Cult Branding

Sr.No

Topic

Pg.No

01

Design of Study

01

02

Branding

02

03

Market Segmentation

06

04

Cult Brands

11

05

Seven Golden Rules of Cult Branding

22

06

Nine Cult Brands

36

07

The Indian Cult

57

08

Case Study on Harley- Davidson

64

09

Conclusion

75

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Design of study
Objective of study

To study about brands

To know regular brand is transformed into a colossal Cult movement.

To understand Cult brands & know about the Global & Indian Cults.

To understand impact of Cult brands have on people.

Scope
The project focuses on the study of Cult Brands found in global markets through
collection of secondary information regarding it

Methodology
All the information, data, cases gathered and analysed is from secondary source like
magazines, books, internet, etc .

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BRANDING

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Origin of Brands
The origin of the term brand in its contemporary sense is relatively new. The term
derives from the practice of indelibly marking or stamping property, usually with a
hot iron. Cattle or sheep would be marked this way, but it was equally a means of
signalling disgrace. Criminal would be fixed with a mark of infamy using a hot
iron or tattoo. Branding therefore signalled a loss of esteem that could not be
restored and could be publicly recognized. One still talk of people being branded a
Liar. Branding is principally the process of attaching a name and a reputation to
something or someone.
In the mid 1880s, there were no brands and little quality control by manufacturers.
Wholesalers held power over both manufacturers and retailers. Manufacturers had to
offer the best deals to wholesalers in order to get their product distributed. This
created a squeeze on profits. As a result of this profit squeeze some manufacturers
decided to differentiate their products from the competition. They gave their product
names, obtained patents to protect their exclusivity and used advertising to take the
news about them to customers, over the heads of the wholesalers and retailers. Thus,
the concept of branding, in its contemporary sense was born.

What is a Brand ?

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A brand is a simple thing, it is effect a
Trademark, which through careful
management, skilful promotion and
use, comes in the minds of consumers,
embrace a particular and appealing set
values and attributes, both intangible
tangible. It is therefore much more
the product itself, it is also more than

Brand is a name, term, sign,

symbol, or design, or a
combination of them, intended to
identify the goods or services of
one seller or group of seller and
differentiate them from those of
competitors.
The American Marketing
Association

wide
to
of
and
than

merely a label to consumers it

represent a whole host of attributes

and a

credible guarantee of quality and origin. To the brand owner it is, in effect an
annuity, a guarantee of future cash flows.
A brand identifies the seller or maker. A brand is the proprietary visual, emotional,
rational, and cultural image that one associate with the company or a. When one
thinks Volvo he might think safety, when he think of Nike the h might think of
Michael Jordan or Just do it. Thus a brand name and the positive association with
that brand makes one selection easier and enhances the value and satisfaction one
get from the product.

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Brand Loyalty
Brand Loyalty is the degree to which consumer purchases a certain brand without
considering alternatives. Brand Loyalty in its strongest form is described as brand
insistence; where the consumer refers to be unsatisfied with a substitute.
All manufacturers of branded goods want consumer loyalty i.e. the consumers
should insist on a particular brand & accept no other substitute. A brands most
powerful advantage is rooted in human tendency to habits and stick to routines.
Most people will buy the same brand over and over again if it continues to satisfy
their needs.
What brand loyalty really is, whether the consumer is committed one and the test is
if he or she will wake up a mile to get it. In other words will the consumer go to
another shop and ask for it, will he or she leave the substitute being offered by the
shopkeeper?

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Market Segmentation

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Introduction to Segmentation
The starting point for discussing market segmentation is mass-marketing. In mass
marketing the seller engages in the mass production, mass distribution and mass
promotion of one producer for all buyers. Henry Ford epitomized this marketing
strategy when he offered the Model T in any colour, as long it is Black. The
proliferation of advertising media and distribution channels is making it difficult and
increasingly expensive to reach a mass audience. Hence many companies turned to
market segmentation. A company cannot serve all consumer in a broad market such
as computers or soft drinks. The consumer are too numerous and diverse in their
buying requirements. The company needs to identify the market segments that it can
serve more effectively.
Since no product or service can please everybody marketers need to segment
the markets that offer the greatest potential for sales. By doing so, marketers
can fine-tune their mix including advertising, to match the needs, wants desires
of the target markets.

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Levels of Market Segmentation

Segment Marketing:
A market segment consists of a large identifiable group within a market with similar
wants, purchasing power, geographical location, buying attitude or habits. e.g. an
auto company may identify four broad segment car buyers who are primarily
seeking basic transportation or high performance or luxury or safety.
Segment marketing offers several benefits, A company can create a more fined tuned
product or service offering and price it appropriately for the target audience for the
target audience. The choices of distribution and communication channels become
much easier. The company also may face fewer competitors in the particular
segment.
Local Marketing:
It means marketing programs being tailored to the needs and wants of local
customers groups. Citibank provides different mixes of banking services in its
branches depending on neighbourhood demographics. Krafts helps the supermarkets
chain identify the cheese assortments and shelf positioning that will optimise the
cheese sales in low, middle and high income stores, and in different ethnic
neighbourhood.
Those favouring localizing a companys marketing see national advertising as
wasteful because it fails to address local needs. While those against this strategy
argue that it increases the manufacturing and marketing costs by reducing economies
of scale.

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Individual Marketing:
The ultimate level of segmentation leads to segment of one, customised
marketing or one to one marketing. Mass marketing is thee ability to prepare on a
mass basis individually designed products and communications to meet each
customers requirements.
For centuries, consumers were served as individuals: tailors made suits and cobblers
designed shoes for individuals. Much business to business marketing today is
customised the offers, logistics, communications and financial terms for each major
accounts.
Niche Marketing:
A niche is more narrowly defined group, typically a small market whose needs
are not well served. Marketers usually identify a niche by dividing a segment
into sub segments or by defining a group seeking distinctive benefits. E.g. the
segment of heavy smokers includes those who are trying to stop smoking and
those who dont care.
Segments are normally large and attract several competitors, whereas niches
are fairly small and normally attract only one or two. These segments need
more decentralization and some changes in the way they do business.
The prevalence of niche and even microniche marketing can even be seen in
the Media. There was a proliferation of magazines (in 1998 there were 1000
first edition magazines launched ) targeting specific niches, divided and
subdivided along the lines of ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation: B 1 G 2
( Black first Gay second) is an N.Y based first lifestyle magazines for Black
Gay Men. Miami based Quince for Hispanic teenage girls.

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Niche marketers presumably understand their customers needs so well that the
customers willingly pay a premium. Ferrari gets a high price for its cars
because buyers feel no other automobile comes close to it.
Thus Attractive Niche is characterised as follows: The customer in the niche
have a distinct set of needs, they will pay a premium to the firm that best
satisfies their needs, the niche is not likely to attract other competitors, the
nicher gains certain economies through specialisation, and the niche has size,
profit, and growth potential.

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CULT BRANDS

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Meet Mister Maslow The Father of Cult Branding

The connection between customer loyalty and cult brands is an area that up until
now has been filled with lots of questions and relatively few answers. For
example, one knows that certain brands enjoy incredible customer loyalty and
devotion. And that the most loyal customers of certain brands will do seemingly
almost anything to support their cherished brands. But Why? Why 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? Successful brand
owners will tell that a solid grasp of human behavior what motivates people to do
certain things and act certain ways is at the very core of successful marketing.
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 Maslows Hierarchy are
the needs for safety and security, social interaction, and self-esteem. At the very
top is self-actualization, a term Maslow coined to describe the ultimate human
need to learn, grow, and reach ones full potential as a person., Maslow describes
self-actualization as follows:
A musician must make music, and an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to
ultimately be at peace with him-self. What a man can be, he must be. This need
one may call self-actualization. . . . It refers to mans desire for self-fulfillment,
namely to the tendency for him to become actually in what he is potentially; to
become everything that one is capable of becoming. In other words, 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 fulfillment.

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The Maslows Hierarchy of needs can be explained with the help of the pyramid
below.

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

Perhaps the most important thing to take away from Maslows 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, esteem, and social interaction 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. This quick refresher on Maslow and his Hierarchy of Human Needs is
important, because many of Maslows findings lie at the core of what makes
companies with cult brands so successful. Maslows 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.
The makers of cult brands arent like mainstream marketers whose focus is largely
on selling feature-benefits from the bottom of the pyramid to their customers.
Rather, cult branders enjoy incredible loyalty because they work hard to connect
with their customers at the very highest levels of Maslows Hierarchy. Cult brand
companies all have products and services with great feature-benefits, but their
products and services also fulfill the high-level needs of esteem, social interaction,
and self-actualization found at the top of Maslows pyramid. So, why is fulfilling
higher level needs so integral to building strong customer loyalty? Whats the
connection? 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

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on the higher levels of the hierarchy that become irreplaceable in the mind of the
consumer. What customer loyalty is really all about Being Irreplaceable. True
customer loyalty is not only about getting a customer to consistently choose a
brand over another. Its for that same customer to always believe (and then go tell
the world) that companys brand has no equal!

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Characteristics
Cult brand customers range in age from eight to eighty
Get out into the field and look at a cult brand's typical customers. Visit and walk
the floor of a Star Trek convention. Go to a Jimmy Buffet concert. Have a cup of
coffee with some Harley-Davidson owners. Talk to some Linux or Macintosh
fanatics, even check out a WWE wrestling event, the conclusion would be that cult
brands are all incredibly open and inclusive companies. In fact, their customer
bases are so diverse that their followers generally cut across all ages, races,
genders, creeds, and socio-economic backgrounds.
Why do cult brands like Star Trek, Jimmy Buffet, Linux, Apple, and WWE all
have customers that range in age from eight to eighty? Simple. Don't forget that
cult branders aren't just selling a product or a service; they are selling the
opportunity to fulfill their customers' passions, dreams, and aspirations. The need
for feelings of self-empowerment and self-fulfillment is timeless and ageless.
These are universal qualities that all human beings share. A rebellious young
teenager and an aging baby boomer, while separated in decades by age, both want
the same feelings of temporary escapism and unrestricted fun that seemingly only
Jimmy Buffets island-lifestyle-inspired concerts music can provide.
A great cult brand like Harley-Davidson would likely have never got off the
ground and recovered fabulously in the late eighties if it had fallen into the trap of
brand exclusivity and nearsighted targeting. Can one imagine what would have
happened if Harley had started running ads and sponsoring events geared only
toward single blue-collar males living in rural markets with a median household
income of $30,000 to $35,000 a year? While it's hard to predict the outcome of a
hypothetical future, if Harley had followed this strategy, it likely would have outmarketed and outsmarted itself right out of hundreds of thousands of loyal new
`weekend riders'.

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A peek into the Harley nation today reveals thousands upon thousands of middleaged lawyers, doctors, accountants, and other upwardly mobile professionals
happily coexisting with long-time blue-collar Harley owners. In short, the Harley
nation is now as diverse as a cross-section of the entire American population, and
for good reason. 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 an open road.
These are feelings common to Americans of all ages, races, and backgrounds.

Cult brands are universal

It's hardly by accident that Oprah Winfrey has maintained such a fervently
steadfast and devoted fan base during her career. For over 15 years now, she has
used the Oprah Winfrey Show as a daily platform for holding heart to heart
discussions with her audience. While some TV personalities seem distant and
removed from the general public, Oprah has never shied away from sharing
intimate personal details about her life with her audience. Oprah has openly
discussed such incredibly difficult and personal topics as being, raped at nine years
old and using cocaine in her twenties, as well as her ongoing high profile battle
with obesity.
By sharing these intimate personal details, Oprah shows her viewers that when the
lights and cameras are all put away she faces many of the same problems as they.
She is indeed an ordinary person with ordinary problems to overcome. It's her
seeming vulnerability and fragility that make her that much more of an inclusive
brand. As for Star Trek, the TV series and movies have always had themes of
openness and acceptance of all races, creeds, and nationalities. Let's not forget that
the cast of the original TV series included a black female (Uhura), a Russian

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(Checkov), an Asian (Sulu), and even an `alien life form', the Vulcan Spock, all
working together as the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. It doesn't get much more
inclusive than that! Explains long-time Star Trek expert Richard Arnold, "Star Trek
is about a future society where we have all survived with dignity. We don't all get
killed by a huge bomb. Instead, we unite as a planet."

Cult brands are `sharing' and `collaborative'

Nothing lets a customer better know that a brand is truly inclusive than when the
company listens and acts on the advice its customers give it. As human beings, we
all get pleasure from sharing our thoughts, ideas, experiences, and discoveries with
others, and we are naturally drawn to people and organizations that value and
appreciate what each of us has to share. We are even more drawn to people and
organizations that actually take our input and act upon it. Not surprisingly, the vast
majority of cult brands all have a strong `sharing' and `collaborative' component
associated with them.
This theme of collaboration and sharing is a prime driver behind the fiery passion
and fierce loyalty that software developers have had for Linux for over a decade
now. The open source development process that the Linux operating system is built
upon is a superb example of the power of openness and inclusiveness in practice.

Cult brands abolish command-and-control thinking

A company's employees can also be powerful secret weapons for building a
genuine environment of sharing and openness between its brand and its customers.
Unfortunately, far too many brand holders ranging from monolithic Fortune 500
giants right down to small mom and pop corner shops still stick with a command
and control management style. A company maybe a department store, a car
dealership, or an appliance mega store whose well intentioned employees clearly

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want to provide honest advice but can't. They come off sounding like robots
spouting the company line. Invariably, this kind of experience leaves a nasty taste
in our mouths about that company's brand. Instead of feeling appreciated and
welcome, the customer feels frustrated and excluded.
Harley-Davidson demonstrates beautifully companies whose employees are not
only free of command and control shenanigans but are actually encouraged to mix
and mingle with customers.

Use advertising to convey openness and inclusiveness

Beyond `sharing' with its customers and setting its employees free, there is another
way a brand can become more inclusive, and that is through advertising. A brand's
advertising can either enhance overall message of openness and inclusiveness or it
can tear this message to pieces. Few things hurt a brand worse than an advertising
campaign that conveys a different marketing message from how the product or
service "walks, talks, and acts" in reality.
This kind of disconnection in communication should never happens to a brand.
Before one launches any new advertising campaign, always ask one question: Do
these ads convey a message that the brand is open, friendly, and inclusive?
Analyze the marketing plan behind any cult brand and one will find that every
facet of its advertising from print and TV ads all the way down to its in store
displays gives off a feeling of openness and friendliness. These ads all focus
intently on demonstrating that anyone and everyone is welcome to use the
company's product or service. No one is left out.
It is hardly an accident, for example, that every issue of Oprah Winfrey's O
magazine features a smiling photo of Oprah on its cover. Sure, Oprah is the brand
people are `buying into' when they purchase a copy of O, but the reason Oprah is
on the cover goes much deeper than that. Study the rack of women's magazines.
Pick up a copy of O, and one will see that Oprah's cover photo is always warm,

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friendly, and approachable. She creates a stark contrast to the tall svelte models
with seemingly impossible body dimensions on the covers of many other women's
magazines. Oprah's inclusiveness wins out over the other magazines'
exclusiveness.
Cult brand car manufacturer Volkswagen is another company that effectively uses
advertising to deliver its message of family and inclusiveness. While the vast
majority of car manufacturers design their new models to sell to a particular
segment of the car buying public, Volkswagen has largely refused to go down this
path. And for good reason trying to use demographics and psychographics to
develop a profile of the ideal Beetle buyer is wasted effort, because the lifestyle,
attitude, and dream a Beetle fulfills defies age, race, gender, and socio-economic
background.
Wisely, for the launch of the New Beetle in 1998, Volkswagen made a conscious
decision not to show any actual `drivers' in magazine or television ads. VW wanted
its funky shaped and lovable little car - not an actor or actress - to be the centre of
the public's attention. Advertising can make or break efforts to make a brand more
open and inclusive. Keep in mind that cult brand advertisements consistently
reinforce the notion that anyone and everyone is always welcome to use their
products and services.

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SEVEN GOLDEN
RULES OF CULT
BRANDING

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Nothing frustrates one more than to read a book that has good ideas but fails to break
them down into bite-sized pieces for the reader to digest and implement. So this is
about cult branding into seven key points. Why do people love this brand? Why are
they so loyal to it? What does this brand mean to them? Why? Why? Why! These
seven points wont tell everything there is to know about cult branding, but they will
give a nice overview and practical framework. Think of this list as an indispensable
thing, Cult Branding Cliff Notes. Here they are The Seven Golden Rules of Cult
Branding
1. Consumers want to be part of a group thats different.
2. Cult brand inventors show daring and determination.
3. Cult brands sell lifestyles.
4. Listen to the choir and create cult brand evangelists.
5. Cult brands always create customer communities.
6. Cult brands are inclusive.
7. Cult brands promote personal freedom and draw power from

their

enemies.

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Rule 1: Consumers Want to be a Part of the Group thats Different

Human beings are social animals. They have a strong need to communicate and
relate to each other. Marketers of cult brands have made use of this knowledge
about human nature. They have created groups around their brands that not only
buy the product but also support and advocate it. These consumers communities
see the product as a lifestyle, not just a product. The product thus becomes a tool
for self-actualization and these cult brands become symbols for distinct social
groups that are recognizably unique. Cults give people a unique ways, to be
weird together and feel weird no more"
Not only this, cults brands sometimes serve as surrogate facilities, which product
the followers from many societal pains. They are temporary way for consumers to
rebel against the society while having the love and support of like-minded
individuals. Oprah enjoys this cult like following because she can make her
customers feel unique reading a book featured on the show allows the viewers to
be a part of the Oprah family and still remain unique from the non-Oprah viewers.
Look, say and feel: The three amigos of every cult brand: One perceives and
understands the world through his senses. In the same way, makes purchase
decisions also through senses. Every brand has its look, say and feel, which
influences the consumer preference in a big way.
Cult brands use these three powerful amigos of look, say and feel to differentiate
their products and services. In fact, Apple has achieved this cult status due to
attention to look, say and feels.

Its endeavour is to build products that are

aesthetically beautiful and insanely great. Another great example of look, say
and feel is Volkswagen Beetle. Its unique egg shaped design combined with the
unique advertising message (Think Small et al) lent a truly unique personality to
the car.

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Most of the cult brands do not stop at just look, say and feel pay tireless attention
to details. For instance, by 1996 the open source developers started discussing a
need for Linux to have a recognizable identity. After much deliberation, the
penguin was chosen because in the words of Linux Torvalds, it is cute and
cuddly. This logo in the midst of other cold corporate logos screamed that the
company is different.
Another characteristic of cult brands is that they just dont quit easily. Though
today Jimmy Buffet is considered as a strong cult brand, he has gone through
enough travail to achieve this cult status. His first album Down to Earth sold a
total of 374 copies. Subsequent attempts were no better, but he did not give up.
His unique blend of country and folk music left the entire industry confused as to
how to market him, because his music was a category unto itself. He found
success with his sixth album when his Margaritaville made it to the Top Ten.
Jimmy Buffet has grown into a cult brand because he fought hard to create and
maintain the category his music belonged to.
A cult brand is not just different from competition but is insanely different. No
competitor even comes close to a cult brand because any alternative to the cult
brand looks woefully inadequate.

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Rule 2: Cult Brand Inventors Show Daring and Determination.

The consumers associate so strongly with the cult brands because their inventors
dare to be different. In the market where all the products look alike, cult brands
stand apart from the rest because their inventors took risks and did not follow the
conventional wisdom. They have challenged the conventional wisdom not only
about products or services but also about consumer needs and wants.
Star Trek challenged the belief that the public was not interested in watching
serious science fiction. And this is precisely the reason that Star Trek became so
popular. Star Trek fans are so involved with the show because of its real plot lines,
real characters and real subject matter. In fact Star Trek took its subject matter so
seriously that they invited scientist as a consultant. Very gadget in the shows and
movies had some real science behind it, a fact widely appreciated by the scientific
community.
Similarly, Oprah ignored the conventional wisdom when she decided that her show
would not include tabloid topics and off the wall guests and would offer only
solutions, not problems. The sceptics predicted that this move would make it
difficult to survive in face of competition from news, more outlandish players.
Oprah ignored these sceptics, as she believed that her viewers wanted a show
whose content was more fulfilling and went ahead with rolling out a new format of
the show based on self-improvement.
Vince and Linda McMahon of WWE are also extraordinary risk takers. They
believed so strongly in the potential of wrestling at a national level that they
brought the family wrestling business from Vinces father. They agreed to make
quarterly payments of $250,000 each and if they missed a payment, they would
lose everything and the business would revert back to its owners. This was a big
gamble, which required extraordinary courage and faith in the dream. At that time,
creating a national brand for wrestling was a risky proposition as the business was

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controlled by regional fiefdom who has agreed not to complete in each others
territories. McMahons took on these players when they started paying local TV
channel to broadcast their companys matches. And the rest, as they say, is history.
These

businesses were driven by their inventors tremendous zeal, faith in

themselves and an ability to take risks. Their never say die attitude even in face
of failures is what is responsible for their tremendous success today.

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Rule 3: Cult Brands Sell Lifestyles

Harley Davidson is not just a bike: it is a statement of a lifestyle. Thousands of
fans meet each year to participate in the races just to have fun. Jimmy Buffet
draws millions of fans to his concerts because they have fun there. Linux is so
popular among developers because it was initially built for having fun. Almost all
the cult brands have strong fun factor attached to them.
Jimmy Buffet is a master at the art of sharing this fun with his followers. With his
songs, he paints a vivid picture of a tropical beach with a lot of fun, sand and surf.
Buffet does not sell only music; he sells an opportunity for temporary escapism to
his fans. His fans arent buying a product or a service; they are buying a lifestyle,
which is shared with like minded individuals.
Cult brands also understand that people need something more from life than simple
fulfilment of their physiological needs. They have dreams that are more than new
cars or bigger housed. And they have an immense need to pursue their dreams and
passions. Developers making six-figure salaries devote their time to work on a
free open source code program like Linux? The need to work on this comes from
within not from the organization or the boss. Working on Linux allows people to
pursue their dreams and passions and have fun at the same time.
Not only Linux, but also all the cult brands serve as tools for self-actualization for
their customers. Cult brands weave themselves around the dreams and passions of
their customers. That is why Vans organizes and sponsors dozens of events related
to extreme sports. Cult brands somehow enable people to feel in control of their
own destiny; to feel self-empowered.

Apple advertised its Macintosh as

Computer for the rest of us. This rest of us refereed to the brave individuals
who wanted to break free IBMs controlling grip. The look, feel and say of the
product should communicate this self-empowerment as does Harleys engines that
come with their characteristics potato-potato sound.

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Rule 4: Listen to the Choir and Create Cult Brand Evangelists

Star Trek, when it was first introduced did not make it really big. Though the
ratings in the first year were respectable, the second season was not very
encouraging and NBC decided to withdraw the series. When the news got around,
the husband and wife team of Bjo and John Trimble started a Save Star Trek
letter writing campaign. This letter writing campaign stands out as an example of
what a bunch of fervent loyalists can achieve for the brand.
Most of the companies focus their selling efforts and communication programs on
the mass market. But this is where they rarely find true brand evangelists. These
evangelists will be the happy customers who already know the product and the
brand and feel real excitement for the companys product.
When Vans started the company, they were simply manufacturing and selling
shows to the public. Their shoes were then tried by California Skateboarders
association in the 1970s.

Vans paid heed to these customers, unlike other

manufacturers and began catering to their needs and desires. The company even
started sponsoring well-known Skateboarders. Van listened to them closely and
responded to their demands and in the process created its own fiercely loyal set of
brand evangelists.
A company cannot expect to build strong relationships with its customers, if it
ignores what they have to say. Fans would be only as loyal to the company as they
perceive the company to be to them. Apple has mastered some interesting ways to
relate to brand evangelists. It hosts a User Group University twice a year at
Macworld New York and San Francisco. At each of these universities User Group
leaders from all over the world meet for workshop and conventions. They are also
briefed about companys latest products. Apple regional liaisons and Apple User
Group advisory board. These user groups give apple valuable feedback from the
market and also share Apple stones with anyone who would listen.

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Cult Branding

Cult brands use evangelists to strengthen their relationships with other segments.
They understand how to keep their customers happy at all costs which immediately
ingratiates them to their customers. A great brand cannot be created without brand
evangelists. A company needs them as much as they need the company.
Evangelists like to see their unexpressed needs being realized as happened in case
of Linux when Linux Torvalds wrote the code for Linux. And when he decided to
share it with others and involve them in the creation process, he helped translate
their vision and dreams into reality. Every cults brand also consistently needs to
offer the unexpected to the evangelists. Even when their beloved brand commits a
mistake, these evangelists will not hesitate to come to its rescue.

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Rule 5: Cult Brands Always Create Customer Communities

In 1982, Harley Davidson was a company on the brink of financial ruin. It was
beleaguered with heavy debts, stiff competition from Japanese bikes and a host of
quality and production problems.
expensive mass marketing.

In this condition, Harley could not afford

In 1983, the CEO Vaughn Beals announced the

launch of Harley Owners Group. This laid the foundation of an entirely new way
to connect with customers. As the concept gradually caught on, thousands of
Harley riders became members. Each local HOG chapter was sponsored and
promoted by the local dealer. This not only improved the relations between the
dealers and the customers but also increased the sales of Harley merchandise and
spare parts.
Harley did not stop at launching a membership club. Every year, it organise
hundreds of local and regional rallies around the world. The rallies provide an
excellent opportunity for Harleys fans to meet each other and share their stories.
At these rallies the also unveil new bikes and encourage people to try them. Both
Startrek and Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville followed a similar path in creating their
customer communities. In both these cases, the seed of ideas came from fans that
started the community in their own way. In case of Startrek it was an 18 year old
Dan Madsen, who began publishing and distributing a small photocopied to fellow
trekkers. Similarly, Scott Nicksen came up with the idea of forming a small
informal Parrot head club. Both these organisation once convinced of the power
of the idea, took these small initiatives forward. Madsens company has now been
operating the official Startrek fan club and publishing the Star Trek Communicator
magazine for over 20 years And Nickerson runs a MNC, non profit organisation
called Parrot Heads in Paradise
Another powerful tool to keep this customer community active and engaged is to
build a Mecca for them. This can be a focal point that can help revitalize the
brands faithful. It can be the first factory, first retail store or even the garage or

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house of owner. Jimmy Buffet has a retail music store that is widely popular
among his fans. For many wrestling fans attending Wrestle mania is the
culmination and fulfilment of their true devotion to their cult brand. Apple created
its Apple Expo and Macworld conventions, which are more than trade shows.
These conventions provide the fans with an opportunity to meet Apples
developers and take a look at the newest products. These customer communities
enable Cult brands to touch their customers lives on a regular basis and reinforce
their connection with their brand.

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Rule 6: Cult brands are Inclusive

Advertisers and marketers believe that great brands are built upon product
exclusivity and targeting marketing. As brand become more and more exclusive, it
drifts further and further away from its customers. It alienates the very same
customer who is instrumental in making it so big. Cult brand do not target
customer with exclusive products but they market the products to real customer
to fulfil the real needs and wants. The customer base of these cult brands do not
simply sell products or services, they sell opportunities to fulfil their customers
dreams and passion.
Harley owner range from lawyer, doctors, accountant to blue collar workers. When
Van Doren started his company, his attention was not to build an exclusive brand.
In fact, he wanted to make and sell shoes for the public. Once he realized that his
shoes are being worn by skateboarders, he started paying special attention to their
needs and want at the time they were considered as outcast.
Oprah has maintained such a large and devoted fan base primarily because she was
never shied of sharing her own problems with the audience, including her rape at
the age of 9, addiction to cocaine at 20 and her on going battle with obesity. Her
vulnerability and fragility make her an inclusive brand. And a brand becomes truly
inclusive when it listens to its customers and acts on their feedback. This theme of
collaboration and sharing is best demonstrated by Linux. Its popularity is a sterling
example of power of openness and inclusiveness.

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Rule 7: Cult brands promote personal freedom

The developers who actually write the Linux code are attracted to it because to
them it signifies freedom. It is a form of expression for them. Cult brands signify
personal freedom and encourage their fans to break from the moulds and follow
their own path.
Cult brands also create lasting memories. They blend environmental stimuli like
people, place, images, sounds and smells to create memorable experience. One
incredible sensory experience is enough to entrench the brand firmly in the
consumers mind, and these warm feelings, which that experience is able to create
for the brand should be reinforced so that the brand-customer connection remains
fresh and strong. For cult brands work hard to communicate with their customers
with the same message day after day, year after year. Jimmy buffet consistently
tours every summer and works hard to bring out a new album every year. Oprah
works on a new edition of the Oprah Winfrey show on a daily basis. Similarly,
Paramount has produced five different Star Trek television series and nine different
movies over the past 35 years.
Cult brands also use nostalgia as a potent weapon to reinforce the brand memory
connections. The New Beetle though is very different from the older one as far as
the mechanical parts are concern, but the Volkswagen has taken care to preserve
the styling details including a flower vase on the dashboard. People buying the
New Beetle are reminded about their past. The resulting excitement has also
brought new customers.

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The Nine Cult

Brands

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Cult Branding
Grand ivory-tower thinking and high level academic theories are annoying to most
people. One want to see ideas put into practice, not theories floating around in the
clouds. After all, grand cloud theories designed for a perfect world arent very
useful to marketers and brand builders who have to operate in the real world. Thats
why it is of prime importance to support the concepts and ideas with stories and
experiences of real cult branders in action. What they did right. What they did wrong.
The cult brands are not necessarily the biggest and most well-known brands, but they
are companies with the most fanatical and most loyal customer followings. These are
the brands that consistently connect with their customers at the very highest levels of
Maslows Hierarchy of Needs and form deep and lasting emotional bonds with their
followers.
Some well-known multinational brands are missing . Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Microsoft,
Walt Disney, Ford, DELL, and McDonalds. Big doesnt necessarily equal the best
when it comes to customer loyalty. Customer loyalty cant simply be measured by
market share or the size of a companys wallet. While these big companies are all
greatly revered brands, none of them invoke the fire and passion in their customers
that makes a genuine cult brand. These brands may have some of the worlds
largest marketing budgets by far, but none of them enjoy customer relationships
that reach the highest levels of Maslows Hierarchy. These companies still have
much to learn about cult branding! Also absent from the list are brands that are still
unproven and may be only fads. Think of Cabbage Patch dolls, Razor scooters,
Swatch watches, and many other trendy consumer products. A brand has to have
been around for at least a decade to make the list of cult brand candidates.
The companies into Cult Branding are real businesses that had to start at the
bottom and fight and claw their way to the top. Not only are they more interesting
to learn about, they are also more inspirational for other marketers. None of the
nine cult brands were born with silver spoons in their mouths. They clearly prove
that any company or any person can become a cult brand if they truly put their
heart and mind into it. Each comes from a different part of the business world
(from music and media to manufacturing and technology), but all have similar
lessons to teach. All these nine cult brand companies are attention getting for

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slightly different reasons. Yet all of them have fanatically loyal followers not just
customers who have supported these brands for years now.

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Oprah Winfrey

Is there anyone alive in the world today who doesnt know who Oprah is?
Probably not, considering that the Oprah Winfrey Show now airs in more than 100
countries around the world and reaches more than 26 million U.S. viewers per
day.8 Oprah just may be the strongest one-person cult brand in the world today.
Just the fact that everyone refers to Oprah on a first name basis demonstrates the
personal relation-ships she has been able to form with millions of her viewers over
the past fifteen years. Even if these relationships do exist largely through a TV
screen. Like or dislike Oprah, every know her in some way.
The Oprah brand oozes strong emotions and feelings. How loyal are Oprahs
followers? So loyal that Oprah has hosted the highest rated television talk show in
TV history for over a decade. Her ratings longevity and dominance is virtually
unheard of in the TV world let alone the talk show business! So loyal that her twoyear-old magazine The Oprah Magazine is the most successful magazine startup
in publishing history, 8,500 of her followers paid $185 per ticket last year just to
hear her speak at one of her four summits. So loyal that every single monthly
selection (over forty-five different books) of Oprahs Book Club since its inception
have amazingly leapt onto the bestsellers list! Without a doubt, Oprah has single-

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handedly taken the concept of turning customers into lasting loyal followers to the
next level. And it hasnt gone unnoticed.
In 1998, Time magazine named Oprah one of the hundred most influential people
of the 20th century. Fortune magazine estimates that Oprah today controls a $1
billion empire. The break-away success of this self-described colored girl from
Mississippi is all the more amazing given that she came from quite humble
beginnings (a broken family, child abuse, and a house with no running water). One
cannot successfully learn the full power of Cult branding without studying the
Oprah phenomenon in depth.

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The Volkswagen Beetle

How popular has the Beetle been over its more than fifty-year life span? So
popular that in 1981 it passed Henry Fords Model T as the worlds best-selling
auto-mobile. Over 22 million of the original Beetle has been sold since it first went
into mass production in Germany in 1938. Of course, sales and popularity alone do
not make a cult brand. What interests the most about the Beetle is the enduring
passion and zeal that people everywhere still have for it.
Why is the Bug the worlds most loved car? Even before the release of the New
Beetle by Volkswagen in 1998, there were literally hundreds of active Beetle clubs
and organizations all around the world dedicated to restoring and driving old Bugs
and meeting with other Beetle owners. While the vast majority of other out of
production cars quickly fade from memory, the Beetles hold on the passion and
enthusiasm of millions of its followers has never waned. Rallies and meets for
classic Beetles regularly still attract hundreds of enthusiasts, even though VW
stopped importing the original Bug into the U.S. back in 1977. Today, Mexico is
one of only four countries that still make the original Bug. It is a brand that has
managed to stay at the top of Maslows Hierarchy for nearly fifty years. The
staying power of the Bug brand cannot be understated. Ownership of a Beetle is
just as much a statement of individuality and self-expression today as it was back
in the fifties and sixties. How many other brands can one point to that have

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managed to stay cool for multiple generations? There simply arent many. The
Beetle brand continues to make and maintain strong emotional connections with
many of its followers.

Star Trek

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While the original Star Trek TV show lasted only a short time, it has spawned one
of the most successful television and motion picture franchises in entertainment
history. Star Trek seems to age like fine wine. It has spawned five separate
Televisions series and nine different movies over the past thirty-five years and in
the process has become one of the licensing industrys most enduring properties.
Star Trek merchandise has generated roughly $2 billion in retail sales since creator
Gene Roddenberry had his great idea. None of this success would have happened
without the undying support of the Trekkers, the legions of loyal Star Trek fans
that consistently scoop up both new and old merchandise, watch the TV shows, go
to the movies, and attend hundreds of Star Trek conventions held around the world
each year.
The loyalty of the Trekker nation truly amazes everyone. While there are other TV
programs and movie series with a greater number of total Fans (Star Wars comes to
mind); none exude the same level of excitement and passion that Trekkers
regularly demonstrate for their brand. NASA even named its first space shuttle
The Enterprise after receiving 400,000 requests from Star Trek fans!. Cult
brands always establish strong emotional connections with their followers. Few
brands do this better than Star Trek. Talk to any Trekker, and one will quickly find
out that Star Trek is much more to them Than a TV show or a motion picture. Star
Treks storylines reflect many of the feelings, values, and ideals of its followers

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and mirror the wants and needs of its customers. Of course, lots of brands have
tried to mirror customer wants and needs, but they have failed.

World Wrestling Entertainment

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Daring to be different and the willingness to take significant risks are key
components of every cult brand. Perhaps no cult brand better epitomizes this
philosophy than World Wrestling Entertainment (formerly the World Wrestling
Federation). WWE founders Vince and Linda McMahon have always been risktakers, and their fans love them for it. While it would be easy to try to brush aside
professional wrestling as just some gimmicky side attraction or fad not to be taken
seriously or studied by other marketers, the WWE brand has been rock solid for
nearly twenty years now. In fact, it easily has the most loyal and devoted fan base
of any major entertainment brand we have encountered.
How loyal are the WWEs fans and how large are their numbers? Really loyal and
Really big. For starters, over 2.5 mil-lion people attended the WWEs 350 live
events during 2001 alone. The WWE has delivered eighteen consecutive sellouts at
Madison Square Garden in New York. WWE television shows like Raw are
consistently rated the number-one regularly scheduled cable TV program. And
unbeknownst to many, the WWE is the largest and most successful Pay Per View
provider in the world. WWE also has two monthly magazines with a combined
circulation of roughly 7.5 million. In addition, three autobiographies by WWE
wrestlers have turned into bestsellers. The voracious appetite that WWEs fans
have for all things WWE has helped propel the companys market value to over
$1 billion in recent years. A truly amazing feat for what started out as a small

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regional wrestling company. WWEs relentless drive to dare to be different and
take significant risks in its business clearly played important roles in the
companys evolution into a cult brand.

Jimmy Buffet

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The record industry is notorious for having one-hit wonders and bands that enjoy
success for a few years, release one or two popular albums, and then quickly fade
into history. This scenario could have easily happened to singer songwriter Jimmy
Buffet. After all, the only Top Ten hit that Buffet ever had happened back in 1977.
And his island inspired music has always been difficult for the record industry to
categorize and figure out how to properly promote. Yet over twenty years later,
Buffet couldnt be doing any better as an entertainer. Now in his fifties, Buffet has
become a one-man cult brand with few equals. While he doesnt have the
promotional benefit of music videos on MTV, and his songs rarely get played on
the radio, Buffet regularly finishes each year among the top twenty earners on the
concert circuit. An artist without a current mega hit simply isnt supposed to be
able to sell out entire arenas in a matter of minutes. Yet its safe to say that as long
as Buffet continues to tour each summer, he will remain one of the top grossing
live acts in the world. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that his fans (just
call them Parrot Heads) collectively spend some $50 million a year on Buffet
concert tickets, albums, merchandise, and food at his four Margaritaville
restaurants. Buffets Parrot Head legions are so loyal that not only do they continue
to purchase hundreds of thousands of copies of his albums each year, they have
also sent two books he authored right to the top of the bestseller list. In fact, Buffet
is only one of six writers ever to reach the top spot on the New York Times fiction

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and non-fiction bestseller lists. To say that Parrot Heads have a deep love for
Buffet is a drastic under-statement. Parrot Heads are addicted to the Buffet brand.

Vans Inc.

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Founded in 1966 by entrepreneur Paul Van Doren and his partners, the Vans story
is a combination of the American dream and David versus Goliath. While Vans
footwear may not be familiar to many people over the age of thirty, Vans has
enjoyed an incredible lock for decades now on the ten-to-twenty- four-year-old
demographic, particularly among skate-boarders, BMX bikers, surfers, and
participants in other extreme sports that Vans refers to as Core Sports. Even in
the face of constant attacks from tremendously larger multi-national rivals like
Nike, Reebok, and Adidas, Vans continues to retain its core followers and to find
new ways to expand its business and grow its sales.
Today, Vans operates a growing universe of unique lifestyle-branding enterprises,
including over 160 retails stores in the U.S. and Europe, nearly a dozen large Vans
skateboard parks around the U.S., its own record label (Vans Records), the Vans
Warped Tour, and a number of Core Sports events. Add this all up, and Vans has
grown over the past thirty-five years from one small struggling retail shop and
shoe factory in Anaheim, California, to a powerful and growing cult brand with
millions of loyal followers that now generate annual sales of over $340 million.
Cult brand companies dont simply sell a product or a service, they sell their
customer the tools for building and creating unique lifestyles. Few management
teams have done as effective a job over the past six years in building a
comprehensive lifestyle environment around their brand. How strong a relationship

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does Vans have with its customers today? So strong that shoe giant Nike, one of
the worlds largest corporations and over fifty times the size of Vans, cant gain
any meaningful market share in the Core Sports market. Customer loyalty cant
just be bought, and the Vans brand is full of good cult branding tactics.

Apple Computer

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Cult Branding

How many times over the past decade have technology commentators written off
Apple and left the company for dead? To put it simply, this is a brand that its
millions of loyal followers love their Macintosh computers too much to ever let it
die. Apple Computer is as strong and healthy today as a company and a brand as it
has been in years. While the pioneering company founded by Steve Jobs and Steve
Wozniak in a cramped garage in Silicon Valley in 1977 now controls only 5
percent or so of the worldwide PC market, it retains the most loyal group of
customers of any technology company in the world today.
While saturation of the PC market has forced many major tech companies to either
merge or leave the PC market all together over the past few years, the incredible
customer loyalty among Mac followers keeps Apple sitting pretty. It still cranks
out annual sales of over $5 billion.17 Even as a niche PC player, it still finds itself
setting and defining many of the major trends in the computing business. Cult
brands are leaders not followers. At no time in recent memory was this more
evident than, after the release of the wildly successful new iMac in 1997, much
larger PC companies like Compaq launched their own iMac looking PCs. Brand
loyalty in the technology world is virtually non existent
While there are well-known and powerful brands in this sector, notably Microsoft,
there is very little true customer passion and excitement surrounding other
technology brands. Can one picture a diehard Microsoft user donating time at a
local store to show prospective customers how the newest version of Windows

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works? Yet thousands of Mac users show up at computer stores and other public
places all the time, for free, to evangelize about Apples products and their love of
the Mac. Thats customer loyalty! Apple has successfully cracked the customer
loyalty code for the past twenty years.

Linux

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Cult Branding

Much like Vans Inc., Linux is a David versus Goliath story. For those of not that
familiar with Linux, it is a relatively young operating system that was created in
1991 by a twenty-one-year-old Finnish programmer Linux Torvalds. While Linux
started out as a small side project and hobby for Torvalds, it has grown over the
past decade to become one of the most popular and well-known operating systems
in the world. In fact, recent research suggests that Linux now powers 33 percent of
all Web servers in the world today, putting its popularity only behind Microsofts
Windows. Want to make computer programmers break out into big smiles, Just ask
them about Linux.
The amazing thing about Lenoxs growth is that it is a brand and product not even
controlled by one company or organization It never had millions of dollars behind
it for marketing and development. The software code that makes up Linux is
written entirely by volunteers. Many of the smartest programmers in the world
donate their time on an ongoing basis because they love the product so much. They
believe in it. Like any good cult brand, Linux helps empower its followers. Unlike
Windows, Linux has been developed under the philosophy of open source,
which allows developers to freely exchange and modify the intellectual property
(code) that comprises the system Linux is a powerful differentiator and motivator
for software developers. Spend some time in the same room with a group of Linux
advocates, and one will feel the same sort of electricity and excitement that must
have existed among the American colonists during the Revolutionary War. In the

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minds of Linux followers, they are fighting a revolution for freedom from shoddy
software and building a product for the people, by the people. It is fascinating to
watch. While virtually every other product that has tried to compete directly with
Microsoft has failed, all indications are that Linux will continue to increase its
market share in coming years .With a decade of history under its belt, Linux is a
unique cult brand

Harley-Davidson

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Cult Branding

Even though enough business books have been written about Harley to fill an
entire library, there was absolutely no way one could think on cult branding and
ignore Harley-Davidson. Harley is without a doubt the largest and most powerful
cult brand in the world today. After all, which other brand people regularly feel
compelled to tattoo on their skin for life? Thats customer loyalty! What started out
as a small motorcycle manufacturing company in a shed in Milwaukee back in
1903 has evolved into the sole remaining American motorcycle maker, the top
worldwide seller of heavyweight motorcycles, and a company with more
successful brand extensions than any other brand.
Today, the Harley logo can be found not only on its legendary chrome-covered
motorcycles, but on everything from clothing (Motor Clothes) like jackets, Tshirts, jeans, and panties to off-beat items like Harley-branded leather toilet seat
covers, playing cards, wall clocks, and coffee mugs. HD also operates HarleyDavidson Cafs in New York and Las Vegas. In recent years, HD has partnered
with Ford to manufacture the Harley-Davidson Ford F-150 pickup truck that has
sold like hot cakes among Harley enthusiasts. The Hog nation just cant get
enough of anything and everything HD.
In spite of the fact that Harley has continued to ramp the production of its bikes
each year, waiting lists to buy new Harleys are still common place at many Harley

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dealerships around the country. The undying brand loyalty Harleys followers have
for the company became perhaps most apparent in the past two years during the
bitter economic recession when Harleys sales continued to soar. The stock market
now values Harleys business at a princely $16 billion. Forbes magazine recently
named HD its Company of the Year. Its hard to believe that this is the same
company that nearly disappeared into bankruptcy in the mid-eighties.

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AN INDIAN CULT

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History
The beginning go backs to the early 1890s when Albert Eadie and R.W Smith
joined together to form The Eadie manufacturing company, having taken over the
business and premises of George Townsend and company, Cycle manufacturers in
the small hamlet of Hunt End, about two miles south of Redditch. In 1893 the
Enfield Manufacturing Company Ltd. was registered for the purpose of marketing
the Enfield bicycle, manufactured by the Eadie Company. In 1896, The New Enfield
Cycle Co.Ltd. was formed to take over the bicycle section of both the Enfield
Manufacturing Co. and the Eadie Manufacturing Co. Twelve months later the word
"new" had been dropped from the title and became the Enfield Cycle Co.Ltd., as it
was to be known through the remainder of it's history. In the same year the Eadie
Manufacturing Co. moved to new premises in Lodge Rd., Redditch. leaving the
Enfield Co.Ltd. in sole possession of the Hunt End works. During this period the
Enfield enjoyed the fruits of the pedal cycle boom and with the advent of the petrol
engine were not slow to move in that direction. By 1899 they were producing,
almost certainly under patent license, a tricycle powered by a De Dion engine
mounted at the rear and driving the axle by a spur gear. They also produced a
Quadricycle which was virtually a tricycle rear half, but having two wheels at the
front in between which was fitted a wicker basket for the passenger. Both these
vehicles were produced up to around 1903.

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Introduction in India
Royal Enfield They call it the Harley of the Himalaya. Besides a Draconian

bureaucracy, it's the best thing that England left India.

In the early part of the century, the Royal Enfield was a British bike made in
England, Burrell said, but in 1954, the Indian government ordered 500 bikes, and the
struggling company could barely meet the order. When India called for 500 more
bikes the next year, the British company decided to build a factory in Madras, India.
Enfield established the Indian Enfield factory at Madras in 1955. In the 60s the
parent company in the U.K., along with most other British manufacturers, ceased
production. Enfield India continues production of the original 350 Bullet, known
locally as the Raja Gadi (loosely translated "Royal Enfield").
Originally built as a military bike by The Royal Enfield Motorcycle Co. of England,
production ceased in that country at the end of World War II., but demand grew in
independent India. The Bullet was and still is the Army and Police "All Purpose
Motorcycle" in India.
Indian Industrialists, subsequently acquired the entire company and production line,
continued operations at Madras factory and could not do better than to build bikes to
the original specifications. To this day, they continue to churn out brand new 40-year
old bikes! It is a true classic, with the single-cylinder 350cc or 500cc engine
producing a deep, throaty rumble and powerful torque that have prompted some to
christen it the two-wheeled tractor. At idle speed one can audibly count the engine
revolutions per minute.
High speed is not what the Enfield is about (any faster than 80kph in India is
suicidal anyway), it is about aesthetics, comfort and style. Some non-conventional

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aspects take a moment to get used to, such as the gear-change on right foot and
brake on the left, but riding one gives a pure, unadulterated pleasure.

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An Indian tale
"The fun thing about riding (an Enfield) is the conversations that it starts, If
some one asks about your bike and you have to decide whether it's worth the
time. There's so much to say.
The Enfield factory at Tiruvottiyur, in Madras, is now over forty years old. Some
20,000 motorcycles are still put together annually, using many of the original
machine tools and dies from the original British parent factory. Most parts, right
down to the pinstripes on the paint work, are still hand finished.
In India, the first thing one need to adjust himself to, is the speeds of the traffic, or
the lack of it( 70KMPH and above would brand one as Kamikaze) and Royal
Enfield did exactly that

Royal Enfield is for "affluent urban youths who are looking at a total motorcycle
experience". Royal Enfield has repositioned the Bullet as a fun urban power bike
(engine size of 350cc and above or power of over 20 bhp), overcoming its earlier
rugged rural bike image, that's the target audience that Royal Enfield is now
gunning for. A high-powered version of Thunderbird has been launched this year
and Royal Enfield's two recent launches -- the Machismo A350 and the Lightning
535 -- has set the beat going. Within the next three months, Royal Enfield -- a
business unit of the Rs 650-crore Eicher group since 1996 -- plans to set the roads
on fire with a 625cc super bike, which will deliver a whopping 28 bhp plus. The
most powerful bike in India today is the Lightning 535, which delivers 25 bhp.
None of the conventional motorcycles made by the big four bike makers -- TVS
Suzuki, Bajaj, Hero Honda and Escorts Yamaha -- crosses the 15 bhp barrier..
The CBZ and the Fiero cannot be compared with Enfield bikes in automotive terms,
but the fact is that both products are targeting the same buyers -- upwardly mobile
youth. And, the CBZ and Fiero are probably better tuned to city driving conditions.

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Till now, Enfield has managed to command the premium that a player can demand.
But now, there is the threat of players like Bajaj offering its chopper-style
Eliminator at prices much lower than those of Enfield products. And, these firms can
subsidies their new launches. Enfield though is talking tough, because "We are
trying to match practicality with aspirational value," says Purang M.D Royal Enfield
.The one major difference between Enfield products and all other Indian bikes. The
gears on all Enfield bikes have to be engaged with the right leg and the brakes with
the left leg -- the direct opposite of all other Indian motorcycles. Besides the growth
in volumes, efficient cost management in production as well as marketing, price
discounts were withdrawn are the other factors that would lead to profitability this
year.
Power and leisure bike major Royal Enfield, part of the Eicher group, has won the
ICICI-Overdrive Hall of Pride award for its Bullet model for the year 2003. The
model won the award for defining motorcycle in the Indian perspective and for
retaining the iconic status in the minds of Indian bikers.
WHEN Jacques A. Nasser, Ford Motor's president and CEO, was in Chennai last
year, he was keen to get an on-the-road feel of the Ikon. As he was piloting the
brand new josh machine around, an Enfield Bullet whizzed past. The bike caught
Nasser's fancy, so much so that despite a hectic 24-hour schedule in Chennai, the
Ford CEO made time to visit a Bullet showroom to get a closer look at the machine
made in India by Royal Enfield Motors for over four decades

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REDS THE REDS ARE READY TO ROAR

Royal Enfield launched REDS Royal Enfield Discoverers. REDs is a
community of Royal Enfield bike owners, the only one of of kinds in the country. It
provides a platform to bring together Royal Enfield customer together, to enjoy the
pleasure of riding
Royal Enfield customer are very passionate and love to ride and talk with like
minded. Any one owning a Royal Enfield bike with a passion for biking can become
a member of REDS. A REDS will become a member of passionate Royal Enfield
community who enjoys and loves weekends, long distance and adventurous rides.
The member will also enjoy various facilities, like free of cost training for biking
maintenance and safe riding, exclusive check up camps, tie up with hotels, resort
and much more. REDS also provides an exclusive for the members created on Royal
Enfields website which provides customized facilities like setting up a ride, putting
u an event calendar, messages with others members etc

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Case study
Harley- Davidson

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The Genesis
Founded in 1903, H-D
was

the

only

major

No one can accurately predict the future.

What I can predict with the utmost confidence
are the things that wont change of Harley-

American player in the

Davidson namely, our commitment to

global

motorcycle

providing more great motorcycles; to enhancing

It served in

the unparalleled Harley lifestyle experience;

every major war of the

and to continuing to provide excellent financial

past

performance.

market.
100

years

and

received four Navy E

Jeffrey L Bleustein, Harley-Davidson, CEO.

awards for excellence in

war time production. It
was the war veterans who started the H-D biker culture. They started riding H-D
with strong American pride. From these bikers evolved the rough and tough breed
of bikers with their leather jackets, tattoos, and long hair.

H-D built up a

distinctive brand image and dominated the US motorcycle industry for many
decades.
In 1969, H-D was taken over by the American Machine and Foundry (AMF).
During 1970, Japanese manufacturers flooded the market with high-quality, lowpriced bikes. A reputation for shoddy products, combined with an onslaught of
competition from Japan, nearly destroyed H-D. Its market share fell from 77.5 %
( 1973) to 23.3% (1983).
In 1981, 13 members of the H-D management team purchased the company from
AMF in a leveraged buyout. But, within the first year, the overall demand for
motorcycles dropped dramatically; H-Ds share of this market dropped; and a large
inventory of unsold products piled up. H-D was aware it would no longer be able
to continue business at the current production level and operating cost. It cut costs
drastically, asking more than 1,800 of the 4,000 employers to level. In a move to

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Cult Branding
help the floundering US motorcycle industry in 1983, the US Government,
increased tariffs on Japanese motorcycles from 4.4% to 49.4%. Minutes away
from bankruptcy, Richard Teerlink (who became President and CEO in 1988)
convinced lenders to accept a restructuring plan. Using management principles
adopted from the Japanese, new marketing strategies, and manufacturing
techniques, H-D improved quality and began the long battle to regain its market
share.
Teerlink believed people were the only sustainable competitive advantage. He put
in place an innovative system called Circles of Management to bring both
workers and dealers into the fold by involving them key decisions. H-D also
changed its strategy from selling product to selling community H-D owners were a
diverse bunch, from CEO to construction workers. To build emotional bounds
with them, the Harley Owners Group (HOG) was created in 1983. It developed a
new marketing philosophy based on the customers desires and positioned itself as
a lifestyle product rather than a mere motorcycle.
By 1986, H-D had regained US motorcycle market. It went public on the New
York Stock Exchange. After one year, the company announced it no longer needed
special tariffs to compete with the Japanese. From 1988 to 1995, annual shipments
of H-D motorcycles more than doubled. Although the company generated more
than $1.3 bn in revenues in 1995, it spent less than $2 mn in advertising. They
considered their customers as their real sales force, and the bikes, accessories and
clothing served as calling cards. From 1995 to 2000, the company invested more
than $1 bn to maintain the leadership in motorcycle design and increase production
capacity. In 2001, Harley went for expansion at the Product Development Centre
in Milwaukee, Tomahawk and York facilities. Their expansion plans continued to
narrow the gap between demand and supply with introduction of new, innovative
products and services for their customers.

Target Market

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Cult Branding
H-D started as a bike manufacturer.

The company was fully involved in

motorcycle, Racing and soon dominated the sport segment. During World War I
and II , H-D had supplied War motorcycles to the US Military. By 1941, civilian
production of the motorcycle was suspended as the company targeted War
requirements only. In 1957, H-D introduced Sportster, the fastest H-D ever,
which marked its entry into the sports segment. With this introduction, H-D
embarked upon and image change from War motorcycle to sports and leisure
segment. H-D targeted the free spirited people who embodied American values of
freedom and liberty and were avid long distance drivers.
According to the company source, the demographic profile of its target customer,
during; late 1990s and early 2000s, was a married male in his mid-40s, with a
household income of about $78,300, who purchased a motorcycle for recreational
purposes, and who was an experienced motorcycle rider. In 2001, 41% of H-Ds
buyers were its old customers, 31% of the buyers had changed loyalty form H-Ds
competitors and 28% were new motor riders.

H-D targeted exclusively the

heavyweight (engine displacement of 651cc or more) motorcycle market, which

was generally subdivided into four major categories:

Standard, which emphasized simplicity and cost;

Performance, which emphasized handling and acceleration.

Touring, which emphasizes comfort and amenities for long distance travel,

And Custom, which emphasizes styling and individual owner customization.

Bulk of H-Ds revenues was derived from touring and custom motorcycles.
In 2001, retail registrations of H-D motorcycles increased by 14.4% in the US.
The same year, H-D achieved a 28% share of worldwide heavyweight market with
a record high of 234,461 units of motorcycle production, up H-D over previous
year.

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Cult Branding
In early 200s, H-Ds major competitors were Yamaha and Honda. Yamaha targeted
the lowed end market, by providing a variety of products at affordable costs.
Specific to the Power-Cruiser market, Yamahas core competencies were small
engines, electronic control, and fibreglass reinforced plastic. Honda, which was
one of the strongest H-D competitors, was responsible for one-third of all US
motorcycle sales with a strong financial base and reliable products.

Honda

continued to improve the performance of its motorcycles by focusing on fuel

efficiency and lower emissions.

Furthermore, Honda was increasing its

performance in the market place, by introducing information technology tools

throughout its dealerships.
H-D tried to attract younger riders through a number of programs. Among other
things, it had started offering, under the Buell nameplate, a line of smaller easy to
drive bike that were less costly and less daunting than H-Ds famous hogs.

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Cult Branding

Marketing
The marketing objectives of H-D were fourfold . First, at the fundamental level,
H-D wanted to expand its potential customer base to include both enthusiast and
non-enthusiast affluent males in the 35-44 age group.

This was partly

accomplished by introducing the V.ROD model to the younger demographic

Second, H-D wanted to enhance its market share by targeting the first-time buyers
of motorcycles. Third, it wanted to set the appropriate pricing strategy, which
would appeal to the target customers through market research, voice of the
customer, and competitive intelligence. Lasting, H-D wanted to meet the market
demand in order to optimize the revenue potential , by setting the correct
production schedules and picking strategic partner.
When H-D was formed it only offered one colour of motor cycle, grey & three
basic models. Later the Company began to offer a variety of models, including
Sportsters, Super Glides, Low Riders, Softails, Sport Glides, Tour Glides and
Electra Glides in numerous, vivid colours many of these models and changes were
developed , when H-D realised that customer were customising the bikes but these
additional revenues were not coming to the company. To address the issue, H-D
introduced the Custom Vehicle Operations (CVO) program in 1999. The CVO
program offered a limited quantity of H-D motorcycles, which had been uniquely
customized at the factory with H-D accessories. The limited edition motorcycles
were produced at the York, Pennsylvania facility on a separate, low volume
assembly line that was formerly used for military contract production. About
2,700 vehicles representing three different motorcycles were sold through this
program during 1999, A fourth custom cycle was introduced in 2000. In 2002, the
company offered 24 models of H-D touring and custom heavyweight motorcycles,
with retail prices ranging from roughly $5,595 to $18,980. It also sold several
models of Buell motorcycles, including a 492cc Buell Blast motorcycle. The Blast
was targeted new riders; its retail price of $4,395 was about half the price of the
next lowest-priced Buell motorcycle.

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Cult Branding

H-D realized competing with the foreign manufacturers on cost would be difficult.
H-D attempted to create scarcity value by keeping the production of its
motorcycles well below the demands, People waited six to eighteen months for a
new motorcycle. The price for a year-old H-D was 25% to 30% higher than a new
one.
Dealer promotions, customer events, magazine and direct mail advertising, public
relations and cooperative programs drove the marketing efforts. The company
started advertising in magazines targeted at the general public. Fashions and
Collectibles catalogs were produced with various H-D merchandise twice a year.
The company was able to promote the sale of its motorcycles by the financial
services offered by Eaglemark. The dealership became a one-stop shop for bikes,
accessories, clothing and financing.
H-D promoted its lifestyle experience through designer store dealerships that had
either been completely remodelled or built from scratch to provide a warm and
inviting retail environment . Floor plans and display counters in and surround
them with motorcycles. Parts and accessories were handsomely displayed in userfriendly packaging. There was a separate area for H-Ds line of Motor Clothes,
completed with dressing rooms. Many stores also featured customer lounges and
rider meeting rooms with H-D pinball machines, antique bikes and rally videos.
In 1983, the Harley Owners Group (HOG) was established to build stronger
relationships with customers, and make it easier for riders to share their H-D
experiences. When a person bought a H-D motorcycle, he received a free 1-year
membership to the HOG.

Customers joined local, dealer-sponsored HOG;

chapters each with unique activities and personalities to customize their HOG
experiences. HOG chapters conducted national rallies, touring rallies and state
rallies. These rallies encouraged people to share the excitement of riding. The

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Cult Branding
people (taking demonstration rides) had the opportunity to ask question, register
their bikes and buy merchandise.
The Buell Riders Adventure Group (BRAG), a club for Buell owners was created
in 1995 to bring Buell motorcycle enthusiasts together to share their on road
experience and create new ones. In its inaugural year, BRAG, had just a handful
members. In 2001, it had more than 10,000 members from 55 local clubs among
its ranks.
In 1999, Ford and H-D teamed up in a 5 year marketing partnership to take
advantage of their brand-name recognition.

After Fords success in co-brand

partnering with Eddie Bauer, they were trying to repeat their success with H-D, in
their limited edition H-D F-150 picup truck. The customized version was restyled,
all-black, with distinctive H-D orange pinstriping and chrome accessories. Both
companies also planned to sell dual-logo apparel.
H-D had 1,065 dealers worldwide and 75% of them sold H-D motorcycles
exclusively. In the US, there were about 620 independently owned full-service HD dealerships, which included over 220 combined H-D and Buell dealerships. All
authorized dealers stocked and sold the genuine replacement parts, accessories,
Motor Clothes and collectibles, and performed service for the motorcycles. They
got a certain quota of bikes every year on the basis of previous years sales. The
company had an agreement with American dealers not to sell more than 30% of the
bikes overseas, if the domestic demand was not met. H-D also sold a smaller
portion of its merchandise through non-traditional outlets. These were extensions
of dealerships, consisted of service shops, called Secondary Retail Locations
(SRL), Alternate Retail Outlets (ARO) and Seasonal Retail Outlets (SRO).
Service shops were satellites of the main dealership and were being developed to
meet service needs of the riding customers.

In addition, service shops were

authorized to sell new motorcycles. AROs were located primarily in high traffic

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Cult Branding
area such as airports or popular vacation destinations and focused on selling Motor
Clothes and collectibles and licensed products.

Brand Management
H-D believed its strengths in its brand image rather than technology. It creates its
brand image by expressing the emotional bonding of American youth. H-Ds exPresident and CEO , Richard Teerlink said The bike represents to America, the
adventurous pioneer spirit, the wild west, ones own horse, and going where one
wants to go the motorcycle takes on some attributes of the iron horse. It suggests
personal freedom and independence Brand loyalty for H-D was emotional. The HDs symbol was based on a pattern of associations that included the American flag
and a eagle, reflective of the passion for freedom Americans enjoyed.
H-D measured Brand loyalty by the percentage of men and women that tattooed
their brand symbol on their body. By that measure, H-D had the highest loyalty of
any brand in the world. The most popular tattoo in the US was the H-D as
important part of their lives and identities. The experience of riding a H-D
clothing, was a way for some to express individuality.
H-D has a vigorous global program of trademark registration and enforcement. It
attempts to create awareness of the H-D brand among the non-riding public and
provide a wide range of product enthusiasts by licensing the name and numerous
related trademarks. The H-D trademark has been in use since 1903, H-D licensed
the production and sale of a broad range of consumer items, including T-shits,
jewelry, small leather goods, toys and numerous other products. It also licensed
the use of its name in connection with two Cafes located in New York and Las
Vegas. These two Cafes represent another opportunity for riders and non-riders to
experience H-Ds culture. These cafes are among the most visible brand building
tools, and they generate licensing income for H-D as they create a unique dining
experience for customers.

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Cult Branding

H-Ds licensing program generates approximately $1 bn in retail sales annually.

With 80 licensees across 18 product categories in the US and abroad, the program
has grown steadily since its inception.

Licensing has helped transform the

companys image, broaden the brands appeal and further elevate H-D as an
American icon.

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Cult Branding

The Years Ahead

H-Ds ambitious vision is to more than double its production for the companys
100th anniversary.

The company has decided on a 9.6% annual increase in

motorcycle production to 289,000 in 2003. H-D plans to start a new plant in York,
Pennsylvania, to increase the production capacity., Bleustein expects to ensure
leadership in this attractive market by increasing production capacity and
introducing exciting new products combined with targeted marketing strategies
that appeal to diverse and growing motorcycle enthusiast population.

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Cult Branding

Conclusion
A brand is the identity core, of a companys existence. Building a brand is like
forming an intangible asset, which remains in the mind of consumers. It is not what
one does with its product but it is what one form in the minds of the consumers.
Cult Brands have a niche base as well as cultural exclusivity. Cult Brands exist in all
markets, but in matured markets they pop up as a niche brands.

The consumers communities see the product as a lifestyle, not just a product. The
product thus becomes a tool for self-actualization and these cult brands become
symbols for distinct social groups that are recognizably unique.
Cults give people a unique ways, to be weird together and feel weird no more"
Cult brands have made such a deep emotional impact and connection with their
customers that their followers don't even consider there to be a viable alternative to the
cult brand's product or service. That's power!

Bibliography

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Cult Branding
1. Marketing Management Rajan Saxena
2. Marketing Management Philip Kotler
3. Modern Marketing Management Ruston Davar
4. Marketing Research Text & Cases G.C.Beri
5. www.google.com
6. www.icfai.org
7. www.altavista.com
8. www.indiatimes.com
9. www.wikipedia.com
10. www.harleydavidson.com

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