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MUTABLE SANCTUARYTHE DESIGN OF GLOBAL RELIGIONVIRGIN & THE MICROPROCESSORTHE FIRST BRAND: CHRISTIANITYMARY, MARY QUITE CONTRARY

THE FIRST BRAND: CHRISTIANITY

Date: 04.16.01
People seem to think that branding is a recent invention, something discovered by Tom Peters and turning into a self-help article in Fast Company entitled "A Brand Called You." But like many great discoveries, branding showed up on most people's radar long after it had become part of the warp and woof of our daily lives.

In case anybody didn't notice, it was invented by the Catholic church 2,000 years ago. I'm not being facetious. Think about it. What are the components of a great brand? Well, let's start with the most visible one: a logo. Enter the crucifix. Bold, simple, easy to reproduce with a finger in the sand or a couple of twigs lashed together with string - which in the days of early Christianity were the only means of reproduction available. As the means of reproduction became more sophisticated, and the church became more widespread, the logo turned up everywhere. Fifteen hundred years later, there was one on every street corner in Europe, exposure that most corporations of today, with the exception of Coca Cola, can only salivate over.

[insert pic: show a chapel with a coke logo where the cross is, or something of that ilk. Or, mock up a cross onto a can of coke.]

Another critical requirement for a successful brand is that it's got to be an emotional proposition. Coke promises refreshment; FedEx promises overnight delivery. Both are emotional in their own way: it's hot and I've to have a Coke (especially if I'm in Eastern Europe, where it will cost me a day's pay but will make me look American); I'm on deadline and if my client doesn't get this hard copy by tomorrow morning, my ass is grass, so call FedEx right away! What did Christianity promise? Salvation. The crucifix was imbued with enough emotional significance that to be seen with it could mean instant death. But early Christians believed that death would deliver them from the vale of tears called life, and lead them to everlasting joy in Heaven. What a product: eternal bliss!

Most great brands yearn for global dominance. The Catholic church was the first to achieve it. When threatened by the emergence of Protestantism, the Church sent out the world's first great marketing team: the Jesuits. From the boreal forests of Canada to the Shogunates of Japan, the Jesuits insinuated themselves into local culture and won market share around the world. That Catholicism is still one of the world's largest religions is a testament to their marketing skills.

[insert pic: take a fedex pack and mock up new words: Christianity]

Another critical attribute of any good brand is a clear point of difference. Early Christianity differed from its parent, Judaism, in its belief that Christ was the messiah. It differed from Greek and Roman religion in its belief in one god. It also differed from the Roman philosophy of life by condemning the shallow materialism of the here and now in favor of the profound spiritual joy of the hereafter. And in ancient Rome, you could always tell the Christians apart from everybody else: they were the ones being eaten by the lions.

Today, brands are constantly refreshed with schemes to build and maintain loyalty. They're called premium incentives.

[create link here to the Design Your Own Religious Icon engage page: "Click here to help rebrand Christianity" or something like that]

Things like air miles or discounts off of other branded goods with points accumulated by building up credit through ongoing purchases of the host brand. The Coke Card offers such enticements, as do most credit cards. It's their way of buying your buying power, and keeping you loyal. A new idea? Not really. For centuries, the Catholic church offered such incentives: they were called "indulgences."

[insert pic: pitch for the design your own icon page}

For donations made for the church, (or extreme acts of penance) once could purchase the right to less time spent in Purgatory. [Possible tie into Camino de Santiago (sp) 500 years of penance - will get back to you on this] For the right price, you could bypass the fiery way-station altogether and go straight to Heaven. Now there's a premium.

Of course, all of the Christian faith began with a purchase. We are taught that Christ paid for our sins with his own blood. The brutality of this sacrificial transaction is the climax of Nobel prize-winning Jose Saramago's The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, a skeptical re-writing of the New Testament from the point of view of the Son of God himself. In the testament that all Christians grew up with, Christ's last words were, "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do." In Saramago's version, they are addressed to the crowd: "Forgive Him, for He knows not what He does." Saramago's Christ realizes that God has bought market share at the cost of millions of innocent lives. What the Son of God didn't fathom was that his Father was buying brand loyalty for as long as there were people around to make the sign of the cross.

The point of all of this irreverence is that branding is not a capitalist invention. It's been in development for two millennia. You may not believe in the brand called Jesus, but it's hard to imagine the last two thousand years without him.

Will Novosedlik makes brands by day and tears them apart by night. He is a principal in the design and branding firm Russell Inc. This article first appeared in the August 1999 issue of Adbusters under the title of "In the Name of the Father."
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