Client
St. Kea
Rather than just preach to the converted, this church in Cornwall was determined to appeal to a new sector of the community.
The Reverend Adrian Hallett, Vicar of St. Kea, Cornwall, came to ASHA & Co with his wish for a new approach: "I want to take back what is ours; to be a church with a purpose and relevance in our community – I want to be heard again." Our solution set the standard for a new tone of voice within the Christian community.
We convinced the vicar that it would take a lot more than a new logo to make the Church truly relevant – and so emerged a more comprehensive positioning idea to close the gap between the Church and the secular world – ‘The Business of Life’. We confronted a number of nagging stereotypes, which, whether the Church likes it or not, define it in the secular world. In using wit to re-appropriate profanity as a ‘registered trademark of God’s Kingdom since BC’, the concept was born.
We took commonly used, blasphemous sayings and phrases to create the core tone of voice. A signature range of familiar items was designed to which these were applied. By re-affirming the phrases’ origin through the use of a ‘registered trademark’, we created ownership of common language and resurfaced the idea of the Church’s relevance in our daily lives.
These items became a unique merchandising range: the St. Kea Collection. Ultimately, the tone of voice sought to convey the sense of the spiritual in the everyday, bringing the word of God out from the conventional, stuffy church environment and into people’s lives.
The treatment was such a departure from the norms of Church communication that it caused some controversy in religious circles, whilst attracting mainstream media attention.
The St. Kea branded merchandise created enormous interest (even being featured on ITV’s Richard & Judy), the way the tone of voice had been brought to life was changing the conversation around religion, generating intrigue from the secular community as well as shifting perceptions within the Church.
The new brand identity rolled out across all church materials from appointment cards through to stationery. Every touchpoint carried the new tone of voice, helping to unite all of the church’s internal and external activities.
We were keen to enable the church to communicate in a dynamic, nimble way. Fridge magnets gave a place in the home for the St. Kea weekly newsletters. Newsletter templates were developed for the church team to use on their home PCs. Named ‘Fresh News’, the newsletters followed the direct tone of voice using strong, succinct headlines.
The brand we created for St. Kea had a far wider reach than we originally envisaged, setting the narrative for other Christian organisations keen to reach out to new, younger audiences. The work not only put St. Kea back on the map but established the standard for a new way of communicating within the Christian community.
I am truly excited about our new identity at St. Kea. It is also a communication strategy that works verbally as well as visually in all areas of our communication, inside and outside the church community.
God is very clearly in the business of our lives. As his people we seek to reflect his heart and share his concerns, ‘The Business of Life’ encapsulates who we are and what we’re about.
Adrian Hallet – Vicar of St. Kea
