Christ's Message for Marketers

How did a small cult become the official religion of the most powerful nation on Earth?

Jesus Christ was executed in the most humiliating way the Roman Empire could devise - crucifixion. The victim was completely deprived of dignity and held up to the derision of the world. For the Romans, within 500 years the sandal was on the other foot. They were bowing down to Jesus as his cult had become the official religion of the Empire under the Emperor Constantine.

500 years is not a long time when it comes to growing from micro-cult to official belief system of the western world.

How did the Christians do it? What lessons are there for marketers?

Product: They had a radical new God the Father who loved each individual like his child. The God of the Jews was a ferocious vengeful jealous God. The Gods of the Romans were equally cruel and fickle. The God of the Christians spoke to the masses, the prostitutes, tax collectors, lepers, fishermen, widows and orphans. Jesus said God was inside the weakest person. He was the God of the Lowest Common Denominator.

Logo: The Cross is an instrument of torture, a symbol of humiliation. Hardly a proud symbol for a conquering army. But It was used in a powerful way. It is stark. Anyone can reproduce it. And it carries the core proposition over and over: JC died and rose from the dead - defied death - and you can too.

Sales message: "Love". Long before Kevin Someone from saatchi & saatchi "invented" Lovemarks, the Christians were leveraging 'love'. Christ gave a new commandment: "Love one another as I have loved you." The early missionaries knew their message would appeal to women more than men. So, when going among the pagan races they recruited the wives and mothers of the male rulers and, as we know, the hand that rocks the cradle rules the nation."

Loyalty program: The Christians invented a points system for earning a place in Heaven. It was called "Grace" and you earned it by good works and holiness and you lost it snakes-and-ladders style by erring towards the dark side. The best part about this loyalty system is that no one could tell if anyone ever got the payout because you had to die to find out. Brilliant!
Ya gotta have faith!

Marketing communications: The Christians took the Jewish literature and added a few of their own items, and voila! They looked like a big established religion overnight. Their literature was all stories that simple people could absorb.

Spokescelebrity: JC was a natural. He spoke to the heart. He used parables. He was a brilliant orator and performer. And he had a huge voice - because he could talk from on top of a mountain and all the people around could hear him. He performed miracles. He was able to levitate, appear in two places at once, turn water into wine, and raise the dead. He earned his status as Brand Spokesperson of the Ages.

Customer support: The Christians started out with a party plan. People would meet at one believer's home and eat a meal, sing a few popular songs of inspiration, and share 'fellowship'. The entire operation was decentralised for hundreds of years before the bureaucrats took over and wrote the rules.

Product extensions: Absolute flexibility was built into Christianity, so that today you can find its brand name and logo used by vicious haters of their fellow men and courageous lovers of their fellow men, believers in the death penality and believes in "Thou Shalt Not Kill", by thieves and brigands as well as Good Samaritans.

I could talk about how the Christians took over pagan festivals like Easter and Christmas and made them their own.

This could go on and on... Like into Eternity.

And it all started with a young carpenter's son in a backwater of the Roman Empire during the rule of Caesar Augustus around whom there grew a cult.