Papal election™

Some brands stand for trust. Others for innovation, sustainability, or adventure. And then there is the Vatican. An organization whose symbolic power is built on a paradoxical promise: that the eternal never changes. That truth is not negotiable. And that legitimacy flows not from the bottom up, but from the top down. The brand promise in a single phrase: eternity over experience – a radical countermodel to today’s experience economy, in which brands maintain their relevance through emotionally charged consumer encounters, interactive campaigns, and constant innovation cycles. In this logic, the papal election is, of course, not a democratic process – but a ritual. And the appeal of democratic processes seems to be waning anyway – which may only enhance the fascination of ritual. A communicative act without message, speaking only through form, rite, and duration – a consistent case of sacred heritage branding. And precisely for that reason: a masterclass in spiritual brand management.

The Papal Brand

The Pope is not a product; he is an institution. In some ways comparable to a CEO, he stands at the helm of a global organization, offering direction, structure, and presence. Yet his authority does not rest on shareholder trust, but on belief in a higher, transcendent legitimacy. He is highly personalized – and at the same time depersonalized: the face of an office that distances itself from individual identity. Whereas business leaders embody change, the Pope stands for continuity. His mission is not innovation, but permanence. Not a branded persona vying for attention, but the embodiment of a brand essence that dissolves the personal. He is not the inventor of a brand, but its living continuation. Where CEOs perform renewal, the Pope performs timelessness. And yet, his public presence follows classic branding principles: a distinct visual identity (white robes, papal cross, red shoes), a defined color scheme (purple, gold, white), a unique claim (“Habemus Papam”), and a global launch moment – his first appearance on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.

That all of this still works – perhaps precisely because it hasn’t changed for centuries – is not a sign of obsolescence, but of brand differentiation through sacred repetition. While consumer brands reinvent themselves quarterly, the Vatican gains strength through stability and withdrawal. It doesn’t ignore the logic of marketing – it plays with it while simultaneously eluding it. That is what makes it so compelling.

The Process as Performance

The papal election is a theatrical event – deliberately archaic, ritualized, exclusive. 120 cardinals, locked inside the Sistine Chapel, pray, debate, vote. No live ticker, no leaks. Just smoke. Black or white – an iconic brand asset delivering maximum recognizability with minimal information. A global audience with no transparency.

This controlled absence of information functions like a paradoxical brand strategy: invisibility as maximum visibility. The world watches even though – or precisely because – it sees nothing. The Vatican masters the art of symbolic economy: staging relevance through silence, tension through mystery, meaning through form.

Election as Rebranding

Each election produces not only a new pope, but a new brand narrative. The name alone is a rebranding statement: Benedict signals dogma and tradition, Francis evokes humility, poverty, and globality. It is a deliberate intervention in the brand core – a case of strategic brand positioning in service of a new storytelling logic.

And the first public appearance? A brand launch governed by centuries-old protocol – not with a press conference or a vision statement, but with the blessing Urbi et Orbi. No agenda, no speech – only presence. Communication through gesture and setting alone. It is not the man who speaks, but the office. Not the new, but the eternal.

A Weak Brand?

Of course, one could argue the opposite: that the papal election is not a strong brand performance, but a case of elitist self-reference, lack of accessibility, and communicative rigidity. From the standpoint of modern brand communication, the process is opaque, non-inclusive, feedback-resistant, and oblivious to target audiences. No storytelling, no engagement, no interactivity. The beginning of the end?

But these supposed weaknesses are also its unique strengths. Today, it’s not only product differentiation that matters, but differentiation in performance. And in that sense, the papal election is a masterpiece of anti-branding as branding strategy.

The papal election violates the core tenets of global brand logic: it denies participatory transparency, delays communication, ignores segmentation, and relies not on attention, but on devotion. One side believes in markets, the other in mysteries. At this point, professional brand consultants would likely recommend a gentle modernization – reforming the ritual without compromising its aura. And why not? There’s no shortage of ideas.

A Modest Proposal

To bring the papal election in line with contemporary brand communication, one might introduce an audio livestream from the Sistine Chapel – in Latin, with real-time influencer commentary. Smoke signals would be replaced with push notifications: “Black smoke. Stay tuned.” Thus, divine inspiration could be seamlessly integrated into the global attention economy – as a sacred media format in real time.