On June 11 the budget and operational plans for the 2006-2007 financial year were approved by the UCG–Australia National Council.

The Australian media plan is particularly expansive in that, owing to the recent National Council decision to increase staff in the National Office (see article below), the target for adding new subscribers in the next financial year has been set at over 12,000. This is the first time that such an ambitious goal has been adopted.

Such a goal is realistic given the success of Internet advertising and the opportunities available to repeat some reliable print advertising initiatives.

When the proposal was presented in March, the media coordinator alerted National Council members to the fact that an almost twofold increase in new subscribers over the previous year would mean a proportional increase in literature requests, increasing the workload for the Mailing Department. The National Office manager assured National Council members that measures were in place to handle this increase.

The chairman of the Pastoral Committee commented that such an ambitious plan was an investment in the future growth of the Church.

Current Print Advertising

Along with various Internet ads, UCG–Australia has been using the following print advertising programs:

•Response Direct Publishing card deck drop of 600,000 in early May advertising The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy and offering a subscription to The Good News.

•Yellow Envelope drop of 100,000 reply-paid cards in northern Queensland in April. (The Response Direct Publishing deck drop covered most of the coast of Australia and the urban areas of Adelaide but missed northern Queensland.)

• Reader's Digest ad in the May edition to coincide with the release of the movie The Da Vinci Code and offering Jesus Christ: The Real Story and a subscription to The Good News. (An ad on the Internet referencing The Da Vinci Code is receiving over double the hits of any other topic advertised.)

New Subscribers 2001-2002 6,538 2002-2003 5,662 2003-2004 6,004 2004-2005 9,232 2005-2006 7,200 (estimated) 2006-2007 12,160 (target)