God - the best marketed product

Who/What is god? Has anyone seen it/him/her? Does it have a form/figure/address/position? yet everyone follow it, trust it and believe it. How is even possible for billions of people to trust in one supreme power? Think deep and I'll try to answer it.

Millions and millions of years ago, how was our human race started? That first man and first woman, maybe the Adam and Eve were responsible for the human race to flourish. But how did they occur? Bible says it is God but science? Biologically evolution resulted in humans (Homo sapiens) and then our next question would be how was the first organism in this world created? How was the world itself was created? We do have theories about mitosis and meiosis occurring- matter and anti matter - big bang theory etc. But the truth is never known. That supreme power which helped in these creations, that power which made the natural forces (fire, land, water, wind etc) to result in the first species - was called god.

Every religion has its own story but this supreme power is always called as god by everyone. So the belief -god was the idea, a scope of marketing (then extended from being just an idea to an experience, good, people, place, event, information and also properties) was started to be marketed centuries ago by our fore fathers even before they knew the term. Our world was segmented based on religions and each segment was targeted by their own fears and beliefs and the idea 'god' was positioned in our minds as a saver, a person who wipes our sins, takes care of us, tells us what is right and wrong and even punishes us for our mistakes.

The product was then given a place - temples, mosques, churches etc were created, the product  was made available to the people in special packaging which included a face, dressing, figure - these were made to be different in different regions (marble statues in north India, black stone statues in south, statues made of gold, ISKON temple statues differently dressed to pull the youth population etc) The product was priced based on its value/benefits it gave people - an entry fee, time to wait to see the god, the routes and methods to be followed etc. Then it was promoted with stories and humans who were kind and showed empathy towards other humans were also started to be treated special. The 4 P's of marketing were satisfied. 

The product was promoted in different ways in different segments- in Hinduism anyone can follow any route which they were comfortable with but the basics what they were supposed to follow (caste norms) were defined. In Jainism all the organisms in the world were treated like god. Some religions/segments followed the pull strategy by making people fear and feel their sins and follow god else they will perish/end up in hell. while some followed the push strategy. Nowadays many churches do follow these marketing techniques explicitly to brand themselves.

When the religions emphasizes on marriages within themselves - it is to avoid the cross over of segmentation. Every product has a maturity period and then it will start declining  It is up-to the company to make it live longer or kill it. The rituals, festivals are part of promotion which helps in sustaining the 'idea' is to understand the  PLC and try to sustain it during maturity stage. Yes there are re-inventions in the customs and cultural norms and sanctions - to make the product stay in this world. 

Today when we said 'follow god' it is direct marketing. When special pages were created for marriages, community, caste, religion etc (social networking sites and other websites like http://www.god.com) it becomes online marketing. When we talk about our practices with our neighbors and friends it becomes word of mouth. When I write this, it is part of article marketing. When someone searches about her/his culture and origins it is search marketing. Every step which is taken to address the habits, culture of the religion, festival, weddings, moods and thoughts of the humans - all are directly or indirectly related to the first and best marketed 'idea' god.

Humans have used the marketing models, strategy, branding and different methods of marketing even without understanding what it means, even without having a 'Philip Kotler', 'Michael Porter' books in hand. God is said to have different attributes - omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, omnibenevolence, divine simplicity, eternal and necessary existence. And these attributes are the USP of the 'God' which is the best marketed product/idea which has succeeded in the highest market share among the homo sapiens for centuries and may continue to do so.