Combining Religion And Your Brand

[Chris Soucy]

I second Shaun's comment about feeling creepy when entities affiliate themselves to anything apparently totally unrelated to their business.

I often drive past a small computer repair shop whose name escapes me but whose motto doesn't - "Computing with a Christian perspective". Every time I see it, the same thought goes through my mind "What could they possibly mean by such a statement and do I really want to know? Nope, I don't think I do".

Which possibly explains why I can't remember the name of the business despite seeing it at least every other day for >5 years!

Then I spotted this and realised we were discussing something else entirely from what I thought we were:

..........I am not Jewish

Eeerm, um, you what? To quote the great John McEnroe "You cannot be serious?".

Why do I get a "just veered into the Twilight Zone" feeling about that statement?

Discussing the ethics/ business sense in announcing your affiliation to a club/ group is one discussion, but discussing the ethics/ business sense in announcing an apparent affiliation to a club/ group of which YOU ARE NOT A MEMBER is a totally different animal altogether.

Why, in the name of Zeus, would you even think of going there?

Solidarity is all well and good, but from my personal perspective hitching yourself to a group when you are not even a member seems to be pushing the ethical boundary way past any reasonable elastic limit and risks alienating prospective punters from both sides of the coin.

I'd give that a serious pass and just stick to the videography. Let your work show your solidarity if you must, it will stand or fall on its merits, but don't proclaim it from the roof tops with your business name.

Just my 2 cents.


CS

[Scott James Walter]

Thanks everyone for the advice! I will seriously consider it.

As a sidenote, the Herbrew language is a wonderful language that has words untranslatable in English. I don't think it by any means belongs to people of Jewish faith. However, if a name like "Shober Studios" implies that I am Jewish to everyone, that's really all the matters: people's opinions, not what I think should be conveyed. I am not trying to market to people of the Jewish faith specifically while not being Jewish, Chris (at least that wasn't my intent). Just want to clear that up!

Again, thanks for the feedback. It's very enlightening!

[Dave Blackhurst]

Not sure the implications of implying you're something if you're not... seems like it could lead to complications? Or a career in politics...

[Robert Benda]

Scott, as a rube, I would have thought 'Shober Studios' meant your name was Shober, or that you work for someone named Shober..

[Scott James Walter]

Dave,

I am not implying that I am Jewish anywhere intentionally. But, if using a Hebrew word implies that, then that's important to know. Just to straighten things out politically and to notify everyone that I am not trying to buy into a religious market with my brand, I am Christian, not Jewish. Sorry about any confusion that I caused. I was trying to ask questions from a business perspective whilst trying to ignore the semi-elephant in the room (baby elephant?) and it seems I have failed, haha.

Robert,

That's what I figured everyone would suspect but I think based on the good feedback I received I will try to think of a different name.

[Robert Benda]

Scott, I've always been a fan of being my own brand. If you have no intentions of expanding or having employees who will go out on their own, just use your name, like most photographer's do. I used to, before we added videographry with my wife, and I still kind of might flip back to just my name.

It's got the advantage of having clients only need to remember one name, yours, rather than two: your name and your company.