Musings: Notes From My Daybook

Very interesting article, particularly after reading in Sunday's Washington Post about the vote by the Baptist Temple in Alexandria, Virginia to "change brands," and how other churches are changing names to move away from the current Baptist brand image.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/07/AR2008060700924_pf.html


And it's interesting how some Church of Christ folks try to defend their understanding of brand integrity, as reported in today's USA Today:

Tuesday, June 10
Columbia - A teacher at a Christian school here said she's retiring after the board told her and four others to switch churches or leave. The action from the leadership at the Church of Christ-affiliated Columbia Academy came after the church that the five attend allowed musical instruments during a Good Friday service. Many Churches of Christ believe it's wrong to use instrumental music during services.

How are we known? How do we know ourselves? We've got some work to do.

"We wanted to define the one thing we were about."
This is the most important step that the pastor in the article decided to do. Most brand communication dies on the vine if the key message is not understood by the business or it's customers. This usually occurs in two ways- a message that is too complex or the lack of delivering on the message.

I think churches (i.e. Christians) typically fail in both regards. I think what "Unchristian" is exploring is the "experience" of the Christian brand- outsiders' perception of Christ through the interaction with Christ's representatives. What we basically have is an issue of poor customer service! It's hard to get straight, consistent answers to basic questions, all the stores are different and no one really seems to know the product very well.

I posted an NY Times article on my Tumblog that dovetails nicely into this conversation:

http://untitled5.tumblr.com/post/38145740/they-are-very-much-turned-off-by-the-suit-and-tie

I think this is such an interesting subject. It is so important how we are seen by the world. How the world views us. We should do what we can I believe to change and make a difference in this world in which we live. How do we do that is an important topic to discuss.
Great job with your blog.
It is definately one of my favorites.
Keep up the great work you do.
I hope you have a great week!

Interesting stuff. I'm going to try to get a hold of a copy of that book. Thanks. I'm reading, keep writing.
B