The Brand Gap
I get a bit uneasy when I (and others) start talking about marketing church. It doesn't seem right. Just a feeling, because I know I can look at some scriptures that may support, at least, the spirit of marketing.
Paul wrote about becoming all things to all people. That verse in connection with the verse of taking the good news to all the world suggests knowing your audience and doing what is necessary to reach or speak to them.
But how far is too far? What about sending out fliers or CD mailers? Bumper-stickers? Commercials? Or focus groups to determine how to best present the message? What about cirumcision?
What? Circumcision? That's what Paul had Timothy do. That is some request. Not just that, what dedication (if that's the right word) by Timo.
I think I would have passed. That's radical. Who thinks like that anymore? What radical means are used today to bring some to Christ? Who is willing to say, I don't care what others think, I'm going through with it.
I admit, I always thought that was such a bizarre story. That one got ignored a good bit in my Sunday schooling!
The book, The Brand Gap, by Marty Neumeier got me thinking about all of this. I picked it up last night. It's great for those in business, which, let's face it, includes the church.
Neumeier has many great observations. One has been tumbling around in my mush of a brain today. That is, how the emphasis of marketing appeals has shifted over the years.
So, what is the best way to peer into the souls of others?
How radical can you be?
Paul wrote about becoming all things to all people. That verse in connection with the verse of taking the good news to all the world suggests knowing your audience and doing what is necessary to reach or speak to them.
But how far is too far? What about sending out fliers or CD mailers? Bumper-stickers? Commercials? Or focus groups to determine how to best present the message? What about cirumcision?
What? Circumcision? That's what Paul had Timothy do. That is some request. Not just that, what dedication (if that's the right word) by Timo.
I think I would have passed. That's radical. Who thinks like that anymore? What radical means are used today to bring some to Christ? Who is willing to say, I don't care what others think, I'm going through with it.
I admit, I always thought that was such a bizarre story. That one got ignored a good bit in my Sunday schooling!
The book, The Brand Gap, by Marty Neumeier got me thinking about all of this. I picked it up last night. It's great for those in business, which, let's face it, includes the church.
Neumeier has many great observations. One has been tumbling around in my mush of a brain today. That is, how the emphasis of marketing appeals has shifted over the years.
1900+ - Features - What it Has
1925+ - Benefits - What it Does
1950+ - Experience - What You'll Feel
2000+ - Identification - Who You Are
Even though features and benefits are still important to people, personal identity has become even more important. Nike is proof. As a weekend athlete, my two nagging doubts are that I might actually be congenitally lazy, and that I might have little actual ability. I'm not really worried about my shoes. But when the Nike folks say, "Just do it," they're peering into my soul. I begin to feel that, if they understand me that well, their shoes are probably pretty good. I'm willing to join the tribe of Nike.
So, what is the best way to peer into the souls of others?
How radical can you be?
posted by Bart at 10:58 PM
3 Comments:
Bart,
Good post. I've noticed the same trends in marketing and it always makes me uneasy when we talk about "pimping" the gospel.
Advertising before World War I was based on product boasting - "This is why our product is the best." Good housekeeping, which has been around since the 1800s, has actually tracked their marketing within their magazine. And they have noticed how advertising has gone from product boasting to atmospheric creation to marketing "desire." It doesn’t say much about the product anymore. Here's a bunch of people having a good time, laughing, enjoying community, they have the good life. And the product is subtly placed within that atmosphere or the logo emerges. The message is buy this product and you will have the good life like these people.
Is is somewhat misleading when we send out a mailer with a picture of good-looking, happy people and say "come join our community" when the professional models in the picture are not part of our community?
AH! You did it now!
I reject totally and completely h-a-t-e (for those of you with toddlers that dont say this word) the notion of church as business. Church likes to flirt with the notion of being a business by hiring a board of directors (elders) and producing financial statements, but ultimately they fail on this measure.
Take a look at any church's financial statement say come November. The typical shortfall in the budget is of no concern to the leaders-that-be. Somehow they will "pray through" the budget-short fall. I tried that once, okay, more than once at home and it has yet to work. If I tried it on the job; I wouldn't need Donald Trump to tell me I was fired.
Yes, the megachurches bolster the argument as church as business, not because of excellence in financial matters, but more because of the sheer size of their budgets. Lakewood spent $93 MILLION DOLLARS renovating their new space.
$93 MILLION DOLLARS
For a limited time, if you are a facilites manager, say managing a smaller budget than Lakewood's, like NASA's, then you can tour the building and learn all about how they managed to waste so much money.
No, church as business aint working for me.
I have always preferred thinking in terms of HUMAN NEEDS. Remember Maslow, from intro psychology? You can not fulfill higher spiritual needs until you have met basic needs like shelter, food and water, then other needs like safety, love and belonging, and self-esteem.
I know in middle suburbia we are not worrying about shelter and food. But how about safety? Ever sat in church with a woman whose husband has left and she's alone?
Bart mentions love and belonging as a primal need. I agree, my friend. And this is where we so often miss the boat in our corporate churches. In our work-a-day mentality, we come each Sunday to punch the time clock. We do our time and leave.
I am guilty. Mea culpa.
The radical change comes when we look at the person in the pew next to us and try to understand their needs.
What do they fear?
What do they crave?
The idea is so simple that we miss it.
In the Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren posits that in real fellowship people experience authenticity, mutuality, sympathy and mercy. Sounds like a place I would like to be.
How about you?
But I can't help but ask the question... What can we DO about it. The building that our congregation exists in is beautiful. I love a nice huge LCD TV to greet me in the foyer. I was drawn in by it. I am reluctant to admit, but I have used it as a selling point to friends, for what a great church I go to (should say am a part of). I'm so shallow. It's full of perfect looking people. I can go to church and look at beautiful, well dressed women all morning, (even sit next to them in class) and never once absorb a lick of what God may have presented that day. That kind of appeal is right up there with FHM magazine. We can develop a group of nice looking friends that make us feel socially successful, without ever really breaching the walls of friendship intimacy.
So we end up being apart of the real marketing tool. The flyers in the mail are just to come join the social club.
The solution: Not necessarily small enough churches that we can meet in st*rbucks..., but I know it surely is a massive effort of many, sharing their lives. We share our wins, loses, and ungoing challenges. We leave our judgements at the door, and accept each other. Quick... whats the first line you remember from the theme song for the TV show Cheers... that's right, sing along, "you wanna be where you can see, your troubles are all the same, ...you wanna go where everybody knows your name". doo doo doo doo du too. If our churches looked and sounded more like the local bar (sans EXCESSIVE liquor) we would be able to drop the marketing tools and the Gospel could be restored to it's true meaning. The good news, the answer, the way, and we could just be there for those in need. I can attest to the exempary levels honesty that are abundant in those dirty ole watering holes, induced by suds or not.
A little off topic, but I was moved.
FYI... True: Norm was an ex-Coastie.
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