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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

November 25, 2007 edition of

The FOSTER Letter—Religious Market Update

Evangelical Christians are more influenced about where they shop by store environment than the general population, and are more likely to prefer purchasing from specialty stores than their non-religious counterparts, according to Evangelical Christians in the U.S. published by Packaged Facts. Identifying 33% of all American adults and 43% of those who consider themselves to be Christians as evangelicals, the report says the conservative subgroup accounted for 28% of U.S. total household income in ’06—or $7.3 trillion. That, along with the recognition the churches evangelicals attend “wield significant cultural, economic and political force, and ... have marketing savvy to spare,” makes them “a growing and economically powerful market.” (Christian e-Tailing 11/8/07)

A College Freshman’s biggest priority is to establish friendships and figure out where they fit in, finds Fuller’s Center for Youth and Family Ministry (CYFM) study. The party scene is the primary way they create a social life, an environment that typically diminishes faith values. While their youth leaders may have told them what not to do when they get to college, many students are ill-equipped with healthier strategies for finding friends. Many wish they had maintained contact with friends or youth group leaders post-graduation. CYFM encourages youth leaders to make that phone call to their graduated youth. (Christian Post 11/13/07) 

Outside Point-of-View Does it seem like something is wrong, but you’re not quite sure what? Let me help you pinpoint problems and needed changes through a custom- tailored management or operations audit. Contact 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. 

The U.S. Greeting Card Market made a comeback after 4 years of declining sales, rising over 11% from ’04 to ’06.  In ’06 the market for greeting cards climbed to over $10 billion, according to a Unity Marketing study. Unity’s Pam Danziger claims the gain is a result of a shift in consumers’ shopping preferences away from mass retailers and discounters, like dollar stores, toward more specialty retailers that offered better designs, higher quality and more specialized card choices. In ’06 specialty card and gift shops regained 6 market share points. 65% of today’s stationery buyers are female/35% male, average 41.9 years in age and have an average household income of $63,600.(Unity Marketing 11/7/07) 

Literally True 75% of U.S. adults interpret the Bible story of Jesus rising from the dead literally, while 19% do not. 66% deem the account of Daniel surviving in the lion’s den to be literally true. 64% believe Moses literally parted the Red Sea and 63% believe David killed the giant Goliath with stones and a sling shot. Also, 60% believe Peter literally walked on water with Jesus. Study director George Barna observes, “It seems that millions of Americans believe the Bible content is true, but are not willing to translate those stories into action. Sadly, for many, the Bible has become a respected but impersonal religious history lesson that stays removed from their life.” (Barna.org 10/21/07) 

Evangelicals Christians represent 32.5% of American adults (vs. 30.8% in ’04) and 28% of total U.S. household income. They’re an important market segment today and comprise 54% of all adults who belong to churches, temples or synagogues; and 43% of the total 161.1 million adult U.S. Christians. Packaged Facts, division of Marketresearch.com, has created two primary sub-segments, conservatives and moderates. Conservative Evangelicals number 38.5 million and moderates 31 million, or 18.5% and 14.5% of the U.S. adult population, respectively. Perhaps most revealing, Evangelicals’ combined household income of $2.1 trillion represents 28% of the $7.3 trillion national total (and 40% of overall U.S. Christians’ $5.3 trillion). Nearly 44% of U.S. adults aged 65 or older are Evangelicals, versus 34% of those 50 to 64, 31% of those 40 to 49, 28% of those 30 to 39, and 26% of those 18 to 29. The male/female ratio is 46%/54%. 33.5% of white adults are Evangelicals, 31.3% of Hispanics, 31.9% of African-Americans and 21.8% of Asians. (Marketing Daily 11/7/07) 

African Americans see a widening gulf between the values of middle class and poor blacks, and nearly 40%say because of the diversity within their community, blacks can no longer be thought of as a single race. (Pew Research Center 11/13/07) 

Tough Choices U.S. born-again Christians are likely to spend more than $1 billion on media products (CDs, DVDs, video games and magazines) for kids under 18 despite misgivings about the moral content or developmental affects. 26% of Christian parents aren’t comfortable with the DVD products they purchased, 33% feel this way about music CDs, between 39% and 46% are concerned about video games and 24% wonder about computer software they’ve purchased. Christian parents who don’t want to disappoint either God or their children, but whose ultimate choices will disappoint both God and themselves, are not acting in the best interests of their children. (Barna Update 1/19/07) 

E-Curb Appeal Richard Reising, author of Church Marketing 101, says, “Currently 80% to 85% of people are finding their church based on Web sites. Websites are replacing the yellow pages as a key mode of church advertising.” (Your Church 11-12/07) 

Bankruptcy is growing faster among Americans 65 and older than any other age group, mainly due to medical expenses and home repairs. (AARP Bulletin 10/07) 

Evangelical Media Usage: They are enthusiastic about traditional electronic and print media, leaning toward options that reinforce their religious values. They are 15% more likely than average to say TV is their main entertainment source. 55% (14% more than average) rely on TV to keep them informed. Over 4% report the Inspiration Network as a recent viewing destination. Evangelicals are also 16% more likely than average to say radio is their preferred source of entertainment, and 17% more likely to listen to radio for a quick news update. They’re 11% more likely to read a newspaper on most days, and 9% more likely to rely on the newspaper to keep informed. Plus, evangelicals are 27% more likely than general consumers to list magazines as their main entertainment source and 11% more apt than other adults to say music is an important part of their lives. (Marketing Daily 11/7/07) 

DaySpring Cards has started a new direct sales business, called Blessings Unlimited, that offers gifts, home décor products, greeting cards, items for quiet times with the Lord, and many other products for sale direct to consumers through independent consultants. To learn more visit http://www.blessingsdirect.com/ourproducts.html. Here is a Christian product company willing to risk entering a new market channel. All new endeavors involve risk. Let me help you assess the risks in any new directions you are pursuing. Contact me at 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. (Foster Network 3/28/07) 

New Words Among new words included in the latest edition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary are: “ginormous,” (combination of gigantic and enormous), “Crunk,” a style of Southern rap music, “smackdowns,” contests in entertainment wrestling, “telenovelas,” Latin American soap operas, “gray literature,” hard-to-get written material, “microgreen,” a shoot of a standard plant,  and “Bollywood,” India’s film industry capital. Language does indeed evolve. (Food for Thought 10/07) 

Church Planting Approximately 4,000 churches are planted in the U.S. each year – an all-time, high finds LifeWay’s State of Church Planting USA. Today church planting is much more varied than in the past with missional, seeker-sensitive, purpose-driven and ethnic church planting models being developed. These new models produce more evangelistic conversions. Affinity strategies dominate vs. geographic strategies of the past. Ed Stetzler, Dir. of LifeWay Research says, “Most successful church planters today are specialists who emphasize a particular style of worship or a specific demographic.” Plants are no longer denominationally driven. At the forefront are “church planting networks” or a loose affiliation of churches not necessarily tied by a denomination but by a shared commitment to launching new, like-minded congregations. Research indicates 68% of churches planted each year are still functioning 4 years later. (Christian Post 11/15/07) 

Senior Fears 26% of senior citizens rate loss of independence and 13% moving out of home into a nursing home as their greatest fears, finds a Clarity study. Just 3% see death as their greatest fear. 89% of seniors want to grow older without having to move from their homes, and 53% are concerned about their ability to do so. (Center for Media Research Brief 11/8/07) 

Light Green Simmons data shows 54% of Evangelicals (10% more than adults on average) agree that people have a responsibility to use recycled products, and 60% make a conscious effort to recycle. (Marketing Daily 11/7/07) 

Overload Today we are processing information at 400 times the rate of our Renaissance ancestors, says anthropologist-turned-brand-strategist Cheryl Swanson. This is a new human task that we haven’t had time to adapt to yet -- physically or mentally. With that 400 times more information did not come 400 more hours in a day. So we steal that time from sleep, family mealtimes and just unwinding. (Advertising Age 11/13/07) 

Charity Postage The USPS won’t push forward with a rate case to increase postal fees for charities. Up to 400% increases were possible. Instead, future price increases will be capped at the rate of inflation. (The Non-Profit Times 11/19/07) 

Word-of-Mouth (WoM) marketing is expected to surpass $1 billion in ’07, making it one of the fastest-growing alternative media formats. A PQ Media research report predicts spending on WoM marketing will grow at an annual rate of 30.4%, and hit $3.7 billion by 2011. Helping drive the growth are Web 2.0 technologies such as social networks, blogs that allow consumers to share information, and opinions about brands and products. (Online Media Daily 11/16/07)

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