Is DB Breweries crazy? How do they not know a single thing about secondary impressions? How did someone at Saatchi not let them in on the advertising secret that this is a good thing because “it still counts for us”.

The idea of filing a cease & desist (or whatever their “warning for copyright infringement consisted of”) is so old school. It dates back to BEFORE Absolut vodka ads and anything that sounds like “Got Milk?” using the Phenix typeface against black. Those campaigns will live on forever (Milk and Absolut vodka will benefit from secondary impressions for years to come).

Apple would have a whole department commissioned with just tracking down “mac vs. PC” knockoff videos and most of us would be in trouble. Yeah, you know who you are.

Sure, all the church stuff needs to be hashed out. Creative integrity & all that. But if companies are that against having their ads knocked-off, then I have to wonder why the agency isn’t stepping in to talk some sense into them. Or if this is just an uninformed knee-jerk reaction.

The message of Jesus is so much more than a delivery of facts about individual salvation (though, thank God, in Jesus we are saved) – it’s an experience we invite people into in order that they might experience life to the full – life that I guess is ultimately marked by joining in the mission of Jesus in all the colours that entails.

@Cyntada – fundamentally, you’re right, I guess. I personally squirm when I encounter copy cat stuff whether in music or art. Partly cos it’s just not necessary, but largely because it’s not even a good quality copy and just shows lack of originality. It’s kind of like what Tolkein is talking about in some of his Middle Earth back legend, the orcs being not truly a race because their creator didn’t possess the spark of Divine Fire. I think part of the implications of the Gospel is that Jesus is alive, therefore beauty and creativity are holy and sacred things, and we shouldn’t be afraid to discover our own voices and genres in these things.

A final thought – creativity doesn’t have to equal ‘professional’ or ‘equal’ to what the mainstream does. There is a beauty in the amateur art, the different voice or the vulnerable expression of art that can be overlooked when we try and homogenise stuff too much. The difficult bit is to try and balance this communal beauty with the idea of marketing, where to a certain extent, there are levels and standards we ought to conform to in order to be taken seriously.

As always – it’s God in the tensions.

Do we really think the viewer will want to know Him because my T-shirt says Jesus Christ instead of Coca-Cola? As if someone would think: “Hey, Coca Co… no, Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ! I thought it was Coke, but it really says JESUS! Now THAT’S what I wanted to hear about, not soda pop! Yay!” Please. Most folks probably just decide that the T-shirt is not only offering something they’ve already rejected a thousand times before, it also got their mouth watering over the thought of soda pop, then delivered something unwanted. That’s disappointing, not enlightening.

When did Jesus ever bait-and-switch us like that? None of us were tricked into following Him, so why would we then imagine that tricking others is a great introduction to His character? And if we’re not to love the world or anything in it, why are we using that very thing to attract others to what we believe in?

I wonder, do you think that Christians should freely use 4 letter words … perhaps making them common place? Or tell me, what do you think is a good age for when a person can both know the original meaning of the word “sucks”, and use it? Legal drinking age?

Great music and cool signs will tell the hopeless sinner …what? That Christians can be fun? That God isn’t boring? And that will lead them to salvation? How about a billboard that says “Taste the Living Water and never thirst again.” “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
My question is, are you trying to market your church, or the Gospel?

“The gospel is offensive, to be sure, but that doesn’t mean that we have to be.”

Well, yes, we should be. ” Our lives are a fragrance presented by Christ to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those being saved and by those perishing. To those who are perishing we are a fearful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved we are a life-giving perfume.” 2 Cor.2 Are we not told that the Gospel is a stumbling block to those who are perishing? Are we not promised to be persecuted for the sake of the Gospel? If we are living the Gospel, preaching the Gospel, then we will be sweet to some, and offensive (putrid even) to others.

It is God who does the “marketing”. We are to be loving, and giving, and forgiving…. much more so than the world. We are to be holy and set apart and our lives should show this…”marketing”. However, when it comes to church? People, believers, come to church to grow in Christ. Period. For instance, I wish my church had better music… and A.C. it doesn’t. I’ll pray for those things. What my church does have are a lot brothers and sisters who love God and His Word. People who reach out to all those in need in and out of the Church. Our pastor expounds so on the Word that we have been in the book of Mark for 7 months and have just now reached Chap. 6… This is why I’m there. I try and live my life in such a way that shows the non-believer, not that I’m hip and cool (even thoguh I may fancy myself those things =) ) but that I have something they NEED. Not something they want… because no one wants God. No. Not. One.

I think that you’ve got the wrong idea about what is and what isn’t marketing. Marketing isn’t about becoming just like the culture. Marketing is using methods to convey meaning. Marketing is a tool that the church already uses: the church bulletin, mailers, marquees, etc. I drive past tons of churches that attempt to use humor on their marquee (“Welcome to CH CH. What’s missing? UR.”) I don’t think that any reasonable person would see that and think that said church must be subverting the gospel and belittling the suffering and death of our savior to nothing more than a joke.

In fact, the above example is the reason why this website exists. A church is always marketing itself, every minute of every day. What remains, then, is whether they are going to choose to be intentional about it, and try to use this tool for the glory of God, or whether they’ll continue using the same ugly clip art, cheesy sayings, and bad fonts to convey the most important truth known to man.

Marketing isn’t only about communications tools (websites, postcards, church-front banners, etc.). It’s also about concentrating on how the general public views the church. The gospel is offensive, to be sure, but that doesn’t mean that we have to be. And we should be mindful of why more people aren’t interested in church. If it’s because we all dress up in stodgy suits and sing tired hymns and listen to one more message about tithing, we probably need to repent of the ways that we are allowing the world to market us. The gospel of Christ is exciting and life-changing, and we should present it as such.

And pointing to the allowances of Christian parents does not prove your point on the word ‘sucks.’ Most Christian parents probably wouldn’t allow their children to see ‘Saving Private Ryan,’ but that doesn’t mean that it’s inappropriate. And if there was a child that was perusing this site, I say he’s probably mature enough to understand the difference between the one use of ‘sucks’ and the other.

Grace and peace.