AJC: Churches improve marketing efforts

Faith & Values: Church's campaign isn't subtle, but it is personal | ajc.com: "Mara Einstein, associate professor of media studies at the City University of New York and author of the forthcoming book 'Brands of Faith: Marketing Religion in a Commercial Age,' says churches are being forced to devise new marketing techniques.

She pinpoints the problem: Churches can no longer rely on brand loyalty. There's no longer social stigma attached to skipping church, and people feel no obligation to attend the church of their parents, she says.

'Religion has become a product just like everything else,' she says. 'Churches have to become brands because brands are quick pieces of information that people don't have to think about but they can identify with.'"