The Greatest Public Relations Firm in History

Sarah Burgess

Disclaimer: Before we begin, I just wanted to clarify that the views presented in this blog post are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Obsidian Public Relations.

When I was in college and finally made the switch from landscape architecture to communication (who knew landscape architecture had so much math?), my first class in the Department of Communication was Introduction to Public Relations. On the first day of class when our professor was giving us a brief overview of the course, he said something peculiar that has lingered in my mind ever since. In so many words, it went a little something like this:

“So, you have a tour of events coming up and want to get the word out to as many people as possible – let’s say one-third of the global population. That’s a lot of pressure, so what are you going to do to get your message to the masses? Oh, I forgot to mention that you can’t use social media, advertising, websites, media relations or any of the main ways that knowledge is spread today. You’re only tool is word of mouth. Things just got pretty complicated, didn’t they?

Photo Courtesy to Flickr User Omoo

Well, that’s precisely what a group of gentlemen successfully achieved nearly 2,000 years ago! That’s right, Jesus had the best PR firm in history – the 12 disciples.”

Since that day, I haven’t been able to shake that analogy from my brain. These men made advanced preparations for his visits to towns and prepared the masses for the coming of Jesus (among so many other things). That’s some pretty intense event planning and PR! I mean, think about it – in their relatively short time with Jesus (he was 30 when his ministry began and 33 when he died), his disciples managed to spread a message and create a ripple effect so radical that it STILL makes headlines!

Whether you are a believer or not, you cannot deny that he certainly had some of the best PR assistance the world has ever seen. After all, because of the hard work and dedication from these simplistic storytellers, there are roughly 2.18 billion Christians today. With results like that, it really puts into perspective just how important PR can be for the success of an awareness campaign.