"We never set out to build a brand. Our goal was to build a great company, one that stood for something, one that valued the authenticity of its product and the passion of its people.
...we're creating something new. We're expanding and defining the market. We didn't set out to steal customers from Folgers or Maxwell House...
Starbucks build up brand loyalty one customer at a time...by word of mouth, with patience and discipline, over a period of years, you can elevate a good local brand to a great national brand - one that remains relevant to individual customers and communities for years.
The most powerful and enduring brands are built from the heart...their foundations are stronger because they are built with the strength of the human spirit, not an ad campaign."
Patience...one customer at a time...period of years...are not phrases I am prone to use or be excited about. I want it big, fast, now, and fast...did I already say fast? :-)
What is now a global icon started as a small coffee roaster in Seattle, WA. Starbucks harnessed the energy of passionate, discerning coffee drinkers by offering them the most authentic product they had ever seen or tasted. They weren't competing with Folgers and Maxwell House because the Starbucks product was entirely different - high quality, dark roast, bold taste, 100% pure. Those passionate, discerning coffee drinkers quickly became coffee evangelists and shared the story one to another.
What does an authentic expression of Jesus and His church look like in your city? How can you connect with Jesus-followers who really do love Jesus and really do want to see their friends and their city fall in love with Him? If you can create an authentic product and invite them in to help create it while they are experiencing it, you're well on your way to seeing your "brand" take off, one evangelist at a time. The most powerful moves of God in history started with one and spread to another.
The problem is that it takes time and the competitor in you and me wants to trump the system and draw a crowd. :-) But, in doing so, authenticity runs the risk of being compromised and the "one customer at a time" evangelism will stop.
In our short time in Columbia, God has given us increasing clarity on what He has called us to do. It's different...way different than anything I would have ever dreamed. But, as He intersects us with passionate, discerning believers, they literally ignite right in front of our eyes with passionate enthusiasm for what could be and should be. They want to know about websites, blogs, anything that we have that they can pass on to friends. It's scary, really, because it's almost out of my control...almost because I still have the enormous responsibility to ensure we remain authentic to what God has called us to.
I have no idea where this will all wind up in Columbia, but it's exciting now. And, in what can only be an act of the Holy Spirit at work in me, I am totally okay going one step at a time, one conversation at a time, one day at a time.
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