The Church of England is “spectacularly bad” at forging a successful media and comms strategy according to Communard-turned-cleric Richard Coles, who believes his denomination falls down particularly when it tries to adapt too much to the modern marketing.
The reverend told The Drum that he believes it to be ironic that the CoE’s communications aren’t as effective as they should be considering Christianity has been specialising in that field for the last two millennia.
“I think partly there’s a weirdness about the church that doesn’t translate very readily into the kind of vocabulary, language and grammar of modern marketing – but I quite like that,” he said. “I think when the church really gets it wrong is when it tries to adapt itself to that a little too readily – you get the baseball cap, skateboarding vicars thing which is very rarely successful.”
But there are opportunities for the church to take, particularly in today’s world where every day social and political anxieties can be alleviated – or at least better understood – by looking through the religion’s “challenging” and “very angled” lens.
"I think the interesting thing about reinvention is how many people experience that need at some point in their lives. Once they’ve established themselves in one career all of a sudden there’s this very powerful impulse to do something different while you have the chance – it seems like a very common experience.
“It’s just a question of finding a way to do that which is honest and has integrity but also has something kind of edgy about it too,” Coles said.
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The reverend told The Drum that he believes it to be ironic that the CoE’s communications aren’t as effective as they should be considering Christianity has been specialising in that field for the last two millennia.
“I think partly there’s a weirdness about the church that doesn’t translate very readily into the kind of vocabulary, language and grammar of modern marketing – but I quite like that,” he said. “I think when the church really gets it wrong is when it tries to adapt itself to that a little too readily – you get the baseball cap, skateboarding vicars thing which is very rarely successful.”
But there are opportunities for the church to take, particularly in today’s world where every day social and political anxieties can be alleviated – or at least better understood – by looking through the religion’s “challenging” and “very angled” lens.
"I think the interesting thing about reinvention is how many people experience that need at some point in their lives. Once they’ve established themselves in one career all of a sudden there’s this very powerful impulse to do something different while you have the chance – it seems like a very common experience.
“It’s just a question of finding a way to do that which is honest and has integrity but also has something kind of edgy about it too,” Coles said.
Subscribe & Follow The Drum
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheDrumReel
Website: http://www.thedrum.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedrumpage
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedrum
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedrummag
Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/thedrum/
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