August 16, 2005

NEW YORK – The Episcopal Church's new back-to-school TV advertisement produced in Spanish to reach Generation X viewers unaffiliated with any church is set to debut August 26 on Galavision, a cable network widely watched among Latinos.

The ads will air August 26-29 and September 9-12 nationwide as part of the advertising initiative launched by General Convention in 2003.

"With the growing number of native Spanish speakers in the United States as well as in the Episcopal Church, we felt that there was a strong need to produce ‘Monitors' in both English and Spanish to maximize the potential reach of the spot," said Mike Collins, director of broadcast and multimedia communication at the Episcopal Church Center in New York. "We've also made an effort to ensure that the spot receives strong play on Galavision, a Spanish language network that fits in very well with what we are trying to accomplish overall with the national advertising plan."

"This ad helps the Episcopal Church deepen its communication and outreach in Spanish among one of the largest demographic constituencies in the United States and the Americas," said the national church's director of communication, Canon Robert Williams.

"Spanish-language communication is a priority in the Office of Communication," Williams said. "Our staff includes fully bilingual professionals who work daily to introduce new and expanded resources that are creative and effective in Latin American contexts."

Williams said he looks forward to the formalization of Spanish-language websites and a communication advisory panel later this year.

"We are working to develop media resources that are culturally competent," Williams said. "The new TV ads give us a helpful beginning in this regard, yet there remains much future work to be done collaboratively to implement the best possible new ad concepts suggested by Spanish-speaking Episcopalians."

Episcopal News Service