God's Message... On a Billboard

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

CBN.com – ATLANTA, GEORGIA (ANS) -- Generating nationwide buzz in 1999, the first GodSpeaks campaign began with a handful of billboards containing disarming one-liners signed "by God" that quickly mushroomed to 10,000 billboards.

Now, GodSpeaks is back with new messages to entertain and inspire harried motorists across America, according to media information obtained by ASSIST News Service (ANS).

The mysterious billboards carrying clever, quirky, and thought-provoking messages "from God" are finding their way back onto highways across America.

With wisdom from "on high" such as "As my apprentice, you're never fired. -God," and "The real Supreme Court meets up here. -God," motorists have something new to occupy their rush hour thoughts.

With the same anonymous sponsors behind it, the new non-denominational GodSpeaks campaign was launched last month in partnership with the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA).

Billboard owners nationwide have already purchased more than 400 billboards and bus shelter posters in 21 cities, and are donating the advertising space as part of a national public service campaign.

WHAT'S NEW?

Two key differences mark this newest GodSpeaks campaign: the Internet and money. To accompany the boards, GodSpeaks has enhanced its interactive Web site, www.GodSpeaks.com, where those who are interested in the messages of the billboards can go to learn more about God and the campaign.

The creative team behind GodSpeaks says that the anonymous sponsor of the project wants God's identity, rather than their own, to be the focus of the campaign.

"The donor behind the GodSpeaks campaign simply wants to invite people to focus on God and chose billboards as a way to connect with people in their daily lives," said Mark DeMoss, campaign spokesperson.

"The billboards are designed to draw attention to the God presented in the Bible in a creative, thought-provoking way."

"The campaign has been truly 'evergreen,' " said OAAA President and CEO Nancy Fletcher. "For the past five years, it has continued to get people talking, thinking, and laughing, and members of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America continued to post it whenever and wherever they had the space available."

Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Garden Grove, CA. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in Sept., 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station.