Friday January 20, 2006

God is My Cosponsor

Here’s a new term for the marketing lexicon: “God-branding.” For example, Biola University—a Christian school in La Mirada, Calif.—recently helped market The Chronicles of Narnia with ticket giveaways and an ad on the school’s website. In The Chronicle of Higher Education (sub. required for full text) Rob Westervelt, Biola’s director of brand management, traces the idea to the Bible. “In Ecclesiastes, Solomon is quoted as saying, ‘Notice the way God does things and fall into line,’” he says. “And that’s kind of God-branding in a nutshell.” He formally defines the term this way:

Co-branding is when two companies partner together in their marketing efforts. God-branding, for us, is when an organization partners its marketing efforts with what God is doing in the world. We see The Chronicles of Narnia as sharing our values.

No word on whether or not it will share the box office.

[Thanks, Alexandra!]