Branding and Religion

1925 saw one of the great Canadian rebrandings. Three formerly independent protestant denominations merged together to form the United Church of Canada. (A similar process took place in 1977 place in Australia where the merged churches formed the Uniting Church of Australia.)

This merger and the subsequent rebranding was a response to small market share of the individual churches and the high fixed costs of clergy and buildings. A reduced number of larger congregations, especially in small towns where all three denominations had buildings and clergy, would result in more vibrant religious communities and a more sustainable business model.

So; the Methodists, Congregationalists, and Presbyterians merged and formed the United Church of Canada. You still see evidence of the rebranding and merger on the cornerstones of some of the churches.

I think that there are some interesting lessons from the merger. I think one of the most important one is that the merged entity cannot really share a name with one of the predecessor organizations. In the case of the founding denominations of the United Church, none of the churches would accept using one of the existing names. It had to be presented to the congregations as a "merger of equals" and the name of the new church had to represent that fact.