matthew's talking points

I didn't need to be a successful professional in Marketing, Advertising or Visual and Sound Design for 30 years to know that the most effective sales campaigns require two key elements, a strong logo and an energetic spokesman. Almost everyone knows that. (I needed to be that successful professional to create and execute those elements for my clients) To get the maximum range of brand recognition a strong logo relies on simplicity. It wants to be easily read and remembered. The same is true with the spokesman's presentation. A positive (engaging, welcoming, confident) tone, both in voice characterization and physical demeanor and a clear, direct delivery of talking points in as few words possible.

Some of the most effective logo/spokesmen teams include:






Nike & LeBron James










Golden Arches & Ronald McDonald






The Great Seal of the United States & a new spokesman every four or eight years




Disney & Mickey Mouse





Back in the day, there was Budwieser & Ed McMahon





Gatoraid &, once upon a time, Tiger Woods





Pepsi & Michael Jackson were successful for the longest time but stuff happens and now Pepsi fronts with whoever the current pop-culture flavor of the month happens to be






Even our own Conch Republic has a logo &
Sir Peter Anderson
is our spokesman



But, by far & without doubt, the ultimate, most screamingly successful and enduring logo/spokesman team of all time is. . .

The Cross & Christ

Please don't take offense, my intention is not to malign anyone's faith or rattle their sensibilities; Just consider it, Christianity has had and likely will always have the world's strongest brand recognition in history. Everyone recognizes both Christ and The Cross, and understands what they represent, in whichever of the thousands of varied forms they are presented.

Although Christianity has always employed the same spokesman, early on it went through a major re-branding.
The first Christian logo was a fish. (we still see them on people's cars today) The message was way too wordy and with four copywriters, a bit contradictory. The brand wasn't catching fire as well as everyone had hoped it would so, the early Christians made some changes.

They adopted The Cross as their visual symbol (logo) and one of the four copywriters, Matthew, simplified the Christian message to two clear, direct talking points, delivered in as few words as possible.

The first. . .
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."
And the second. . .
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

After that, The Christian brand hit the ground runnin'
and never looked back.

As I said at the start, my intention is not to malign anyone's faith or rattle their sensibilities and, I'm not selling anything either; I'm not a bible thumping anything at all.
I'm a Marketing, Advertising and Design guy, attuned to these constructs. I see them everywhere, including in religions.
I also happen to be a man of faith and a yogi.

Over the past few years I've been studying aspects of Hinduism and I've learned that the spirit of Matthew's talking points are also key tenets in the Hindu tradition.

Coincidence? I don't think so, I'd say just universal common sense. Maybe what it's gonna take to shift the negative energies that are drivin' this world to hell in a bucket is more of us (including me) taking Matthew's talking points a little closer to heart.

What the hell could it hurt?