If Starbucks was a Church

this would actually just be useful for any non-profit organization to think about too.

Andrew Sullivan threw it up on his blog but added the caveat "It's all a bit to protestant for my tastes" and well, yeah, it is. Actually I think it could be one of the many Churches Betty Butterfield might visit.

Anyhow, video is a project by this guy he's a very devout protestant with a background in marketing. He has a few posts on his blog about the video, each one pointing out something in the video. He says this about the video in general:

The challenge is, if we think door hangers or websites will solve our marketing problem, then we have a bigger problem. The average church in America has less than a 15% retention rate of first-time visitors. If I owned a pizza parlor and more than 85% of the people who ate there once decided to never come back, I would think a mailer might just kill the business. It would bring people in faster and increase the speed of my demise. I, more likely, need to be working on things like... my recipe, my wait staff, my decor--anything and everything that could increase my retention rate outside of bringing more people in. The principle is stewardship. What are we accomplishing with what God is sending us? If we are not converting that, scripture would reveal that we are not ready for more (Luke 16:10).

It looks like he is still promising more future posts on the video but here are a few of the individual things he points out:

Inconsistent Artwork
Here's a test. How many different versions of the logo did you see in the video? I'll give you a hint... It's more than five.

Reserved for Barista
The "RESERVED FOR..." parking signs did the job that signs do: they expressed value. They said, "These people are important to us." In our video, the visitors were not valued, just the ones who ran the show: the barista, the manager and the manager's wife. Without realizing they were doing it, they were saying with signage that, "These are the preeminent people. This is who we value as an organization."
The hidden statement is that there were no signs for visitors whatsoever. Not parking signs, not welcome signs, not even signs telling them where to enter. Now, I understand that pastor might need a parking sign in order to make sure the service goes off without a hitch. I might suggest that it is near the back entrance, if possible. In our video, it was the only signage visible—saying that the barista (minister) was much more important than the visitor.

Real Men Love Java
“Think this coffee’s hot??” and of course the Starbucks logo eating the Juan Valdez logo. Now, this was not meant to be a cheap shot at all Christian bumper stickers, as bumper stickers are not the issue when it comes down to it. We specifically chose bumper stickers that had a combative undertone