Making Them Believe: The 21 Principles and Lost Secrets of Dr. J. R. Brinnkley-Style Marketing

by Dan S. Kennedy

Maybe the greatest, most amazing marketing and promotional feat ever accomplished is Christianity. Reportedly, by one guy, starting with but a handful of followers. With a very Big Idea: salvation and eternal life after death in the kingdom of heaven. Is there anything people fear more, deep down, than the end? FROM THE BRINKLEY BLUEPRINT: 1. THE Big Idea 2. THE Big Promise The bigger and bolder The Big Idea, the more powerful. The more connected to deeper meanings and deeply held emotions—fears and desires—the better. What most marketers think of as a Big Idea is actually quite small. A Big Idea Can Command Attention, But It Takes A Big Promise To Fuel A Movement Or A Fortune I don’t claim to be a theologian, but it seems to me you can boil Christianity’s Big Promise down to this: believe—and you’re in. There’s a secular version of this, by the way, originally imported here from England; popularized, ironically, by a minister, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale; at the heart of “the success-thought movement” from beginning to present. It fueled Napoleon Hill’s career in the 1940's; it fueled Tony Robbins’ career more recently. A few years ago, all eyes focused on the video ‘documentary’ titled The Secret. Its “stars” appeared everywhere, from Oprah to Larry King to TIME and Newsweek. The Big Promise of it all: think a certain way i.e. believe, and whatever you desire will come to you. This is a very big and extremely appealing promise principally because of all it omits—like, say, ...