A connect between Religion and Marketing? This is something I have realized. I used to talk about this to friends that Religion is one of the best examples of the worth of Marketing. I would request you to keep your personal beliefs aside and think analytically about what I am saying for a minute.
People are influentially made to believe in a particular story and also follow a group or sect of a certain kind and thought without any real proof. What comes to them is marketing.
What makes me feel so? Religion I would say is like a DNA, which is passed on to us. This is embedded in us at young age by our parents. If we look at it from a marketing point of view, we can derive a lot of commonalities between religion and businesses. To cite an example, religion gives us both tangible and intangible benefits. A community which is tangible and intangible benefits like a promise of afterlife? Here we are given both a monetary and a time cost benefit.
The first thing that marketing teaches you is the use of Jargons. Religious leaders wrap their story in messaging and jargon that feels perfect and legitimate to most followers.
We can also connect it with a simple thing like logos. Religions have logos. It gives you an identity. That’s what marketing managers strive to do each day. Give a brand its identity. Religion successfully rallies people all over the world to publicly brand themselves as a part of a particular sect, subscribe to them and work with a different emotion, the feeling, without any compensation, as word of mouth marketers. This is done to attract new members to their religion which then can be seen as a brand of their choice. This I feel, is one of the main motives of marketing.
We celebrate so many festivals. Especially in a county like India, we seem to have more festivals than weekends. People devote their time, make purchases and give assets to their religion of choice. People gather at their religion’s physical location with frequency - All of these are basic marketing fundas.
Almost all the various religions in the world have packaged a compelling story which has been improved and edited for generations. What comes to us could be refined and meant for better consumption. It’s after all, all about packaging and presenting to make your offering look the best. Wars, fights, communal disrupt are seen solely due to change and to keep the religion relevant. This is done by updating and changing its messages, its look (appearance) and in the manner it spreads.
A simple thing like other viewpoints, outlooks and even science is told to be wrong. This is because questioning the truth has been overshadowed by design.
I know I have picked up a subject that not many will agree with. It is a ‘taboo’ subject but that’s exactly the reason why I chose to write about it and not shy away from it. It can be discussed more in the context of marketing though. We are in an internet-savvy world, where we have the power to talk; we can talk to so many people about what we feel. Discuss things! Discuss this! Would like people to analyze what is happening around each one of us. This needs to happen before we infuse any creativity or emotion with our ideas.
Science has already proven so many of our religious beliefs, wrong or illogical. These were previously widespread, until someone dared to question it. I would argue my point that the internet is accelerating this and being a part of the world of marketing and as marketers we need to understand how and why ideas spread throughout society: especially those that later end up get disrupted.
