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Public Relations makes a lot of claims
But can it really produce miracles?
'Maybe,' says Tom Madden, Founder of TransMedia Group
BOCA RATON, FL.--About a month before last Christmas when all through South Florida, not a creature was stirring, except at the malls, a Christian group came to us and made us an offer we could hardly refuse.
Could we get them some publicity that would help them to sell "Keep Christ In Christmas" car magnets? Could we help them pro bono for just a month to promote Christ in Christmas?
At the time, things were going rather well. Our firm was pulling in loads of business from around the world. We had recently opened a small office outside of London. We were doing a big pre-Olympics project in LA and one of Florida's largest home builders had just retained us. So why not? We promote so many different clients, from Israeli hospitals to Miami SpaCapsules, so why not Jesus Christ?
So we wrote up a news release. The headline read: "A Christian Grassroots Volunteer Organization Has Retained TransMedia Group for a One-Month Publicity Campaign to Help 'Keep Christ In Christmas.'" We put it out on jolly ole PR Newswire. And in it, I was quoted as saying, "I suppose you could definitely call it a 'pro bono' project. They knocked on our door and it just opened to them."
The original committee to Keep Christ In Christmas comprised 15 parishioners from local parishes concerned about the growing attempt to remove the name and images of Christ from all Christmas celebrations, according to Kay Mansolill, Chairman of the Pilot Program to Keep Christ In Christmas, who retained us.
Little did I know what profound success this little program would have.
The group was selling car magnets not so much as a fund raiser, said Pastor Dennis Glick, St. Paul Lutheran Church here, but rather to get the message out to our community what the entire celebration of Christmas is really all about. We promised in the release that TransMedia Group would get the word out about the car magnets and how they can be purchased in bulk by churches, schools, individual ministries and organizations.
And did we ever understate the amazing results we would have.
Near the end of January, I received a letter from our erstwhile client, Kay.
"On that joyous evening of the blessing of the nativity," she wrote, "none of us could have imagined the tremendous impact TransMedia Group would have on the Christmas car magnet campaign to Keep Christ In Christmas." Here's what happened:
The Sun-Sentinel article resulting from our news releases sent ripples across the entire South Florida community helping to sell over 50,000 magnets in our area alone.
The children from Pope John Paul School II, who helped sell magnets, "learned the value of focusing on Jesus and his amazing birth story," she wrote.
The Knights of Columbus, after reading this article, were inspired to place billboards of the birth of Christ in two communities, Wellington and West Palm Beach, with promises of more next yearl.
And then came a bombshell that nearly spun my chair around, which I can only describe as maybe a PR miracle!
Our publicity had inspired one Christian man to purchase anonymously 1 million Christmas car magnets for next year...paid in full!. We don't know how much the charity netted, but the last we heard the car magnets were going for $2 apiece.
Kay closed her letter citing what a pleasure it was working with our publicist Kelli-Ann Bloechinger and how the project "sure showed how vital and important a PR firm like TransMedia Group is to our Community!"
Today most Supreme Court observers are noticing that free speech is still free speech even when you talk about God. And Christians may certainly have a First Amendment right to celebrate the birth of Christ in the public square. Keeping Christ in Christmas is at the heart of Christian beliefs, I said in one of our releases. Along with the holy day of Easter, the birth of our Lord is the holiest of Christian holidays, I said.
"We're happy to give our Lord some good PR."
A Christian Grassroots Volunteer Organization Has Retained TransMedia Group for a One-Month Publicity Campaign to Help 'Keep Christ In Christmas'
TransMedia Group said it will
help a volunteer organization called "Keep Christ In Christmas" to do just
that by publicizing Nativity scenes in public squares and magnetic bumper
stickers depicting the birth of Jesus.
"I suppose you could definitely call it a 'pro bono' project," said
TransMedia Group's Founder and Chairman Tom Madden. "They knocked on our
door and it just opened to them."
The original committee to Keep Christ In Christmas comprised 15
parishioners from local parishes concerned about the growing attempt to
remove the name and images of Christ from all Christmas celebrations, said
Kay Mansolill, Chairman of the Pilot Program to Keep Christ In Christmas.
Today the group has multiplied and is selling car magnets not so much
as a fund raiser, said Pastor Dennis Glick, St. Paul Lutheran Church here,
but rather to get the message out to our community what the entire
celebration of Christmas is really all about.
TransMedia Group will get the word out about the Keep Christ In
Christmas car magnets and how they can be purchased in bulk by churches,
schools, individual ministries and organizations from Ron Hollander at
linandron@comcast.net.
As for protecting the First Amendment rights of Christians to celebrate
the birth of Christ in the public square, such as the Nativity scene here
in Sanborn Park, "we believe there is ample legal justification," said one
of the group's originators, Susan Cutaia. She cited opinions by Attorney
Jay Alan Sekulow, Chief Counsel, American Center for Law and Justice
(ACLJ), The Thomas More Law Center, the Rutherford Institute's "Rules of
Christmas" and "It's the Law: Nativity Scenes are Legally Protected."
Keeping Christ in Christmas is at the heart of Christian beliefs,
Madden said. "Along with the holy day of Easter, the birth of our Lord is
the holiest of Christian holidays," he said.
"We're happy to give our Lord some good PR."
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