evan mcbroom THE OTHER SIDE of the boat

Extending the church brand into childrens ministry

Kudos to Kingsway Christian Church.  With an already solidly established brand presence on Indy's western suburbs, they have extended the brand identity to their first major ministry.  At Fishhook, we call this a sub-brand - a separate, weighty brand that is connected to the parent through the visual identity, communication and brand experience.

This branding includes the development of a new mark, specific for Kingsway Kids with a strong tie to the overall corporate mark and a twist as the corporate tag line (real - passionate - truth) plays out to describe the Kingsway Kids experience (real - fun - truth).

Much more than just the logo, the sub-branding is part of a larger overall effort to

• increase the visibility of Kingsway's Childrens Ministry (renamed Kingsway Kids)
• improve the connection, communication and collaboration with parents and volunteers
• celebrate how God is at work through Kingsway Kids and more

Kingsway mobilized multiple staff and lay teams to tackle various aspects of the project and Fishhook was honored to collaborate on this major, multi-month effort of research, creative development and implementation.  You can check out some of the streamlined communication tools at the Kingsway Kids area of the Web site.  Check out the videos and High Five newsletter.  

Here are just a few lessons we learned and/or principles we applied in doing this work:

1. It's better for a church to be a "branded house" than a "house of brands."  We see this best in the corporate world.  Disney is a branded house - a strong tie across their sub-brands (Disney World, Disney Land, Disney Stores, Disney Cruise Line, etc.) Procter & Gamble is a house of brands (Tide, Bounty, IAMS, Crest). Design the identity of your ministry brands and your overall church brands to support each other.
2. Parents and volunteers want one place to go to get informationabout classes, lessons, events and the assignments...especially if they have multiple aged children in the ministry.
3. Stories move people. If your ministry has a story to tell, give it a place to tell it.  The newsletter and Web site will become the place to share stories and resources will be directed to help tell the stories. 

Congrats Kingsway and Kingsway Kids! (and thanks for letting us be part of the fun...I mean work)  

Proud of Janie!

I lifted this off of Matt Mehaffey's post today.  He's reflecting on this weekend at The Pursuit Christian Church in South Florida. Matt writes...

Great crowd yesterday.  Both the auditorium and the Kids City area were nearing capacity. 

After the Celebration Service, we invited the church over to our house for Yuleima's baptism.

A bunch of people accepted our invitation and cheered on Yuleima as she was baptized in our hot tub! 

It was also really special for me to watch Janie baptize her. Very proud of her.

Matt, I'm with you - the whole team up here is proud of Janie (and of you).  You have a great wife and partner in ministry.  I am so grateful to you both for figuring out how to include Fishhook as just one of her God-sized ministries.  God is making a big impact through her in South Florida and WAY beyond!

Simplicity in Design...I missed it. But I got it.

Last week we had a gathering of the Indianapolis Communication Directors Roundtable at the Fishhook office.  As you can see from the photo...we squeezed 'em in.  I was looking forward to this meeting, as our own Jenn Stump was talking about "Less is More: Simplicity in Design."  I however, was out of town and missed it.  I really wanted to hear Jenn's presentation.  She's sharp and I can learn a lot from her.  Although I missed it, upon my return I found this flip chart on the wall with the essence of her talk.  I don't understand it all, but I get some of it.  Especially #1

Thanks Jenn!

Girls Gone...What?

I'm not sure even how to describe this...but something happened today that is sort of indescribable.  Perhaps unbelievable.  In some circles unrecoverable.  But here.  Today.  It's all OK.

Imagine my wonder when I received an email from a very good friend and major client (in that order I hope) who was informing me (in his usual wit-filled-way)  that my most recent podcast/video blog was...well...let's say "amiss."  How was it amiss?  Apparently (and at this moment a colleague of my friend/major client, was calling on the phone to confirm that the email was, in fact, not a joke, but completely factual.  Yes, something was quite wrong with my podcast. 

Apparently, as I was learning, following my 90 second video message, the streaming video hosting service (which we were "trying out" on our own stuff before considering it for clients) was slapping a video commercial at the end of my message.  And what was the product being promoted in the commercial that played EVERY TIME at the end of my message?  Drum roll...and I am not making this up.

  "Girls Gone Wild at the Best Bar in America"

Yes, in all it's barely "censored" glory, there were drunk college-aged girls cavorting about...right after I was inviting people to join my company in supporting a new church plant.  I'm sorry?  Did I get that right?  Girls Gone What?  Crap!  Sorry to say it her in my blog, but there is no other word to express it. 

So, what ensued?  I'm pleased with my response and thrilled with the response of my team.

1. I made a quick call, reported the problem and within minutes the thing was fixed.  (moved to another streaming service).

2. I offered up a quick, clear, self-effacing message to thank the friend/client for letting us know about the problem.

3. spent the afternoon (nervously) laughing as our team and his team traded email jabs and zingers back and forth - testifying to the depth, transparency and quality of these relationships.

4. let my team know that I value them all as professionals, as people who are self-aware and as people sharp enough to learn our own lessons (I have lots of lessons to learn myself) and we extend grace, appreciate wisdom and maintain a good sense of humor!

Oh, I'm sure I'll get lots of mileage out of this story.  Glad it happened to us and not to a client.  Technology is risky.  Trying new vendors is risky.  Taking risks is important - it's how we move ahead. 

Oh...what a day.

 

Hook Me Up!

Hundreds of people stopped by the Fishhook booth at MinistryCom and said, "Hook Me Up!" You can still get hooked . . . check out the Fishhook website for details.

something different - something fun

I just got off of a conference call with my friend and Fishhook strategic partner - Todd Adkins.  We were on the phone with one of our clients.  We're developing a super hero for them.  It was a really fun conversation - pure dreaming/character development.  This isn't the final guy - he's a work in progress.  I like this new super hero.  He's confident.  Honest.  Talented.  He's got a good heart.  Huh.  The same could be said for Todd!  It's a joy to work with a good team.