The Alpha course is to be advertised on television in September as part of this year’s annual initiative. The 60-second advertisement will appear on popular digital channel E4 during two weeks in the run-up to the autumn courses.

It will also appear on 2,000 cinema screens across the UK and on screens in more than 400 bars.
Digital channel E4 is available on Freeview and has a wide audience of 18-35 year-olds.

The theme of this year’s advertising is based upon an animated film produced by 24-year-old graphic designer Alastair Duckworth which won last year’s Alpha viral competition. It depicts human life as a conveyor belt from birth to death, incorporating many wry humorous touches. (To see the original version of the 'Factory' animated flim, click here)

This is the tenth annual UK Alpha advertising initiative. More than 23 per cent of the British population now recognise Alpha as a Christian course.
The TV advertisement will appear more than 30 times on E4 during the two-week span in September.

E4 features many popular programmes including Friends, ER, The OC, Smallville, Six Feet Under, The Simpsons, Scrubs and Ugly Betty.
The daily reach of E4 is 2.6 million viewers and the Big Brother final will fall during the two-week period. The cinema advertising is guaranteed to reach 2.5 million people during the one-week campaign in all Carlton cinemas - 76 per cent of UK cinemas.

As well as these national initiatives, there are also thousands of local and regional initiatives planned, with many supper parties and launch events already being organised for September.

There are a wide range of materials available including drinks mats (with the questions ‘If God did exist, what would you ask?’ and ‘Is there more to life than this?), wallet cards, e-tools (screensaver, web banners, etc), and church posters.

The national Alpha prayer events, when local churches gather together to pray for the coming courses, are set for dates around September 13.
There are also 20 ‘Equip and Refresh Days’ offering an opportunity for potential Alpha leaders to be trained and inspired. More information is available on uk.alpha.org.