ELCA NEWS SERVICE

ELCA Television Spots are Broadcast on the Travel Channel
08-166-FI

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) is adding television to a pilot advertising campaign with the tag line, "God's work. Our hands." The Travel Channel is broadcasting two 30-second spots a total of about 60 times from Sept. 29 through Oct. 12 on cable and satellite television.

The limited run of television spots is meant to "give ELCA members an idea of what it would be like to see this church's ministry stories being told in a very public way," said Kristi S. Bangert, executive director, ELCA Communication Services. A grant from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Minneapolis, helped make possible this "taste of what a complete, nationwide advertising initiative would look like for the ELCA," she said.

One television spot -- "Hope" -- shows a woman quizzing her daughter as they walk along a road near Yeumbeul, Senegal. It highlights Senegal Lutheran Mission, which teaches women how to start their own businesses.

The other spot -- "Dignity" -- opens with workers setting tables in a fancy restaurant. The "restaurant" is actually Trinity Lutheran Church, Bismarck, N.D., and volunteers are preparing a banquet for homeless neighbors.

The television spots are showcased in an "Our Brand" section of the ELCA Web site: http://www.ELCA.org/GodsworkOurhands

"We hope that through television, billboards and print media, members of the ELCA will be equipped to own and tell this church's story, the story of what God is doing in us and through us for the sake of the world," Bangert said.

The ELCA Rocky Mountain Synod and 61 ELCA congregations in the Denver and Boulder, Colo., area were involved in a pilot advertising campaign of billboards, newspaper ads, bus signs, banners, bookmarks, church bulletins, postcards, posters and the http://www.ELCA.org/love Web site in September 2007.

The "Our Brand" Web pages include three print ads from the Denver campaign. The print ads tell the stories of the Senegal Lutheran Mission, the Bismarck banquet and a Denver program at Our Savior's Lutheran Church that helps low-income students train to become nurses.

The Travel Channel is part of Travel Channel Media owned by Cox Communications. The channel is available to cable television subscribers in more than 90 million homes across the United States.
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A video report, "ELCA Ad Campaign Pilots in Denver," is at http://archive.ELCA.org/news/video.html on the Web. The home page of Our Savior's Lutheran Church, Denver, is at http://www.oslcdenver.org/ on the Web.

For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog

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