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ArkALMIGHTY: Religious-themed, Movie-promotional, John Goodman-starring, Good Deeds Social Network

The title sums it. “Evan Almighty” - the new comedic take on the Noah-and-his-Ark story - is spawing all manner of… “unique” marketing efforts in a bid by the movie studios to appeal to the American religious population - which, if you count people going to church once a month or more, is 66% of the country.

That statistic, and a very interesting read, come to you courtesey of the New York Times movies section (”Makers of Comedy Film Aim for Religious Audience“) which has a great discussion on the fallout from Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ” - namely that there’s a lot of cash to be made from religion.

Anyway, ArkALMIGHTY aims to be a broker of “acts of random kindness” - “Got a Need? Post It!” the site opines; “Can you fulfill a need? Get to it!” In fact, John Goodman himself ambles across the screen (powered by hdmedia.ca) the first time you land to share the message. The site appears to be targeted principally at teenagers - all of the stock-ish photography at least is centred firmly on attractive, young, predominantly-white & latino people. There’s plenty of “Evan Almighty” ads scattered across the site as well.

Visitors to the site are encouraged to join and either find their church community, or register their church - “launching their ark” - which once launched, creates a community bulletin board-like landing page:

ArkALMIGHTY begins with registering your church on our site. As with everything associated with ArkALMIGHTY, registration is FREE. When registration is complete, your church will have its own, personalized ArkALMIGHTY web page where members can post, browse and fulfill the needs of your congregation. Once your ArkALMIGHTY page is up and running, visitors will be able to read about the success stories within your own church and receive regular reminders of how they can do good on a daily basis. [From: How to Launch Your Ark]

ArkALMIGHTY also works hard to extend their reach off of the web and into your physical community, sending the first person to register a church a whopping crate of ArkALMIGHTY branded material in the mail…

Wait by the mailbox. Because you’re about to receive a FREE Ark Kit, valued at $125, with everything you need to launch ArkALMIGHTY in your church. Inside you’ll find t-shirts, hats, curriculum, an ArkALMIGHTY banner, outreach materials, instructions, and so much other good stuff you’ll think it’s Christmas! [From: How to Launch Your Ark]

In Summary…

The advertising & language across the site makes the whole affair a not-very-subtle ploy to increase top-of-mind awareness of the “Bruce/Evan Almighty” movie franchise. Whether promoting good deeds or not, I personally consider spirituality off-limits as a branding venue. ArkALMIGHTY has a weird effect in that sense: I feel compelled to reject it on the basis of its exploitative nature, yet find it difficult to do so given that there is “good” functionality coming out of. I compare it to the whole furor over selling naming rights to stadiums - is it better to have a branded statium, or no stadium at all?

Fundamentally, however, the web is different. If there is a need or want for a site like this, the barriers to entry are essentially none. Anyone, anywhere could run a site like this on a standalone basis. I know a church appeal in my neighborhood would find pleny of volunteer coders, designers, and webhosts capable of putting it all together for free, and creating a site focused on good deeds, as opposed to “these good deeds bought to you by…”

For those interested, there are authentic faith-based networking opportunities out there - see HolyPal, 5loaves, and Xianz (which has ArkALMIGHTY adverts on it) for examples.

As a social networking phenomenon, I have no idea how well the site will do, or whether its success will outlast the movie. When “Evan Almighty” is off the new release list, will ArkALMIGHTY persist as a standalone ad-driven social network? Or will it be shut down?

Whatever the case, it has been successful in driving discussion about the site and the movie, if nothing else. See: GetReligion, Bob’s Blog n’ Blather, MovieMarketingMadness, ChangeYourWorld, Paleoevangelical, Camy’s Loft, Lake Neuron, and The Blog that Ties for examples.

DISCLAIMER - I personally am not religious; Agnostic at best, I frequently consider questions of sprituality but have yet to stumble upon the definitive answers to the questions about god and the meaning of life. If I do, I’ll post here.

5loaves, arkalmighty, branding, catholic, christianity, evanalmighty, faith, holypal, jesus, marketing movies

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