HUDDERSFIELD marketing man Julian Kynaston has completed his toughest assignment - selling God.
Mr Kynaston, who lives at Upper Denby, was given the job of boosting attendances at a struggling South Yorkshire church - and the results can be seen when Channel 4 screens a three-part series, Priest Idol, next week.
Mr Kynaston is founder of award- winning marketing and branding agency Propaganda, which began in Huddersfield and is now based in Leeds and London.
Channel 4 gave Propaganda the task of improving attendances at Mary Magdalene C of E Church in Lundwood, Barnsley.
Mr Kynaston said: "The church was all set for closure.
"The congregation had been reduced to just a handful of people. The church was run down, dark and covered in graffiti."
Mr Kynaston said the Propaganda team looked for inspiration from the retail world and successful chains such as Starbucks to "brand" the church and attract new "customers".
The campaign was created with Fr James McCaskill, a 32-year-old American.
He was brought into the parish by the Bishop of Wakefield, the Rt Rev Stephen Platten, to re-energise the church and increase the congregation, which numbered just eight when he arrived last year.
Mr Kynaston said the agency's strategy did not please everyone, adding: "What we proposed was controversial. It certainly divided opinion."
He said he had been sworn to secrecy about the outcome, but added: "We were very conscious that this was a job where anything other than a good result would be the worst bit of PR we had ever had."
Mr Kynaston said the serious question behind the idea was how Christianity could reverse its decline in Europe - and counter falling attendances and the image of religion as stuffy, boring and irrelevant.
"The idea of `branding God' started out as a bit gimmicky," he said. "But it quickly became one of the most serious things we have worked on.
"It raises some pretty big questions for the leaders of the churches."
The first part of the series will be screened at 8pm on Monday.
