Ibelieve.com Starts Nationwide $10 Million Advertising Push

Christian portal iBelieve.com on Monday launched a $10 million nationwide advertising campaign, with buys on both Christian-oriented and mass media.

With the tagline “Insert God Here”, the print, television, radio, and online ads are aimed at driving traffic to the Christian Web site, which features content, community, and shopping.

“We used ‘Insert God Here’ as a way to illustrate that God should be a part of all aspects of our life, from times of joy to times of trouble,” says John Nardini, chief customer officer at iBelieve.com.

“We have taken vignettes from life’s good moments and its trying times to illustrate how God fits into our everyday lives — and how iBelieve.com is a wonderful resource to facilitate that process.”

The print ads, created by Hanon-McKendry, features scenes from everyday life where Christians believe God should play a role.

One ad shows a teen-age boy and girl sitting together on a couch; a box between the couple reads, “Insert God Here.” That same tag line is used in the second ad, which features a television with a box cut out of its screen and the mandate, “Insert God Here.”

Both of the four-color, full-page print ads will appear over the next 12 months in a wide range of publications, including Christianity Today and New Man Magazine.

The television spots, which will air on Odyssey, PaxTV, WGN, Fox Family cable network, and other cable channels, will show scenarios that send the message that God should be part of everything Christians do.

“These vignettes run from the tragic to the sublime — from the aftermath of a house fire to a couple moving into a new apartment — to make the point that God should be inserted in everything that happens in a Christian’s life,” says Bill Danhof, director of client services and a partner at Hanon-McKendry.

The campaign will also feature 60-second radio spots, to air on the USA and Salem radio networks.

Internet ads will start running January 28, on seven Christian-oriented Web sites as well on Yahoo and About.com. Online viewers will see a mix of banner ads, sponsored newsletters and iBelieve.com content windows on these sites. Keyword buys on Yahoo will also be included in the online mix, with the purchase of “Christianity” and “Christian books.”

The heaviest round of ad buys will come around iBelieve.com’s official launch on Wednesday, January 26, and the ads will continue throughout the first half of the year.

The company plans several “strong hits” during key parts of the year, such as Easter and Christmas. Affiliated Media Group is doing the traditional media buying, with online buys managed by Beyond Interactive.