Kingdom Strategist

I was reminded of this by a post I read on Abraham Piper’s blog. Earlier this year, Target introduced a new look for it’s private label, commodity product lines. The brand is called “up&up” and has received a lot of positive attention from the design world.

From a consumer’s perspective, I personally welcomed the change as the new brand distracts me from the reality that we shop at Target because we do not have excess discretionary income and they sell mostly quality products. The new brand really emphasizes the quality of Target’s products when compared to other low-cost competitors (like Walmart or Meijer in the mid-west). The message is clear: “up”; which has a positive connotation (i.e. “Things are looking up.”)

Strategically, the new brand seems like a great concept that aligns with how Target approaches its market. No problem, right?

Look at the new logo upside down:

It’s still a clean, aesthetically pleasing design. But now it says “down”.

Is this catastrophic? No. But the brand message is lost every time Target product gets placed upside down in the consumers home. For me, all I see now is “dn&dn”. Probably not what Target’s marketing team wanted.

As strategists, it’s our job to shine light on the unintended and unexpected by asking “What would this look like from a different angle?”

I am very excited to see this story from the Dallas News.

Barrington is an amazing Kingdom company based out of Dallas with a manufacturing facility in China. I was blessed to get to know them last year and help a little bit as the worked through some organizational development challenges. Here’s how the Dallas News describes Barrington:

The plant is a Chinese anomaly. Barrington pays above-market wages with health insurance and maternity leave. Workers receive financial planning, continuing education and summertime camps for their kids. In a society that shuns the disabled, Barrington hires the physically challenged and invests in orphanages that minister to children with special needs.

“Gil and I run the company based on Christian values where everybody is intrinsically valuable, whether they’re here or in China, able or disabled,” Gowdey says.

It’s such a blessing to see how something so seemingly inconsequential as a piece of luggage can serve not only to carry the Lord’s name before kings (and presidents). But it also serves to multiply the blessings of people on the other side of the world, through employment, increased standard of living, and most importantly through the love of Christ shared with them and demonstrated to them by the efforts of David, Gil, and Ben. To me, this is validation that marketing strategy and business strategy can both be powerful components of our Kingdom strategy.