Real World Easter Marketing

March 21, 2008 by

Here are a couple churches going out of their way to create buzz for Easter. Not everyone should do these things, but we always encourage thinking outside of the box.

Easter fortune cookiesLifechurch.tv in Hendersonville, Tenn., gave out bags of fortune cookies that include a fortune and a link to their Easter site. Folks may not want to listen to you about your site, but they might check it out after they get a sweet fortune cookie.

Elephants for EasterChurch by the Glades (we’ve discussed them before) is going to have Judy, a 9,000 pound Indian elephant, at their services this Sunday to promote a message on denial. Sounds like a great idea, and it even comes with the obligatory response to PETA.

Super Sunday: Planning Easter for Your ChurchNeed More? 3 Easter Resources:

  1. Get more Easter ideas with our growing collection of articles, examples, and more.
  2. Check out our book, Super Sunday: Planning Easter for Your Church, for tips on how to plan, promote, and survive Easter.
  3. Go deeper for even more Easter resources and join our Courageous Storytellers Membership Site. You'll get access to downloadable resources including planners, guides, worksheets, graphics, and more.
Post By:

Joshua Cody


Josh Cody served as our associate editor for several years before moving on to bigger things. Like Texas. These days he lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, and you can find him online or on Twitter when he's not wrestling code.
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4 Responses to “Real World Easter Marketing”

  • MarketingTwins-Randy
    March 21, 2008

    I’m not getting the WARRIOR so much but the elephant/denial is funny. I would love to see more of the ads (print/web/other) that they did on this. It’s not at their site that I could find.


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  • Jesse PHillips
    March 24, 2008

    I about killed myself trying to get an elephant for the Catalyst Conference last year, but it couldn’t be done. How did ya’ll pull this off?


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  • fred
    March 24, 2008

    Jesse: It took some time, but we partnered with a local wildlife education organization that had some contacts. We used them in the past to get a lion cub for Christmas one year. If you would like their contact info, shoot me an email (fred@cbglades.com).
    Randy: The leadership team definitely discussed different ways of promoting this. They ended up deciding not to publicize the elephant to the church/community. Instead, they decided to build-up anticipation by saying things like, “This will be the biggest, most creative thing we have ever done.” It was effective in getting some buzz going. They wanted it to be a surprise more than anything else. We did send out a press release the beginning of last week though…
    The good news is that God blessed the efforts! Numerous people were saved (not sure of the final # yet) and we baptized over 70 people Sunday at sunrise on the beach (the benefits of doing ministry in South Florida). In the end, we had just over 7400 people at one of the 8 services. It was a great weekend!


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  • fred
    March 24, 2008

    I forgot to add that PETA never showed-up. If they did, we were somewhat prepared. First, we were going to serve them. Second, we were going to plant some of our own protesters…people in bunny outfits with signs that said things like “Church by the Glades likes Jesus more than the Easter Bunny.” If you can’t beat them, join them, right…


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