Jan
20
Mike Silliman linked to this video which imagines what it would be like if Starbucks marketed like the church.
Disturbing. Dangerously disturbing.
Check it out, feel free to comment on how you are challenged by it.
Tags: Church Marketing, Commercialism, Starbucks
Yeah I have seen this before and I think it really takes jabs at existing churches and trends that are going on. It has humour as its vehicle but this just kinda bothers me deep down.
Let’s pray this is not a path that is continued on.
i’m denser than mercury, so i have to admit i didn’t really get the point.
is it mocking churches that are trying to conduct/market themselves like a coffeehouse?
is it calling for us to conduct/market ourselves like a coffeehouse?
is it suggesting that we should be a little more subdued, timid, vague about issues of passion and conviction so that visitors do not think we are fanatics?
or is it showing how foolish it would be if things like coffee carried the same level of passion as the Great Commission?
is it not supposed to make a point but simply be funny?
…what were your thoughts?
What I took away was looking at how evangelical churchianity appears from the outside in some cases, through new eyes.
It isn’t telling us to market like Starbucks – it is telling us that if Starbucks used approaches to marketing that many churches do, it would look like this – which I think is pretty bad.
That’s not to say that there wasn’t some exaggeration going on. There was. But with a point. I ask myself after watching this, “Why do we do what we do? Is what we do offending or standing in the way of the Gospel?”
I think in particular of the custom of asking people to fill out a contact form. Are we too pushy with grabbing contact information? Does that scare people off? Or do we have the right balance?
That is just one example of what I think this video can be used for – to make you ask questions you never thought to ask about what you do at church.
I had one thought after watching this… What if the scenario was just slightly tweaked – that the new couple had a friend with them who had been there before, told them how awesome it was, introduced them to people and knew all the ins and outs. I think the whole situation would play itself out entirely differently.
I think that’s the real key to any church – the people who go there have to be sold on it, invite others and walk with them through the newness of it. ANY social group environment will be strange to someone who hasn’t been there before. All marketing can do is pique interest – it can’t make people feel at home.