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Serving the Christian Market Since 1968 14732 Middle Point Road Van Wert, Ohio 45891 - 419.238.4082 |
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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 May 10, 2008 edition of The FOSTER Letter—Religious Market Update Book Readers A recent Rasmussen Report showed 69% of U.S. adults had read a book recently, and 58% of these had read a book for pleasure recently. 79% have read a book in the past 6 months. 66% of women and 50% of men read a book for pleasure very recently. (Rasmussen Report 4/24/08) The Value of a Volunteer Hour nearly kept pace with inflation during ’07, increasing 3.94% while consumer prices tracked at 4.1%. The estimate for the value of a volunteer hour jumped 74¢, from $18.77 in ’06 to $19.51 in ’07, reports the Independent Sector, a coalition of nonprofits and foundations. Volunteers play a vital role in helping America’s 1.4 million charitable organizations improve lives across the country and around the world. (Non-Profit Times 4/17/08) Fresh Thoughts Do you have relationships with people outside the company who can bring in fresh ideas and offer third opinions? Every organization should have someone like this on retainer, someone not bound by company politics or the tyranny of the urgent. I can serve this purpose for your organization. 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. Marketsquare International will be held Jan 15-17, 2009, at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Atlanta. The hotel is 5 minutes from the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport by free shuttle service. (Foster Network 4/22/08) Pint-Size Digital Projectors are in the works. These devices, when plugged into cell phones and portable media players, will let consumers beam video content from their hand-held devices to the closest smooth surface. The micro-projectors, still in prototype, use light-emitting diodes and lasers to cast a display 60 inches or more in darkened spaces and 7 to 20 inches when there is ambient light. Eventually projectors will be embedded in cell phones, just like cameras. (NY Times 3/30/08) Graying & Affluent In the more than 80 metropolitan markets surveyed by The Media Audit, a recent study shows those who are over age 50 with incomes of $50,000 or more (the “graying and affluent”) have increased from 17.0 million in ’04 to 22.3 million in ’08. Collectively, the markets surveyed have an adult population of approximately 142 million; since ‘04 the percentage of “graying and affluent” households has increased from 13.1% to 15.7% of all households. 65.6% of the group made at least one Internet purchase during the previous 12 months, up from 50.2% in ’04. (Center for Media Research Brief 4/8/08) Thomas Nelson has announced a 10% reduction in its workforce, about 60 people. CEO Michael Hyatt explained the layoffs were a result of Nelson’s plans to reduce title output by 50% in order to focus its resources on fewer, better-selling books. Last year 23% of their new titles drove 90% of their revenue. (Publisher’s Weekly 4/22/08, Christian e-tailing 4/24/08) Traditional 20s 94% of 20-somethings respect parenthood, and 84% have great esteem for marriage finds a survey by the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency. Just 25% respect Hollywood. (Pastor’s Weekly Briefing 5/2/08) Special Markets Are you looking for a new marketing channel for your Christian products? Let me help you put together a workable plan to penetrate non-traditional channels. Contact 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. Abortion and teen pregnancy rates have steadily dropped since 1990, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention study. Overall, abortions fell 24% to 1.22 million in ’04 from a historical high of 1.61 million in ’90. Teen pregnancies declined during the same period, accounting for only 12% of all pregnancies in ’04, a drop from 15% in ’90. The lead researcher of the study noted an overall decline in total pregnancies and a new tendency among women to postpone child-bearing. Also, more women today are likely to have the baby rather than an abortion compared to ’90. (Reuters 4/16/08) CLA The former Christian Management Association and the former Christian Stewardship Association have joined together to create Christian Leadership Alliance (CLA), attracting more than 1800 people to their annual conference. With a combined 6000 members working in more than 2500 organizations, CLA is now the nation’s largest resource for enhancing the organizational effectiveness of churches and parachurch ministries. (ECFA Newsletter 4/28/08) Christians & Wealth According to data analyzed by Duke University sociologist Lisa Keister, the median net worth for conservative Protestants in ’00 was $26,000 vs. the $66,200 national median. “The one big difference is the conservative Protestants’ assumption that God is the owner of money and people are managers of it,” says Keister. “They are doing with their money what God wants them to do with it, so that does mean that it is not sitting in their bank accounts.” Keister argues traditional views of money (“its God’s, not ours”) keep many Protestants from building a financial safety net. When demographic factors (education, age and race) were held constant, religion still proved to be an influential factor in wealth accumulation. Conservative beliefs had a larger impact among black Protestants but also remained significant among whites. (USA Today 4/23/08) Larger Families, Longer Lifespan A 2006 Univ. of Maryland study of Amish in Lancaster, PA found that men born between 1749 and 1912 who lived 50 or more years averaged 0.23 more years of life per additional child. Women from the same period averaged 0.32 extra years of life per additional child, up to the 14th child. (LifeSite 4/22/08) Are You Innovating Everywhere? When talk of innovation relates solely to products, it misses some of the most important elements of this critical business quality. The most effective strategies foster the discipline of innovation everywhere, including every component of a healthy brand: positioning, product, service or mission, pricing, marketing mix, sales channel strategy, supply chain, finance and management processes. Innovation across the board will do more than just spark top-line growth; it will serve as a catalyst to generate growth in many other critical areas, including finance, strategy and distribution. A comprehensive approach reduces risk to an acceptable level while providing the investment funds to support an aggressive overall business strategy. I can help you craft a comprehensive innovation strategy for your organization. Contact 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. (AdAge.com 6/20/07)
GMA Doves
The 39th annual GMA Dove Awards were awarded 4/25/08 and televised
live on the Gospel Music Channel. The Dove Awards in the overall
categories went to: American Women control more than half of commercial and consumer consumption that comprises America’s GDP. Business guru and author Tom Peters says it is “larger than the entire Japanese economy,” or in excess of $5 trillion. Also women now comprise the majority of college degree recipients. And the number of female entrepreneurs is exploding: 10.4 million firms with 50% or more ownership by women, generating $1.9 trillion in annual sales and employing 12.8 million people. (Non-Profit Times 4/28/08) Prisoners The U.S. has less than 5% of the world’s population, yet nearly 25% of its prisoners. It has 751 people in prison or jail for every 100,000 people. The only other major industrialized nation that even comes close is Russia, with 627 prisoners for every 100,000 people. England’s rate is 151; Germany’s is 88 and Japan’s is 63. (NY Times 4/23/08) Bible Literate Americans are among the world’s most ‘Bible-literate’ people with Spaniards, French and Italians among the least, claims a Catholic Biblical Federation study. The 9-country poll (U.S., Britain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Russia, Italy, Spain and Poland) found Americans are the most willing to give money to spread the Bible’s message. 75% of American respondents had read a phrase from the Bible in the past 12 months, compared with 20% to 38% of the other countries’ respondents. Results were similar when asked if they had read a book with a religious theme in the past 12 months. Americans also pray the most (87%) and the French the least (49%). Germany and the Netherlands had the highest percentage who said they believed the Bible was not divinely inspired but just “an ancient book made up of legends, historical facts and teachings written by men.” The majority of respondents in all countries believed it was the direct word of God or inspired by God. 93% of Americans have a Bible at home vs. 48% of the French. 91% of Poles attend religious services regularly, followed by the U.S. (77%) and Russia (75%). (The Church Report 4/29/08) Risky Preaching 55% of pastors can identify one or more topics on which they would not preach at all or only sparingly, because the sermon could negatively affect their hearers’ willingness to attend church in the future. Among them are politics (38%), homosexuality (23%), abortion (18%), same-sex marriage (17%), war (17%), women’s role in church and home (13%), the doctrine of election (13%), hell (7%) and money (3%). (Your Church 5-6/08) For information on how to become a subscriber to the entire 3-page Foster Letter---Religious Market Update, E-mail us at: subscribe@garydfoster.com
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