evan mcbroom THE OTHER SIDE of the boat

Power of a funny word

Sometimes you just gotta shake the word box a little to grab attention.  Here is a Facebook post of mine from earlier this week:

Me: Jumped back on #LoseIt bandwagon. 14lbs to drop before @IndyMonumental half marathon. LoseIt makes it simple, but never easy.

My friend Kathi Moore commented: What is that? I'd run the @IndyMonumental nikked if I could lose 14 lbs first! hahahahaha

"Nikked!"  Oh, I loved it.  It was so very unexpected and funny, and goofing up the spelling made it even better.  The word totally grabbed my attention.  It reminded me of the power of words and the exceptional power of funny words.  What are you writing today and that can you funny up to gain more attention.

PS: you can follow Kathi at http://twitter.com/mediakath

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)