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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

February 25, 2008 edition of

The FOSTER Letter—Religious Market Update

Worker Revolution The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts 50% of the jobs we will have in the next 10 years have not yet been created and that in another 5 years only 50% of the American workforce will be employees. Prepare for an explosion of consultants, independent contractors, electronic immigrants, teleworkers and contingency laborers. (No More Mondays, Dan Miller, WaterBrook ’08) 

Respect Gen-Y and Baby Boomers’ #1 most important reason for selecting an employer is working with a boss they respect and can learn from. It ranks ahead of having a nice office space, a short commute and working for a socially responsible company, claims a Robert Half Int’l study. (The Lima News 1/20/08) 

Scan Checks from Home Soon you will be able to deposit checks by scanning them at home and sending them electronically to your bank. No need to visit a branch or an ATM. This is possible because of the Check Clearing for 21^st Century Act which allows banks to exchange electronic images of checks. About half of all checks today are scanned by businesses or the banks they are deposited into and not physically shipped to the banks on which they were drawn. Transaction services company Fiserv has announced new software that will enable banks to let home users deposit checks by scanning them similar to many businesses. Consumers would sign onto their bank’s Web site, activate the software, type in the amount, and then scan the front and back side of each check they want to deposit. Some banks may charge an extra fee for this service. (NY Times 2/8/08) 

Christian Management Assoc. (CMA) has acquired the Christian Stewardship Assoc. and the new organization’s name will be Christian Leadership Alliance. CMA’s President and CEO Frank Lofaro will be heading the organization. (Foster Network 2/08) 

The Best Actions to combat brand deterioration are product innovation, refocusing marketing efforts on growth, exploring new targets, analyzing the root cause of the deterioration and completing a deep qualitative study on brand issues. I can bring objectivity to your brand issues.  Contact 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. (Advertising Age 4/25/07) 

Rising Employment Rates have made college recruiting even more competitive for U.S. companies. As a result, many employers are exploring new approaches to recruit and retain top talent. Many are turning to third-party solutions to control cost impacts and lost productivity associated with recruiting and retaining qualified applicants. Others have successfully embraced new Web strategies using email recruiting and retention programs. (Online Media Daily 2/4/08) 

People Who Feel Lonely or isolated are more likely to believe in God and the supernatural, according to University of Chicago researcher Nicholas Epley. Lonely people try to create social connections by reaching out to old friends, making new ones, or believing in a higher being. Epley notes, being more likely to be religious will not cause any sudden conversion. Feeling socially connected is essential for survival in the modern world. Feeling disconnected and lonely is a painful emotional state and can lead to physical and mental health problems. The study also found lonely people tend to humanize pets. (Psychological Science, 2/09)  

The Vatican reports a further dramatic fall in the number of Roman Catholic monks and nuns worldwide. The number of men and women belonging to religious orders fell by 10% to just under a million between ’05 and ’06. During the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, the number of Catholic nuns worldwide declined by 25%. The downward trend accelerated despite a steady increase in Catholic Church membership to more than 1.1 billion. (The Source Daily 2/6/08) 

Smiling is one of the most powerful methods of conveying thoughts, moods, feelings and emotions. Which begs the question: If smiling is so influential, why isn't it recognized as a fundamental value in every aspect of business and marketing? A smile is one of the best ways to make others feel accepted! Why wouldn’t any business mandate all of its employees to connect with stakeholders with a smile to fulfill this basic desire? Smiling exudes confidence; both within yourself and in the perception others have of you. Smiling even makes tasks look easy and enjoyable, suggesting mastery of your subject. Smiling counters feelings of anxiety and intimidation in others and instills a sense of calm. A genuine smile is detectible and instills trust. Smiling also makes you look more attractive. The essence of smiling should extend to every aspect of brand experience. Does your logo embody the spirit and effects of smiling? How about your marketing messages? How about the very product or service you offer customers or donors? Does it come with a smile? To be a great marketer and great brand, you must smile. I can help you make your brand smile.  Contact 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com.  (Online Spin 2/15/08) 

Global Online 85% of the world’s online population has used the Internet to make a purchase, increasing the market for online shopping by 40% between ’05 and ’07, according to a Nielsen Global Online Survey. Among Internet users, the highest percentage shopping online is in South Korea, where 99% of those with Internet access have used it to shop, and 79% of shopped in the past month. Other prolific shoppers are in the last month are: the UK 76%, Switzerland 67% and the US 57%. (Center for Media Research Briefing 2/13/08) 

TV Health Risk Cynthia Minkovitz, Johns Hopkins Univ., reports children ages 2-6 who watch 2 hours or more of TV a day “show signs of bad behavior, lower social skills and disrupted sleep patterns.” “It is the greatest unacknowledged health threat of our time,” adds psychologist Dr. Aric Sigman. Children are watching TV at a critical brain development time for their language acquisition and social skills. TV watching can stifle healthy development. (Mediawatch-UK, 10/07) 

Workers Values The Concours Group makes these insightful observations: Workers under 35 tend to: Feel less loyal to institutions or the larger workplace than older workers, but while working for you consider themselves very loyal. Want to take on responsibility right away. Want to give input and not earn their way up. Be unafraid to make decisions. Workers 35 to 54 tend to: Be more anti-authoritarian and idealistic. Be ambitious, flexible, and people-oriented. Have more distrust for leadership. Stay in their role longer because people ahead of them are retiring later. Workers age 55 and up tend to: Be more loyal to their organization. Trust authority and respect rules. Feel people should pay their dues before being given responsibility. Value financial security. Have higher social skills, making them ideal for customer service. (Adapted from CMA News, Issue 101, 8/06) 

Market Trends to Watch 1. Instant gratification: Consumers are be­coming more demanding and more fickle. 2. The splintering of social networks: Watch for dominant social networking sites to lose ground to more specialized, specific offerings like LinkedIn, Badoo and Quepasa.com. 3. Fragmenting of streaming video: Streaming video will likely follow the pre­dicted path of the social networks. 4. Narrow-casting vs. broadcasting: Tar­geting audiences through media mix mod­els combined with technology that allows marketers more so­phisticated analysis of what gener­ates the most results from a particular audi­ence. 5. The Internet as the medium of choice: Marketers look at new ways to use it to connect with consumers. 6. Hispanic marketing as marketing’s new frontier: The Hispanic market’s buy­ing power is increasing, with the Latino community growing into its own as con­sumers. 7. The oversell of mobile marketing: Mo­bile marketing is one of the most promising marketing technologies around today. It’s also a nut that has yet to be cracked, and no one has come close to optimizing its true potential. (DM News 1/7/08) 

Music Abuse The Univ. of Pittsburgh School of Medicine analyzed the lyrics of the top 279 songs of ’05. Nearly 80% of rap songs contained references to illicit drugs, alcohol or tobacco, followed by country (37%), R&B (20%), rock (14%) and pop (9%). When combined, 42% of all songs had some reference to substance abuse. Over 60% were positive portrayals of the substances by associating them with sex, partying and/or humor. Just 4 mentioned any kind of anti-substance abuse message. Researchers calculate Americans 15 to 18 listen to music 2.4 hours each day, or 84 references to substance abuse daily and about 30,000 annually. (Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine 2/8) 

Multi-Channel is increasingly being adapted in the sales, marketing and fundraising mix of U.S. companies and ministries. Retailers may understandably object, but tight margins and the consumer’s desire to choose when, where and how they purchase goods or make donations is driving the shift. I can help you craft a multi-channel strategy that will minimize channel conflict with retailers plus leverage the power of cross-channel promotions. Contact 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. 

Cell Phone Insomnia Radiation from cell phones delays and reduces sleep, and causes headaches and confusion, according to a UK study. The research, sponsored by mobile phone companies, shows using the handsets before bed causes people to take longer to reach the deeper stages of sleep and to spend less time in them, interfering with the body’s ability to repair damage suffered during the day. The findings are especially alarming for children and teens. They tend to use their phones late at night, yet especially need sleep. Their failure to get enough can lead to mood and personality changes, ADHD-like symptoms, depression, lack of concentration and poor academic performance.(The Independent [UK] 1/21/08) 

Church Alternatives A Barna study finds a majority of U.S. adults believe there are biblically legitimate alternatives to participation in a conventional church. Among them are engaging in faith activities at home, with one’s family (acceptable by 89% of adults); being active in a house church (75%); watching a religious TV program (69%); listening to a religious radio broadcast (68%); attending a special ministry event (concert or community service activity) (68%); participating in a marketplace ministry (54%), interacting with a faith-oriented website (45%) and participating in live events via the Internet (42%). (Barna Update 2/18/08) 

Borders hopes to reverse years of sluggish sales by reinventing itself as a hub for knowledge, entertainment and digital downloading. The retailer plans to open 14 new concept stores in ’08 with new themed book islands built around lifestyle genres, including travel, cooking and health. The digital centers, meantime, are geared to welcome people of all levels of tech know-how. Staffers will guide customers through the process of burning music to CDs, downloading songs to most digital music players or books to a Sony digital reader. They'll even print the cover art and fold it into a CD cover for you. (USA Today 2/13/08) 

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