The Reformed Church in Hungary has launched a new visual marketing campaign for the church that is reminiscent of its 2012 Christmas campaign – A fiú (the boy). The main image shows one table surrounded by four different groups of people with a slogan that reads, "We all sit at one table." It is a creative interpretation of Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper." However, it is also a social montage of real people with real stories. According to Ádám Pásztory, head of the RCH's Communication Department, "The Last Supper" has become a very secularized image with a secularized interpretation and this campaign is bringing the visual back to the church and the Protestant point of view. The image will be communicated through two mediums: billboards and the Internet.
Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
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Much like the A fiú (The Boy) campaign, there is a website to accompany the static advertisements and further explain the message's meaning. The webpage allows users to select different sections of the photo and watch a video that explores the people's stories. There are four groups from four of the RCH's ministries: drug and alcohol rehabilitation, handicapped mission, family mission and mission to the elderly. Pásztory added that it is really a simple approach. "It's a piece of art, and if you see all the ads around the world, art has a very strong communication skill." The goal was to show the church in society, because church is not just religion but a social network between a lot people.
The campaign was released to communicate the church's continued message of youthfulness and presence in society before the annual drive for 1% tax pledges. Each year, taxpayers have the ability to direct 1 percent of their income taxes to a church of their choice, and an additional 1 percent can be given to another recognized NGO. The church greatly relies on the taxpayer's 1% donations. Its core budget includes the operation of all church levels and ministries, excluding congregations, pension fund and the operation of church institutions. The budget is as high as 40,000,000 EUR. Out of this, the income for free use comes from 1% pledges and represents 4,000,000 EUR.
Aside from informative videos, the new campaign website also has detailed, interactive infographics showing how the 1% money is distributed throughout the church as well as the number of people the money supports. The graphic is divided into five main parts: Healthcare (Egészségügy) in red with 131,590 patients, 59 doctors, 97 nurses and 174 other; Educational Institutes (Oktatási intézmények) in orange with 50,202 students, 5,677 higher education students and 116,970 students in religious education; the Reformed Church (Református egyház) in yellow with 600,000 church members, 16,000 elders, 1,390 pastors and 10,000 people in the workplace; Ministries to Society (Társadalmi szolgálat) in blue that expands showing the people reached through the church's different ministries, such as Roma, hospital chaplaincy, and refugee; and finally, Social Work (Szociális munka) in green also expands to represent the people supported through different church institutes, including elderly homes, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, disabled homes, psychiatric facilities and family/child care.
Handicapped Mission
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After A fiú, the church's website saw a drastic increase in traffic with 100,000 new site visitors from Hungary. If only a portion of these visitors decided to donate their 1% to the church, that would mean millions more Forints for the church's ministry and mission. The communication team designed the ad to have a subtle call for taxpayer pledges with a simple tax number in the right hand corner of the image, instead of a blatant campaign for support. The rationale behind the message is that the visual similarities of the ad and website to A fiú will create positive brand recall from those who saw the Christmas film, and they in turn will receive the new campaign in the same favorable light.
Amy Lester