Christian Entertainment Branding 101

What is your brand?  Who tells you what your brand is?  Who manages your brand?  If you (as the artist, band, or entertainer) call yourself the “best ________ in the game”, will your followers grab ahold of that tag as your brand?  If only it were that easy…

Christian Entertainment Branding 101: you do not determine your brand.  Your followers determine your brand for you.  In his blog Personal Development for Smart People, Steve Pavlina explains the branding process as, “out of one’s control.”  Think about it.  You’re a Christian.  You perform “clean entertainment” with just enough edge to appeal to the secular industry.  Your goal is to set a trend that corrals Generation X into jumping aboard the movement of clean entertainment in hopes that you (as the Christian entertainer) will lead them to Christ.  You want the support of the Christian entertainment industry.  But what’s the problem?  You are capturing the attention of the secular industry.  Your “Christian act” has now branded you as a secular entertainer.  This artistic approach is not entirely wrong, though.  But if you’re attempting to have total support of Christian followers and the Christian entertainment sector, you’ll have to revisit what your main mission is and strategically set a plan on how to accomplish the mission.  Are you clearly spreading the message of Christ?

Phil Cooke wrote a blog entry called, The 10 Biggest Mistakes Made by Christians in Entertainment.  Wowsers, right?  I mean—get straight to the point, why don’t ya!  The entry is spot-on though.  Cooke doesn’t deny the Believer’s impact on the entertainment industry.    In fact, he completely supports my industry prospective that Christians have the duty of putting our personal thumbprints on the industry.  There should be no question that we are Believers with a deliberate attempt to shake the industry up.  Cooke’s concern, however, is the unprepared Christian that wants to make their mark on the industry.

Of the 10 mistakes Cooke addresses one that Christian entertainers habitually overlook: poor branding.  Cooke encourages Christian entertainers to know, understand, and comprehend the importance of branding.  It’ll either work for you or against you.  A brand is an influence.  Influences create perceptions.

At the end of the day, entertainers do not have the ability to create their brand.  Christian entertainers are no different.  They do, however, have total control over the way they influence their followers.  A film director cannot tell the viewer that the movie will be a great movie.  (No matter how much the director believes in their work.)  The viewer determines if the film was a good one, or not.  The director, can, however, direct the artistic aspect of the film and guide the actors to act with conviction.  Actors that act with certainty have the ability to influence viewers. 

An influenced follower can be the biggest mouthpiece for a Christian artist, band, or entertainment group.  How are you influencing your audience?  Are you clearly delivering the message you want your audience to leave with?  Are your followers now inspired to change?  How are you directing your brand?