☛ Catholic Church of Montreal: “Campaign 2011: Love” by Laura Ieraci

Love: it’s the key message of the biggest social network in the world, the one-billion-member Catholic Church. And that’s what the Archdiocese of Montreal is inviting everyone to do with its 2011 annual campaign.
The campaign poster plays on an interactive feature of the popular social media site Facebook, which has more than 500 million users worldwide. Facebook has a “Like” button, which allows people to indicate their agreement with a particular opinion or subject matter.
The campaign brings it up a notch and replaces “Like” with “Love”, inviting the general public to live the call of Jesus, which is to love.
The diocese is also tapping into the social media culture that has exploded in recent years in order to express a reality: the Church is not its buildings. Like Facebook, the Church is about people, community and interconnectedness; it’s about relationships.
“The Church is, in a sense, a social network built on a common belief in Christ,” said Jean-Claude Cardinal Turcotte, archbishop of Montreal. “A church that thrives is a church that offers opportunities for people to be part of a community, to connect and to communicate with each other and with God.”

Bos Advertising Agency has been creating the diocesan campaign materials for more than two decades: check its official website at bos.ca (Flash is required). Below is the design for the annual collection campaign of 2009 (also created by BOS):