There are few things people are more fiercely loyal over than their favorite brand of soda, especially here in the south, which is pretty much Coca-Cola country. If you dare serve only Pepsi in your house or restaurant, I know many a friend who won’t even bother setting foot in your establishment.
It’s funny how people get so attached to a brand, even going so far as to tattoo themselves with their favorite drink. This past Wednesday at The Hill, every student claimed to have a preference between Coke and Pepsi and that they could tell the difference between the two. Yet when our students tried a blind taste test, only half correctly guessed which soda was which.
Pushing the experiment even further, we then conducted a triangle taste test on the half of the students who were successful in the first test. In this experiment, each person was given three cups – one with Coke, the other two with Pepsi. The goal was to correctly guess which soda was different than the other two. Out of this experiment, only one student was able to correctly distinguish the drinks.
What do these experiments tell us about our brand loyalty? We say we prefer Coke or Pepsi, but really we can’t even tell the difference between them. (Don’t believe me? Try the experiment yourself. Have a friend give you a blind taste test. If you get that one right, try the triangle taste test. I think you’ll be surprised by the results.)
So if it’s not the taste that connects us so strongly to Coke or Pepsi, what is it? I think it has to be the branding.
Coke and Pepsi are responsible for some of the most recognizable and memorable commercials we have ever seen. You can probably list off 3 or 4 for each product just off the top of your head. Their logos and cans are also instantly distinguishable. These are two of the top brands in the world when it comes to marketing and brand awareness.
It’s no accident that the Coke and Pepsi brands are as well established as they are. These two sodas have done such a good job of weaving their brand message into our everyday lives that many of us are absolutely convinced that we have a favorite soda when in reality most of us can’t pick out which drink is which.
Branding is a vital component of any thriving business. I’ve been thinking a lot about branding in recent weeks as I’ve been tasked with helping to redesign The Hill’s website. As you can see, it’s in dire shape and it has been for a while. I have no idea how to design a website myself, so I’ve been meeting with other local companies to gain ideas and estimates on who can best perform this task for us. One thing in particular that I’ve been thinking about is our brand as a youth group.
A lot of church youth groups have catchy, trendy names for their group. The Hill’s youth group used to be called The Well, which is where the site name for this blog came from. I’ve never really cared for those type of names, so I’ve always just called our group The Hill. But as I’ve been doing so much research on branding lately I started to consider that maybe we could use a logo or some type of branding that we could use on a regular basis. Something that people could see and recognize. Something kind of like this:
The Hill Youth, aka THY. I was just playing with the name The Hill Youth and it struck me that if you put the initials of those words together you get another word, thy. Thy is a simple word, but it holds a powerful context in the scripture. When I, and I think when most of you think of the word “thy”, you think of this passage from Matthew:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done here on earth just as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:9-10)
It’s important for any brand to have a message, and to understand that message. Coke and Pepsi do it remarkably well. I didn’t want to just create a catchy logo or name for The Hill Youth without any message behind it. But I think having the letters THY, and the connotation that the word brings along with it, is a powerful message. Jesus tells us that we should pray for God’s kingdom to come, and God’s will to be done. The word “thy” is a way to say the word “your”, and the “your” in this passage is God. I want The Hill Youth to give ourselves completely over to God, to tell him every day that, “we are Yours”. I want The Hill Youth to see the word THY in our logo or in the bible and have it be a call to give ourselves completely to God.
What separates a good brand from great brand is a brand that takes itself seriously. A brand that is not distracted. A brand that does not send mixed messages. A brand that understands who they are, what they represent, and what they want people to think when they see their logo or hear their name. Think about Apple.
Apple is a company that has established itself as the higher-end, cool, hip brand in personal computers. Even though their computers are more expensive than your typical PC, young people crave, even obsess over Apple products. Whether it’s the iPod, iPhone, iPad, or Macbook, everyone thinks they need to have an Apple product rather than their cheaper equivalent. But are Apple products really that much better than Microsoft or any other brand, or is it just because of the marketing and branding?
Think about how well Apple has branded itself in recent years. They have great commercials that establish their product as a high-end, superior product. You see Apple products strategically placed in many films and television shows. But not just any shows or movies. Apple products are primarily placed and used in shows like “The Office” and movies like “The Social Network”. Movies and shows about smart, upper-class, trendy, hip, fashionable people. You don’t see Apple computers in movies like “Wild Hogs”, and there’s a reason for that.
Apple is very careful about what shows or movies they let their product be seen in. The goal for Apple is that when people see an iPod or Macbook in a movie, they will associate Apple with the financial or popularity status of the person using the product, and thus think that if they have said product, they too can achieve that status.
Apple puts a lot of work, time, and effort into establishing what their brand will represent and what it says to see that glowing Apple logo on your tv screen. Have you ever took the time to consider what it is that you represent? What do people think about when they see you walk across their path? What sort of brand message are you sending?
Whether you realize it or not, the way you live your life sends out a message to all those who know you. So like any good brand, it might serve you well to figure out what sort of message you’re sending – what is your brand? What makes up the product that you send out to the world?
You see, I am the least of His emissaries, not fit to be called His emissary because I hunted down and prosecuted God’s church. Today I am who I am because of God’s grace, and I have made sure that the grace He offered me has not been wasted. I have worked harder, longer, and smarter than all the rest, but I realize it is not me – it is God’s grace with me that has made the difference. (1st Corinthians 15:9-10)
I think this passage that Paul wrote speaks to who we are as God’s people and what we represent as a brand. We don’t deserve to be God’s workers, but we are able to be just that because of God’s grace. Our brand should be a humble one, that is working harder, longer, and smarter than any other brand in doing God’s work of love. That ought to be the brand message that people recognize when they us, and I hope it will be the brand message for THY.
Some people take their commitment to their brand more seriously than others. You can see this in the tattoos at the top of the page. How committed are you to being branded by your faith? What are you doing to advertise and cultivate your brand message? Moses once gave a marketing and branding message to the Israelites, encouraging them to focus on the message they were sending:
“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 7:4-8)
The term brand comes from the mark that farmers put on their cattle and other property. Their specific brand logo would distinguish their animals from anyone else’s, in case they were ever stolen or ran away. The people at the top of the page are so passionate about Coke and Pepsi that they have branded themselves with their favorite soda. What are you passionate about? Is God’s word marked and branded on you?
What do people think of when they think of you? What do you represent? What is your brand message? What do you want it to be? Take some time and write it out. If you want your brand to make an impact, you must take your brand message seriously.
