United Methodist ‘Open hearts’ tagline wins award

United Methodist Communications
Office of Public Information
810 12th Avenue S.
Nashville, TN 37203
www.umcpresscenter.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 20, 2009

United Methodist 'Open Hearts' Tagline Wins Award
Best-in-Class Taglines Selected by 4,800+ Nonprofit Professionals

Maplewood, NJ.:The United Methodist Church's advertising and welcoming tagline-Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors. The people of The United Methodist Church-has been selected as a best-in-class tagline in the 2009 Getting Attention Nonprofit Tagline Awards. The 13 winners were chosen by more than 4,800 voters (nonprofit professionals and interested others) from 60 finalists drawn from 1,702 nonprofit taglines submitted to the competition.

The tagline was selected as the winner in the category "Religion and Spiritual Development." The United Methodist Church was lauded for delivering "a tagline trinity that supports its applied faith mission and is warm, enthusiastic and embracing."

"Our tagline embodies who we are as United Methodists," said the Rev. Larry Hollon, chief executive of United Methodist Communications, the communications agency responsible for overseeing the advertising ministry for the 11.5 million-member denomination. "The characteristics it celebrates are perceived positively by the people we are trying to reach."

Research conducted in 2008 by the Barna Group indicates that a majority of people who were exposed to United Methodist advertising recall the tagline. That includes 26 percent who were extremely certain that they recalled the phrase, 13 percent who were fairly certain, and 12 percent who thought they had heard the phrase, but were not certain of it.

In use since 2001, the tagline has gained new visibility through Rethink Church, the next evolution of the denomination's "Open hearts" advertising and welcoming campaign. Targeting a globally minded 18- to 34-year-old audience, Rethink Church advertisements appear in traditional and new media, and direct viewers to the Web site www.10thousanddoors.org, where visitors may interact, learn more about the church, and search for involvement opportunities.

"The organizations behind the winning taglines range from the regional (Los Angeles-focused workforce development powerhouse, Homeboy Industries) to the national (UNCF) and global (Nothing But Nets), and all did an admirable job in putting a few select words to work to build their brands," said Nancy Schwartz, blogger at GettingAttention.org and president of Nancy Schwartz & Company.

Media Contact: Diane Degnan
(615) 742-5406 (office)
(615) 483-1765 (cell)
[email protected]