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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

September 10, 2008 edition of

The FOSTER Letter—Religious Market Update

This Downturn is like no other in generations, notes a Cramer-Krasselt study, not because of its severity, but because it has given rise to a new set of consumer beliefs. It isn’t just that 50% of people are frustrated, worried (48%) or annoyed (29%). And it isn’t even that 61% feel less financially stable vs. a few years ago, and only 26% feel very secure about their future. It’s that the current downturn has consumers building on trends that were already gathering momentum. Take the simplicity movement. While marketers have been tapping into consumers’ desire to streamline their possessions for several years, the sagging economy is now providing an incentive to go one step further, with more people selling things on sites like eBay. Ditto the move toward “locavorism,” once favored by environmentalists and now embraced by anyone who may be looking to save on gas. 62% of Americans have made some kind of sacrifice because of the economy. 56% claim to be more conscious of prices on all products, while 40% are now shopping around for the best bargain. 47% are saving “a lot” less than they used to, 40% are taking money out of savings more often and 28% are using their credit cards more. “Consumers are on a financial diet,” the report notes, predicting brands that can tap into these new attitudinal segments will thrive. (Marketing Daily 8/19/08) 

Savvy Marketers realize that it is because many marketers cut ad spending during a recession that a recession is the best and least expensive time to gain market share through advertising. Publishers are more open to negotiating deals, and there is less competition as others reduce or eliminate ad budgets. This is the time to brand yourself as the leader in your category. P & G, GM, Verizon, News Corp, Wal-Mart and PepsiCo have all increased their ad spending. Call on me for a “grow in the tough times” strategy plan.  419-238-4082, gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. (Marketing Daily 8/27/08) 

Time Magazine on Rick Warren Two archetypes dominated 20th century evangelicalism: the Grahamesque evangelist, and the paladin of the religious right. Rick Warren is neither. He has always been about churches—networks of churches. …Warren says he and his staff have given “purpose-driven training” to 500,000 pastors worldwide, and that 1 out of 20 U.S. churches has done 40 Days of Purpose exercises. In all, says fellow mega-pastor Joel Hunter, Warren’s is “easily the broadest and most influential church network in the world.” He (Warren) got a conventional theology doctorate and an unconventional education from a friend, management guru Peter Drucker, who refined Warren’s organizational gift and offered a secular vocabulary with which to express it.” (Time 8/7/08) 

Digital World Internet Retailer reports, in early ’07, 12% of all retail sales of consumer media products (books, music, video, etc.) were via e-commerce. This is twice the percentage of all retail products sold through e-commerce. (CBA Retailers+Resources 8/08) 

Diverse Religion The U.S. is one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world. With adherents from all of the world’s major religions, America is truly a nation of religious minorities. Although Protestantism remains the nation’s dominant strain of Christianity, the Protestant tradition is divided into dozens of major denominations. However, Protestant Christianity’s dominance has waned in recent years. A recent Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life survey finds the U.S. is on the verge of becoming a minority Protestant country for the first time in its history. (The Pew Forum 8/20/08) 

Childless The percentage of childless women in the U.S. who have reached the end of their child-bearing years has doubled from 10% to 20% in the last 30 years, reports the U.S. Census Bureau. The survey reports, “Women 40-44 will end their childbearing years with an average of 1.9 children each, a number below replacement-level fertility.” This compares to 3.1 in ’76. (LifeSite News 8/19/08) 

Borders Books U.S. superstores, which had $614.5 million in Q2 sales, declined 8.9% on a same-store basis and 6.7% overall. Take out Harry Potter, and the comp was down 5.1%; take out music and the comp was down only 3%. Look at just books without Potter, and the comp was down 2.5%. One of the biggest growth areas was bargain books. (Publisher’s Lunch 8/27/08) 

The New Golden Rule for business, first developed by Fred Reichheld, loyalty expert and author, is the one statistic that increasingly is taken most seriously by investors. Originally dubbed the Net Promoter Score, it could also be called the Customer Evangelism Score. It may be the most revealing question any business, ministry or church can ask its constituents. So what is this measure of success? Would you recommend us to a friend? I can help you find appropriate ways to ask this question to your customers and constituents. Contact me at 419-238-4082, gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com.  (The Gospel According to Starbucks, Leonard Sweet, WaterBrook, 2007) 

Economy Because of higher gas and food price concerns, 71% of U.S. parents of school-age children plan to spend less on back-to-school items this year, says a new Deloitte survey. 48% plan to reduce their household spending by more than $100. In addition, consumers will change where and how they shop. The number of people who shopped at club stores such as Costco, B.J.'s and Sam's Club increased 3.6% from 9/07 to 4/08. (Center for Media Research Brief 8/21/08) 

Bible Sales In a bleak retail economy, including many independent Christian retail stores, Bibles continue to be one of the bright spots. Not only do Bibles remain the heart and soul of a Christian retailer’s mission, but they also continue to be in strong demand. (Christian e-Tailing 8/21/08) 

Underpaid 51% of Americans feel they are underpaid for their work, finds a Gallup survey. 46% feel they are paid about the right amount, while 3% feel they are overpaid. Middle- and lower-income Americans are more likely to say they are underpaid. 62% of those making less than $75,000 a year agree vs. 38% of those making more than $75,000. 47% of men and 55% of women say they are underpaid. 51% of both whites and non-whites feel underpaid. Also, 49% of those with high school educations or less say they are underpaid vs. 52% of those with at least some college. (Pastors Weekly Briefing 8/22/08) 

Inappropriate A national survey shows more than a quarter of Christian women personally have experienced sexually inappropriate behavior, and a fourth of those said it happened in a church or ministry setting. Not all incidents reported fall under the legal definition of sexual harassment, i.e. “unwelcome attention due to one’s gender.” 53% who have experienced inappropriate behavior say they do not plan to report these instances to avoid stirring up controversy. (Pastors Weekly Briefing 8/22/08) 

Amish Growth In the last 16 years, the Amish population has nearly doubled, according to researchers from Elizabethtown College’s Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. Over the same period, Amish settlements have been established in 7 new states (Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, Washington and West Virginia), putting them in at least 28 states. (The Associated Press) 

Avoiding Dropout Further analysis of an earlier released LifeWay Research project on reasons 18-22-year-olds drop out of church finds these views together best predict a young person will stay in church: • “I wanted the church to help guide my decisions in everyday life (prior to age18).” • “At age 17 my parents were still married to each other and both attended church.” • “The pastor’s sermons were relevant to my life (prior to age 18).” • “At least 1 adult from church made a significant investment in me personally and spiritually between the ages of 15 and 18.” (LifeWay Research Insights 7/08) 

Ads delivered via mass media are preferred by 17% of U.S. adults, and an additional 17% of consumers are most interested in ads delivered in print. 32% of U.S. all adults are either disinterested in advertising delivered by any medium or they have not been exposed to a particular ad platform. (Center for Media Research Brief 8/22/08) 

Are The Right People Doing The Right Thing? Today’s rapid changes often overwhelm existing management and operations structures. I can perform an on-site audit and give you seasoned, objective and step-by-step direction on how your organization can adapt. Contact me at 419-238-4082, gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. 

Boomer Consumers 40- and 50 year-olds are not only spending more on themselves per month than Millennials and Gen Xers, but they are spending twice as much as their younger cohorts on others in their lives. (Center for Media Research Briefing 8/29/08) 

Young Adult Readers Up “There have been significant increases in sales of YA (young adult) books over the past several years,” says Zonderkidz Marketing VP Alicia Mey. A Children’s Book Council Sales Survey finds YA sales have increased from more than 13% in ’01 to more than 34% in ’05.  Mey adds, “We know that in the Christian channel, teens want more books to meet their spiritual needs as well as their entertainment needs.” An ’06 Barna Group study says 66% of all born-again Christians make a profession of faith before age 18. Nelson, Zondervan, FaithWords, Multnomah and NavPress have all recently launched or beefed up their YA offerings. (Christian e-Tailing 8/26/08) 

Home-Schooled Students do just as well or better than their public school peers. They typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests, according to the National Home Education Research Institute. (chron.com 8/25/08) 

For information on how to become a subscriber to the entire 3-4 page Foster Letter---Religious Market Update, E-mail us at: subscribe@garydfoster.com