The Halo Effect

1
The Halo Effect by Michael Fielding
Marketing to Christian Consumers
Neil Potter Sergio Cirina Ryan Veerkamp
2
Overview

• Why Christian Consumers?
• The Christian Demographic
• Effective Marketing

3
Why Christian Consumers?

• For years marketers have avoided religion
• A new niche for marketers

• 78 of U.S. citizens identify themselves as
  Christians (51.3 Protestant)

• Movement towards the mainstream
• Chronicles of Narnia Movies, Passion of the
  Christ
• Music (Lifehouse, UnderOath, Switchfoot, The
  Fray)

4
The Christian Demographic

• Christians own more homes, purchase more cars and
  have more access to the internet than other
  segments of the general population
• More education, more discretionary income

5
Effective Marketing

• Grassroots Marketing
• Connectedness of communities and churches
• Will identify with values
• Similar to lifestyle brand (Apple users)

• Look for opportunities to partner with
  organizations that are familiar to the Christian
  market

6
Examples

• Wal-Mart donates to charities and religious
  groups as well as secular groups
• Take a moral stand on content in store (Lads
  magazines)
• Offer wider variety of Christian books than any
  other large retailer

• Bishop T.D. Jakes, pastor of a Dallas mega-church
  with about 30,000 members, hosted a conference
  that was co-sponsored by Ford Motor Company. They
  were allowed to hold seminars and display
  products during the event, which drew 200,000
  attendees.

7
Examples

• Sponsoring Music Concerts
• Disneys Night of Joy
• 2 night after hour concert
• Featuring bands such as Jars of Clay, Family
  Force Five, Flyleaf, P.O.D.

8

• The Almost
• Anberlin
• As Cities Burn
• As I Lay Dying
• UnderOath
• Norma Jean

Warped Tour features bands that have either
publicly referred to themselves as "Christian
Bands," are on Christian record labels, or are
bands comprised of Christian members.
9
Conclusion

• Powerful market niche untargeted by marketers
• Use grassroots marketing and identify with values
• Large corporations already taking advantage of
  growing Christian market segment

10
Works Cited

• Article Found in
• Marketing Annual Editions by John E. Richardson
• Additional Information Found at
• CIA, CIA.gov
• Pew Research Center, people-press.org