ELCA Features New Davey and Goliath Television Ads

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has made available two new "Davey and Goliath" 30-second television ads for cable and satellite outlets, congregations and synods of the church. The spots can be seen on the Internet at www.daveyandgoliath.org -- the official Davey and Goliath Web site maintained by the ELCA.
Aired on commercial television in the 1960s through the early 1980s, Davey and Goliath is a stop-motion animated series starring Davey Hansen, his dog Goliath, and other family and friends. The program was geared toward children and is well known to many of today's so-called "baby boomers." Each story contained a Christian-oriented moral or theme. Programs were produced through a partnership involving the Lutheran church and Art and Ruth Clokey. Sixty-five 15-minute episodes and six half-hour specials were created. Art and Joe Clokey, Premavision Inc., Los Osos, Calif., created the new television ads for the ELCA.
The spots "relate Davey and Goliath to the Lutheran church, a connection most people had not made during the early days of the show," said Kristi S. Bangert, director for internal church communication and marketing, ELCA Department for Communication.
"The primary purpose of the spots is that they be used by the cable and satellite outlets where the old Davey and Goliath episodes are being shown. Our current agreements with these outlets is that permission to run the episodes for another year is contingent upon them showing one or both of the new 30-second television spots each time an episode is aired," said Bangert.
"A secondary purpose for the spots is to raise awareness of the planned Davey and Goliath comeback," Bangert said.
The ELCA plans to produce 13 new episodes of Davey and Goliath, plus a special holiday episode. The program may be revived following a licensing agreement signed by the ELCA and Heat Licensing Co., Sequim, Wash. The agreement allows for the creation of Davey and Goliath merchandise to raise funds for the development of new programs. Heat Licensing also plans to work with another organization to market existing Davey and Goliath episodes.
The new television spots have high production value, the colors are more vibrant than the original episodes, and the subject matter -- introducing Web sites -- is very current, Bangert said.
"One spot promotes the Davey and Goliath Web site, which is full of new and ever-changing information for those wanting to follow the comeback trail or to order merchandise. The other spot has an evangelism focus. The viewer is driven to the ELCA's Sharing Faith Web site -- www.sharingfaith.org -- where one can use the look-up system there to find a Lutheran church nearby," Bangert added.
"Congregations and synods of the ELCA can also use the ads for evangelism and outreach advertising," said the Rev. Eric C. Shafer, director, ELCA Department for Communication.
"Our goal is to bring the important moral and spiritual messages of Davey and Goliath to 21st century children and their parents," said Shafer.
The television spots were featured on the Atlanta Jazz Festival's "Jumbotron" May 25-27 and are scheduled to be shown on the "giant screen" at Philadelphia's Sunoco July 4 Celebration.
The ELCA has 5.13 million members in 10,816 congregations organized into 65 synods across the United States and Caribbean.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html