Visit AspireOne.com As Published in Willow, the magazine of the Willow Creek Association, in Fall 2003

Developing Your Church's Brand

To Grow and Navigate Transition

It’s one of the buzz words of the new millennium. Branding. Though it’s been around forever, it has taken center stage in the global business community, and churches that are trying to gain a competitive edge against an increasingly secularized landscape are now using the term as well.

One of the better definitions describes a brand as a promise made with the customer and built up over time through consistent communication and delivery of that promise. The very mention of the brand’s name should trigger a series of expectations not only about the product or the company — its quality, purpose, etc. — but any number of images and associations, which consumers can relate to, both emotionally and rationally.*

Churches are beginning to get very intentional about what they’re promising. They’re beginning to take long, introspective looks into their value systems and are checking those values against the perceptions of those they’re trying to reach. These values, these promises, are how a church is branded to the outside world.

Willow had a recent conversation with two of the consultants who volunteered their time and helped the WCA in our recent rebranding process. Both Roland Jacobs and Dawn Nicole Baldwin brought valuable real-world experience to the table and led a team of staff and volunteers through an arduous but highly satisfying nine-month process of re-evaluation and refocus that helped crystallize the message of the WCA as well as refining our ministry promise.

Both Jacobs and Baldwin have been busy helping other churches enter into a similar process and have successfully brought about significant changes in several WCA Member Churches thus far. We asked them to share their experiences and knowledge as it pertains to helping churches convey a sincere, unified, and solid brand.

*Bradley McGurk Partnership Web site

Interview

Willow: Let’s start with the basics: What is branding?

Dawn Nicole: Branding is the practice of creating an identity and an experience that reflects the mission, culture, and personality of your organization. As a church, your brand is a lot more than a good logo. It is what distinguishes your church from other churches. More importantly, it’s what distinguishes your church from all the other brands your church competes with on Sunday mornings … Wal-Mart, NFL Football, Gameboy, etc.

Willow: Should church leaders be thinking about the “brand” of their organizations?

Roland: The answer is definitively YES! That is, if they want to reach more people for Christ. Applying diligence to the issues of branding and marketing is not only the work of marketplace companies like Coca-Cola and IBM. Marketing at its essence is the practice of meeting people’s needs — and that applies to institutions of all kinds. As Christian churches, our calling is to meet the spiritual needs of our communities through our presentation of the gospel. Jesus was especially focused on meeting the unique needs of people and communicating in relevant terms. He calls us to“go everywhere in the world, and tell the Good News to everyone.”Our success in fulfilling the Great Commission is, in large part, determined by how well we, as churches, reach and relate with the particular audience we’re called to serve. That’s where branding helps.

Willow: How does the “brand” support a church’s vision?

Roland: We’ve always believed that every church has a unique thumbprint. One church’s brand can be vastly different from another’s, and should be. One church’s primary aim may be to unite young people across the cultural divide in an urban setting. Another church may be called to create servant hearts through its thriving missions program. That’s why it is important to be conscious about what kind of church you are or want to be, and to whom — this is the essence of your brand strategy. Keeping a strategic focus on your brand should translate to a steady flow of new visitors. Not just any visitors — but the visitors your church is uniquely called to serve.

Willow: Do churches really need a brand strategy? Can’t they just design a new logo or redesign their Web site?

Dawn Nicole: Usually when a church approaches us, that’s what they want, a new logo, an upgraded Web site, a redesigned bulletin. But we ask questions to determine what is at the source of the need. Is the current site not structured to support current growth? Is the logo not reflective of the culture of your church? Usually it becomes clear the underlying issues run much deeper, and we need to spend time developing a strategy of how to move forward. The creative work is just a visual interpretation of this strategy. Otherwise, it’s like building a house without blueprints.

As far as the Web site is concerned, this can be one of the most strategic communications vehicle you have — it is a window into the heart of your church. It needs to be structured to meet the goals of your ministry, be easy to navigate, and visually reflect the unique culture of your church. My husband, Keith [the creative designer behind both the WCA and the Willow Creek Community Church Web sites] and I see so many churches that end up re-doing their Web sites after just a couple years because it’s not meeting their needs. It isn’t an accurate reflection of who they are, or what they want to be. The best advice I can give is to invest time up front to develop the strategy and think through questions like: “Who are we trying to reach? What is the purpose of our site? What is special about our church?” This approach takes a little more time, but it pays off.

Willow: What are the elements of a successful brand strategy?

Roland: These can be summarized with three similar questions: Who, What and How. Who are you called to serve? What is special about your church? How do you reach your audience? I think every church needs to wrestle with those questions every few years because sometimes those factors change. An audience may change. The community’s demographics may change. The church’s focus may change. All of these factors will affect the church’s branding strategy.

Willow: Can you provide examples of other churches that have used branding effectively to transition and grow their churches?

Dawn Nicole: Three come to mind and they’re all WCA Member Churches: Pinellas Community Church, in St. Petersburg, Fla., a beach side community church that doubled its size by overhauling its image to become a truly multicultural congregation; Northwest Assembly of God, in Mt. Prospect, Ill., a traditional, suburban church that got intentional with its out-reach efforts to target younger adults and families; and Asbury United Methodist Church, in Little Rock, AR, a southern United Methodist church that gained renewed purpose for reaching its community, and is reversing declining attendance trends.

Willow: Both of you were instrumental in the WCA’s re-branding efforts. What was the approach you used?

Dawn Nicole: We first needed to discover the “Who.” Who is the WCA serving? We spent a lot of time researching this question. There is such a wide range of church leaders who attend conferences and use Willow resources — they cover many different denominations from many different countries. But from the focus groups we con-ducted, we saw that there is definitely a consistent profile. WCA serves progressive church leaders. They are learners, visionaries, and risk takers. They are out there trying new things with their ministries, boldly following God’s call for their church.
Roland: We also devoted a lot of time to discovering the “What.” What does the WCA stand for? What is the essence of the brand? To do this, we conducted a series of strategy exercises with the Willow leadership team where we filled many flip chart pages and got everyone’s input. We also talked to the “customer” — that is, the pastors of WCA Member Churches — through interviews and focus groups to find out their perspectives. And we prayed for God’s guidance.

Previous logo

New Logo

Willow: What did you learn?

Roland: A few things: After collecting input from over 100 people we learned that the essence of the WCA brand has to do with the values that unite the Members of the Association. Willow is all about two things: reaching the unchurched and leading people into full devotion to Christ.That’s what resonates most with Member Churches.
We also learned that most people already shorten the name to “Willow.” That one word encapsulates for most people all the values that the brand represents: Reaching Seekers – Building Believers. And the “Creek” wasn’t as important — it’s not where most of the equity is. In branding, usually less is more. Federal Express is a well-known example of this. They discovered similar findings in their research, and they changed their brand name to “FedEx.”
We also learned that an effective tagline helps crystallize the brand’s focus. We held three different brainstorming sessions to try to find a phrase that best reflects what Willow stands for. A good tagline will do that with just a few words. We were really starting to get discouraged, and then it happened. At the last brainstorming meeting, Mark Mittelberg offered up the perfect tagline: “Reaching Seekers – Building Believers.” As soon as Mark said it, we all knew it captured the heart of Willow perfectly. Mark said the words had come to him in a Holy Spirit moment just one day earlier, as he was driving across a desolate stretch of highway in his home state of North Dakota.

Willow: What does the new Willow logo represent?

Dawn Nicole: We wanted to maintain some of the elements of the previous logo … the stylized “W” that resembles a wave, and the blue color palette. But we felt the new logo needed to have a more contemporary and decisive look — reflecting the progressive, visionary characteristics of WCA Member Churches. After narrowing it down to several options, Jim Mellado got input from members of our customer audience as well as Bill Hybels and others who understand the heart of the WCA.

Willow: Because branding is something we typically associate with the business world, what would you say to churches who may be intimidated by the whole concept?

Dawn Nicole: There’s absolutely no reason why churches need to settle for second best. The secular world markets to seekers at such a high level, and if you are wanting to reach this group it’s important to meet them where they’re at. This doesn’t mean you need to create all kinds of glossy, color brochures. But it does mean we have to be intentional in our planning and make the budget work hard for us. Remember, we’re told to be “wise as serpents and gentle as doves.” I think there is great wisdom in getting an effective branding strategy to work for our churches and maximize the most important Message in the world.

What’s Your Brand

Here are case studies of three very different churches — each with its own unique calling and culture — developing their own distinct “brand” to reflect those realities.

Three WCA Member Churches re-evaluate their brand strategies … and thrive as a result

Overhauling the Image

Pinellas Community Church, St. Petersburg, FL www.pinellaschurch.org

Positioned on the racial and socioeconomic divide of St. Petersburg, Fla., Senior Pastor David Melendez had visions of a truly integrated church where people of multiple races and social status could come together to learn about God.

Shortly before Easter 2002, Pinellas Community Church reintroduced itself to the area with an image that intentionally positioned the church where it wanted to be in the future.

“ In the past we had been a predominantly white church and wanted that to change,” explains Executive Pastor Mark Canfield. Pinellas church is positioned right on a cultural border. To the north, there is a predominantly white neighborhood. To the south, mostly black. “We want this church to be a place where everyone feels welcome, regardless of the color of his or her skin.”

The church also wanted to have an image that reflected their casual, laid back beach atmosphere. “This is not a place where you need to have it all together before you can come,” states Canfield, “but where you can dress the way you want and hear a message that addresses issues you face everyday.”

From The Ground Up

The logo was redesigned to reflect this casual Floridian image, and the Web site was re-architected to support the needs of both new and existing attendees. New signage, the bulletin, invitational cards, brochures, banners, and even bumper stickers were included in

the overhaul, all championed under the campaign, “Together We Can.” “Together we can … promote racial unity, strengthen family relationships, restore broken lives, and experience God’s love,” are the rallying cries woven throughout the campaign, supported by photos that were intentionally selected to have a multicultural feel. And it’s working.

“ People aren’t coming just because of our new logo,” says Canfield. “We are diverse, contemporary, and reaching out to the community. The new image is just an expression of that.”

The process began by clarifying the purpose of the church, who it intended to reach, and the attributes that are unique to the church. Pinellas is passionate about outreach, and its culture resonates with singles and young families in their 20s and 30s.

“ The rebranding process pushed us to think about who we are and asked the tough questions like, ‘How are we currently represented? What do we want to be?’” says Canfield. “People in our culture are visually stimulated and icon-oriented. Sometimes all we have is the glance of an eye. In that moment, what is it that we’re communicating?”

In the past year, Pinellas Community Church has grown from an average of 850 per weekend to levels reaching over 1,600, and a capital campaign had been initiated to meet expansion needs.

Previous logo

New Logo

Old vs. new Pinellas logos: "The new logo more accurately reflects the culture of Pinellas."

Reaching Out to Seekers

Northwest Assembly of God, Mt. Prospect, IL www.nwaog.com

“ Fifty years of history can sometimes be viewed as a negative,” says Rich Weller, pastor of this Pentecostal church in the Chicago suburbs. “Who said church is supposed to be boring? We want seekers to say ‘Wow!’”

When he assumed leadership of the church two years ago, Weller wanted to update its image. “To truly be outreach-oriented we needed be more relevant, less traditional, and look like a place our members would feel proud to invite their friends.”

But transitioning the church from previously being more inwardly focused to being more intentional about outreach takes a lot of work. The key was to first cast a vision that was focused on reaching new people, while still serving the needs of current members. “Reach Up, Reach In, Reach Out” reflected the vision and strategy for Northwest Assembly of God.

The church is also very focused about who they target. Bringing down the average age of the congregation was a primary goal, so the church began to focus heavily on reaching young families in their late 20s and early 30s.

Given the congregation’s strong sense of tradition, the leadership was selective about the transition process. Two of the first things to change were the logo and Web site. “I wanted to change the impression that we were behind the times,” says Weller, “and these were great opportunities to make a visible change.”

The site was developed to be a strategic communication vehicle, not only for existing members, but also for potential visitors. The home page was designed to address at a glance the top three questions seekers are often asking:

• Is this a place I’d feel comfortable and fit in?

• When and where are the services?

• How can I get connected at this church?

To help potential visitors understand the personality of the church, there’s a section of the site that profiles the key leaders of the church, listing their passion areas, life goals, and personal fun facts. Another section of the Web site describes the atmosphere of a church service, and features a movable panoramic view that reflects the energy of a service in progress. These are just two examples of how seekers can get a feel for the church before even setting foot on the property.

Rich Weller: " I wanted to change the impression that we were behind the times."

In addition to revamping the logo and Web site, the new look was applied to the bulletin and promotional materials. Momentum for change built within the church as the redesigned communications tools were rolled out.

The church also made a number of physical changes to be more outreach oriented. Services were restructured to incorporate more video use, the stage was reconstructed so it felt more like an auditorium, and carpeting and a fresh coat of paint were added. Fellowship and a sense of community improved after the church built a coffee bar in the lobby and hung pictures to create a more welcoming feel.

Any advice to other churches contemplating similar changes? Weller says, “Anything important is going to deserve your best, so create a budget. Go into it with a spirit of excellence — first impressions are so important.”

Becoming a Difference-Making Church

Asbury United Methodist Church, Little Rock, AR www.asbury-lr.org

Facing a trend of declining attendance and a somewhat insular culture, Pastor Jon Mac Taylor was called to this suburban Little Rock church just over a year ago. “As a 115-year old church, we wanted to retain our tradition without succumbing to traditionalism.”

Giving the Asbury congregation a unifying purpose was his starting point. “We went through a visioning process that helped us understand our DNA. We listened very carefully to God’s whisper for what we’re supposed to be doing,” says Taylor. Out of the visioning meetings, leaders identified that one of the church’s distinctive features is the fact that it’s an extremely friendly and caring church body. The only problem was that all of that caring was focused inward not outward.

Despite a century-long tradition and a prominent building on the hillside, very few people in the community ever heard much about Asbury Church — unless it was time for their annual garage sale. This isn’t just any garage sale, but the biggest of its kind in the community. One elder highlighted the problem with this picture: “I’d have to guess that the most likely perception the community has about Asbury is that we’re the ‘garage sale church.’”

The outcome of this visioning process? A new strategy that heavily emphasizes evangelism and missions, and Dr. Taylor preaches passionately on the church’s call to serve in the community and abroad. “We are fulfilling the vision of a church where each member is a minister — making disciples who are making disciples.”

Branding is playing a major role in achieving the church’s vision. A new logo and tagline seeks to empower and mobilize the congregation: “Asbury — Where You Make a Difference.” And the church reintroduced itself to the community by conveying their core message as a difference-making church.

The strategy is working. Many of the new attendees who have responding are younger families eager to find God and community in a serving-oriented church. To better serve this group, Asbury continues to enhance the contemporary worship service that heavily integrates use of the arts, initiated small groups for singles and career-age people, and beefed up its children’s ministry program. With the new vision and addition of a brand-new pipe organ, Asbury has seen renewed energy to those members who prefer traditional worship, as well as the contemporary service. Asbury has fully embraced the dual worship service format, and continues to differentiate the two services to better meet the needs of different audiences.

Central to Asbury’s communication strategy has been the development of a quality Web site. “If you invest nickels and dimes in outreach, you’ll get nickel and dime results,” warns Taylor. The Internet has been a powerful tool for outreach. Taylor estimates that 80 percent of the communication for Asbury’s outreach events is now online through e-mails and e-vites.

Asbury’s Web site was redesigned to reinforce the new vision. Taylor also wanted to make sure that it reflected the unique identity of the church. “A lot of church Web sites look exactly the same — its like thumbing through the Yellow Pages.” The new site highlights the church’s two types of worship services — traditional and contemporary — and presents information to meet the needs of both audiences.It also features opportunities for members to “make a difference.”

“ Marketing and strategy has helped us get clear on what we’re trying to do and intentional about doing it.” says Taylor.

Elements of a Successful Brand Strategy

A Checklist for Planning Your Brand

1. Who are you called to serve?

Every brand planning exercise should start with this question. It’s not enough to say “the people of XYZ community.” Every community is different and every church within that community has a unique contribution it can make. Understanding whose spiritual needs we are trying to serve should drive all other aspects of the plan.

The first step is to understand the make-up of your congregation and that of your community. How closely are they aligned? If they are not aligned, is that intentional, or does your church need to adjust?

It is also important to consider your church’s culture and how it fits with the particular audience you are seeking to reach outside the church. For example, a pastor who preaches in a beach shirt and sandals will be effective at reaching people in Florida who are more comfortable in a casual environment.

If our purpose is to reach the lost, we need to provide them a place they’d feel welcome. So what groups of people would feel most at home in your congregation? We don’t want to ask people to change who they are in order to go to church.

Knowing your target audience means understanding who they are, how they think, and what their needs are. You will also benefit from knowing their perceptions — both positive and negative — of your church so that you can consider what can be done to leverage or change these perceptions. Finally, try to understand what cultural or demographic changes are underway in your community that will impact whether your church is more or less likely to attract new people over time.

There are a number of ways to answer these questions. Getting help with this from a qualified strategist is recommended if your church has the resources. Generally, the starting point is qualitative research — usually focus groups or facilitated discussions — with members of the church body and the community. It may also be important to collect data through quantitative surveys. Analyzing results of a well-constructed congregational survey as well as census data from your community can provide important insights.

With a clear understanding of your target audience you are ready to proceed to step 2…

2. What is special about your church?

Once you’ve clarified who you are aiming to serve, you then need to define what attributes are unique to your church.
Imagine a new family moves into your neighborhood. Not just any family, but one that fits your target audience. What would be the impression they would most likely have of your church? Would it be accurate? Would it be compelling?

Defining your church’s uniqueness comes out of a discovery process comprised of three building blocks.

1. Mission. Seeking God’s unique purpose for your church in your community is the starting point. While we as churches are all pursuing the same mission at a high level, the plan God has for your particular church is unique. Has your church leadership reviewed the vision and mission statement recently in light of the needs of your community and how you are uniquely called to meet them?

2. Associations. What are the things your church is particularly known for, both by the loyal core and people who have never set foot inside the church? Associations could be programs, events, images, or attitudes that are connected with the church. The most valuable associations to understand are those that translate into benefits for your target audience. What would compel them to visit your church (or avoid it)? Conducting focus groups with both members and prospects is a great way to get at these questions.

3. Your brand persona. What are the cultural or personality characteristics that shape your church’s identity? Imagine if your church were a person. What would be the adjectives you’d use to describe him or her? Developing this carefully honed list is particularly valuable for the creative team that will visually interpret your brand, your logo, Web site, and other communications materials.

Based on a composite of these three building blocks, your church will have a good depiction of its brand uniqueness. Next, we turn to the “how” step in planning your brand …

3. How do you reach your audience?

From the first two stages, you know who you are aiming to serve and what is special about your church. The “how” stage focuses on the execution of your brand.

How well you deliver here will have a direct impact on the number of new people attracted to your church and the positive associations formed in the minds of all audiences. Start by doing a mental audit of your current brand execution against this checklist:

Ensure consistency. Are all the elements of your brand image working together? Your church name, logo, icons, tagline, and overall look-and-feel should reflect your image, and be internally consistent. It is important to remember that everything that touches your audience contributes something; the key is to make sure it positively reinforces the message you want to send. Consistency across all “touch points”… the Yellow Pages ad, signage at the front of the church, bulletin, Web site, etc., creates synergy in communicating your overall image.

Demand excellence. When was the last time you updated your church’s communication materials? Do they convey your desired image with excellence? It is important that your branding is current, professional, and an accurate reflection of your church’s culture. People in your community will make judgments based on the image your church conveys. Since they are exposed to thousands of well-designed images over the course of a day, people today have a finely tuned sense of quality. Not just corporations are projecting a quality image. Most well-run charitable organizations, and even many school systems and municipalities are professionally branded. People instinctively want to align themselves with quality institutions.

Use many channels. Are you currently leveraging the available channels to reach and impact your audience favorably? Media experts will tell you that the greatest impact is a focused messaged delivered through a variety of media. Key vehicles to consider are church signage, building appearance, Web site, invitation cards, direct mail, letters, e-mail, bulletins, brochures, and advertising. But there are many creative ways to make an impact, often at little cost. It may be worth assembling a team to help generate some new ideas.

Your Web site is one of your most strategic communications tools. It is a window into the heart of your church for those wanting to learn more, and an efficient way to connect communities of people within your church. Seekers usually “check you out” by visiting your Web site before making a decision whether or not to attend. Does your site clearly address seekers’ top three questions: 1) Is this a place I’d fit in? (culture, style, theology, etc.); 2) When are services held?; (3) How can I get connected?

Create news. Use special events, sermon series, and major spiritual holidays as occasions to make news in your community. The return on dollars and effort invested in outreach will be significantly higher when there is “news” and a call to action. Some churches decide to “re-brand” their church all at once. If it is executed well, the introduction of a new look across all the touch points creates a powerful impression of excitement and change for the better.
All of this is not just “marketing talk.” Following these steps to develop your brand will help equip your church to bring the gospel to more people and connect them in community with each other, all for the glory of Christ.

Bios

Co-founded by Dawn Nicole Baldwin and Roland Jacobs, AspireOne (www.AspireOne.com) is located in the Chicago area and is comprised of a team of approximately twenty people with broad capabilities from strategy through implementation.

Roland Jacobs, Managing Director of AspireOne, leads the planning team and has served a range of clients from local churches to large global brands. In addition to consulting and corporate training activities, Roland also regularly teaches marketing strategy as a guest lecturer in the MBA programs at Kellogg/Northwestern and University of Chicago. Prior to co-founding AspireOne, Roland was chief marketing officer of Orbitz, the online travel business founded by the airlines, and led the highly successful launch and development of the business. Rolandís marketing career began with The Clorox Company, where he built his marketing skills over 10 years, rising to global category director with marketing responsibility for Clorox products across 33 countries. Roland received an MBA from Harvard and BA from St. Lawrence University. Roland also serves as board chairman of Gift of Adoption Fund Illinois Chapter and is in lay leadership with Willow Creek Community Church.


Dawn Nicole Baldwin, Managing Director and Co-Founder of AspireOne, has spent the last ten years consulting with a wide range of organizations in the areas of marketing and brand development and regularly speaks at conferences nationwide.

Dawn started early as an entrepreneur, founding her first company at age 23 to help organizations with their marketing communications. As a consultant, Dawn has overseen account management for numerous clients undergoing strategic branding changes. For example, she has consulted with Willow Creek over the past six years to conduct customer research and performed a strategic evaluation to guide development of the Willow Creek Association brand and website development. Dawn also recently worked with Wheaton College to develop a strategy for strengthening communications and marketing of the HoneyRock campus. This work included developing a key audience analysis and recommended branding approach, and then overseeing the design and building of the site.

Dawn Nicole was also part of the advertising team for Big Idea Productions (Creators of VeggieTales) where she developed new property launches and campaigns for film releases while building the overall brand equity for Big Idea. Previously, she oversaw visual communications at Willow Creek Community Church, one of the largest churches in the U.S. with weekend attendance exceeding 21,000.