In case you follow this blog in a feed reader, you may want to check out the comments on this post regarding branding. This is a great conversation. I’d like to go back and respond specifically to Jared’s question. Jared, first of all, what you’re witnessing is the freedom Perry has given me to shoot straight on this blog. You get my honest take of ministry and life. It isn’t just the company line.

You’ll never see me publicly question Perry’s leadership or vision, but I will reveal, from time to time, some areas where we’ve acknowledged we need to improve. One of those areas is how we handle branding. Another example where I’ve admitted we have fallen short and need improvement is our web strategy. I’m not going to try to sugarcoat it–our web presence is poor right now, but we’re taking steps to get it right.

Specifically, on the topic of branding, here are some additional thoughts to respond to your observations…

  • It makes sense for us to brand a series over the church itself. That’s no different than Fox branding American Idol ahead of the network. People are interested in following American Idol–they’re not interested in following the Fox network. That’s why we brand "The Man Series" ahead of NewSpring Church.
  • It also makes sense to brand certain environments that reach unique target audiences like children and church leaders. Trying to encourage and equip leaders through the Unleash Conference attracts a larger audience than if we tried to promote the same experience under the umbrella of NewSpring Church. It’s the same principle that has led some churches to drop denominational references in their name in order to reach a broader audience.
  • We’re making a concerted effort, though, to make sure we don’t promote any sub-brands without making it clear that it’s "a ministry of NewSpring Church." We haven’t done a good job of that in the past.
  • We’re also trying to thin out all of the unique sub-brands we’ve used in the past. For example, we decided that "Fuse" and "Ignite" were meaningless to the students we’re trying to reach, and, we didn’t want to start branding those ministries ahead of NewSpring Church itself. With that in mind, you may have noticed that references to "Fuse" and "Ignite" have faded in recent months. (And, by the way, student ministry attendance is up.)

If you want an example from the marketplace, check out Google. Their products, for the most part, all include the "Google" name and specifically identify the product without requiring any guesswork. You can use Google Desktop or Google Maps or Google Finance or iGoogle or Google Video. The only real exceptions to their strategy are the companies they’ve acquired (like Blogger and YouTube) where there was already an established brand presence. You don’t see them taking one of their products and trying to create separate brands to define each product. (It’s not Mapilicious, as an example. It’s just Google Maps.)

In Church world, though, we’ve fallen into the trap of letting every ministry compete against each other for attention. That’s why we feel like we need to create a logo and a name for every ministry that exists in our churches. (There are some  big, visible churches that have fallen into this trap.)

Here are the consequences of that decision. The staff leaders end up spending an inordinate amount of their time trying to promote their ministry ahead of the other ministries in the church instead of leading their ministry. Secondly, the people who are trying to make connections in our churches get bombarded with competing messages. From their perspective, it sounds like the ministries are shouting to get their attention and all we’re doing is adding noise to people’s already hectic lives.

By the way, as a side note, people don’t attend ministry programs or events because of slick promotions. They attend ministry programs and events because those events add value to their lives. You can do all the clever marketing you want, but, if the experience is stinky, people will not show up. That’s why staff should be focusing more on leading their ministries rather than promoting their ministries. If the experience is positive, people will tell and invite their friends–that’s how ministry programs grow.

If you want a good example of how all of this plays out in Church world, in my opinion, LifeChurch.tv has nailed it. Check out their website. The first thing you see when you go to their site is the promotions for their current series. Then, when you dig deeper to find next steps beyond the weekend, you have the choice of opportunities like LifeGroups, LifeMissions, LifeKids and LifeYouth. That’s brilliant. They’ve made it completely obvious to people what those other environments are all about. Even if I’m completely new to the church, I know that my kids go to LifeKids. How smart is that?

Folks, in case you haven’t figured it out, we’ve hit a huge passion area for me. The Church, including NewSpring Church, has an opportunity to move in a new direction that removes barriers that we are unintentionally creating. We need to make it easier for people to take their next spiritual steps in our ministries. Thankfully, God is bigger than branding. I’m still convinced there’s a place for marketing in the Church. But, too much marketing can create roadblocks for people who are considering their next steps.

Sorry for the long post. I guess I had a lot to say. Carry on the conversation.