Jesus the Great Persuader Knew Marketing

He used parables to convince people of the truth of what He said. When I was a marketing director, I wish I could have done the same.

From Aleteia

By Tom Hoopes

It's revealing to look at Jesus' methods through the lens of modern marketing.

Looked at one way, Jesus was radical and demanding -- commanding people to change themselves and spelling out the dire consequences for those who don’t. He didn’t mince words or pull his punches, but we don’t think of him as a severe and strict taskmaster, because he knew the art of persuasion.

In many ways Jesus was the antithesis of modern marketing.

The 1980s book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind is taught in business schools to this day. Its authors wrote, “Advertising is not a debate. It’s a seduction,” and said, “The basic approach of positioning is not to create something new and different, but to manipulate what’s already up there in the mind, to retie the connections that already exist.”

It brought about a generation of marketers who share the feel of a product instead of its substance.

At first, Jesus’ approach seems to be the very opposite of theirs. He came on the scene preaching, “Repent and believe the Gospel,” and gave his apostles the same unseductive message, adding some terrible positioning: “I am sending you out as sheep among wolves.”

In fact, when Jesus says, “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one,” he seems to disallow modern marketing altogether.

But if you look at Christ’s technique a little more closely, the picture starts to change. 

Jesus was the master of creative persuasion. He proposed radical change to the woman at the well, confronting her with her sins — but used “positive messaging” about getting a drink in the heat of the day. 

And while his call to action was “Repent!” he positioned repentance as being rescued like a lost sheep, recovered like a lost coin, or feasting like a returning son. He sold his “product,” the Gospel, using pre-existing categories in his audience’s minds — finding a buried treasure, obtaining a costly pearl, or catching a lucrative haul of fish. 

He even made appeals to ridicule like the old Apple vs. PC commercials: If you don’t pray you’re a foolish virgin not a wise one, and if you pray the wrong way you’re a pompous pharisee compared to a repentant publican.

Marketing depends on vivid imagery, and so did Jesus. 

We know what John the Baptist was because Jesus helped us picture what he is not: “a reed swayed in the wind.” We know our close relationship with Jesus, because we could  picture it when Jesus said, “I am the vine and you are the branches.” And we can see his generosity, sharing a “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, poured into your lap.”

He found many memorable images to teach us to do his will instead of just claiming we love him:  A house built on rock, not sand; a plant producing fruit, not thorns; a servant waiting up for his boss; and a son who does more than promise to help out.

Jesus even used comic images to make sure we learned his lessons.

We can forget that Jesus was funny.

For instance, he described the beam in our own eyes when we are trying to get the speck out of our brother’s, and he told tall tales with outrageous scenarios, like the Shrewd Steward and Unforgiving Servant.

Camels are objectively hilarious creatures, with their strange faces and humped backs, and Jesus employed them to humorous effect, inviting us to imagine them trying to pass through the eye of a needle, or getting swallowed in our soup after we have strained out the gnats.

Finally, Christ’s catch phrases are so memorable that even non-Christians have memorized them.

Jesus says “Seek and you shall find” to keep us curious, and “Judge not lest you be judged” to keep us loving. He said “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” to describe himself; and “I am the light of the world” to recommend himself.

There are so many examples: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you;” “Love your neighbor as yourself,” “Turn the other cheek,” “Go the extra mile,” and “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

Jesus was truly the Great Persuader.

But the difference between Jesus and modern marketers is that his words don’t manipulate us to want something that is beneath us.

Instead, they gently help us rise to the full vision of our true greatness.