The Campaign

St Matthew-in-the-City is a progressive Anglican Church. St Matthew does not pass judgement and it does not push religion. Instead, St Matthew chooses to offer acceptance, encourage broad-based spirituality, advocate discussion, and promote debate. The annual Christmas billboard is eagerly anticipated and previous messages have attracted worldwide attention. St Matthew uses the billboard to reinforce their public image as a body which is not afraid to discuss the more ‘controversial’ topics at the core of Christianity. In 2011, St Matthew’s wish was simple: create conversation by reminding people (in a secular age) where the glorious day we know as Christmas truly began. This was both the challenge and ultimately the solution, as we did exactly that by focussing on the ‘immaculate conception’. Our promotion relied entirely on creating a single, universal, and iconic image that had the power to transcend all languages and cultures. We kept it free of copy, open to interpretation, so that it could act as a catalyst for opinion and debate. The image was created to be shared, and in the true spirit of Christmas, people obliged. Within 30 minutes we were on local television news, and within 48 hours our message had spread far and wide, to the Huffington Post, the NY Daily News, and the UK’s Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail. We were also a five-minute discussion point on all-American prime-time ABC TV. Within three days, 21.5 million visitors had passed through St Matthew's Facebook page. Their Facebook fans doubled.

The Brief

The goal of the promotion was to create as much conversation, discussion and debate as possible throughout the world by reminding people about the true origin of Christmas. Our audience was universal. It was anyone who might have a basic knowledge of Christianity. If we could get a family on the other side of the world to talk about the billboard over dinner then we would have classed our promotion a success.

Results

In the true spirit of Christmas, people shared the image with TV networks, online news portals, bloggers, commentators, and newspaper reports spreading the story of Mary and her 'testing time' far and wide. Within 24 hours Mary's positive message was a talking point in the UK (Daily Mail/Daily Telegraph), in North America (NY Daily News), middle-America (ABC television ran a three minute report) and all points across the globe including non-Christian countries. Within three days, 21.5 million visitors had passed through St Matthew's Facebook page. Their Facebook fans doubled. The billboard proved that in the modern age, with religions being the world’s oldest brands, a 2000 year old story can still be relevant, and that word of mouth remains the most powerful means of transmission. Zero dollars spent. 21.5 million views earned.

Execution

The success of the campaign relied on the church disseminating a single, consistent, and prepared, response across all earned media. This was planned for in advance of the actual billboard being revealed. Once installed, it took 12 hours for National Media to pick up the story. In three days, a google search revealed the image to be on news sites the world over. During this time, Reverend Glynn Cardy was a busy man. He fronted radio and TV interviews, responded to thousands of emails and replied to just as many comments on Facebook and international forums. His message, however, remained the same throughout. This professional approach, to what would prove to be a very controversial subject, ensured the Church stayed true to it’s own unique brand of spirituality. Some people loved the billboard and some people hated it, either way, no one could say they weren’t engaged.

The Situation

Christmas is one of the few days throughout the year that a Christian church can claim as their own. However, as the world moves forever forward and becomes increasingly secular, the true meaning of Christmas is becoming lost. No one knows this story better than a Christian Church, the problem –ironically enough-is encouraging people to engage with a Church during Christmas. St Matthew had an advantage, a small billboard on its grounds that faced a busy intersection. This gave them the opportunity to create a dent in the holiday season, and to reconnect people with the true story of Christmas.

The Strategy

St Matthew prepared themselves for a large response. From previous experience, they’d learnt that managing a viral PR tsunami is a full time job. A PR release was conceived in advance and sent out to major news distributors in New Zealand. Members of the Church’s congregation were primed by being exposed to the billboard prior to its release, ensuring a consistent message would be disseminated to the public and the media. Reverend Glynn Cardy cleared his diary in preparation for the emails that arrived from all over the world (in their thousands), to ensure he could reply to as many as possible. This personalised two-way communication ensured the Church stayed true to it’s original goal of creating conversation around the true meaning of Christmas. Facebook also played a huge role in connecting the Church with public opinion and providing a platform for transparent and immediate response.