Church of England to Modernise Advertising Campaign to Renew Image

The advertising agency that brought the Skoda range of cars back from the dead has been called in by the Church of England in the hope that it will do the same for their ailing fortunes also.

Ad agency Fallon has produced a series of black and white posters that aim to present the Church as less “churchy” and replace previous campaigns which have been criticised widely by bishops and clergy members for being overly triumphalist, painfully trendy or tastelessly provocative, The Times newspaper has said.

Rather than an overt emphasis on mission, the new line of posters aim to gently bring the attention of the public to the often overlooked practical role that the Church plays in their communities and daily lives, as well as its active contribution to the care of society in general.

One poster reads: “The Church. Provider of judo lessons, antique sales, playgroups, ballet lessons, school discos, flower-arranging classes, theatre clubs, and, oh yes, church.”

Another poster says: “Church. It isn’t as churchy as you think.”

Other slogans include: “More dances are held in church halls than in dance halls” and “You have to be a pretty good bloke to let 40 screaming kids and a bouncy castle in your house”.

The posters are not all aimed at the practical role, however, with others inviting the onlooker directly to consider the spiritual welfare and support that the Church can provide for people in their daily challenges. One such poster asks: “Why go to India to find yourself? You might be round the corner.”

The posters, which have been sent electronically to bishops for distribution within their parishes, are complimented with the caption “Church. Part of modern life”.

Fallon was responsible for the highly successful 2000 advertising campaign for Skoda cars, which took on the jokes and stereotypes head on by including them in the advertisements. The running joke of that campaign was: “A car that good can’t be a Skoda.”

Fallon’s creative director, Andy McLeod, said that there was little doubt that the agency’s softly-softly approach would be more effective than the more aggressive tone seen in some previous church campaigns, The Times newspaper has said.

“A poster is never going to convert people. We were not looking for an epiphany here. But what we think we can do is to remind people that the Church plays an important role in their lives, by providing basic services such as playgroups,” he said.

The agency first designed the adverts for the Channel Five series ‘Don’t Get Me Started’, to see if a campaign by the agency would improve church attendance levels. The campaign then received such praise from clergy members that Fallon offered to run the Church the use of the posters for free.

The Right Rev David James, the Bishop of Bradford, said that the campaign’s message was “spot on”. Attendance in the Church of England has dwindling for years but attendance in church-based youth groups, computer clubs and playgroups on weekdays is often extremely high, said Rev James.

Senior chaplain to the Bishop of Salisbury, the Rev Nicholas Papadopulos, said that the rationale behind the campaign was compelling.

“There have been plenty of ‘finding God’ posters around for many years. Dropping hints, encouraging the ‘rumour of God’, making the case that Church is neither wildly esoteric nor embarrassingly trendy, is much closer to the mark,” he said.

The Right Rev Dr John Saxbee, the Bishop of Lincoln, said that the aggressive tactics tried in previous campaigns risked alienating people. “The Church needs to learn from experts in this field as well as being able to make its own contribution,” he said.