Piety Hill Musings

The ramblings of the Rector of St. John's Episcopal Church of Detroit. Piety Hill refers to the old name for our neighborhood. The neighborhood has changed a great deal in the over 160 years we have been on this corner (but not our traditional biblical theology) and it is now known for the neighboring theatres, the professional baseball and football stadiums and new hockey/basketball arena.

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Location: Detroit, Michigan, United States

Monday, July 21, 2014

Closing the deal - Rector's Rambling for July 20, 2014

By now you may have heard our first two radio commercials on WJR  Radio, 760 AM.  These are the first two of twelve between now and mid-September to be played on Friday mornings during the Frank Beckmann Show.  An anonymous donor is paying for the campaign.
The idea of this campaign is to connect St. John’s with the happenings in downtown Detroit.  All the advertisements will include the invitation to “to join us this Sunday at 10:00 AM for beautiful worship in the traditional English Cathedral style”, adding “before the Tigers game” on the weeks that the Tigers are playing at home, and likewise for the Lions games.  Additionally, each advertisement will include the identification of St. John’s prime location, “at the corner of I-75 and Woodward Avenue, next to Comerica Park”, as well as where they can find out more about us.  “For more information go to StJohnsDetroit.org”.  The advertisement will then end with the hook, “St. John’s Detroit – worth the trip downtown every Sunday.”
Each week the message will be centered around the readings for Sunday, or an event happening at St. John’s, such as Founders’ Day and the visit by Bishop Biggers.
Advertising helps to grow what is know in secular terms as brand recognition.  We are identifying ourselves with location, traditional worship, and being worth the trip downtown.  But the key to all marketing in the secular sense is to “close the deal”.  Thousands of people will be hearing these ads, many of them your friends and neighbors.  And YOU have to be the sales staff who close the deal by talking up the merits of attending St. John’s, and then inviting them personally to join us here on a Sunday morning.
St. John’s in Detroit is too wonderful a thing for us to keep to ourselves.  Our Lord warns us about lighting a candle and putting it under a bushel!  Let us let the light of faith in Jesus Christ expressed through this parish shine to all those around you, and then close the deal with your personal invitation to others.

St. John's Radio Commercial - July 18, 2014

posted by StJohnsPriest | 2:56 PM