The theme Transformed in Christ was chosen for the world conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a gathering of Christians for a spiritual purpose. Our marketing challenge was to make that theme connect to people who were not Christians and didn't have a spiritual goal in mind.

The theme can mean two things, said Ray (the "Ray") Dabrowski . "One is who we are-we have been transformed. The other is who we are becoming-we are being transformed."

Reger (the "designer") took that active idea of being transformed and connected it to the current wave of reality TV, the "makeover". He decided that, since the other makeovers tried to make you look good, feel good, or act good, this one had to be the "ultimate" makeover, as it is the only one that can make you be good. Transformed in Christ.

The resulting graphic idea became the basis for billboards to be placed around St. Louis during the convention time in June-July of 2005.

Then came the idea of creating commercials and ads to accompany the billboards. The shared resources of the World Church and it's North American Division, under the direction of Fred Kinsey, provided some funds to buy media space. The Division also contributed much of the production costs. However, time was short and money was not long. How to create ads with impact within those restrictions?

Two ads became message spots specifically about the world conference and why we were coming to St. Louis Those were produced by the North American Division's media center in Simi Valley, California. The third ad, intended to have a direct look and feel of the billboard campaign, was tackled by our communication group at the World Headquarters.

After a day or two of tossing about ideas in between other work assignments, a writing team of John (the "producer") Torres, Melita (the "image maker") Pujic, and Reger took off from the office to sit in the sun of an outdoor café table and brainstorm. Within 20 minutes, they had it. The birth of the Ultimate Makeover commercial.

To keep it on a low-cost budget, it was decided the ad could be produced using mostly stills and Melita, a skilled photographer fresh out of college, would tackle that assignment. The producing fell to Torres, who immediately contracted with Dan (the "videographer") Weber to construct it on his Mac/Final Cut Pro system. Dan rose to the challenge and succeeded in producing the first commercial by the Church in a high-definition 16:9 format.

A distinct ad called for original music and John Stoddart was called on to take the job.

Meanwhile, John (the "spin doctor") Banks had completed the arrangements with the ad agency for the media buys and, less than two weeks, the completed product was in the hands of the stations in St. Louis, ready for its premier airing, along with the other two spots from the Media Center.

The "Ultimate Makeover" commercial had the goal of a fast-paced, eye-catching piece with a focused message-that Jesus Christ gives us our ultimate makeover. The team felt the goal was reached. You be the judge.