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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 25, 2007 edition of The FOSTER Letter—Religious Market Update Parenting Is Harder 70% of the public says it is more difficult to be a mother today than it was 20 or 30 years ago. 60% say the same about being a father. A Pew survey finds 56% of Americans say mothers are doing a worse job today than they did 20 or 30 years ago. 47% echo this about dads. According to parents and non-parents, the biggest challenge in raising children today is dealing with the outside influences of society. 38% of Americans list societal factors when asked to name the biggest parental challenge. The top concerns are drugs and alcohol, peer pressure, and the impact of TV and other media. Other challenges include teaching morals and values, maintaining discipline, handling the financial aspects of childrearing, and dealing with the educational system. Protestants are among the most critical of today’s mothers with 68% of white evangelicals saying moms are doing a worse job today. This compares with 54% of white non-evangelical Protestants, 50% of white Catholics and 47% of seculars. (Pew Research Center 5/2/07)
Relevance
is what determines whether an ad works or not. Google Is Warning Web users of the increasing threat posed by malicious software that can be dropped onto a computer as a Web surfer visits a particular site. Their research finds about 1 in 10 Web pages could successfully “drive-by download” a Trojan horse virus onto a visitor’s computer. Such malicious software potentially enables hackers to access sensitive data stored on the computer or its network. 70% of Web pages hosting rogue software are found on legitimate sites targeted by hackers. (USA Today 5/15/07) Young Adults Read More consumer magazines than older folks, claims researcher McPheters & Co! While analyzing data from a test, it became apparent that younger readers reported reading more magazines than older readers. It showed adults 19-24 and 25-34 read a larger number of both different magazine titles and specific magazine issues than their older counterparts. This evidence implies younger audiences are not abandoning hard-copy magazines for the internet and other forms of media. (Media Post Publications 5/18/07) Moms Of Faith Typically mothers outpace fathers in terms of spiritual activity and commitment. According to Barna Research, women raising children are among the most faith-minded and spiritually active segments of the American population. More than 75% of moms identify family as their highest priority and say their faith is very important in their life, while this view was true among just 66% of dads. Moms are more likely than dads to attend church, pray, read the Bible, participate in a small group, attend Sunday school, and volunteer time to help a non-profit organization. The only faith-related activity which dads are just as likely as moms to engage in is volunteering to help at a church. (Barna Update 5/7/07) TV Toll A Univ. of Washington study found that by the age of 3 months, 40% of infants are regularly viewing TV and DVDs, rising to 90% for 2-year-olds. Far from using TV as a substitute babysitter, 29% of parents believe it made their children smarter, sometimes buying products like Baby Einstein or Brainy Baby that claim to aid an infant’s cognitive development. Between 2 and 5, the average American kid watches nearly 4 hours of TV each day. A 2004 study from the same UW research institute found that on average, the likelihood of hyperactive disorders later in life grows by 10% increments with each hour of daily TV viewing before age 3. (Media Daily News 5/9/07) Mobile Price Comparison If consumers start treating real world stores as showrooms and try-out centers, while finding the lowest online price on web-enabled cell phones, many retailers will see their biggest nightmare come true. With all phones eventually expected to offer fast web access, barcode code capturing software and so on, only hard to find objects and impulse buys may escape the “feel it, see it, try it offline, then buy it cheaper online” routine. By 2011, there will be 2.5 billion cell phone users worldwide. (Trend Briefing 5/07) Prejudiced Profs According to the Institute for Jewish & Community Research (IJCR), 53% of non-Evangelical university faculty hold cool or unfavorable views of Evangelicals. Only 30% of faculty members hold positive views of Evangelicals, 56% of social sciences and humanities faculty hold unfavorable views. “This survey shows a disturbing level of prejudice or intolerance among U.S. faculty towards tens of millions of Evangelical Christians," said IJCR President Gary Tobin. Strangely a good number believe in a close, personal relationship with God and believe religion is essential to a child’s upbringing, yet many feel deeply unfavorable toward Evangelicals. 33% of faculties also hold unfavorable views of Mormons vs. only 3% towards Jews; 4% towards Buddhists; 9% towards non-Evangelical Christians; 13% toward Catholics and 18% towards atheists. (IJCR study, Profiles of the American University Vol. 2) Brand Health Reinvention keeps your brand healthy, but so do strong core values. An Association of National Advertisers marketing-accountability study suggests long-term brand factors effect up to 80% of a brand’s current-year sales. What’s more, intangible long-term assets such as brand equity and market effects contribute approximately 40% to a company’s overall value. (Advertising Age 4/25/07) Details Matter Quirky and cute ads were effective in the 90’s because they made corporate America warm and approachable. People still like these ads and may even compliment you on them, but they’re no longer driving traffic. Buying decisions are increasingly based on logic. Give customers a no-loopholes warranty and a story that rings true and they’ll respond. Let me “logic-test” your ads before you needlessly burn up cash resources. Contact me at 419-238-4082, GFosterCns@rmi.net or www.GaryDFoster.com. (Monday Morning memo 5/21/07) Going Global Over the last decade, the number of United Methodists outside the U.S. more than tripled. The denomination’s largest district is now in the Ivory Coast. Trends suggest Christianity is going to continue to grow as a global phenomenon, and denominations are going to have to adapt to a global self-perception. Nearly 8 million United Methodists are now in the U.S., with another 3.5 million overseas. The denomination is the 3rd-largest in the U.S. behind Roman Catholics and Southern Baptists, but if current patterns continue, within decades the typical United Methodist will be from Africa. While international congregations expand, the denomination’s U.S. ranks have decreased by 19% since the ’70s. (The Church Report 4/25/07) Most Are Green While 57% of Americans say they are extremely concerned about the environment, only 43% think they will be “extremely green” in the next 5 years finds a Wal-Mart survey. Only 11% say they are “extremely green” today. 62 % would buy more eco-friendly products if there were no price difference. 47% say buying environmentally friendly products makes them feel like a smart consumer, and 68% agree, “even the small act of recycling at home has an impact on the environment.” (Marketing Daily 4/19/07) Americans Work Hard 64% of U.S. workers enjoy their work a great deal, and 29% enjoy it somewhat, while just 5% don’t care for work at all. When it comes to work-life balance, only about 50% feel they’ve got things down. Every month, workers bring lunch to work 8 days; eat while working 7.5 days, and buy lunch at or near work 5.9 days. They skip lunch entirely 3.5 days a month. 60% of workers work non-stop throughout their shift without taking any breaks. 28% of women say a snack break would help them be more productive, 30% of younger workers (18-34) claim free ice cream would boost morale finds a Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream study. (Marketing Daily 5/7/07) Parents Advocate Abstinence A new Zogby Poll shows 90% of parents agree being sexually abstinent is best for their child’s health and future and, 66% believe the message to wait is lost when sex education teaches the use of contraceptives. 80% parents believe sex education in public schools should place more emphasis on promoting abstinence vs. contraceptive use, and 90% believe it is important for schools to emphasize abstaining from sex. 80% support the fundamentals of abstinence-only education regarding the development of healthy relationships to improve the chances of a healthy future marriage. (WorldNetDaily 5/8/07) Church Attendance Gallup finds that in ’06 31% of Americans report attending church once a week, 12% almost every week, 15% once a month, 28% seldom and 14% never. (Gallup Alert 4/6/07) Sex Selection A new DNA test parents can use at home to determine the sex of their unborn child in the early weeks of pregnancy is being condemned as a sex-selection abortion tool by pro-life leaders and medical professionals. Sex selection abortion has become a massive problem in Asia, with China and India suffering a serious imbalance in the ratio of boys to girls--cultural preferences for boy children has led to the wide-scale abortion of girl babies. Experts estimate the number of “missing” girls worldwide to be about 200 million. Available via the Internet, the test costs about $8,000 USD. (LifeSiteNews 5/7/07) Fewer Boys While the ratio of girl to boy birth ratios are declining in China, India and Muslim nations because of “gendercide,” in the U.S. and Japan, boy births are slowing due in part by paternal exposure to environmental toxins, such as certain pesticides, heavy metals, solvents or dioxins. Traditionally for every 100 girls born, there will be about 105 boys. This balances out the higher death rate among male fetuses and infants. However, in the U.S., the proportion of boys dropped from 105.5 per 100 girls in ’70 to 104.6 in ’01. In Japan, the ratio dropped from 106.3 boys for every 100 girls to just fewer than 105 per 100. (MSNBC.com 4/18/07) Teens Are The Most Targeted Market demographic in the world today! “Marketing doesn’t just sell a product, it sells a worldview,” says Walt Mueller, author of, Youth Culture 101, Youth Specialties. 5 years ago, the most powerful media form shaping the life of teens was music, today its marketing. Most Americans are immersed in the influence of media but when it surrounds us 24/7, we start to forget it’s there. Research shows most people in the U.S. see anywhere from 3,500 to 16,000 marketing messages a day. Oftentimes, when adults hear their kids listening to music or viewing images they don’t like, the typical reaction is to tell them to turn it off. “[That] doesn’t hold water with kids,’” says Mueller. He wrote his book to help parents and youth workers know enough to have credibility. (The Christian Post 5/10/07) Families who use TV ratings to guide their viewing are relying on a “sham” system finds a new study. The Parents Television Council study of 546 hours of primetime broadcast programming found that 67% of the time, the show contained offensive programming without the proper content label. For instance, the program may have had sexual content but had no “S” label to warn viewers. V-chips block programs based on these rating labels. (Baptist Press 4/24/07) Boomers Volunteer The volunteer rate for boomers ages 40 to 57 today is 30.9% compared with 25.3% of this same age cohort in 1974, and 23.2% in 1989. (Keeping Baby Boomers Volunteering 2007) 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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