Two weeks ago people across the country created their best cow costumes to celebrate Cow Appreciation Day. It was restaurant chain Chick-Fil-A’s 8th annual event, which gives away a free meal to anyone dressed head to toe like a cow.
The company that is known for their Eat Mor Chikin ad campaigns, leadercast events, and Christian values (none of their restaurants open on Sunday) uses this fun event each year to get some free publicity. If you wanted some help putting your costume together you could head over to cowappreciationday.com to download a cow costume starter kit. That morning and into the afternoon Facebook and Twitter were filled with pictures of people showing off all sorts of cow swag hoping to win the best cow costume contest.
After seeing all of this and desperately wishing that I lived close to a Chick-Fil-A (side note: I should start a bring Chick-Fil-A to NY petition) I was thinking about how this could relate to college ministry. What if you did something no one else is doing to generate attention for your ministry?
Craig Groeschel says, “To reach people that no one is reaching you have to do things that no one is doing.”
When I think of this in terms of college ministry I don’t just look at it in light of what other college ministries on campus are doing, but also the other clubs and organizations. There are a lot of people clamoring for student’s attention and if you can’t find a way to stand out there may be many who don’t even know you exist. Some of those students may even have looked for a college ministry and given up hope.
So, my question this week to you is what is something so out of the ordinary and so creative (like giving people free meals when they dress up like cows) that you could do to get some great publicity and make a splash on your campus? I’d like to hear your ideas in the comments and next week I’ll share some of my own.