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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ContentsINTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................5

What is Cult Branding?................................................................................................................................6

The Beginnings of a cult brand....................................................................................................................8

Love the hate mail.......................................................................................................................................9

The Seven Golden Rules of Cult Branding..................................................................................................11

Maslow: The Father of Cult Branding........................................................................................................13

Why the Hierarchy of Needs Is a Crucial Tool for Branding?.....................................................................14

So how does this relate to Cult Branding ?................................................................................................15

CASE STUDIES OF CULT BRANDS................................................................................................................16

The Volkswagen Beetle.............................................................................................................................17

Apple.........................................................................................................................................................19

CONCLUCION.............................................................................................................................................21

Bibliography...............................................................................................................................................25

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INTRODUCTION

We must know that brands don't belong to marketers. Brands belong to the customer. Brands are

spheres of influence, and the most magnetic brands win in the marketplace. Further then we try

to discover the seven rules of cult branding. In the end the paper concludes with the discussion

on world famous cult brands to uncover what actually made them attain that status. There are

important learnings in this work, not only for academicians, but practitioners as well.Cult Brands

are a special class of magnetic brands that command super-high customer loyalty and almost

evangelical customers or followers who are devoted to them. In this paper we try to unveil the

power of cult brands.

“If the business were to be spilt up, I would be glad to take the brands, trademarks and goodwill

and you could have all the bricks and mortar-and I would fare better than you.”

(John Stuart, Former Chairman of Quaker Oats Ltd)

Brand’s definition :-"a name, sign or symbol used to identify items or services of the sellers and

to differentiate them from goods of competitors."

However all brands are not Cult brands , even a successful brand may not be a Cult Brand. This

paper attempts to investigate what is a cult Brand and how is it different from other Brands?

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What is Cult Branding?Brands are spheres of influence, and the most magnetic brands win in the marketplace. They get

repeatedly chosen over the competition, not once or twice, but week after week, year after year.

Cult Brands are a special class of magnetic brands that command super-high customer loyalty

and almost evangelical customers or followers who are devoted to them.

A cult brand is not something you will ever see on an Inter brand survey. Ignore the hype. Coke,

Levis or Sony will never be a cult brand. To be cult is by definition to be obscured. You know

because you are obsessed, not because you have watched a 30 second spot on television.

The great thing about cult brands is you feel like you are part of something bigger than the object

itself. In almost every category of things there will be a standout secret brand that only the most

devoted know about. I don't know them all. I know a couple. You will almost certainly know a

few yourself.

Most Brands fail for one primary reason: instead of building a brand some people love,

companies build brands no one hates. Most marketers live in a world where they are constantly

searching for the flashy, the instant—in short, the trivial.

The customer's embrace is the only vote that counts, yet it is constantly ignored by strategies that

place our products and services as the “goal” rather than the means to satisfy our customer’s

needs, wishes, and fantasies. Successful brands embrace their customers by anticipating basic

and spiritual human needs. Success creates magnetic brands—Cult Brands.

Many brands claim to be popular. Any toothpaste can be popular. So can most any breakfast

cereal if it's tasty enough. But here's the question: Would you ever talk about toothpaste or

breakfast cereal with your friends?

A few special brands, it can be said, take popularity to a different level. These are theso-

called cult brands: Harley-Davidson, Star Trek, Volkswagen, Apple Computer, and several

others, according to a new book, The Power of Cult Branding: How 9 Magnetic Brands Turned

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Customers into Loyal Followers (and Yours Can, Too!). Even Oprah Winfrey is a brand, and a

cult brand at that, the authors say

That's all fine, but what is a manager to think? How does a brand cross the line fromho-

hum to heaven-sent, to be one that customers will really champion? Should every brand be

groomed for potential cult status? What are the pleasures and perils of managing a cult brand and

its sometimes-obsessive customers?

As revealed at the student-run Harvard Business School Marketing Conference held in

November, there are definite pointers to keep in mind. For starters, though, you know you've got

a cult brand when customers do the following:

1.Name babies after your brand. This happened to the sports channel ESPN, said Lee Ann Daly,

senior vice president of marketing for ESPN and a participant in the conference session. The

three babies, born to different sets of parents in the past 2-1/2 years, are named Espen, Espn, and

Espn (again!), respectively.

2.Become highly emotional when you change the color of your logo. This happened to Apple

Computer after it changed the color of its multicolored apple logo to solid red. Some of the

original Apple logos, reported Phil Schiller, are now bought and sold on the online auction site

eBay.

3.Drink a six-pack of your beverage every day: a high-sugar, high-caffeine beverage. This is the

happy situation for Mountain Dew, said Frances Richford, vice president of innovation for Pepsi,

which oversees MountainDew.

Cult brands "dare to be different," observed Matt Ragas, a panelist and co-author of The Power

of Cult Branding. Cult brands sell lifestyles, not just a product or service, he added. But cult

branding is not a viable path for every company. "I would love to say it is, having written a book

about it, but it's not. Most companies don't have the risk-taking mentality….In cult branding, the

management and marketers behind it are willing to take big risks and they understand the

potential pay-off," he said.

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The Beginnings of a cult brand

To master cult branding, it is important to know what your company is and isn't, advised ESPN's

Daly. A cult brand distinguishes itself from other brands by forging a human connection with the

customer in a way that toothpaste or cereal can't.

"If you can find the right way to do it, in a way that is entertaining and interesting and perhaps

delightful and makes people talk to each other, that's the beginning of a cult," she said.

"We are fans first," she added, speaking of herself and her ESPN colleagues. "With ESPN, we

could have shoved down people's throats the idea that we were an authority, but instead what we

try to do is celebrate the fact that we're fans."

Even though every product doesn't have cult potential, there are many examples of mainstream

products that have reinvented their image and achieved cult status, according to PepsiCo's

Britchford. The Mountain Dew soft drink has been a cult product since its successful "Been

there, done that" ad campaign targeting the youth crowd. Hit though it was, subsequent

campaigns for Mountain Dew have kept tweaking the image to maintain momentum.

Hush Puppies and Abercrombie & Fitch are other mainstream brands that have turned into

success stories. "Timberland was out there for many years before it achieved cult status," said

Britchford. These brands became cult brands because customers could find a sense of belonging

within that product category and wear it as a badge of honor. One hard lesson for companies,

Britchford said, is to stay one step ahead and shake things up when everyone at the organization

is feeling most cozy.

Another challenge for cult brand companies is to keep evolving in a way that doesn't alienate

core followers, added Daly. The tastes of people who watched ESPN when it began in 1979 are

different from the tastes of viewers aged twelve to nineteen who are just now coming to the

channel. The programming mix needs to speak to both audiences, although the ad mix does

alternate its target audience by using in-jokes for one or another group of viewers.

"Change is good," said Ragas. "Bottom line- if you stay authentic to what you originally stood

for and true to the core, they may give pushback but they will accept it."

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Love the hate mail

Though no panellist complained about their customers, several did admit that cult brands inspire

great passion in their followers, and that can lead marketers into a non- stop balancing act.

Said Schiller, Apple's senior vice president for worldwide product marketing: "There are strange

people out there and they seem to have a personality that has a strong affinity to attach to things

like cults. And you have to deal with those people because they are your customers. You have to

care about your customer…I get 300 e-mails a day and I have to respond to every one. Some of

the customers are screaming and swearing and angry.

"What you find is the cult/fetish customer is more passionate and therefore contacts you when he

or she is most upset. So you get a lot of angry customers who feel they have the right to fight for

their brand and [that] it's something bigger than any one person and any one company, and

they're fighting with their passionate views...You have to deal with their rage and accept it and

be proud of that, that the reason you're getting this hate mail with screaming and swearing is

because they love your product, they love your brand."

A cult brand can also constrict by making the press and Wall Street analysts too eager to typecast

your company, sometimes negatively. "One customer in tie-dye with long frizzy hair shows up at

a meeting and they go, 'A-ha! I knew you were that kind of company," lamented Schiller.

"Accept it, and market past that," he advised.

Smart companies regard their cult brands as an asset and never rest on their laurels, realizing that

even a brand people love in its present form has got to grow and change to survive, panellists

said. Added author Ragas, "All these brands help give people an identity. People like to be

different. At the same time, they would like to be part of a group that acts different. Cult brands

hit on that fine line."

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Why do people love this brand? Why are they so loyal to it? What does this brand mean to them?

Why? Why? Why! An interesting thing starts happening after you've asked a lot of questions for

a long enough period of time. Not only do you start getting some really good answers, but you

begin to see patterns and similarities between the responses that you receive. This was exactly

what happened in the dozens of interviews conducted. Clear patterns emerged. Although each of

the nine brands was clearly different, their individual formulas for Cult-Branding success shared

many of the same core ingredients.

These seven points won't tell you everything there is to know about Cult Branding, but they will

give you a nice overview and practical framework to utilize in your own marketing endeavours.

Think of this list as your indispensable "Cult Branding Cliff Notes." Here they are. Read them.

Use them!

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The Seven Golden Rules of Cult Branding.

1 – The Golden Rule of Social Groups

Consumers want to be part of a group that’s different. Our society is addicted to communication.

We use these devices to form and maintain distinct social groups, since as human beings we are

inherently social animals. We not only enjoy being part of groups made of like-

minded individuals, but we all enjoy being different and standing out from the rest of the pack.

2 – The Golden Rule of Courage Cult-

Brand inventors show daring and determination. Consumers embrace Cult Brands and are loyal

to them because their creators pushed the limit, took significant risks, and produced new and

different things. Consumers are tired of being bombarded with products and services that all look

the same, feel the same, and act the same. They want surprises. Cult Brands stay with us. Bland

brands fade from memory.

3 – The Golden Rule of Fun-

Cult Brands sell lifestyles. Human beings want to have fun. At their core, Cult Brands are always

fun. They make us happy. They cheer us up when we're down; they help us enjoy life. Not only

do they provide escape, but the companies develop and sell tools that allow followers to pursue

their dreams and celebrate new lifestyles.

4 – The Golden Rule of Human Needs

Listen to the choir and create Cult-Brand evangelists. Cult Brands focus on serving the

customers they already have. They don't try to attract hypothetical new customers. They look to

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the congregation, value their opinions, and reward them. Do extraordinary things for them, and

they'll become incredible evangelists.

5 – The Golden Rule of Contribution

Cult Brands always create customer communities. Cult-Brand companies continually find new

ways to give back to their customers for their passion and devotion. They remain humble and

personable. They develop strong relationships through developing and supporting customer

communities.

6 – The Golden Rule of Openness

Cult Brands are inclusive. Cult-Brand companies don't build imaginary profiles of ideal

customers. They don't' discriminate. They openly embrace anyone who is interested in their

company. Exclusivity doesn't exist.

7 – The Golden Rule of Freedom

Cult Brands promote personal freedom and draw power from their enemies. Human beings

cherish their freedom, and Cult Brands promote this freedom and nonconformity.Cult-

Brand companies work hard to create memorable experiences for their customers. They stay

fresh in the minds of the faithful with brand consistency.

They draw strength and unity from identifying and targeting an archenemy—a group that

conflicts with the company's values and goals.

These rules to me are obvious. TAKE CARE OF YOUR CUSTOMER! That is what all seven

rules are all about.. Somehow in the age of balance sheets, ROI, and cost cutting, these are the

things that are lost. The nine cult brands that were mentioned above were able to weather the

storm because of customer loyalty. They kept the customers involved in decision making

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process, kept the customers in a community, and served the brand to them to live by. This is a

marketers dream. Every company should strive for a cult following from there best customers.

Every company is able to do it. They just have to be honest and listen to the customer. If you

cater to a loyal customer not only will they become a life long customer, they will spread the cult

message. It will spread like a virus. Every marketer must known to hug their customers and

attempt to make a cult brand.

Maslow: The Father of Cult BrandingWhy are certain brands so important and meaningful to some customers that they feel compelled

to tell the world about them? What makes them go that extra mile?

Understanding human behaviour—what motivates people to do certain things and act

certain ways—is at the very core of successful marketing. This is where the work of the late,

great psychologist Abraham Maslow comes in. Maslow postulated that we humans have an

ascending order of needs and used a hierarchal pyramid to prioritize them. At the bottom levels

of the pyramid are our physiological needs, which include basic things like food, shelter, and

clothing that we all need to survive.At progressively higher levels in Maslow's Hierarchy are the

needs for safety and security, social interaction, andself-esteem. At the very top is self-

actualization, a term Maslow coined to describe the ultimate human need to learn, grow, and

reach one's full potential as a person.

We all desire on some level to self-actualize, both to be at peace with ourselves and to try to be

the best we can be. As humans, we are drawn to people, places, groups, causes, companies, and,

ultimately, brands that we believe can help us towards our ultimate goal of self-actualization and

total fulfilment.

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Why the Hierarchy of Needs Is a Crucial Tool for Branding?Perhaps the most important thing to take away from Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs is his

theory that all human beings start fulfilling their needs at the bottom levels of the pyramid. In

short, we fill our low physiological needs first. Higher needs like safety, social interaction, and

esteem basically do not exist at this point. Logically, survival comes first. However, once an

individual has satisfied his or her lower level needs, the higher level needs become influential in

motivating behavior.

As Maslow notes time and time again in his work, "Man is a perpetually wanting animal."

Maslow's writings break down the underlying drivers of human behavior and decision making.

Maslow never mentions the phrase "brand loyalty" in his books, but his Hierarchy of Human

Needs and concepts like self-actualization are key to understanding why consumers consistently

choose one brand over another and enjoy such strong relationships with them.

So, why is fulfilling higher level needs so integral to building strong customer loyalty? What's

the connection, you ask? The answer is, higher level needs influence future human behavior

much greater than lower level needs. It is the brands that can fulfill human needs on the higher

levels of the hierarchy that become irreplaceable in the mind of the consumer.

That's what customer loyalty is really all about: being irreplaceable. True customer loyalty is not

only about getting a customer to consistently choose your brand over another. It's for that same

customer to always believe (and then go tell the world) that your company's brand has no equal!

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Self-actualisation

Esteem needs

Belongingness and Love needs

Safety needs

Biological and Physiological needs

At the bottom are physiological needs, which include basic things like food, shelter, and clothing

that we all need to survive

At progressively higher levels are the needs for safety and security, social interaction, and self

esteem.

At the top is self -actualization–Maslow's term for the ultimate human need to learn, grow, and

reach one's full potential as a person.

So how does this relate to Cult Branding ?Higher level needs influence future behavior much more than lower level needs. Cult Branders

enjoy incredible loyalty because they work hard to connect with their customers at the very

highest level of Maslow's Hierarchy. They don't just offer great products and services, but they

fulfill needs for social interaction, esteem, andself-actualization. They make customers believe

that your brand has no equal.

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CASE STUDIES OF CULT BRANDSHarley Davidson

To say that Harley had fallen on hard times by 1981 would be a drastic understatement. Japanese

companies were destroying the company on pricing and

Harley-Davidson’s bikes had lost the quality that made them famous.

The executives risked their corporate lives with an $80 million buyout on a turnaround situation

that looked almost impossible. But, they couldn’t afford to fail; the whole company’s back was

against the wall. They had to make it. The choice was simple: drastically improve the quality of

the motorcycles and develop strong customer ties or go out of business.

Harley started copying Japanese production techniques and quality control, and released the new

“Evolution” engine in 1983 that put an end to oil leaks and other quality issues.

Given financial constraints, Harley couldn’t engage in a traditional advertising campaign to win

over customers. In 1983 CEO Vaughn Beals announced the launch

of the Harley Owners Group (H.O.G.), which he saw as a grassroots way to reconnect Harley’s

brand and lifestyle with its most faithful customers.

Despite an initial lack of acceptance, within a few years H.O.G. chapters started appearing

around the country. The spread of these groups was gorilla marketing at its best: membership

was generated primarily from inexpensive promotions at dealerships and word-of-mouth. H.O.G.

groups gave enthusiasts a structured way to meet, swap stories, and schedule rides with other

evangelists. Harley made a wise move in requiring every H.O.G. chapter to have a dealership

sponsor. The result of this stipulation was a tighter relationship between Harley dealers and the

customers, as well as an increase in parts and merchandise sales.

They didn’t stop with creating members groups. They started sponsoring rallies around the

country. In doing so, not only did they solidify their communities, but they also used the rallies

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as a killer sales tool. They bring motorcycles to the rallies for people to tryout. This concept

reaches its apex each year at Bike Week in Daytona Beach and the Sturgis Rally and Races in

South Dakota. Collectively, the events attract over half a million Harley enthusiasts. Harley takes

feedback its employees receive at these events very seriously. Opinions they receive from

customers affect what is produced in product lines and the way they run their rallies. This desire

to appeal to the customer has been extended to the point that Harley offers the option of

customizing their motorcycles. This allows Harley to rack up higher-margin sales, while

allowing consumers who buy a custom Harley feel like they are not only joining the “Harley

nation,” but that they are also exercising their own individuality.

In creating these events, and paying attention to its customers, what Harley is ultimately selling

through its motorcycles is the opportunity to experience the feelings of raw freedom and

empowerment that one receives from strapping on some leather and riding a bike down the open

road. These are feelings common to Americans of all ages, races, and backgrounds.

The Volkswagen BeetleToday the Beetle is regarded as arguably the best-selling car of all time, but back in 1948 it was

unknown in the U.S., and many sales types believed no one would ever buy, partly because of its

association with Nazi Germany—being dubbed “the people’s car” by Adolph Hitler—still fresh

in the public’s mind. Despite initial failures at introducing the Beetle into America, Volkswagen

remained undeterred. They brought twenty Beetles to the U.S. to a private showing in New York

City and then to the First U.S. International Trade Fair in Chicago. It wasn’t an overnight

success, but it started to get attention from the press and generated word-of- mouth buzz.

Given the opportunity to actually see and drive a Beetle, a significant chunk of the American

public soon found themselves in love with the reliable and affordable little, German car.

Virtually everything about the Beetle’s design screamed it was a car like no other: its air-

cooled engine was mounted in the back, not the front, like every other domestic gas guzzler of

the period, a configuration that made it more adept than anyU.S.-made car of the time for safe

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driving in rain, sleet, and snow; it’s exterior design was unique, with its egg-shaped body

standing in sharp contrast to the large and sleek,chrome-covered domestic behemoths of the

period. The Beetle’s appearance oozed a

curious combination of personality and practicality, which quickly helped build strong affection

for it among its owners.

In addition to developing a unique design (the look), Volkswagen focused on developing a

unique marketing message (the say and the feel) for the Beetle. In contrast to the advertising of

the Detroit automakers of the 1950s and 1960s, which was full of slick copy and boastful claims,

Volkswagen’s ads for the Beetle were frank, direct, and honest. Some of the more memorable

early print ads included “Think small,” “Some shapes are hard to improve on,” and the cult-

branding clincher, “Do you earn too much to afford one?”

The combination of unique design elements and honest advertising became a killer combination.

By the early 1960s, the Beetle became a magnet for legions of Americans who saw themselves

as being different. As Bug Tales author Paul Klebahn summed up: “The Beetle tended to appeal

to freethinkers. This was the thinking person’s car. Instead of saying, look how much I paid for

my car, it was look how much I didn’t pay!”

When Volkswagen launched the New Beetle in 1998, they made a conscious decision not to

show any drivers in its ads. They wanted their funky-shaped and lovable car to be the centre of

attention, not an actor or actress. “In the New Beetle’s initial advertising, we never included

people in the ads because we didn’t want a person to say, ‘Oh, that’s who drives a Beetle,’”

explained Steve Keys, Director of Corporate Communications. “We wanted you to be able to

say, ‘I can see myself in that car.’”

It was a good move: everyone from teenagers buying their first car to aging baby boomers

hoping to recapture their youth purchased the car. Volkswagen benefited from not shrinking its

potential audience of buyers: No one had trouble seeing themselves behind the wheel of a New

Beetle.

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AppleApple Computers is the epitome of self-empowerment and self-fulfillment combined in one

brand. How else to describe a Cult Brand whose original slogan for the Macintosh was, “the

computer for the rest of us”? Of course, “the rest of us” were those brave individuals who wanted

to control their own destinies and break free of the system’s controlling grip and authoritarian

ways. In the eighties, Apple painted this dark controlling force as being IBM, while in the

nineties it became Microsoft and Bill Gates. As Christopher Escher, former VP of Corporation

Communications, noted: “They turned computers, which are essentially a product for business

people to crunch numbers with, into symbols of self-realization and liberation against social

constraints.”

In the mid-nineties, things were looking pretty grim for Apple. The company was steadily losing

money, it lacked strong leadership at the top, and the firm’s overall share of the PC market was

continuing to slip. While Apple continued to have millions of loyal customers around the world,

it endured this period thinking that any day a large competitor would buy it out, or that it would

fail outright. Then, after more than a decade away from Apple, Steve Jobs came back as interim

CEO in 1997. Jobs, through a savvy combination of internal cost-cutting, revamped marketing,

and new product launches, turned Apple around.

In 2001, Apple announced the launch of the sleekly designed iPod. While not the first digital

music player, the market lacked quality and was absent of any standout devices. Apple focused

on the small size of the device, ease of use, and the sleek design, and transformed it into the

digital music player by which all others are now measured. After the launch of iTunes, the digital

download service, in April 2003, Apple started its now famous ad campaign with silhouetted

figures rocking out to tunes. These ads injected a human element into a market that focused

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solely on the boring technological aspects of the devices. Apple realized that people don’t just

want to carry music, they want to jam out to songs that reflect their personalities.

This attention to what customers want—form, ease of use, and individuality—has paid off more

than anyone could have ever guessed. To date, Apple has sold over 42 million iPods, and passed

over 1 billion downloads on iTunes. In the first fiscal quarter of 2006, Apple reported sales of

over 14 million iPods, leading them to $565 million in revenue, the highest in the company’s

history.

Apple doesn’t just build products, they build products that their faithful want. And, they have a

variety of interesting ways of preaching and listening to the choir. For starters, Apple hosts a

User Group University at Macworld expo where leaders from Mac UserGroups—

those essentially independent clubs started by Apple aficionados—meet with each other for a full

day of workshops and conversations about Apple’s latest products. Apple showers all attendees

with free logo merchandise, as well as employee discounts at the company store. Not only does

Apple come away with invaluable feedback from a great group of customers, but it reenergizes

the key faithful. Apple also asks individuals who run successful Mac User Groups in their

communities to participate and to help Apple work with less successful user groups in the region.

They continually gather feedback for Apple and look for Mac success stories to share. By

following this game plan, Apple is able to give its customers the product enhancements they

really want instead of guessing what the whims of the customers might be.

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CONCLUCIONThe Bug hit the roads with a vroom in the year 1938, when it went into mass production. Racing

through difficult terrains, Volkswagen Beetle aka The Bug, outpaced Henry Ford’s T-model as

the world’s best selling automobile in 1981.

While many sporty sprites slip out of the fast lane into the deserted streets of oblivion, The Bug

still is the passion of millions. There are hundreds of active fan clubs, dedicated to restoring and

driving old Bugs, and promoting interaction among proud owners. Rallies and meets of classic

Beetles still cast a magic spell on thousands of obsessed ‘Beetlers’. In fact, VW had stopped

importing the Bug into the US market since 1977.

What fascinates marketers and business pundits about the Beetle is how it managed to stay at the

top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for five decades. The mystique charm of the Bug and the

emotional connection it makes with its owners made the company relaunch the car in 1999. Its

passion like this that makes it a Cult Brand.

Customer loyalty

Robust markets have seen companies suffer from the ‘Revolving Door Syndrome’. This means

that companies experience high customer attrition rates and face low customer loyalty. This

syndrome has left business pundits and academicians pondering about: Why do some brands

enjoy deep customer loyalty and become ‘cult brands’, while some remain mere brands, and yet

others slip into oblivion?

The answer to this question lies in understanding the DNA of Cult brands realised Matthew W

Ragas – co-author of the best selling book The Power of Cult Branding. He decided to scrutinise

‘cult brands’ and break down their success formula into actionable points.

Defining a cult brand

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Ragas defines a cult brand as those that make a deep impact and establish an emotional

connection with the customer. They have the power to convert their customers into brand

evangelists.

What gives brands their cult status is that customers become passionate - almost obsessive about

them - something that is absent among brands with ‘mass appeal’. More importantly, followers

of cult brands see no viable alternative for them in the market. Quite like the Harley-Davidson!

Awesome Nine

Ragas and his co-author BJ Bueno identified nine such brands that perfectly fit the definition of

cult brands. They are: Star Trek; Volkswagen Beetle, Oprah Winfrey, Jimmy Buffet, Linux,

Apple, WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment), Harley-Davidson,and Vans shoes.

These are the brands that enjoy the most fanatical and loyal customer following; and consistently

connect with their customers at the very highest levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Interestingly, all these brands began their journey on a shoestring budget.

Brand awareness – half the battle won

More often than not, marketers assume that spending staggering amounts to build brand

awareness assures their products a cult brand status. Ironically, building brand awareness is only

half the solution. Companies like Coke, Pepsi, Microsoft, Walt Disney and McDonald’s might

have the largest marketing budgets, yet they are miles away from being cult brands!

The reason: Consumers might enjoy having a Coke or eating a burger, but they aren’t always

fervent about it. Besides, none of these brands can brag of strong customer relationships that

score high on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Cult brands Vs Benign cults

Business pundits draw a comparison between cult brands and benign cults. Benign cults are

candid in their mission and goals. According to Rick Ross, renowned thought-reformspecialist,

benign cults are harmless and fulfill the emotional wants and desires of their followers in a

positive and meaningful manner. Benign cults and their followers cherish a mutually beneficial

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relationship, with both receiving immense satisfaction. ISKON is a case in point. Cult brands

develop a similar rapport with their customers.

Surrogate family

Cult brands leave a legacy. By nature, human beings resist change. When caught in a rapidly

changing environment, they seek refuge in places and people they are comfortable with. Cult

brands offer the protection that consumers look for – in terms

of values, belief systems, and ideas. To sum it up succinctly, these brands play the role of a

‘surrogate family’ for consumers in a jittery market. For the brand, this evocation translates into

a passionate customer base.

Success commandments

Why is it that customers are mesmerised by the power of cult brands and speak about them like a

person seated next to them? Why do the relationships of cult brands still retain their magic? Why

is it that these brands still enjoy peak emotional connectivity?

It’s the traits of cult brands that hold sway. Here are the traits that can give companies a

commanding lead in their marketing endeavours:

All-encompassing: ‘Exclusivity’, ‘niche’, and ‘target marketing’ are buzzwords in markets

today. In stark contrast, cult brand companies scoff at their very mention. They enjoy the

patronage of a diverse customer base cutting across the barriers of age, race, gender, and

background. The Oprah Winfrey show has established an emotional bond with

diversified customer-segments by engaging in a tête-à-tête with them.

Companies will have to be open and inclusive, irrespective of its line of business. They will have

to ponder over questions like: What are consumer needs? Which of these needs can the brand

fulfil?

Listen to the choir: Listen to thy customers and act on their advice. All these nine cult brands

have a strong ‘sharing’ and ‘collaborative’ component attached to them. Thanks to the strong

belief in these two components, brands like Linux and Apple enjoy the fiery passion and loyalty

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of consumers. The open source development process on which Linux built its operating system is

a classic example of openness.

Companies often undermine the role of their employees in generating an open environment.

They should encourage them to speak their mind. Harley-Davidson’semployeesare encouraged

to mix and mingle with customers.

Tout openness and inclusiveness: Advertising helps companies to send their message of

openness and inclusiveness. However, a backlash is inevitable if the message differs from how

the product or service ‘walks, talks, and acts’ in reality.

Oprah Winfrey’s smiling photograph on the cover page of its ‘O’ magazine is a case in point. It

touts Oprah Winfrey as a warm, friendly, and approachable personality. The ad carries the very

essence of Oprah Winfrey’s shows.

The job of the marketer doesn’t end by earning his brand a ‘cult status’. The next destination is

to make it irreplaceable, incomparable, and timeless. Something that iconic brands gained!

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Bibliography1. www.google.com

2. www.managmentparadise.com

3. www.wikipedia.com

4. www.kalyani.com

5. www.scrbid.com

6. www.acdmeu.com