Cover Story
ADDITIONAL STORIES ON THE CREATION MUSEUMFellow Christians Aggrieved by the Business Practices of Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis The Marketing of Bedrock The Creation Museum at the Crossroads of Faith and Science The Trouble with Fred and Wilma: Why the Creation Museum is Bad for Christians Aljazeera Covers Grand Opening of Creation Museum Prepare to be Disappointed: Creation Museum Fails to Live up to Entertainment Value Hype  Mike Zovath, the Answers in Genesis Executive Responsible for Museum Operations
The Marketing of Bedrock |
 One of three different billboards that cover the major interstates within a 100 mile radius of the Creation Museum In a nation where superb marketing has created fortunes for the inventors of such unlikely products as ginzu steak knives, it's little wonder that American marketing techniques appear to be well on their way to creating a financial success for the "dinosaurs co-existed with man" fantasy embodied in the Creation Museum Slick, professional, and highly coordinated are the words that best describe the Answers in Genesis marketing efforts. From their award winning web site, to their magazine, to every aspect of the Creation Museums marketing, Answers in Genesis has not hesitated to secure top talent in graphics, advertising, and public relations. At Saturday's press conference, Answers in Genesis Vice President Mike Zovath, one of the three "founding fathers" who made the trek from California to Kentucky in 1993, enthusiastically praised the marketing efforts of Joseph David Advertising, the creative geniuses behind the Creation Museum marketing. The "dinosaurs co-existing with man" museum has generated an avalanche of free press worldwide. Answers in Genesis is following that awareness with slick and clever marketing. The first element of the plan involves three different billboards, all aimed at driving traffice from five feeder markets within a 100 mile radius of Petersburg, Kentucky: Lousville and Lexington in Kentucky, Dayton and Columbus in Ohio, and Indianapolois in Indiana. The feeder markets will supplement the local demand in the greater Cincinnati metropolitan area. In addition to billboards, Zovath announced the launch of a national television advertising program and played a graphically exquisite 30 second animated television advertisement for the Grand Opening crowd. Zovath glowed with pride as he announced the ad would run the following week on Oprah and Dr. Phil. The televison advertising program was but one piece in a highly integrated marketing program for the museum that also includes glossy full color inserts in the Sunday newspapers of Cincinnati and the five feeder markets. Add to that the constant cross promotion in Answers Magazine, the radio program, the e-mail newsletters, and the nationwide educational programs and you have a highly effective program that is relentlessly coordinated and "on message" that would be the envy of any for profit corporation. The crowning achievement, however, must be the flood of world wide free press that the Creation Museum has secured, thanks to the highly polished efforts of A. Larry Ross Communications, the Dallas based public relations firm that also handles Rick Warren, preacher and best selling author of The Purpose Driven Life. Even critics of the bogus science presented in the Creation Museum have to admit that when it comes to marketing, the folks at Answers in Genesis are no rubes. They may be marketing a modern day Bedrock, but they are doing it very effectively with state of the art marketing techniques. |