IWCD184: Ancient Roots of Evangelism

Hey there!

The concept of leveraging the power of micro-influencers (a trend in 2023) to spread the word about a brand or product has its roots in ancient history. And you'll see this come up more and more as micro-communities become more prevalent over the next decade.

For example, the concept of word-of-mouth marketing dates back to the time of the Ancient Greeks. They were known to use two different methods to determine the 'right' way to market their products[1].

Word-of-mouth advertising, also called "word-of-mouth marketing," is the process of actively influencing and encouraging organic conversations about a brand or product[2].

According to European history, the word 'evangelist' comes from the Greek word euangelos (εὐανγέλιον), which means "good news"[3].

However, there are also many other examples of evangelism in ancient history that are non-European (so of course, I gotta include them).