Brand Consistency - How Do You Brand A Church?
Original post released on Tumblr in 2013.
A week ago I posted a photo of this church near my place (which basically referenced The Rockafeller Skank). But that did not do them enough justice. The Melbourne Welsh Church deserves an honorable mention as a case study for brand consistency.
Now to start off, your brand is not what you think it is, your brand is what other people think it is.
It would be good if they all think about the same thing when they hear your name.
It would be great if they all think about the same positive thing.
Basically you have one positive message, and you want everyone to hear it, remember it, agree with it, and recall it when needed (e.g. “X likes cats very much”). You don’t want to confuse people with many contradicting messages and mixed signals (e.g. “X seems to like cats, but last time we went out she told a story of her eating a kitten. and she joked about having dead cats in her freezer. then she said nyan nyan. what does it all mean??”). To achieve consistency, the easiest way is to repeat your message at any opportunity you have (e.g. screaming “I like cats” into your friends’ ears whenever you see them).
Think of the best brands in the world. Chances are, their messages are loud and clear. Just Do It. Because You’re Worth It. The Ultimate Driving Machine.
Now, the great brands go above repeating the same message. They create patterns.
Let’s look at the case of the Melbourne Welsh Church. It’s on La Trobe St. I walk pass it almost every single day, and almost every single day they have something completely different on the sign in front. The sign always says something I find funny. They would comment on current events such as the American presidential election; just the other day all they said was “42?”.
Over the course of many months, I find that this church has established its place in my mind as an awesome brand: cheeky, different, and friendly. If I needed to attend a church, I would go here.
Here are a few more examples:
Recently I notice that they put up a different page from their Advent Calendar every other day, and it makes a coherent story if you follow it (although each of the page makes sense on their own). I also notice that I’m curious to see how the story progresses. So kudos to you, Welsh Church of Melbourne.
And have I mentioned that they have a website, a Facebook account, a blog, a Twitter account that is as cheeky as a guy who just got some? Look at the list of people it follows.
Like for reals.