The campaign objectives were two-fold-to heighten God-consciousness among non-Christians and to create an environment where believers would find it comfortable and non-threatening to talk about God. The role of advertising was to create a positive buzz about God and provide opportunities to talk about God without being intimidated. The communication came in the form of short, pithy messages spoken by God. The messages were personal, humorous, contemporary and unexpected and made it easy for youths to face the reality and presence of a powerful God who is also approachable and contactable. For Christians these messages also act as conversational starters to share the gospel. We used Postcards because they were an ideal vehicle which allowed us to connect with youths in appropriate environments where they hang out with specific messages for relevant occasions. The Media Idea was ‘social forums’ – placing media where people congregated to create buzz. The strategy was to give the impression that the campaign was going underground. The idea of putting God's messages on Postcards was a winning solution, it allowed us to control distribution at selected retail and F&B outlets, cinemas, bookstores, health clubs, etc.. To increase demand of the cards we rationed the supply of cards. People often want what they - or others - can't haveThe postcards soon became a coveted item especially among the teens - 'get it before they're banned'. Most postcards were picked up within two weeks and stands were constantly out of stock, the 30 messages soon became a collector’s item. People who called or emailed the media vendor were referred to the church pastors who then followed up with the 'prospects to close the sale'.. The postcard also carried the address of a website that was specially created for the campaign. There was flexibility as to when and where we want to place the messages and production cost was minimisedIntegration of medium and message was required which meant that the UM media team had to work closely with the creative agency, Ogilvy & Mather in the development of the campaign eg. in December, two postcards distributed read 'All I want for Christmas is your presence. God' and 'Please don't drink and drive, you're not quite ready to meetme yet. God'. During the June school holidays when the teens are out, one postcardread 'I hate rules. That's why I only made ten of them. God'. Current messages that aretopical can be produced quickly, cheaply and distributed fast.The 'God Speak' campaign received widespread publicity in the media precisely because it was banned. Articles appeared in:-- Adage Global February 2001- Advoice Singapore, February 2001- Media Magazine, March 30 & April 13- Ad Asia, May 2001- Far Eastern Economic Review, May 10We are looking forward to the sequel to this campaign - God Speak Again, God II orSon of God!!! Evangelism is a sensitive issue in Singapore given the multi-racial society and the variety of religions practised. Government authorities concerned with political sensitivities impose strict censorship on matters pertaining to religion in the media. The media team at Universal McCann took a leap of faith when approached by Christian pastors representing 150 churches in the Love Singapore Movement toDevelop a nationwide advertising campaign to increase God-consciousness among Non-Christians. A mass media campaign was developed to run in Television and Newspaper. The campaign approved by the self-regulating media owners was suspended a few days after the launch because of pressure from the government authorities. The use of mass media to deliver the campaign was then out of the question.The problems faced by the media team were three-fold:-1. how to stay out of the government’s radar for fear of total censorship2. how to create ‘buzz’ about religion in a ‘regulated’ society3. how to justify spending in media and production knowing we risk a ban on the advertising.Faced with the obstacles the media team decided to capitalize on the publicity generated by the ban and turned it into a positive solution knowing that the youths we were targetting would latch on to anything that was ‘forbidden’. This submission is special because of the challenges – we beat the authorities and managed to ‘spread the word’. And given the risks involved we were able to reach the youths on a relatively large scale using media that allow maximum booking flexibility and at the same time incurring low production cost.The idea of putting God’s messages on Postcards was a winning solution. The strategy devised by the media team made the campaign a discussion topic (generated by the ban), created desire (communication was eagerly anticipated) and made the medium a collector’s item (out of stock situation) and most importantly increased awareness of the church and their activities.

Evangelism is a sensitive issue in Singapore given the multi-racial society and the variety of religions practised. Government authorities concerned with political sensitivities impose strict censorship on matters pertaining to religion in the media. The media team at Universal McCann took a leap of faith when approached by Christian pastors representing 150 churches in the Love Singapore Movement toDevelop a nationwide advertising campaign to increase God-consciousness among Non-Christians. A mass media campaign was developed to run in Television and Newspaper. The campaign approved by the self-regulating media owners was suspended a few days after the launch because of pressure from the government authorities. The use of mass media to deliver the campaign was then out of the question.The problems faced by the media team were three-fold:-1. how to stay out of the government’s radar for fear of total censorship2. how to create ‘buzz’ about religion in a ‘regulated’ society3. how to justify spending in media and production knowing we risk a ban on the advertising.Faced with the obstacles the media team decided to capitalize on the publicity generated by the ban and turned it into a positive solution knowing that the youths we were targetting would latch on to anything that was ‘forbidden’.