Exponential refreshes their brand to reach Multipliers

Exponential’s 16% mission

Dave Ferguson, Jason Stewart, and Carrie Williams of Exponential (the church multiplication-focused conference, community, and resource provider) knew it was time for a rebrand when they realized they were communicating the wrong message. 

“We [at Exponential] used to say, ‘You can do it, we can help.’ But we realized we had started saying, ‘We can do it, you can help,’” said Jason.

Exponential resources and equips the Church. It is best known for its annual global conference, which draws leaders from all over the country. 

They have a mission to see 16% of churches in the United States become multiplying churches in North America.

They also acquired Bob Buford’s Leadership Network, helmed by Carrie Williams, and renamed it Exponential NEXT. Carrie and her team monitor trends and innovations shaping the Church and produce resources for church leaders. 

When co-founder Dave Ferguson took the helm as president after Todd Wilson, he wanted to keep the 16% mission but make some changes to the brand. It was time for a reassessment.

They needed branding to communicate the vision to church leaders and inspire them to see themselves as Multipliers—people Dave identifies as “healthy disciple-making leaders who champion reproduction.”

 

Ministry branding to communicate vision and values

One of Exponential’s core values is empowering leaders, but they weren’t communicating this well. This communication challenge resulted in a reputation problem.

Jason said, “We needed to get back to a better expression of our roots and core values. So the feedback we were getting meant asking, ‘How do we express and refocus on “You can do it, we can help”?’”

 

They also wanted to emphasize leadership health because they saw leaders burning out or on the verge of burnout. 

Ministry environments are challenging places for leaders.  Jason recalled, “The response we heard from churches was, ‘You had me at healthy.’ We’ve got to go after health relationally, mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.”

He added, “Another big thing was refining (1) what is our responsibility? and (2) who are we really trying to serve?” Who was the Multiplier?

 

Finally, how could they integrate Exponential NEXT in a way that aligned with their brand? With these questions in mind, they called ArtSpeak.

Refocusing the brand with strategic messaging

They had worked with ArtSpeak before when Leadership Network was first folded into Exponential, but this was the first time they worked with ArtSpeak for Exponential’s brand messaging.

Our team led their team through a discovery call with questions that probed deeply into Exponential’s goals and vision.

Carrie said, “Your team helped us navigate through multiple layers of conversation from Leadership Network to Exponential NEXT and Exponential as a whole. You walked us through the process of even being able to put messaging to what we are all sensing and feeling and trying to express.”

According to Jason, “It gave us time as a team to collaboratively process and say, ‘What do we need? How does this sound to our partners and those we’re trying to impact and serve?’ 

“Those clarifying questions gave us the space and pulled out of us what was really stirring inside of us as a leadership team to think about what we are saying and what are good examples of what it means to be a Multiplier.”

 

Brand Strategy and Messaging

The conversation with ArtSpeak’s team resulted in a strategic messaging component that helped Exponential pinpoint its audience.

To further define the Multiplier, ArtSpeak’s team created a matrix to analyze Exponential’s intended audience. 

Together, the teams overlayed three identifiers: the leader’s role, which of the five kinds of multiplying churches they lead, and the leader’s experience level (whether just starting out or more established or mature and mentoring). 

This in-depth strategic analysis allowed Exponential to determine its greatest leverage point: an established leader pastoring a growing but not yet multiplying church.

The ArtSpeak team helped Exponential define different types of Multipliers and their dreams and challenges. Then, we developed a range of persona case studies based on ArtSpeak clients to represent them at all levels of experience with strategic messaging specific to each level of leadership.

The process also adjusted the spotlight away from Exponential and onto their partners, moving Exponential from the hero to the inspirer. The tone drew on the voice of a mentor to reposition their audience to think of themselves not just as leaders who grew their own churches but also as Multipliers.

Jason likened it to being like Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society, whispering, “Seize. The. Day.” He said, “It helped us realize that’s one of the roles we play in this big picture of the Kingdom. We have a track record and a privilege to inspire this broad community to be Multipliers: to charge them up and move them forward. Strategic messaging gave us the energy and imagination for the role we play.”

ArtSpeak worked with Exponential’s team to refresh their strategic messaging, honing in on that target audience with a new, bold invitation to partnership in their brand promise: 

You’re a Multiplier. We’re here to help you multiply.

 

An expanded visual identity and a logo for Exponential NEXT

Exponential had some ideas to expand their visual brand in a way that would give them more flexibility and also reflect their emphasis on relationships.

At the same time, they needed to add a logo for Exponential NEXT that aligned with their brand. 

To help refresh and expand Exponential’s visual branding, our team took a different approach.

Rather than adding elements, both the subtraction and organization of existing Exponential brand elements helped Exponential feel sleeker, minimal, and cutting-edge. An expanded color palette helped them emphasize the idea of relationship and bring warmth, humanity, and softness to the overall brand. 

It also emphasized the collaborative nature of Exponential and Exponential NEXT, for which building meaningful relationships with other church innovators is the primary value on offer at their events.

Jason recalled, “We asked your team for a set of tools for our brand that gave us range and flexibility in our design. Your team listened to us well about our needs because we were making some strategic shifts.”

Because Exponential NEXT focuses on where the Church is heading, its logo needed to feel more future-focused: cleaner, simpler, and more direct.

They also wanted to maintain the core ideas that Exponential is all about what’s next for the Church and that their insights, resources, and leadership brought actual results for their audience. Our team drew inspiration from “next” and “results,” which are Exponential’s primary and secondary pulse words.

Jason said, “We came to you and said, ‘Help us put these two together with an identity that feels like one.’ You helped us really anchor on results, relationship, and what’s next.”

The future for Exponential and Exponential NEXT

With its brand refreshed, messaging clear, and visuals streamlined, Exponential continues to resource the Church. Their team is planning workshops and pre-conferences for Orlando, Florida, next year. 

Exponential NEXT’s ongoing resource-building projects for the upcoming year include more podcasts, a video series, a microchurch community, and a book release.

They’re focusing on getting as many Multipliers onboard as possible using their new toolkit.

Jason remarked, “The great thing is that now, as I’m executing projects, I’m pulling from the brand guide all the time. It helps us to be efficient but, more importantly, effective. We’re consistent and crystal clear in what we are communicating. It’s so thorough, rich, and extensive; it’s been an incredible tool for us.”

“It was an amazing experience”

Jason said, “I recommend you guys [ArtSpeak] all the time because of how you have helped us. I’ve been on church staff in key roles that need the partnership and collaboration expertise you guys give.

“I’ve led renaming, rebranding, and strategizing projects. The level of process and expertise and the extensiveness of the finished project of what you guys deliver is a reflection of the culmination of all of the work your team puts into it. It’s so rich, but it’s critical.”

Carrie agreed. “It was an amazing experience. It brings clarity externally to the people we serve and internally to our team. It brought cohesiveness to a remote team. Anybody who works remotely knows that clarity is kindness, so having that clarifying process and messaging was giving voice to who we really are. Getting to the root of our DNA is really what you helped us do in that process, and it was a beautiful experience, and one that we’re living out of every day, that helps us be able to efficiently and effectively serve the folks around us really well.”