Archives: Case Studies

Our news outlets, Currents News and The Tablet, broke the story of a scammer posing as priests and trying to get parishioners’ money.

Our Press Secretary and Deputy Press Secretary immediately were on the case, calling the parish priests and trying to get access to the victim parishioners who had been taken advantage of by scammers. It was difficult getting access to the victims–until the Deputy Press Secretary was also targeted by the thief! And to top it off, the scammer impersonated the Bishop himself.

From there, we were able to blow the story wide open. We engaged the media, securing coverage across secular news outlets:

CBS2: Brooklyn Church Parishioners Targeted By Texting Scam Posing As Local Pastors, Bishops

NBC 4 New York: Scammers Take Advantage of Church Goers

NY1 Noticias: (Spanish) Fieles Catolicos son Estafadoes con Mensajes de Texto

Telemundo:(Spanish) – Estafa a feligreses

PIX 11 News: Warning issued after gift card texting scam nets thousands from Brooklyn, Queens churchgoers

News 12 Brooklyn: Police: Scammers pose as pastors, send texts to ask for donations

Qns.com: Diocese of Brooklyn warns several Queens parishes have been targeted by telephone scammers

Daily News: Unholy crooks target Brooklyn and Queens churchgoers in fishing scam by pretending to be bishop

DeSales Media is able to generate coverage of meaningful Catholic stories on behalf of the Diocese of Brooklyn and its parishes. We do this through in-house coverage by our own news brands, and through our Press Secretaries working with secular media.

In the case of Our Lady of the Skies, Currents News first covered the parish, which is a chapel in JFK’s Terminal 4

The Tablet then covered it, and that coverage ultimately led to New York 1 picking up the story.

New York 1 – Catholic Priest Finds His Congregation at JFK Airport

In another case, we put out a press release to alert the media about the big rededication Mass happening at Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish. This is a joyous moment in the life of the Church, and we knew it would be a packed house–telling and also showing the true story that the faith is alive and well, even in the hipster-est areas of our own Brooklyn, NY.

Check out the coverage in the Brooklyn Paper – Oh, holy site! Brooklyn bishop hosts ceremony to reopen Williamsburg church

Tags Diocese, Parish

Generations of Faith was the Diocese of Brooklyn’s capital campaign, from 2015 through 2017, which raised $120M+ in pledges, $80M+ of which has been collected to date.

We at DeSales Media created the visual language of the campaign, from conception, logo, fonts, colors and iconography, through execution across many media and formats:

For the full announcement text from the Diocese of Brooklyn, click here. You can still visit the campaign’s webpage at:

https://catholicfoundationbq.org/generations.

Tags Fundraising

“It’s Never Just a Selfie” launched Christmas 2014, encouraging people to return to Mass. The execution was part of a larger campaign for the Diocese of Brooklyn, inviting people of Brooklyn and Queens to find and visit their closest church.

Check out all of the different executions across the campaign at https://dioceseofbrooklyn.org/news/christmascampaign2014.

Tags Promotion

Watch the Colbert Report coverage for “The Original Hipster,” part of an Easter 2013 campaign called “All Faces. Everyday Understanding.” for the Diocese of Brooklyn. The goal was to increase Mass attendance, especially among Millenials.

Hipster Jesus reached 2.6M+ media impressions. You can read Bishop DiMarzio’s article about the campaign, or check out all media coverage from CNN, The Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal, CBS, TIME, and more here: https://dioceseofbrooklyn.org/all-faces-press .

Tags Easter, Promotion

In the spirit of diocesan collaboration, the Archdiocese of New York (from Ulster County to Staten Island), the Diocese of Brooklyn (the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens), and the Diocese of Rockville Centre (Nassau and Suffolk counties) participate in a joint Reconciliation Monday campaign most Lent and Advent seasons since 2009.

Reconciliation Monday, traditionally the Monday of the Lenten Holy Week, has become a focal point of engaging Catholics – practicing and non-practicing – in the Sacrament of Confession, shortly after Timothy Cardinal Dolan was installed as the premiere of the Archdiocese of New York. Nowadays, the Marketing Services team at DeSales Media and the Marketing department of the Archdiocese of New York trade off handling the creative concept and execution, as well as promotion distribution among the dioceses.

But the very first execution predates even the founding of DeSales: the 2009 campaign for confessions, still active at https://soulwow.com/.

Each season, the approach changes, but the invitation remains the same: come to confession this Lenten or Advent season, to prepare yourself fully to receive the True Presence of the Eucharist this coming Easter or Christmas.

Christmas 2017 was a banner season for the annual call to confession, as DeSales renewed its Put Him on Your List campaign–but this time included the participation of all eight dioceses from New York State. Check out the original song by Kei-Landa, accompanying music video and TV ad spot at www.PutHimOnYourList.org.

Tags Lent, Promotion

For CTN, igniting student enthusiasm for learning is the objective of special projects such as Mathbowl, Grammar/thon and Virtual Field Trips, each centered on a CTN digital service. Other projects such as Dial-A-Priest or the Great Diocesan Read Aloud connect students digitally with people outside of their schools for live, face to face chats.

Tags Schools, Teachers

Catholic Gatherings is a place for the faithful of the Diocese of Brooklyn to find out what’s going on in their area. The Diocese lists its Catholic events, and the site invites any parishioner to list an event happening in the Church anywhere in the area. All submissions are vetted before being posted, to ensure appropriateness.

Tags Faith Formation

Mere weeks after the devastating Hurricane Harvey caused in Houston and much of Texas, Louisiana, Belize, and Nicaragua, a deadly Category 5 hurricane landed on Puerto Rico, Dominica, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Hurricane Maria is regarded as the worst natural disaster on record to affect those islands.

And so, once more, DeSales responded. This time, we worked with the relief organization, All Hands and Hearts, removing debris, fixing and laying tarps on damaged roofs, and performing minor demolition work.

The work made a difference for the hurricane victims, and it made an impact on the 15 DeSalers who got to take the opportunity and help out.

Watch the full coverage from NBC 4 NY here:

Tags Catholics Care, Corporate Responsibility, Volunteer