The Vatican & the Mole Advertising

How the Vatican stages itself with negative advertising - and what you can learn about the advertising effect from the Vatican

When the 'good news' of a 2000 year old brand is getting on in years, it stages a scandal. This gives it an attention-grabbing story - a first building block for an effective advertising campaign. Through the skillful placement of indiscretions, the next thing that succeeds is 'guerrilla marketing' at its finest: the smallest advertising budget, international media response. But the mole can do more than just marketing from 'below' - it initiates a change of image for the brand: centuries-old structures seem changeable. Not everyone who was considered infallible has a life lease in the Vatican. The fate of the Holy See is determined by moles and ravens. For the Vatican brand, whose most important PR story to date has been to be dependent solely on God's grace, this is a considerable change - with a major public impact.

If the media planning had been better thought out - decoupled from the European Championship - the mole story could also unfold its subtle, thoroughly positive messages:

1. The representative of God on earth becomes human - the harsh inquisitor becomes the gentle, almost powerless servant of God, whose private chambers are depicted in the star. He is no longer just infallible, but becomes approachable. Today, people want to know private things about their role models and discover similarities in order to be able to identify with them. It is therefore a proven means to let the entrepreneur himself appear as a human being in order to make the person and the brand more likeable. Other brands have already done this successfully.
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2. The Vatican brand is 'rejuvenating' itself - in order to advertise to younger target groups, it makes sense if the brand is also represented by men before the age of incontinence. The rapid establishment of the brand in the field of social media through Vati-leaks shows how influential the role of the chamberlain is in reviving the Vatican.
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3. As a testimonial, 'choosing' a 'chamberlain' is psychologically profound and suitable for the media. The fantasies about the chamberlain are at least more sensual or at least very private in nature. Without being as offensive as in the paedophilia scandal, it is conveyed that life in the Vatican is not so ascetic and unsensual. Here, however, the communicated change of image apparently went too far for the brand - the chamberlain will no longer function as an advertising medium for the Vatican in the future.

When a 2000 year old brand starts an advertising campaign, it picks up on the dramas of life - and delivers a small lesson in advertising, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

A Handelsblatt column by Ines Imdahl
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