the concept either. Every “Christian” conference I have gone to has ads in the agenda or program and a host of other ad banners and “sponsored” by paraphernalia throughout the conference centre. So, I personally think the concept is fine. It is a conference afterall. It is not a weekly church service.
Too Late To The Plate
The bigger issue in all this from my perspective as a marketer is timing.
Only time will actually tell if they will get the kind of sponsorship they hope for but I immediately see typical “church event organization” at work here. One of my greatest frustrations with church marketing and promotion is the lack of planning that goes into the marketing of many events. When do the Anglican Church conference organizers roll out this sponsorship plan? April 16th. When is the conference? June 3rd. Seven weeks before the conference. Seven weeks! When do you suppose they knew the exact conference dates? Unless something weird has happened, they most likely knew this time last year. Why did they wait so long? Probably because they just thought the sponsorship idea up…or it got so mired in internal red tape that they only just got approval last week.
The challenge they now face in “selling” the sponsorship plan to any prospective organization is immense. Since this is a first-time go-around, no one knows what to expect. Most companies budget their sponsorship dollars within a fiscal budget. Those monies were set and allocated within corporate budgets months ago. In many cases the “ad money” the Anglican Church now covets is spoken for.
This plan is simply too late.
Too late to “sell” and too late to execute. This is the 11th hour. Sponsors (if they even have the money) have very little time to get their sponsorship materials ready. Ads specifically targeted to the demographic, promotional kits collated, banners, “flags”, and last but not least the conference program need time to be printed.
Time. Time is running out!
Leaving it to the last minute will lead to panic, unnecessary rush, disorganization, and mediocrity. Perhaps even failure. The concept may be fine (whether you agree or not) but the marketing and communication execution (in my personal opinion) is a disaster. It is announced so late that the probability of this actually working for this year’s conference is minimal.
Hey, only time will tell. Needless to say, the organizers have a mammoth task on their hands trying to pull this together in the next 7 weeks. From my experience, most “church” organizations are simply not that good. Since the conference is here in Halifax, maybe I’ll pop over and do a follow-up report. The end result will be interesting to see! I hate to see this fail, but I cringe at the task before them.
I see a train coming down the tracks…
What do you think? Share a comment on whether like the idea and your thoughts on the execution and timing of the sponsorship plan.
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Wayne
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Wayne
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http://navigateyourmarketing.com/ David Tonen
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http://bit.ly/4wcMNO Michael
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http://bit.ly/4wcMNO Michael
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http://navigateyourmarketing.com/ David Tonen
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