Elder Holland and Coke

The most powerful persuasion is the specific kind. Sometimes, persuasion is more subversive or psychological. I’m not talking about that. Sometimes, specificity lends itself to power. In the right place, under the right conditions, and using the right words, speaking directly to someone’s situation can be a powerful motivator. Of any person I have heard speak, Elder Holland is a master of this. He can pinpoint a word and run with it.

Sitting in a mission prep class back home, the missionaries showed me Elder Holland’s talk, “We Are All Enlisted.” The talk itself is essentially priest quorum scripture, so I’ve heard it countless times. But in my then current situation, Elder Holland’s call to arms resonated with me in a way that no other General Conference speaker has in the past. My situation was this: recent high school graduate, incoming college freshman, recently ordained elder, and future missionary. Elder Holland spoke specifically to every one of those points. He didn’t dance around the issues; he attacked them. In no time before or since have I felt a stronger desire to go on a mission.

In many ways, Elder Holland is a marketer. He definitely isn’t one in the multi-million dollar ad campaign sense, but he is in the sense that marketers know their target consumer. Marketers know who they want to sell to before they’ve even made the product. Elder Holland knew before writing his talk exactly who he wanted to speak to.

The power of marketing is irrational. Elder Holland seems to understand it, but people are free to choose to buy whatever they want. That’s just agency. If this is the case, how do faceless conglomerates and dynamic companies persuade people to buy their products? In my marketing class, the most powerful example of persuasion comes from Coca-Cola. By strategically placing their “Friendship Vending Machine,” Coca-Cola saw a 1075% increase in sales (article here). Coca-Cola dispenses happiness; the Friendship Machine doles out twice the happiness. Coca-Cola knew its target audience and spoke directly to them with the Friendship machine. Elder Holland knew his target audience too: me.