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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

March 10, 2007 edition of

The FOSTER Letter—Religious Market Update

Restoring Trust You’ve heard the story. JetBlue angered a lot of people when they cancelled a thousand flights in the course of a few days. Negative customer reaction was enough to make the average CEO want to hide. Instead, JetBlue CEO David Neeleman took the pilot’s seat and responded quickly with sincere atonement, hitting every media outlet he could, and issuing apologies not just to every inconvenienced flier but also to his airline’s own crew-members. The company also posted a public video apology on its Web site. He and the airline seem to be making a supreme effort to recover the public’s trust and confidence. The first step? Taking responsibility! It’s amazing what a little humility will do toward recovering customer and/or donor trust. Neeleman has said that the operational catastrophe may end up costing $30 million, but the short-term pain is part of his long-term vision of success. “I’m not focused on the first quarter,” he said. “I’m focused on the second, third, and fourth quarter and rebuilding our reputation in the eyes of our customers and crew members.” When companies mess up big time (and it could happen to any company or ministry), the most important steps to take are those designed to recover trust in the most direct, straightforward way possible. Customers and donors will usually forgive incompetence, but not bad character. Good behavior is the single most effective way to restore trust after an episode of bad or untrustworthy behavior. Only time will tell how this situation develops. JetBlue is trying to do the right thing. I can help you quickly craft an effective trust recovery plan. Contact 419-238-4082, GFosterCns@rmi.net or www.GaryDFoster.com. (1 to 1 Media 12/27/07)

Going Home For the first time since the Depression, more Americans ages 75 and older have been leaving the South than moving there, according to a New York Times analysis of Census Bureau data. The reversal appears to be driven in part by older people who retired to the South in their 60s, but decided to return home to their children and grandchildren in the Northeast, Midwest and West after losing spouses or becoming less mobile. (NY Times 2/26/07) 

Moral Values Recent Pew Research studies find 88% of Americans disapprove of married people having an affair, while 3% say it is morally acceptable and 7% say it is not a moral issue. Some 90% of women say adultery is morally wrong vs. 85% of men. 79% of Americans consider not reporting all of one’s taxable income to be morally wrong, 5% consider it morally acceptable and 14% say it’s not a moral issue. About half say abortion (52%) and homosexual behavior (50%) are morally wrong. 33% say homosexuality is not a moral issue and 23% say that about abortion and 11% say it depends on the situation. (PWB 3/2/07) 

Gen Next 75% of Gen Next Americans (ages 18-25) say today’s youth are more likely to have casual sex than were young people 20 years ago. Only 7% say their generation has less casual sex, and 17% say it’s about the same. 70% of Nexters resort to violence to solve conflicts more often than the previous generation, and 69% engage more often in binge drinking and illegal drug use (63%) when compared with their predecessors. (Pew Research Center 2/23/07) 

Missing Girls 6.7 million abortions occur yearly in India, but aborted girls outnumber boys by 500,000 (or 10 million over the past 20 years) creating a huge gender imbalance in the world’s largest democracy. The British medical journal Lancet estimates the male-female gap at 43 million. Globally, there are 100 million “missing girls” who should have been born but were not. 50 million would have been Chinese and 43 million Indian. The rest would have been born in South Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nepal. As a result, a new class of wifeless men are absorbing a new trade in girls kidnapped or sold. (Washington Times 2/26/07) 

Unknown A Barna Group study finds that in comparison to leaders from entertainment, politics and business, religious leaders labor in relative obscurity. Among the 11 religious leaders evaluated, about 8 out of 10 adults were aware of Billy Graham, making him and Pat Robertson the only religious figures known to at least half of the population. Mr. Graham was the sole religious leader who made a positive impression on a majority of Americans (64%). Most high-profile leaders in the Christian community are virtually unknown to the U.S. population at large, including Charles Colson (unknown to 85%), Rick Warren (83%), Bill Hybels (96%), and Andy Stanley (95%). On average, 74% of adults has a positive sense of the spiritual leaders of whom they are aware. That’s on par with the ratio related to entertainers (74%) and businessmen (71%) and superior to political leaders (64%). (Barna Online 2/19/07) 

Wealth Retained The 60 richest Americans have fortunes totaling an estimated $630 billion, of which only a little over $7 billion has been pledged to charity. (Philanthropy Today 3/1/07) 

Latino Evangelicals Evangelical, Pentecostal and other charismatic churches are drawing an increasing number of Hispanic worshippers away from their traditional Catholic roots. Because of immigration patterns and high birth rates, the number of American Latinos will rise from 40 million to 100 million by 2050, or 25% of the U.S. population. A few decades ago, about 85% of U.S Hispanics were Catholic; today it is between 60% and 70%. (The Pew Forum 12/21/06) 

Advertising isn’t working as it did a few years ago. TV, radio and newspapers all bemoan the decline in ad results. “Wizard of Ads” Roy Williams claims he’s discovered and proved that (A) Internet surfing has trained us to disregard empty words and (B) Relevance has become more important than repetition. The audience is still there. What’s gone is their willingness to pay attention to drivel. He says, to make your advertising work like it should, you’re going to have to: (1) Talk about things your customer actually cares about. (2) Write your ads in a style that rings true. (3) Avoid heroic chest thumping. “We are the number one…” is now considered gauche and passé. (4) Close the loopholes in your ads. Offer evidence to support what you say. (5) Be specific. Details are more believable than generalities. (6) Deliver a real message. Substance is more important than style. Creativity and repetition can no longer cover up for an ad that actually says nothing. You’ve got to have a message that matters. For an analysis of your ads contact 419-238-4082, GFosterCns@rmi.net or www.GaryDFoster.com. (Monday Morning Memo, Wizard of Ads 3/5/07) 

Aging Americans The percentage of the U.S. population aged 65 or over continues to increase, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The figure has steadily climbed over the years: 7% (1940), 8% (1950), 9% (1960), 10% (1970), 11% (1980), 12% (1990) and again 12% (2000). For 2010 the projected figure is 13%, followed by 17% in 2020 and 19% in 2030. (Leadership Network Advance 2/27/07) 

EU Religion In a recent European Union survey, 53% of EU citizens regarded religion as a significant element of their lives. 46% of people in the 27 EU member countries attach no importance to religion. About 49.5% of all EU citizens are Catholics, 12.7% Protestants, 8.6% Orthodox, 15.7% Muslims, 0.4% Jews and 25.4% non-religious. Religion is most important to the Maltese (88%), Poles (87%) as well as Cypriots, Greeks and Romanians (86% each). More than 70% of those in Belgium and the Czech Republic regard religion as insignificant. EU women are more religious than men (58% vs. 45%). (Assist News service 2/27/07) 

Porn Problem A Proven Men study finds 3 out of every 5 Christian men have sought some form of pornography. In another recent survey cited by author Christine Gardner, 33% of pastors and 36% of laity admit to visiting a sexually explicit website. Porn habits, once a predominantly male problem, have increasingly ensnared women, particularly through explicit chat rooms. (BuildingChurchLeaders.com 3/1/07)  

Mormonism 46% of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of the Mormon religion in general while 42 % have a favorable opinion. Among Americans who attend church on a weekly basis or more, the favorable/ unfavorable ratio is 55% to 34%. (The Christian Post 3/04/07) 

Young Girls Raunchy clothes, toys and images are causing psychological harm to children as young as 5, warns an American Psychological Association report. A generation of girls will suffer from depression, eating disorders and unhealthy sexual development, as a result of today’s sex culture. Psychologist Eileen Zurbriggen says: “Consequences of the sexualization of girls in media today are very real and likely to be a negative influence on healthy development. Girls develop their identities by modeling what they see older girls doing and by imitating the ways in which women are represented in the media. We have ample evidence to conclude that sexualization has negative effects in a variety of domains.” Teen girls are encouraged to look sexy, yet they know little about what it means to be sexual. There is evidence that girls exposed to sexualizing and objectifying media are more likely to experience body dissatisfaction, depression and lower self-esteem. (UK News 2/20/07) 

I Believe A recent Gallup Poll reports 28% of Americans believe the Bible is the literal Word of God, 49% believe it is “the inspired Word of God,” 19% call it “an ancient book of fables” and 3 % had no opinion. (Movie Guide 1/07) 

Direct Mail is successful with women, finds the Vertis Communications Customer Focus Direct Mail Study. 85% of women ages 25-44 read print direct mail marketing pieces, and 53% of women surveyed who have e-mail access read e-mail ads. Vertis claims marketers can increase direct mail effectiveness by offering exclusive deals and coupons. More than 70% of all respondents said they’ve replied to direct mail with a BOGO (buy one, get one free) offer, and 63% have responded to direct mail offering a percentage discount on merchandise, up from 54% in 2/05. Hispanics have increased their direct mail response rate from 38% in ‘03 to 46% in ‘07. Personalized e-mail as a follow-up to direct mail was deemed acceptable by 45% of all adults. In younger adults, 23% of men 18-24 preferred text messaging as the follow-up form of communication vs. 5% of women 18-24. (CBA Aspiring Retail Industry Brief, 2/26/07) 

Ultimate End Table Why settle for furniture that only lasts this lifetime? Lay to rest after work on your plush casket couch. Or brighten up your living room with a coffin coffee table! Every Casket Furniture product can be transformed into a casket at your time of need. (Casketfurniture.com) 

Highly Religious Americans are almost evenly split on whether it is best to live the best possible personally religious life or it is also necessary to spread their beliefs, finds a recent Gallup Poll. 39% of Americans label themselves as “somewhat religious,” 37% “extremely” or “very religious,” and 23% “not too religious” or “not religious at all.” Among the highly religious people, 48% say it is sufficient to live the best possible personal life based on their religious beliefs and principles without having to spread their faith. An earlier Barna study found nearly the same results. Yet Gallup found 49% believe it is necessary to attempt to spread their beliefs and principles to others. (Christian Post 2/23/07) 

The New 4 Ps are Preference, Premium price, Portion of budget, and Permanence of relationship, says Lior Arussy, Strativity Group. Customer centric, they are replacing the historic company centric 4 Ps of Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Paul Greenberg, author of CRM at the Speed of Light, observes, “Today’s business ecosystem is controlled by the customer. They are contextual, connected, collaborative, creative and content-driven. That means customers are looking for personalized experiences with a organization that provides aggregate capabilities to enhance those experiences.” We’re in a world where marketers become front-liners whose job is to engage the customer or donor and enhance the relationship. (1 to 1 Magazine 1-2/07) 

Small Church Growth In ’06 Outreach magazine cited a growth of 21.5% for megachurches from 1994 to 2004. At the same time congregations of less than 100 grew 16.4%. (The Christian Post 2/9/07) 

Money Raised Online for many nonprofit organizations grew from virtually nothing only a few years ago to a median 27% increase an annual amount $362,485 from 7/1/05 to 6/30/06, according to a Convio study. Organizations with the most monthly unique Web site visitors built the largest e-mail files. On average, 2.8% of nonprofit site visitors registered their e-mail addresses.(DM News 2/12/07) 

The Top Attributes employees look for in an employer are good career advancement opportunities (23%), company’s stability and longevity in the market (23%), good work culture (20%) and flexible schedules (11%). (Incentive 2/07) 

Volunteers Down In ’06 more than 61 million Americans donated their time to charity, the fewest since ’02, and down 4.4 million from ’05, reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Experts note volunteering spiked after 9/11/01 and Hurricane Katrina may have played a role in that it wiped out volunteer infrastructure in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. (Chronicle of Philanthropy 2/14/07)

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