Opinion

The Lord’s teaser campaign

In this guest posting, Andrew Wilson contemplates what marketing can learn from the Christmas story.

In the little town of Nazareth, an agent of the Lord appeared to Mary. It said unto her, “Blessed are you, for you have been chosen to implement the Lord’s vertical integration strategy. You shall do so by bringing forth a line extension of the family of David.”  

And so it came to pass that after a teaser campaign lasting several centuries, the Lord began pursuing his disintermediation strategy. Riding on the back of huge prophets, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Almighty was about to replace the previous authorised representatives with whom much channel conflict had created unprecedented levels of consumer unrest. (The main advantage of this new channel structure was the promise of immediate and guaranteed delivery).

A skimming strategy employed by the Almighty first sought out the Three Opinion Leaders – who, surprisingly, travelled from afar and paid a premium for their place at the launch. Concurrently, a celebrity campaign using the world’s biggest star was implemented as part of a grassroots campaign. Here, an agent appeared with a message for greenfield investors and, inspired by the fanfare, they flocked to see what all the fuss was about.

In front of a small audience – but after much anticipation – delivery finally took place in a stable market; thus beganeth the Lord’s foray into a vertically integrated channel design.

For some, the successfulness of this strategy will be a contentious point. However, there are undeniable lessons marketers can learn from it. Consider:

  • The Lord’s Vertical Integration Strategy: An Immaculate Concept, followed by an execution still spoken of to this day
  • Maximising Viral Marketing/Word-of-mouth Advertising: How God was to later use a Great Commission structure to achieve customer advocacy
  • Achieving conversion in niche markets: How God used Redemption offers to tap into previously unserved segments.

Andrew Wilson is a creative strategist at The Other Dimension

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