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The Foster Letter —

Religious Market Update

The FOSTER Letter is a bi-weekly e-mail religious market intelligence report targeted to Christian market channel and ministry leaders.  Each issue reports on news, trends, events and research that will directly or indirectly impact your audiences and businesses in a convenient summary format  Better informed leaders make better choices!

Researched, Edited & Published by Gary D. Foster

Excerpts from the

April 10, 2008 edition of

The FOSTER Letter—Religious Market Update 

Spirituality is a major contributor to a child’s overall happiness (more so than for adults), finds a University of British Columbia study. Past studies have shown that in adults, spiritual feelings and higher levels of religious behavior typically account for about 5% of a person’s overall happiness. Surprisingly, the results of the study found 6.5% to 16.5% of children’s happiness can be attributed to spirituality. (USA Today 3/25/08) 

Marriage Stats 78% of U.S. adults have been married at least once and 33% of those have been divorced at least once says a new Barna Group study. 84% of born-again Christian adults have tied the knot, vs. 74% of people aligned with non-Christian faiths and 65% of atheists and agnostics. Those with the most prolific divorce rate are downscale adults (39%), Baby Boomers (38%), those aligned with a non-Christian faith (38%), African-Americans (36%), and people who define themselves to be socially and politically liberal (37%). Those with lowest likelihood of divorce are Catholics (28%), evangelicals (26%), upscale adults (22%), Asians (20%) and those who deem themselves socially and politically conservative (28%). (Barna Update 3/31/08) 

Relevance is what determines whether an ad works or not. Every media fails when it delivers a message no one cares about. Let me help ensure your ads are relevant to your target audience. Contact me at 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. 

The New Face of Christianity will be “the black woman,” claims Kwok Pui Lan of the William F. Cole Professor of Christian Theology and Spirituality at the Episcopal Divinity School. In mid ’07, Europe claimed the greatest number of Christians in the world: 532 million, followed by Latin America at 525 million and Africa at 417 million. But by 2025, Africa will claim the top spot with 634.6 million Christians, with Latin America a close second at 634.1 million, and Europe will drop to third at 521 million. The U.S. had 223 million Christians in mid-’07 and will grow slightly to 252 million by 2025. (Lexington Herald Leader 3/26/08) 

The 31 Hour Day According to the behavioral, attitudinal, aspirational OTX LMX Study: “The 24-hour day has given way to 31 hours of daily activity, as consumers multi-task everywhere (home, work, on the go) at any time, while diverting their attentions across multiple media platforms to communicate, gather information and be entertained.” (Media Post 4/3/08) 

Traditional Family Rebound The Census Bureau’s report of ’04 surveys says nearly 62% of America’s 73 million children live with both biological parents, within a larger figure of 70% overall living with 2 parents and 66 million living with 2 married parents. The New York Times reports this represents a major trend slowdown between ’04 and a previous survey in ’90 vs. a dramatic drop in 2-parent homes and an increase in single-female-parent homes between ’70 and ’90. (onenewsnow.com 3/24/08) 

Muslims Outnumber Catholics The number of Muslims has overtaken the number of Roman Catholics in the world, reports the Vatican. Muslims make up 19.2% of the world's population and Catholics 17.4%. (CitizenLink 3/31/08) 

Amazon.com has notified some print-on-demand publishers that if they wish to continue selling books directly through their site, they must use Amazon-owned BookSurge to print their books. Amazon currently places orders through the POD publishers’ distributors. But soon, publishers will be required to convert their files to a format compatible with BookSurge, which will then print the books in-house, so they can be “married” with other products for faster and less expensive delivery to the customer. (ForeWord This Week 4/2/08)  

When Seeking Inspirational Guidance, people prefer to consult the following sources: 23% talk or listen to an inspirational person, 27% read an inspirational book, 17% go to church, 4% watch an inspirational movie, 4% search the Internet and 17% are uncertain. (Outreach 3-4/08) 

Engaged Consumers A brand with strong customer engagement has customers who promote the brand, come back in the future, go out of their way to do business with the company, and feel strongly for a brand, claims a study by PeopleMetrics. Overall, companies with more engaged customers outperformed those with less-engaged customers in terms of gross margin, earnings per share and return on equity. It also revealed a strong link between engaged customers and engaged employees. (Marketing Daily 3/19/08) 

Spanish Growth The average percentage of growth in Spanish Christian products in ’07 is estimated to be 15% says, Tessie DeVore, President of the Spanish Evangelical Products Association. The growth is both in the U.S. and Latin America. (Christian Retailing 3/10/08) 

Givers Happier People who give away money are happier than those who do not, according to new research published in the journal Science. Elizabeth W. Dunn, U. of British Columbia, found though people tend to think spending money on themselves rather than giving it away will make them happier, the opposite turns out to be true. People who made gifts to others or to charities reported they were happier than folks who didn’t share.  (AP 3/21/08) 

What NOT To Do With Social Networking When building a social network for your customers, donors or prospects don’t:  1) Misunderstand your target audience. The demographics of users on MySpace differ greatly from those on Facebook, Friendster and other social networks. When creating any site, be very specific about whom you want to reach. 2) Be impatient. Like any marketing strategy, building a social network takes time. With the potential of exponential growth (members reach out to each other and tell others), the time it takes to build a membership base is worth the benefits of having a captive audience ready to experience the brand and hear the message. 3) Assume people will discover it on their own. Success requires outside promotion either online, offline or both. Some advertise their sites in various media or on the product donor communication itself. Word of mouth is a powerful tool, but there has to be someone there first to spread the word. I can coach you and your team through this strategic marketing effort. Contact me at 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. (1to1 5-6/07) 

Women and Men business owners have different management styles. Women emphasize relationship-building as well as fact-gathering and are more likely than men to consult with experts, employees, and fellow business owners. (Center for Media research Brief 3/3/08) 

Young Americans A survey of 20-somethings (21-29) reveals they overwhelmingly support monogamy and parenting (94%), marriage (84%), the U.S. Constitution (88%), and the military (84%), reports The Washington Times. “We were completely surprised said J. Walter Thompson’s Ann Mack. “There has been a faulty portrayal of millennials by the media. These people are not the self-entitled, coddled slackers they’re made out to be. Misnomers and myths about them are all over the place.” (UPI 3/30/08) 

Babies @ Work More than 80 U.S. companies allow babies in the workplace, according to Parenting in the Workplace Institute, which says that number is likely to be low. It’s an extreme (and controversial) example of how employers are seeking more ways to help workers strike a balance between work and the rest of their lives. The number of companies allowing children at work on an occasional basis climbed to 29% in ’07, up from 22% in ’06, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. (USA Today 3/31/08) 

An Informed Objective Opinion As a professional Christian Market Channel authority, my input in the early development and planning stages of new product or business/ministry strategy can spell the difference between mediocre and out-of-the park success. Contact me at 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. 

Teen Sex In his book, Forbidden Fruit: Sex & Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers, sociology professor Mark Regnerus says evangelical teens are slightly more sexually active than their non-evangelical peers. Non-evangelical teens have sex for the first time at age 16.7 vs.16.3 for evangelicals. Worse, 13.7% of evangelical teens have had 3 or more sex partners vs. 8.9% of their non-evangelical peers. World Magazine reports 80% of U.S. teens claiming to be born-again agree sex outside of marriage is morally wrong, yet 66% violate their own beliefs “Evangelical teens don’t have sex less than their non-evangelical friends; they just feel guiltier about it.” He credits the clash of cultures in the evangelical youth experience: urged to drink deeply from the waters of American individualism and its self-focused pleasure ethic, yet asked to value time-honored religious traditions like family and chastity. “Who can serve two masters? Teens need a pure community of true believers who teach the truth about sex, including its beauty in marriage.” OneNewsNow 3/29/08) 

American Children are becoming victims of human sex trafficking, according to Shared Hope International (SHI). At least 100,000 American children are trafficked each year, and another 100,000 to 300,000 are at risk, says SHI’s Karrie Delaney. 12 as the average age of entry into illegal porn and prostitution. Many children do not realize they are being lured until it is too late; most were living on the street and lured by an older boy. Pimps can earn up to $632,000 per year by selling 4 young women or children. (Baptist Press 4/2/08) 

Workforce Less Mobile The rapid decline in housing prices is distorting the normal workings of the U.S. labor market. Mobility opens up job opportunities, allowing workers to go where they are most needed. When housing is not an obstacle, more than 5 million working adults, nearly 4% of the nation’s workforce relocate annually for a new job after a layoff, to higher-paying work, to the next rung in a career or to escape harsh northern winters. Tens of thousands of people find their mobility increasingly restricted, unable to sell their homes easily and move on. This is making the labor force less flexible just as a weakening economy puts pressure on workers to move to wherever companies are still hiring. (NY Times 4/3/08) 

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