NASA image of a spinning star as the 'Hand of God' snapped stretching through the universe

Yesterday the world was a very different place than this morning.  Sure it wasn’t perfect, but there was a great hope for mankind.

Today the world awoke to two pieces of shattering news that have, in their own ways, fractured human belief in two.

First, according to the eminent scientist, Professor Stephen Hawkins, it turns out that the Universe was not created by an omnipotent g-d after all.

In his new book, The Grand Design, Hawking suggests that the meaning of it all is down to complicated but basic physics.

Ours is just one of many ‘multiverses’ that began “without any need for a benevolent Creator” who we otherwise believed made the Universe for our benefit.

Unlike his notorious predecessor, Richard Dawkins, Hawking’s book is said to be more robust – and his credibility as an authority far more widely celebrated.

For many, this makes The Grand Design a very serious assertion against traditional religious doctrines.

When I grow up, I want to drive a car round and round and round and round

Next, and what may at first glance seem to be much more trivial, the British High Courts ruled that an ex SAS soldier called, Ben Collins had the right to publish his memoirs.

(Through doing so unmasking the identity of BBC TV’s Top Gear, ‘Stig’).

The BBC argued that by unveiling the man behind the masked helmet- Collins- their TV series would lose a sense of mystery and intrigue enjoyed by the old and young alike.

The sense of the unknown makes the Stig concept a highly valuable brand in its own right.

From a marketing business point of view, scores of variations of toys, books and games are now in jeopardy.

Childhood dreams of a mysterious Stig have finally succumbed to the fate of many others who went before the man in white, including, Santa Clause, Peter Pan, the Tooth Fairy and so on.

With everything from Creators, to Stigs, to love and hate, war and peace and genital dimensions of the rich and famous neatly packaged, explained and exposed on daytime TV, many may be left wondering what the purpose and mystery of it all really is?

21st Century mankind's highest faith: a glass of branded beer

Back in the Millennium the Second Coming was predicted.

However, in keeping with dwindling numbers of regular churchgoers who would rather drink a pint of Guinness than a sip of communal wine, nobody of any special significance turned up.

Even advertised prophesies of computer bugs turned out to be little more than incentives to buy new IT equipment.

Doubtless, religious communities will put the news that no entity pulled the trigger for the Big Bang down to a yet another test of human faith.

Boy racers will look at their options for joining the British SAS.

The BBC may take the opportunity to introduce a new Stig or even get their marketing people to launch a contest for ordinary people to fulfil their dreams and hopes by driving a sponsored car around a track.

Either way, the brand: belief, purpose, goal, vision, cause … will survive.

Hapless marketing students will doubtlessly refer to the story of’ ‘G-d and men in white driving suits’ as an interesting brand case study taught by a jaded underpaid college teacher who read about it in a best practice book whilst on the toilet.

Equally someone somewhere will use the opportunity for personal gain.

(Congratulations by the way to Professor Hawking’s  PR team for pushing his latest book).

Maybe there really isn’t a bigger purpose to life but a series of small rewards to keep the few in the position to be able to buy more brand names and the masses hanging on … wanting anything better than what they already have.

(They call that, ‘marketing’).

Or just maybe, one day – once we have each drawn our last breaths and open our eyes to the complete picture, as Hawking calls it, ‘The Grand Design’ – we will finally realise that the greatest vision, values and mission makes trivialities such as business, marketing and so on, as much use as a lavish Ark built to save the world but with a hole left in the hull by a dreamer with paper-qualifications and his mind on bigger things than building boring boats.

Jonathan Gabay

www.brandforensics.co.uk

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