Mars church featured in Kenny Ross TV ad
MARS — Just like an unknown actress being discovered in a Hollywood drug store, a Mars church has found that the right look in the right place leads to a starring role.
St. John Lutheran Church, 420 Beaver St., will be featured in a new Kenny Ross car dealership TV ad slated to start running in the near future.
The Rev. Mark Bringman, pastor of St. John, said the commercial was filmed inside and outside the church on Aug. 23.
“They were here for half a day. They came in around noon and were gone around five,” said Bringman.
“They filmed inside and outside. Some of the shots they did using our parking lot and a number of actors dressed as if it were a wedding,” Bringman said.
“It was the classic style of the church, the steps, the steeple. It was beautiful and recognizable,” said Chris Currier, vice president and management supervisor for Yellow Submarine Marketing Communications, a Pittsburgh advertising agency that filmed the ads for the Irwin car dealership. “You could get a quick read of the aesthetic from those items.”
“The interior was light and open, and it wasn't really tied to a specific religion. I mean, obviously it was a Lutheran church but it read as a church without saying it's a Baptist church or what denomination.” Currier said.
“The configuration of the altar had a lot of space to accommodate our camera and crew for different setups,” Currier added.
“The last, but not least, the clergy and staff members were great to work with. My producer referred to them as lovely people,” Currier said.
The St. John filming was just part of a busy two days that saw the agency shoot five 30-second TV ads.
Currier said commercials also were filmed at the McGinnis Sisters store in Cranberry Township, the Kenny Ross dealership in Zelienople and Blueberry Hill Park in Wexford.
Working out of the car dealership in Zelienople, Currier said, “The in-house producer was out looking at different areas and found the church.” Another point in St. John's favor was that it was close to the other locations.
“They filmed part of the commercial using the farmers' market” in the parking lot in front of the store at 700 Adams Shoppes in Mars, said McGinnis Sisters' Jennifer Daurora. “They were only there for a few hours in the morning, so they weren't disruptive to our customers or anything.”
When the agency asked to use the church in its ads, Bringman said, “This wasn't something that I had experience with before, so I double-checked with the bishop to make sure it was consistent with the use of the church.”
Bringman said he also got permission from the church council.
Bringman said he hopes the ad will sell more than cars.
“We hope others would see it (the ad) and think, 'Oh, we'd like to visit there,'” he said.
He said no members of the congregation were used as extras, and Kenny Ross made a donation “that we appreciated as well” for the use of the church.
“The first one of the batch starts airing in November,” Currier said, adding plans call for one of the commercials filmed in Blueberry Hill Park to be the first used.
“The ads will run until next year,” Currier said. “We will produce four or five commercials and run them for 12 months until we produce another batch.”
