Bland Christianity: The Secular Marketing Strategies of Urban Church Plants

ABSTRACT This article analyzes how the recent marketing campaigns of three Boston church plant communities reflect the straight-forward design style of direct-to-consumer “blands,” like Harry’s razors or Casper mattresses. While this hip and simple approach has brought success to companies looking to stand out in an over-saturated ad market, this article centers on the challenges for churches to evangelize through minimalistic, bland design. These three churches envision a personalized, comforting, less institutional version of Christianity with messages like “Love. Jesus. Simple.” At the same time, this simple and individualistic message obscures the denominational affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention and the promotion of Bible-based teachings, traditional gender roles, and conservative sexual ethics. While the return on investment of these ads is unclear, I propose that these marketing campaigns represent a contemporary “city on a hill” approach, to use the oft-cited phrase from Puritan John Winthrop. In a similar manner to how the 17th Century Puritans broadcast their triumphs through printing, these churches publicize their apparent success in planting Christian communities in secular Boston.