Delusions of Brand-eur

 

We've been having a worthwhile discussion in our Bridge St. Governance Board about how we get the message of our Christian community out to the wider community which is Belleville. The words "marketing" and "branding" have come up regularly. Some folk like 'em, because they are using them on a regular basis, and others don't, because they smack of commercialism and selling a product.

 

Of course those who promote branding argue persuasively that it is way of establishing values and identity which are then shared with a target audience through marketing. What we are realizing in the church is that we have rather smugly assumed that everyone in our culture knows who we are and what we stand for. Unfortunately this is far from true, so our image is shaped by absence. In a time when so many carry around a shopping cart crammed with negativity about organized religion we have failed to share our good news, which is all the positive ways we are responding to the Good News of Jesus Christ.

 

Our oldest daughter, Jocelyn, gave me a book for my birthday called Branding for Nonprofits: Developing Identity with Integrity. The title sure works for me. The author, DK Holland has developed four branding markers:

• Reputation: How well is the brand known by audiences?
• Esteem: How highly do its audiences rate the brand?
• Relevance: How much do the brand’s audiences care about what it does or stands for?
• Differentiation: How different is the brand from others? Are other brands similar?

 

 

A recent issue of the United Church Observer shared poll results that found most Canadians don't have any more than a vague clue about our denomination, so both our branding and marketing have failed. The United Church offers an alternative to more right-leaning theology, but we haven't conveyed our commitment to social change, inclusivity, and a heart/mind Christian theology. Closer to home, many of our folk at Bridge St. are frustrated that we have a reputation as the hoighty-toighty church, where the rich and arrogant hang out together. My 18-month experience as pastor here is of warm, caring, thoughtful people who have a meaningful faith and want to deepen it through worship. Again, we apparently haven't done our work effectively when it comes to branding or marketing.

 

At least we're talking about it! Now we have to do it, even if we don't use the B and M words. We could call it evangelizing, another word which makes mainliners uncomfortable, but we really do need to get over that reluctance, it seems to me.

 

What about you? Are you okay with terms such as branding and marketing? How about evangelizing? If not these three, how do we describe the important work of getting our message and Christ's message out there?