Faith-based marketing

Marketing strategy based on appeal to religious customers

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Faith-based marketing is the integration of religious faith into marketing and business.[1] Such agencies specialize in marketing faith-based products and creating partnerships that target specific groups, such as the family-based audience. In the United States this type of marketing can help reach Christians, who enjoy an estimated purchasing power of over $5.1 trillion a year.[2][3] Marketing research conducted by Nokia has shown that one of the most-desired features that adherent Muslims look for in cell phones is a Qibla finder that will orient them towards Mecca during prayer.[4] As the desire for religion-on-demand grows, more modern, technologically-advanced products are being designed to help believers maintain traditional religious practices.[5] Faith-based design allows companies to reach strong existing markets in new ways.

## Market segments

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### Christian

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The Timothy Plan offers mutual funds and exchange traded funds aimed at American evangelical Christians. Global X ETFs has two ETFs catered to Catholic investors.

See also: Inspirational fiction

Many Christian book and music titles have become successes in the mainstream world.[6] The best-selling Purpose Driven Life by Christian pastor Rick Warren became the bestselling hardback non-fiction book in history, and is the second most-translated book in the world, after the Bible.[7] In 2004, the Mel Gibson-directed The Passion of the Christ opened to $83.8M domestically and went on to gross $611M worldwide.[8] In 2014, the Christian films Son of God, Noah, Heaven Is for Real and God's Not Dead, enjoyed box-office success.[9][10] Faith-based marketing is also seen in the tourism industry. The UN World Tourism Organization estimates that 300 million to 330 million people a year participate in faith-based travel.[citation needed] The U.S. Travel Association reports that 25% of all travelers are interested in a spiritual vacation.[11]

Many companies incorporate faith-based ideas in their operations, mission statements, or even their packaging, subtly or overtly.[12]

### Islamic

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See Islamic banking and finance, or the Dow Jones Islamic Fund for investing alighted with Islamic principles.

### Judaism

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With the rise of controversial anti-semitism in 2022 into 2023, [13] billboards to market and advertise Jewish teaching have been placed on display. In Los Angeles, California, between the intersections of Pico and Hauser Blvd until Venice and Lincoln Crossing, billboards featuring Jewish texts and teachings were placed to be visible by many drivers. The billboards were sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and in partnership with Outfront Media. The billboards signs were placed in December of 2022 in line with Hanukkah. [14]

## Costs of faith-based marketing

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Efforts to market or run a business based on religious faith can face unique challenges.

In 2012, Chick-fil-A, who has "made a name [for itself] promoting Christian principles in its charity work", drew controversy after its CEO Dan Cathy suggested that he opposed same-sex marriage, which led to protests.[15] Those protests did not appear to damage the company's sales.[16] Hobby Lobby, another Christian business,[17] filed a lawsuit, now styled Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby, arguing that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's mandate for coverage of emergency contraception violated their First Amendment, religious rights.[18] Oral arguments were heard by the Supreme Court of the United States in March 2014.

## References

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1. ^ Hutchins, Bob; Stielstra, Greg (2009-04-06). Faith-Based Marketing: The Guide to Reaching 140 Million Christian Customers. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 9780470483060. Retrieved 2014-05-31.
2. ^ Liza Porteus Viana. "Faith-Based Marketing Can Tap Into Powerful Consumer Base | Fox Small Business Center". smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
3. ^ The 2007 Leisure Market Research Handbook. (2007). Faith Based Activities, p. 180-183.
4. ^ Corbett, Sara (13 April 2008). "Can the Cellphone Help End Global Poverty?". New York Times Magazine.
5. ^ Gorman, Carma R. (2009). "Religion on Demand: Faith-based Design". Design and Culture. 1 (1).
6. ^ "The Great Christian Cash-In". TaipeiTimes. Retrieved 2014-04-07.
7. ^ "Short Takes: Gauging the impact of 'Purpose Driven Life,' 10 years on – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs". religion.blogs.cnn.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
8. ^ "'Noah', 'Son of God' Part of Recent Hollywood Faith-Based Film Trend -- But Will It Last?". deadline.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
9. ^ "Why Christians Now Rule Hollywood - The Daily Beast". thedailybeast.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
10. ^ "Year of the faith films: Movies that tell stories of religion doing well at the box office - Washington Times". washingtontimes.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
11. ^ "Travel Market Report :: Login". travelmarketreport.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
12. ^ "9 religious companies (besides Chick-fil-A)". CNN. Archived from the original on 2014-02-05. Retrieved 2014-04-07.
13. ^ Boorstein, Michelle (January 12, 2023). "New survey finds antisemitic views are widespread in America". Washington Post. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
14. ^ Molina, Alejandra (January 6, 2023). "Jewish teachings greet Los Angeles drivers in billboard campaign". Religion News Service. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
15. ^ "Chick-fil-A: Will the controversy hurt chain's expansion plans? - CSMonitor.com". csmonitor.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
16. ^ Stafford, Leon (January 29, 2013). "Chick-fil-A keeps growing despite uproar". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 2014-05-31.
17. ^ Hutchins, p. 207
18. ^ "Here's what you need to know about the Hobby Lobby case". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.

## Further reading

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* Einstein, Mara (2007), Brands of Faith: Marketing Religion in a Commercial Age, London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 0415409772
* Van Wyk, K; Ratliffe, C (2007). "Developing and Marketing a Faith-Based Practice: Mission and Business". Journal of Psychology and Christianity. 26 (3): 246–250.