Last week, I started a conversation about brand names. I tried to make the case (you can judge how successfully) that a name does very little, if anything, to sell a product or service or experience. The value added matters. The quality matters. Whether or not it’s addressing a perceived need matters. The name doesn’t matter…not at least until the brand is established.

On the other hand, I do think that a name can limit the sales of a product or service or experience. Let’s look at some obvious examples. If I’m shopping for food, I’m unlikely to go to a Starbucks Coffeehouse. I’ll go to a Starbucks Coffeehouse if I’m looking for coffee, but the name has limited the potential market. Starbucks sells coffee.

Taco Bell sells tacos and other Mexican food. If I’m hungry for a hamburger, I don’t go to Taco Bell. By putting “taco” in the name, they’ve already decided they’re probably not going to sell food to hamburger shoppers.

Now let me shoot closer to home. How about Anytown Baptist Church? As long as you’re trying to reach baptists, that’s a great name. Just so you know, though, most people that don’t consider themselves baptists (which is more and more people) will assume Anytown Baptist Church is only for baptists.

Here’s the reality, if Taco Bell started selling hamburgers and they were really good hamburgers, ultimately someone might buy their burger. One happy Taco Bell burger-eater might tell their friend to try one out. When that happens, the friend’s first reaction will be “Taco Bell sells tacos.” Taco Bell could dip into their deep marketing pockets and launch a huge campaign to tell people they now sell burgers. If it’s an effective campaign, it might convince more people to try their burgers. But, for a long, long time, people will likely first think of Taco Bell as a taco restaurant and not a hamburger joint.

The problem is that churches rarely, if ever, have that kind of bank. We can’t afford the type of marketing campaign it would take to try to convince people that Anytown Baptist Church isn’t just for baptists. For a long, long time baptist churches will be for baptists. And, whether you like it or not, people who aren’t baptists, have preconceived notions about what baptists are like and what happens at their churches.

So, when I’m asked whether or not a church should change it’s name, my initial response isn’t: “What’s the new name you’re considering?” My first response is: “What’s your mission?”

If your mission is to minister to the families that are currently attending your church, you shouldn’t change your name. If your mission is to reach people who have a proclivity to a specific denomination, then you probably don’t need to change your name. If you believe that God has predestined some people to attend your church and others not to, there’s really no need to change your name. (Which makes me wonder why God let you read this post…but that’s a topic for another day.)

If, on the other hand, the mission of your church is to reach people who are currently unchurched, then you need to ask the name question. If your primary mission is to reach people in our post-denominational culture, then you need to ask the name question.

Names don’t sell a new product. Names do sell an established product. Names also have the potential of limiting your market.

Does the name matter? It depends on your mission…and it depends on your name. Your first job, though, is to agree on the mission.

Remember the line from Romeo and Juliet:

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”

So what’s in a name? It’s an interesting question. For those of us responsible for branding, we take names seriously. Honestly, though, I’m more and more of the opinion that names mean very little. In other words, a brand by any other name would smell as sweet.

For example, do people buy Apple computers because they’re made by a company called Apple or because people know they’re going to get a quality computer from Apple? Do people go to Cirque du Soleil because the performance is presented by an organization called Cirque du Soleil or because people know they’re going to experience a phenomenal performance from Cirque du Soleil? Do people use Google search because the application is offered by a company called Google or because people know they’re going to get accurate search results from Google? Do you see my point?

It’s not the name. It’s the quality of the product or service or the experience that matters.

So, in our case, I don’t think people attend NewSpring Church because we’re called NewSpring Church. But, because people expect something unique on Sundays and know the impact of that experience, they attend NewSpring Church. Same principle holds for every other ministry or environment within our church. People don’t connect or participate or invite their friends because of the name of the ministry. Those results happen because of the experience and the life change those ministries and environments produce.

In other words, the name doesn’t matter until the brand is established. If the product or service generates positive results over a period of time, people will begin to associate the name with a perceived expectation of results. When that happens, the name matters. That’s the “Kool Aid” moment.

When people love the product or service enough based on previous experiences to “drink the Kool Aid,” the name matters. That’s when someone buys a computer just because Apple made the computer. But, even in this case, people didn’t arrive at the Kool Aid moment because of the name. They got there because of the quality of the product or service or experience.

Though names don’t generate new customers, they can filter out prospective customers. I’ll share more on that in a future post.

So, what do you think? Would that which we call a rose by any other name smell as sweet?