The meeting began with opening remarks and prayer given by President Clyde Kilough. Afterwards, Brian Shaw, assistant pastor of the Chicago, Illinois, congregation and project manager of the Church's Branding Task Force, followed with a description of the day's agenda and focus points for the workshop.

Mr. Shaw said the purpose was "to gain a clearer understanding of our critical essence" so the Church can "better distinguish the message of the true gospel and the persona of the Church amidst all the religious clutter we face today." He went on to explain, "Critical essence, or brand essence, is a clear articulation of the heart and soul of an organization—its fundamental nature or quality. Typically expressed in two to three words or a phrase, a company's critical essence becomes the one prevailing constant across all product categories in all markets.

It sets all boundaries and guides all initiatives, integrating and unifying all communications, every business practice and all representatives of the organization.

"Today we begin the process of boiling down the critical essence of the United Church of God, so we can express who we are and the message God has assigned us to deliver with crisp, vivid meaning, both internally and externally."

Research Results

Prior to the workshop, which took place in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, Northlich reviewed existing UCG marketing materials, previous research and the Strategic Plan.

They also conducted online surveys of 898 members and nonmembers (Good News subscribers) to research the perception that both groups have of the United Church of God. The results were very encouraging. The top four themes that those surveyed said were unique to the United Church of God were our doctrinal integrity and authenticity, our focus on promoting direct relationships with God while taking care of our members, our unique doctrine and our strong media presence and outreach.

What was also revealing was that the results of both groups—members and nonmembers alike—tended to mirror each other. For example, 98 percent of UCG members surveyed said they felt they had a direct relationship with God, compared to 90 percent of nonmembers. The same trend held true for a variety of other surveyed questions.

"We expect that [by] exploring and defining ourselves more concisely through this branding exercise we will align our communication efforts, help more clearly define our direction and improve our organizational culture," said Linda Register, a member of the Cincinnati, Ohio, East congregation and marketing consultant who is on the Branding Task Force.

"It will create positive momentum for the work of the Church. Once we have demonstrated that we deliver on the promise symbolized by our brand, we will gain the trust of our audiences. This should be a positive step in attracting potential members called by God."

Revealing UCG's Brand Essence

In his presentation, Brian Newberry, Northlich brand engagement manager, explained that a brand essence is important because it provides a long-term aspirational direction for the brand. It unifies people's experiences across all contact points, provides a source of inspiration for innovation and growth and builds synergy.

He went on to say that a brand essence is not created but revealed, since it's already at the heart of the organization. During the course of the intensive eight-hour workshop, Mr. Newberry and his team facilitated various group exercises to reveal what key attributes make the United Church of God unique among the 38,000 Christian denominations in the world.

Exercises included discovering current positive and negative attributes of the United Church of God, identifying characteristics of segments of our target audience, discussing the reasons to believe United can meet expectations and determining descriptions of how the Church should be perceived by the public.

"For me, I felt the most helpful exercise was trying to concisely express the benefits we believe our message can offer. The facilitators referred to these benefits as the 'promises' we make to those we reach," commented ABC instructor David Johnson.

"The brand essence meeting was not only insightful and informative but also challenging and fun," said UCG media producer Clay Thornton. "During the workshop portions I liked moving from table to table with each exercise to interact with a whole new group of people." Philip Aust, a member of the Atlanta, Georgia, congregation and associate professor of communications at Kennesaw State University, said, "I thought the branding workshop was valuable for three reasons: First, it helped clarify what is unique about the United Church of God. Second, it reinforced how much workshop participants were in agreement regarding God's truth. And third, it distinguished the challenges and opportunities of reaching people in the U.S. and around the world in an age of rapidly changing technology."

He went on to say that it was "inspiring to see how participants, who in many cases had not met before the workshop and were different in so many ways (male and female, age, ethnic background, career), were unified in spirit as they worked to improve how UCG presents itself to the public."

Mr. Aust also related that he was "surprised and pleased that Northlich team members recognized our passion to act as guardians of God's truth in terms of our desire to reach people who have no knowledge of God's Kingdom and righteousness."

What's Next?

With the data collected through its surveys and through the workshop, Northlich will now generate a full report of their research to the Branding Task Force with several recommended essence statements.

They will then test these essence statements by surveying our audience (members and GN subscribers) to find out which statements resonate the most with what the United Church of God is and what it does.

The task force will then work with Northlich to narrow down options before presenting them to the Council of Elders. "We're trying to fulfill the strategy in our Strategic Plan that requires us to 'communicate who we are and what we do to increase audience awareness of the benefits of God's way,'" said Peter Eddington, production manager for Media and Communications Services. "We're not trying to change our message.

We're trying to find the most effective way to proclaim it.

"Now we're asking Northlich to help us distill that into an essence statement."

The entire process is expected to be completed sometime early next year. UN