Ford: Advertisers Embrace the Power That Gospel Music Has to Offer [View All]

Advertisers Embrace the Power That Gospel Music Has to Offer

Affluent Black Christians Emerge as Market Group

By Krissah Williams
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 27, 2005; Page A01

Monica Miller, general sales manager of Radio One Inc.'s gospel station in Atlanta, remembers how hard it used to be to sell advertising for 97.5 Praise FM.
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But these days, says Miller, corporate America has set its sights on the black Christian market.
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Ford Motor Co. hopes to reach families, a big target market, through black churches and gospel music. Last summer, Ford representatives traveled with officials of the Gospel Music Channel to seven cities in the South and Midwest. The media executives pitched their channel, which began airing last year, to pastors and their staffs over prayer luncheons. Ford followed with a video touting its history of supporting black civil rights, said Marc Perry, a Ford multicultural marketing manager.
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Perry said Ford does not market to other Christian groups. Its use of gospel media is intended to help the company better reach black consumers, not a particular religion.
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Ford also co-sponsored MegaFest this summer, a conference hosted by Bishop T.D. Jakes, pastor of a Dallas mega-church with about 30,000 members. Ford displayed vehicles during the event, which drew 200,000 attendees. Corporate sponsors, which also included Bank of America Corp., American Airlines Corp. and Coca-Cola Inc., contributed tens of millions of dollars in return for the right to hold seminars and display products.
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