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 Read More…

Jesus the Great Persuader knew marketing