Advertising of charismatic churches a case study of two churches in Ghana

Abstract

Religious organisations, particularly charismatic churches have resorted to marketing communication activities in the competitive environment. Given this competition, there are concerns about how churches could sustain their existence and operations especially with the emergency of many new religious groups. Consequently, research that provides insight into branding and advertising of churches including charismatic churches has become important to academic and marketing communication practitioners. This study attempted to address this gap by exploring the advertising strategies used by Perez Chapel International and the Qodesh Family Church in branding their identities and images to position their churches to audiences using qualitative research and approach and multiple case study. Underpinned by Kapferer’s Hexagonal Identity Prism and brand position theory, this study adopted a qualitative research approach using interviews and document analysis to collect data to analyse how Perez Chapel International and Qodesh Family Church utilise advertising strategies in branding their charismatic churches. The findings provide support for the churches’ brand service identities, which comprises of six facets: physique, personality, relationship, reflection, culture, and self-image. In ascertaining the purposes and how advertising strategies are deployed by the two charismatic churches, this study revealed that Perez Chapel International (PCI) and Qodesh Family Church (QFC) used various marketing communication activities especially advertising to promote their brands, which reflect models and practices. The findings show that Perez Chapel International (PCI) and Qodesh Family Church (QFC) used similar approaches, strategies, and channels in positioning their brands to attract many stakeholders especially congregants to their churches. However, the two churches have to improve their marketing and advertising efforts in professional ways given the springing up of many new churches in Ghana to uniquely distinguish in situations to maintain share of audiences.