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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

December 10, 2009 edition of

The FOSTER Letter—Religious Market Update

Recession Made Them Happier Milton F. Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute Association, says, “Not only are the well-to-do feeling optimistic, but they’re also happier as a result of the recession.” A recent Institute survey, which included those with an average income of $310,000 a year and average net worth of $5.3 million, “shows a rethinking,” he says. “Yes, they lost money, but they’re still wealthy. Even those who worried about losing a lot of wealth at once seem to have realized, ‘I am better off than most people.’ There seems to be a level of gratitude and recognition that as bad as things have been, they have much to be happy about.” When asked to rate their overall happiness on a 0-10 scale, 70% say their happiness rates as an 8 or above. Just 3% could be considered unhappy. Friends and family generate the most happiness, followed by home and physical environment, personal growth and development, romantic relationships and health. (Marketing Daily 11/20/09) 

Future of Evangelicalism (Rick Warren) “The last 50 years has seen the greatest redistribution of a religion ever in the history of the world. For instance, in 1900, 71% of all, ‘Christians’ lived in Europe; by ’00 it had declined to just 28% who claimed to be Christian. Far fewer go to church. Conversely, in 1900, only 10% of all people in Africa (10 million) were Christians vs. over 50% (360 million) today. That is a complete turnaround on a continent that’s never, ever been seen or done in history. I may surprise some when I say that there are by far more Christians in China than in America. There are more Presbyterians in Ghana than in Scotland, where they were founded by John Knox. There are more Baptists in the India state of Nagaland than in the American South. There are more Anglicans in Kenya or Uganda or Rwanda or Nigeria than in England. There are 2 million Anglicans in England compared to 17 million in Nigeria. Last Sunday, more Christians went to church in China than all of Europe combined. That is a fundamental shift. Warren says, “If you want to know the future of Christianity, it is the developing world. It’s Africa, Latin America and Asia.” (Pew Forum Weekly 11/20/09) 

The World is Becoming More Religious. In the world today, there are 600 million Buddhists, 800 million Hindus, 1.57 billion Muslims and 2.3 billion Christians. Contrary to what most Americans think, globally most people have some kind of faith. (Pew Forum Weekly 11/20/09) 

Tough Marketing Problem Count on me for a cost effective solution. Contact 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. 

Who is the General Market? The term “general market,” as we once knew it, has changed. In the top 20 U.S. metro markets, 52% of those between ages 18 and 44 are multicultural (Hispanic, African-American and Asian-American). This is arguably one of the most important age demographics that shape the success of a “national” campaign. This shift confronts marketers and ministries with the challenge of adapting existing strategies when the general market, typically defined as non-Hispanic white, has become more of the segment, and multicultural segments have become more of the mass population. (Engage Hispanics 12/3/09) 

Spiritual Roots More than 8 of 10 U.S. adults consistently attended Sunday school or some other religious training before the age of 12. 69% attended religious programs weekly. As teens, about 7 in 10 attended at least once a month (50% weekly). The most active as children were Catholics (86%), upscale adults (78%), Midwesterners (76%), notional Christians (75%), college graduates (75%), women (73%), political conservatives (73%) and those ages 65-plus (73%). The least likely to attend were atheists and agnostics (35%), people associated with faiths other than Christianity (52%), Asians (53%), unchurched adults (56%), 18- to 25-year-olds (59%), never-married adults (60%), Hispanics (61%) and residents of the West (63%). The Americans most likely to recall religious participation as teens were evangelicals (61%), those ages 65-plus (60%), born again Christians (58%), Catholics (58%), women (56%), political conservatives (56%), residents of the Midwest (56%), married adults (55%) and Protestants (54%). (Barna Update 11/16/09) 

Coaching Needed 66% of U.S. companies feel senior-level executives need to improve their leadership skills. More than half say senior managers must sharpen their strategic thinking and communication abilities. Per a study by coaching firm ClearRock, employers are supplying their senior-level management with lots of help, including external and in-house coaching and training. 75% of firms surveyed provide their senior-level execs with outside coaching. Nearly half provide outside training and education, and about 40% coach them inside the organization. (Investors Business Daily 11/13/09) 

How Big is Wal-Mart? Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart every hour of every day.. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute. It sells more from January 1 to St. Patrick’s Day (3/17) than Target sells all year. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target + Sears + Costco + K-Mart combined. It employs 1.6 million people and is the nation’s largest private employer. It is also the largest company in the history of the world. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger & Safeway combined, and did this in only 15 years. During this same period, 31 supermarket chains sought bankruptcy. It now sells more food than any other store in the world. Wal-Mart has approx. 3,900 stores in the U.S. (1,906 are Super Centers, a 1,000 increase since ’04). 90% of all Americans live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart. (Foster Network 10/09) 

Communicate According to a Watson Wyatt Worldwide survey, U.S. worker confidence in senior management declined between ’04 and ’05 from 51% to 49%. Confidence that senior management makes changes to 1) stay competitive dropped from 57% to 53%, and 2) control costs fell from 59% to 55%. Where senior management is “highly engaged” with its workforce, confidence levels actually rose as much as 30 points. I can help you transform your workforce through a cost-effective frequent communication strategy. Reach me at 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. (CFO 3/07)

Book Sales tracked by the Association of American Publishers for the month of September increased by 12.3% at $1.26 billion and were up by 3.6% for the year. However, religious books saw a decrease of 18.4% for the month with sales totaling $67.4 million; sales were down by 10.6% for the year.  (ECPA Rush to Press 11/23/09) 

Matures, seniors aged 65 and older, lead all other generational groups when it comes to online activity. 94% regularly use email, 71% go to the Internet to look up health and medical information, 70% read news and 59% manage their finances and banking. In addition, 47% of online Matures regularly play free online games, states the CTAM Pulse report based on the Life Stages & Life Styles Study. (Center for media Research Brief 11/19/09) 

Young Adults Returning to the Nest A recent Pew Research Center survey finds 13% of parents with grown children have had one of those adult children move back home in the past year. Social scientists call them “boomerangers.” The recession has produced a bumper crop. (Colorado Springs Gazette 11/09) 

Christian Supply Stores, owned by industrialist Robert Pamplin, has closed 8 of its 13 stores in the Northwest. (Christian Retailing 11/9/09) 

Kids Overexposed to TV Parents who thought their preschoolers were spending time in home-based day cares, taking naps, eating healthy snacks and learning to play nicely with others may be surprised to discover they are sitting as many as 2 hours a day in front of a TV, finds a Univ. of Washington study. When added to the 2-4 hours many parents already admit to allowing at home, preschoolers in child care may be spending more than a third of their waking hours each day in front of the electronic babysitter, says pediatrician and head researcher Dr. Dimitri Christakis. Of the child care programs surveyed, 70% of home-based child cares and 36 of centers said children watch TV, DVDs and videos daily. The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages any TV viewing of any kind in the first 2 years of life and recommends a daily limit of 1-2 hours of quality programming for older children. Children go to day care to develop social skills, build on cognitive abilities and enjoy imaginative play, as well as allowing their parents to work, Christakis said. One of the main problems with TV for young children is that it takes away time that could otherwise be spent playing outside, being read to, playing with blocks and talking with adults and other children. (AP 11/23/09) 

Free Insights Send me a description of your business problem, and I’ll send you a FREE response enumerating how we might address it for you. Contact me at 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com.  

More Joy—Less Gloom When given the choice of describing their attitude going into the holiday season as joyful or gloomy, 41% of the general population says they are “joyful,” finds the American Express Spending & Saving Tracker.  42% are even-keeled, saying they are “neither joyful nor gloomy,” and only 13% have a “gloomy” attitude.  69% of young professionals and 53% of the affluent report a joyful outlook. 10% of consumers plan to spend more this year than last on holiday gifts, and 43% about the same. The best way to a “consumer’s heart,” according to the study, is apparently with a 30% discount. (Center for Media Research Brief 11/24/09) 

Urban Growth Less than 5% of the world’s population lived in cities a century ago. In ’08, for the first time in history, that figure exceeded 50%. In just the last 20 years, the urban population of the developing world has grown by an average of 3 million people per week. By 2050, it will have reached 70%, representing 6.4 billion people. Most of this growth will be taking place in developing regions; Asia will host 63% of the global urban population, or 3.3 billion people, in 2050. (Global Report on Human Settlements 2009, 10/009) 

The Internal Revenue Service has issued the 2010 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes. The standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be: 50¢ per mile for business miles, 16.5¢ per mile medical or moving miles and 14¢ per mile driven in service of charitable organizations. The new rates for business, medical and moving purposes are slightly lower than last year’s in that they reflect generally lower transportation costs compared to a year ago. (IRS 12/3/09) 

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