Watch the “Big Game?”
I’m sure you saw some of the advertising spots, right? The one that got me the most was the Google’s Parisian Love:
The Google Super Bowl commercial reflected my desire to see the church grow in its ability to be more strategic especially in leveraging online tools and platforms.
Here’s what I came up with:
What it was:
- User-Focused: It puts the needs of the user before the desires of the creator.
- Contextualized Content: It listens before it speaks and never shouts.
- Functional: It works and delivers precise results.
- Aggregated: It brings in and breaks down content before the searcher arrives.
I work with Christian and non-Christian college students. Here is how I would “Google-fy” my strategy:
- User-focused: is my ministry welcoming to outsiders? are my students genuinely concerned about the lost?
- Contextualized Content: are we taking the time to hear our students needs, hurts, beliefs before telling them what to think, feel, believe? are we showing them specifically how Jesus saves, redeems, and heals? are we present in the places our students are present, not just physically but online? are we leveraging Facebook, Youtube, and websites to communicate with maximum reach and engagement?
- Functional: does my ministry structure match the mission, vision, and values? are events thought through and strategically placed to move our ministry forward, rather than take up calendar space? do our online properties connect with each other?
- Aggregated: are we learning from our successes and failures? can we make proactive changes so that the next person experiences less of us and more of God.
Where can you Google-fy your strategy?
Here’s another thing it sis: utilized existing resources.
This was a several-month old promotional/help video. Google did not find a need to spend tons of resources to produce new content, they simply refocused existing (excellent) content into a new medium. Sometimes you don’t need to reinvent the wheel.
The biggest thing I learned from the commercial was that it told a story in 30 seconds and it told it very well.
I knew exactly what was going on.
Especially in and of the fact that google did not need to fill in the details. It was almost like they put the idea out there and let you run with it.
I feel like I am working on doing the same thing with projects. Instead of filling in every detail for someone, I am working on giving the idea and letting them fill in the details.
the last point is great kyle. i can certainly grow in that area as well–it would seem like it would not only help me focus in on what’s most important but also allow the user/client/church member to understand where they fit.
The one thing I learned was that they told a story that we’ve all heard before in such a different way that it was interesting.(I’m drawing the connection to religion and preaching).
I may be the only one who this bothered, but they changed the search box color. ???
Check it out yourself – http://google.com
Um… What color was the search box before it was white? It’s white now, and always has been, as far as I can tell…
I loved this ad and I love how you linked it to the church! Well done Mr. Saddington!
I like the comment a first time visitor to our website : “This does not even look like a church”
So User-focused : A1
Contextualized Content: definitely there, leveraging there, but I do not see a complete buy in by role players to participate in the social networks to leverage more.
Functional: a bit static but there is most certainly a match up with what is happening on the ground.
Aggregated: very limited at this stage – what we need to do is to sit down and do one of those SWATs
i think “aggregated” is a huge challenge–especially w a broad and diverse audience.
i asked for feedback on one of my ministry sites and they shared that this was their biggest issue w the site.
I actually really liked that ad, which was a surprise given how much the superbowl hype has annoyed me.
when I saw “Super Bowl Ad” in the title I immediately thought this was going to be Tim Tebow or Mosaic Doritos (neither of which deserved the controversy hype received).
You bring up some good questions of relevance. How do you also balance the Christian message (“its not all about you”) with this ad model (“what can we do for the customer”)? Not saying they are 100% opposed, its just a challenge.
Take Google’s simplicity and brilliance in contrast with all the Bing commercials.
All of Bing’s commercials seem highlight 2 things:
1. Bing is for people who are dissatisfied with Google (how many people are there in that category?)
2. Bing has a cool picture around their search box.