(Wait, don't ask him...!)
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Tuesday July 4, 9:00 am Eastern Time
FEATURE-The Pope meets Aerosmith in MAXX's "spiritual market"
By Deepa Babington
NEW YORK, June 30 (Reuters) - It's difficult to say which seems more unlikely: Aerosmith's bad-boy lead singer Steve Tyler reciting a prayer written by the Pope, or a credit card stamped with the Vatican's ``brand name.''
Both projects are the brainchild of Rick Garson, whose fledgling company MAXX International Inc. (OTC BB:MXII.OB - news), aims to strike gold in what he calls the ``spirituality marketplace'' -- for products and services that fulfil spiritual longings that transcend the lines of organised religion.
``It's not about Catholicism, it's about spirituality,'' said Garson, who was brought up in the Jewish faith. ``This Pope knows no spiritual boundaries.''
In the brave new world of ``spiritual marketing,'' a veteran rocker like Steve Tyler finds common ground with John Paul II, and imagery by Michelangelo from the Vatican's collection looks as smart on a piece of plastic as the logo of the New York Yankees baseball team.
In a CD to be released later this year, the Aerosmith lead singer will join a bevy of other celebrities in reciting verses written by the Pope, someone not normally associated with the pop icons of the world. The CD, called World Voice 2000, will feature everyone from teen sensations Britney Spears and 'N Sync to spiritual guru Deepak Chopra and others.
The company is also developing seven books based on the Pope's prayers, thoughts and sayings. Garson had secured 20-year worldwide distribution rights to about 1,500 of them before MAXX was formed.
On Thursday MAXX announced another agreement -- the first of its kind, the company said -- allowing it to use the Vatican's name and images from art works in its treasury on credit, debit and calling cards. The deal was actually struck with an outfit called Treasures of St. Peter's in The Vatican Ltd., which has a direct license to use the Vatican's name in marketing.
Garson, 39, who once handled media promotions for Michael Jackson, denies the CD and the Vatican cards are designed solely as money makers, and insists the main motive behind them is a desire to spread the Pope's message. ``The project is bigger than us,'' he said.
His critics take a dimmer view, claiming MAXX's eye is not on heaven, but on the bottom line.
``It's not a spiritual exercise, it's an exercise in commercialism,'' said Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, a group that says it has over 350,000 members and defends the rights of Catholics. ``The idea that they're in a spiritual crusade is deceptive. They ought to come out and say they're in it for the money.''
To be sure, there is nothing unethical about targeting the 60 million Catholics in the United States and 1 billion worldwide with a CD and credit cards touting the Vatican's name, but MAXX should drop the pretense that it is a philanthropic or strictly spiritual effort, Donohue said.
``We spent a lot of money. We are not into losing money,'' Garson conceded. ``We want to capture the spiritual marketplace.''
MAXX is not alone in that aim. Books incorporating the sayings of spiritual leaders like the Dalai Lama line store shelves. ``The Dalai Lama's Book of Wisdom,'' for example, is published by Thorsons. "Ethics for the New Millennium, written by the Tibetan Buddhist leader and published by Riverhead Books, is also available in abridged CD and cassette versions.
MAXX began about a year ago when Garson banded together with Australian partners Steve White, James Dean and Walter Doyle.
Armed with the rights to the Pope's private prayers, Garson spent the better part of the year making the CD, following celebrities such as Celine Dion to Florida and Spears to Las Vegas to record them reading the Pope's words.
In February, MAXX took control of an inactive publicly traded real estate company called Area Investment and Development Co., in a transaction that gave MAXX a Nasdaq bulletin board stock listing.
Last week, the company said it entered into an agreement with Columbia Records, a division of Sony Corp.'s Sony Music, which will handle the distribution and post-production expenses of the CD that Garson says has already cost $2 million to produce.
The day the deal with Sony was announced, over the clatter of brass cutlery and Peking duck at a swanky New York City restaurant, company officials outlined their plan to exploit the spirituality bazaar to its fullest.
The CD and prospective book deals would generate revenues of $4.75 million in the next year, MAXX's chief financial officer, Adley Samson, told a small group of potential investors.
The credit, debit and calling card deal would allow MAXX to enter into an agreement with card issuers and earn about between $50 and $100 in fees from each member who subscribes to the card, he said. Through that, it expects revenues of $25.3 million in the first year.
Maxx expects to generate another $34.8 million in revenues from its Internet activities, including TheGospel.com (http://www.thegospel.com), which bills itself as the largest Christian Web site in the world.
All told, MAXX aims to earn after-tax profits of about $30.2 million in 2001, Samson said.
Of course, MAXX is not the only one standing to gain from the spirituality marketplace.
The Vatican earns a tidy 12.5 percent royalty on the CD and book deals, and as well as a percentage on the card deal, a portion of which will be channelled into its orphanages, Garson said.
Celebrities appearing on the CD earn a total royalty of about 10 percent for their half-hour recording session efforts, he said, declining to be more specific.