1

HOW CULTS SEDUCE

AND WHAT MARKETING CAN
LEARN FROM THEM

Ever wondered what would happen if you didn’t send the

Jehovah’s Witnesses away, when they came knocking?

Eventually they would invite you to join a meeting at Kingdom Hall. But they wouldn’t do that until
you were good and ready. They would come and visit you a number of times first, to talk about
Christ Jesus, New Light and the Ark of Salvation.

If you were observant, you’d notice a pattern in these visits. Each time the same lead Witness would
bring along a different assistant.You’d probably not even pick up on this, or you’d rationalize that it
was just random variation. But – according to accounts from people who have left the sect - it’s
quite deliberate and it’s designed to get you hooked.

he rotation ensures that, when you

finally visit Kingdom Hall for the

T first time, you will see quite a few

familiar faces in the crowd. And so
you’ll immediately feel that you
belong here.

Most people find cults scary. But that’s to the cults’

advantage. Wherever there is resistance, there is an
unconscious factor. None of us are as rational as we’d
like to believe. Cults live on the irrational fringe. It’s not
about mass coercion. It’s about things barely glimpsed
from the corner of your eye. Cults have fine-tuned their
marketing to hook into nuances of human nature.

How Cults Seduce

 2

Cults are like the “I Love You” computer worm. Weight Watchers. Ethics should be judged by the
Ask yourself; what other message would have mil- result, not just the act.
lions of wary people opening a ‘.exe’ attachment from
someone they know only vaguely? In London, the As a marketer in today’s environment, given a poten-
BBC (whose reputation as “luvvies” precedes them) tial backlash, you’d have to be a bit desperate to play
was totally overrun by this epidemic. With cults and the cult card. And “desperate times” is indeed when
similar phenomena, some audiences are more susceptible cult marketing is called for.
than others.
Cults thrive under conditions where most convention-
Cults are a common research subject for social al organizations would curl up and die. They are
scientists, like Aaron Lynch (author of “Thought repressed, at at times actively persecuted, even today
Contagion”) because they are good ‘test tubes’ for (eg Fulan Gong in China). They are damned in the
human nature. Like many extreme phenomena, they media and met with suspicion on every corner.
are enlightening about what makes us tick.
It’s when you get into dire straits with a brand, that
But for marketers, cults can feel like a taboo topic. cult tactics become relevant.

Cults have a bad name, for being overly manipulative We came to study cults when working with Napster,
in attracting, retaining and profiting from members. through their darkest days of 2001. Napster had tran-
Marketing has drawn similar criticisms, albeit in a sitioned from being the fastest growing technology in
milder form (eg “No Logo”). Surely studying cult history into a black hole legal case, with many music
techniques could lead us into yet more hot water? files barred and a temporary shut-down of their serv-
ice imminent. All they had left was a hard core of
Yes and no. fanatics, who’d do anything to keep Napster going.

Christianity was originally a cult. So, in a lay form, are

Alcoholics Anonymous, Amnesty International and

How Cults Seduce

PART 1
3

The Anthropology of a Cult

Our investigation of the marketing tactics of cult reports by cult watchers. The evidence reveals a high
organizations – the Scientologists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, degree of consistency between cults in their overall
Moonies, Maharishi’s and others - relied on eye pattern of activities, which divide into four key areas;
witness testimonies from past cult members, as well as

1. Boundaries 2. Initiation
Cults, unlike most modern social phenomena, It’s actually not that easy getting into a cult.
have a closed boundary. You’re either in or You can’t “walk in”. There is a definite
out. This creates passionate solidarity. process to joining. This converts
people’s whole outlook.
"She wasn't my daughter any more," N
the mother of a Moonie recruit alleged. Maharishi recruitment “is like one of
"They took her over - body and soul. those large, funnel shaped nets,
She was swallowed up.” that’s dragged along by a trawler.
The further down the funnel
you go, the more
intense it gets.”
BOUNDARIES

INITIATION
W E

IDEOLOGY

CUSTOMS

4. Ideology 3. Customs
Cults program what members Cults are a parallel social
think and do. They have strong universe with their own rituals,
central ideology and leadership. S relationship structures and
This fosters alignment and clarity. experiences. This binds
individuals to the cause.
In Scientology anything written or said
by L.Ron Hubbard is referred to as It is forbidden to wear gold rimmed
“the tech” (as in: “psychiatry doesn’t glasses in the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
work because they don’t
have the tech”.)

NOTE – Our study was largely based on the reports and testimonies of ex-cult members. It’s not intended as criticism, or claiming to be
unbiased. These were the only sources we could find that were candid about what cults actually do, and we’ve had to take their word for it.

How Cults Seduce

 4

It’s hard to read reports of cult activity Each of the four areas of activity is there to sustain
without feeling morally squeamish. In our and develop the cult in the face of resistance. It’s in
analysis we kept focused on a simple question; what this role that the tactics of cults are illuminating for
is it in this mystical fog that is relevant to marketing? brands in our turbulent times;

THE TACTICS: 1. Boundaries; THE MOONIES

THE FIREWALL
• Cults build a protective barrier
• Only those committed and close to the core are fully in the know
• Outsiders are kept largely in the dark
The Moonies are defended by religious status, secrecy, armies of lawyers and
lobbyists, and powerful links in the Washington establishment. Responding to
criticisms of brainwashing and hard-sell tactics, they have rebranded themselves
“The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification” and are even applying
for state funding for some of their social projects.

“BIG BROTHER”
• Cults define ‘what we’re not’
• A common tactic is to define a big enemy in the outside world
• Attacks from the outside only reinforce the paranoia
• The firewall is also an information firewall
• Only those inside know the truth. Outsiders should not be listened to
The Unification Church’s main enemy is Christianity. They proclaim that “Moon’s
Church will replace Christianity in America” and that “Jesus is not in the kingdom of
heaven” (because he “did not succeed in his mission”), and that “the blessed children
(of Moonies) are better than Jesus.”

INTERNAL VS EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS

• Members have privileged information
• Communication is intimate, extensive and frequent
• Outsiders are often fed a completely different story
The Moonies control internal communication rigorously; for instance their rule
“no first weekers talking to first weekers” (ie sharing doubts). Externally they often
use affiliates; for instance supplying sex education programs to public schools
(“Total Abstinence”). They also own The Washington Times.

THE SPOTLIGHT
Cults provide selective glimpses of their parallel universe, by staging their own dramatic
news, events and experiences.
The Moonies stage ecstatic public rallies and mass weddings. They court celebrity
endorsement through “charity awards dinners” attended by politicians at the
highest level. High profile converts are prized – for instance in 2001, Catholic
Archbishop Emmanuel Millingo.

How Cults Seduce

 5

THE TACTICS: 2. Initiation: MAHARISHI MAHESH YOGA

SELECTING RECRUITS
• Cults focus not on ‘who we can get’ but ‘who is ready’
• People going through dramatic life change make excellent recruits;
new students, recent divorcees....
85% of people who join a cult do so through a friend or acquaintance.
The Premie (Prempal Rawat a.k.a. Maharaji) followers make this their
hunting ground. Cult members are charged with getting a friend, colleague
or family member to come to a special introductory video screening or
to “witness a ceremony” (when there, they find everyone must join in).

BAITING THE HOOK

• No-one wakes up one day and says “I know, I’ll join a cult”
• Cults use bait which invite you in for an innocent, worthwhile purpose with
high propensity for repeat visits – like a course
• During this course, you are initiated to a world view that says ‘learning the
ways of this cult is the real purpose of my life’
The Premie’s bait is “Transcendental Meditation”™ consisting of traditional
meditation techniques, a “Science of Creative Intelligence” and the “Puja”
modeled on Hindu religious ceremonies. This was a winning combination in the
hippy-spiritual 1960’s and 70’s and TM became so widespread is had to be excluded
from being taught in public schools.

LOVE BOMBING
• A key human need which cults meet is belonging
• Imagine stumbling across a weird and wonderful community where everyone
instantly loves and accepts you!
Only those cult members who have shown an aptitude for attracting and reassuring
potential recruits are included in these introductory sessions; and a relationship is
built across a series of convivial social meetings.

MATRICULATION
• This is a critical process and is carefully managed
• You can’t just walk in and ‘join’ - you have to be invited and experience
an initiation
• This is the “brainwashing” stage; intense, isolating, aimed at breaking you
down, getting you to internalize and identify with certain problems, then
building you back up as a believer
After the introductory sessions an instructor interviews you and decides if you’re
ready for a private session. The aim then is to get the recruit to declare themselves
‘ready for the knowledge’ and to accept the Maharaji as the only source of this ‘inner
truth’. When you ‘pass’, you get to the ‘knowledge session’ where you are shown
the techniques.

How Cults Seduce

 6

THE TACTICS: 3. Customs – JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

PYRAMID
• Cults know that treating everyone the same means making no-one feels
special or motivated
• They act as an emotional pyramid scheme, self-sustaining and administering
through many levels
• Communication is mainly vertical
The Jehovah’s Witness organization is known as the Watchtower. Each Kingdom Hall
is led by elders. Witnesses are not allowed to take any initiatives of their own, but in
all matters must await orders from their immediate superior; ‘meat in due season’.
Anyone who questions an order is kicked out for ‘disfellowship’.

DUTIES
• Cults keep people very busy (too busy to stop and think)
• Cults are about far more than fundraising - every member has many basic
duties: do the leg work: recruit, improve whatever needs fixing, sell crafts…
• Members get promoted through hierarchies as reward for loyalty and
achievement
Idleness is a sin! The most common complaint of ex-cult members is not the
spiritual content, so much as that all their spare time is devoted to work, like
mending the Kingdom Hall roof and trudging from doorstep to doorstep.

PSYCHOLOGICAL T WISTS
• Cults are fuelled by commitments of time, money, activities…
• Contrary to their image, they seldom coerce members into this
• Rather they create a context where there is competition (and strong peer
pressure) to have your commitments accepted
• If there is resistance they turn this on the individual; it’s clearly something
they need to work on!
Jehovah’s Witnesses live by an exceptionally strict code. They must avoid “bad
association” (non Witnesses) and cannot lie or cheat or drink… The psychological twist
is called “Theocratic Strategy”; which means they can for instance lie for the cause, to
anyone who doesn’t ‘have the right to know’.

MOMENTUM
• Cults stay relevant and vibrant through momentum
• If there is nothing much happening, cults rely on apparently random acts
of insanity and tests of loyalty
• Deadlines and dates are common tactics
The cases of Witnesses refusing medical treatment are famous. And the Watchtower has
been saying that Armageddon (the end of the world) is “soon” since 1884.

How Cults Seduce

 7

THE TACTICS: 4. Ideology. THE SCIENTOLOGISTS

THE LEADER/THE APOSTLES

• Cults tend to be personality cults
• The leaders’ story is the story of the cult, their word is law
• Access to the leader is an exclusive reward to the higher ups
• These act as apostles, evangelists and gate-keepers
L. Ron Hubbard is revered in the Scientologists to the extent that everything he says
is taken as the literal truth; his writings are described as “data”. We see here a
sophisticated conceptual branding lexicon. Which is another fascinating feature
of cult identity…

THE WORD
• Cults have their own vocabulary, way of speaking
• This has a powerful effect; words are concepts are thoughts
• Cults also foreclose awkward debate with ‘wise sayings’
• There is implicit social pressure; to speak like us is to belong
Scientology has developed an extensive proprietary language system. LRH’s
techniques are “the tech.” The hierarchy is “the gradient.” Progress is across
“the bridge.” Recruitment is “stats.” Disciplinary action is “ethics”…

The lexicon is designed to convey scientific authority and foreclose debate.

(A bit like business jargon really).

BELIEF SYSTEM
• Cults are masters of disciplined, simple formatting
• Part of their appeal is a simple black-and-white view of reality, far
from the mess of real relationships and life conflicts
• This is pinned to a general vision few would argue like Peace or Clarity
A constant repetition of the same format displaces all else with this simple
core; chanting, reciting, committing...
The clarity of Scientology is based on the fact that it is 100% right and if you don’t
get it you need “handling.” If you don’t absorb something then you have to resit a
course at your own expense. If this fails you have do “ethics.” It’s your fault.

THE RULES
• Arbitrary restrictions and rules, oddities and experiences reinforce a
way of life “through the looking glass”
• And ritual experiences underline the ‘otherness of this world’
• Cutting ties with your mundane old existence is key to making this
alternate reality the reality
Scientologists are not supposed to wear spectacles (because L. Ron Hubbard once
asserted that “the tech” could cure vision defects). Scientology is anti-psychiatry
and once even deliberately orchestrated a Prozac health scare.

How Cults Seduce

PART 2
8

The Sub-Conscious Techniques of Cult Brands

The link between the activities of secretive religious cults
and those of respected, household-name brands may not be
immediately apparent. But there are some examples from
the 'innocent' world of branding that do show a remarkable
similarity to the four key activities of cults;

1.“In-the-know” MARCOM 2. Committed Customer Acquisition

Cult brands communicate with the market in Cult brands are an exclusive club. They deliberately
unusually scarce, deliberate and very targeted sacrifice a larger market for a smaller inner circle
marketing, PR and promotions. This adds mystique that is taken through an elaborate "initiation"
to the brand and rewards those on the inside. process to create committed solidarity.
N

“IN-THE-KNOW” COMMITTED
MARCOM CUSTOMER
W E ACQUISITION

BRAND
RELIGION

PASSIONATE
COMMUNITY

3. Passionate
4. Brand Religion Community
Each brand acts like it is "on a
S A cult brand's loyal usership is bound
mission from God". With a strong,
to the brand's mission. It is a community
central ideology and leadership. This
with its own rituals, vocabulary -- and often --
gives the brand much larger meaning.
hierarchy. They become not mere users,
but crucial ambassadors for the brand --
in effect unpaid employees.

How Cults Seduce

 9

Translating Cult Tactics into Marketing Tactics

Cults are religious sects. Companies on the other hand
are places people work and others buy stuff from. It
doesn’t do to get too carried away with the analogy
(although John Grant’s former agency St Luke’s went
further than most!)

That’s why our analysis centres on the social activities

(rather than the religious themes); to ask if there are
there analogous strategies in the marketing realm that
could be deployed? And at this level it’s quite easy to
see the possibilities;

C U LT S SOME MARKETING
E Q U I VA L E N T S

“In-the-Know “
Boundaries

FIREWALL MEMBERS-ONLY

MARCOM
BIG BROTHER DAVID & GOLIATH
INT/EXT COMMS INT/EXT PR
SPOTLIGHT LEAKS AND STUNTS

INNER CIRCLE TARGETING

Acquisition

Committed
SELECTION
Initiation

Customer
BAIT THE HOOK RALLYING CRY
LOVE BOMBING CHARISMATIC EVENTS
MATRICULATION DRIVING LOYALTY

PYRAMID LOYALTY TIERS

Community
Passionate
Customs

DUTIES PARTICIPATION MARKETING

PSYCH TWISTS TURNING THE TABLES
MOMENTUM BRAND NEWS
Brand Religion

LEADER/APOSTLES FOUNDER & ADVOCATES

Ideology

THE WORD BRAND VOCABULARY

BELIEF SYSTEM BRAND MANIFESTO
THE RULES RITUALS & PRINCIPLES

How Cults Seduce

 10

Full cult marketing is not for the faint-

hearted. It is a last resort, because like major
surgery, the ‘cure’ has its own dangers. Cult marketing is indicated for;
That’s not because of the “cult” stigma necessarily.
Just because some accuse cults of abusing their • A brand which is in a life or death
members, it doesn’t mean their tactics are in them- situation
selves evil. There’s a simple answer to the stigma;
don’t tell anybody “this is cult marketing”. Just do it. • They have a genuine ideology
(you can’t fake this)
The reasons why cult marketing is a last resort are;
- it excludes the …but this is out of sync with the
majority of your current context
When Playstation
created a waiting list
potential audience
- it is slow …and/or they have a crisis which
for PS2 (“Turning the
tables”), or Disney - it is difficult to has put them on the defensive
limits the times that transition out of
videos of their films again …and/or they have a product that
are available isn’t working fully yet
(“Deadlines”), nobody It is these very factors
accuses them of that have made the …or a product that’s fallen behind
“brainwashing”. cult phase a millstone
for Harley in later life. • They are small enough to be the
Now it’s struggling to transition to a more main- underdog (but not so small that they’re
stream clientele, because diehard HOGs are scaring not worth fighting for)
off new white-collar customers, dismissing them as
“rubbies”, rich, urban, riders. • The cult activity is for a limited period,
to buy time

• All other avenues have been exhausted

That was pretty much where we found ourselves with Napster.

Even then we knew this was a last resort strategy.

The risks - of e.g. alienating the record labels
forever - were sky high.

As it turned out, we managed not to implement

a full cult marketing program (“help us to save
Napster”) because a route to relaunch was
found instead.

How Cults Seduce

 11
CULT CASE 1:

“IN-THE-KNOW” MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS – LINUX

“The Open Source” movement was a reaction from within the geek community to
the commercial empires being built on what used to be common land. The O/S had
always just been shared as free source code until then. The movement’s manifesto
was the famous white paper titled “The Cathedral and the Bazaar.” The Free
Software Foundation, IRC and other initiatives soon followed.

So what would it take to build a new operating system? Who could take on
Microsoft head-to head? The only chance you’d have is to compete outside of cap-
italism; with no financial interest yet with moral superiority. That’s what makes it
cult; the early Christians vs the Roman Empire.

The cult founder came in the unlikely figure of Linus Torsvalds; a shy, young stu-
dent at Helsinki University. He was trying to improve an existing OS with a pass-
ing resemblance to Unix, as a project at Helsinki University. Linus put the result on
a bulletin board for reviews and feedback. And Linux was born…

i. Members-only. The Linux community for years extended as far as other

hackers, and no further. It was buried in the bulletin boards and campuses.
Even now that there are 15 million Linux users, they have a mystique and
solidarity which comes from their invisibility. For the establishment it was
seen no threat if seen at all. It was like Hannibal coming over the Alps with
elephants!

ii. David vs. Goliath Linux is a lot like Unix, only free. This limited it to
powerful servers and expert coders. But the spiritual enemy has always been
Microsoft. And this has finally become a real confrontation, as Linux is being
touted as the affordable alternative to XP for small businesses. Microsoft
executives certainly recognize that this is a revolt. One, Jim Allchin said:
“I’m an American. I believe in the American Way. I worry if the government
encourages open source…”

iii. Internal vs External PR. On the internet no-one knows you are a
moonlighter. The Linux code was developed in spare time by people whose
every waking thought was officially contracted and owned. There’s a story
that one Silicon Valley CTO sent an anonymous note about a secret Linux
meeting at his company, to find that 100 people turned up, including some of
his direct reports!

iv. Leaks & Stunts. When it went public, it went PUBLIC. Remember the
open source movement had its share of Silicon Valley veteran insiders. They
knew that the one event that could put Linux on the map was a “coronation”
on Wall Street. So with the cult’s blessing, companies like Red Hat raised
billions to take the Linux dagger to Microsoft’s throat.

How Cults Seduce

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CULT CASE 2:

COMMITTED CUSTOMER ACQUISITION - HARLEY-DAVIDSON

Harley was the stuff of history. And that’s where they were heading in the early
1980’s after the Japanese motorbike invasion. Faced with bankruptcy, decades
behind on quality, the turnaround started with a management buyout and, in 1983 the
formation of a bikers cult; the Harley Owners Group or “HOG.”

As a result of these initiatives, improved quality and retro design, Harley Davidson
has enjoyed twelve continuous years of growth. HOG is also the largest company-
sponsored motorbike club in the world with 365,000 members in 940 chapters.

i. Inner-Circle Targeting. The initial HOGs were mostly Hells Angels.

They drew their ranks from blue collar America, the very group whose jobs
were threatened by Japanese imports. They also drew on the patriotism, pride
and disenfranchisement of a generation. One HOG went as far as to thank
Rich Teerlink the Harley CEO…“For giving me the parade I never got when
I returned from Vietnam.”

ii. Rallying Cry. They had a simple, powerful message; “Help Harley
Survive”. This transcended the usual ‘them and us” marketing divide and
brought HOGs into a shared cause. There were strong overtones of “Save
America”, the Harley symbolizing an industrial nation’s plight in chrome and
steel. In true cult style they added innocent elements like fundraising for the
Muscular Dystrophy Foundation.

iii. Charismatic Events. Harley rides and rallies (already a feature of life in
the Hells Angels) were the social glue. They culminated in five-year
anniversary rallies, which made even Moonie mass weddings look low key.

iv. Driving Loyalty. One tactic the company uses to lure new riders is
called Rider’s Edge. This three day driver’s training course is organized by
dealers for new motorcycle riders. Lara Lee, director of Rider’s Edge sees it
like this: “We wanted to take the person who felt like an outsider and turn
them into an insider.” Harley also introduced a Ride Free exchange program
where, if you bought the starter model (Harley Sportster) then you could trade
it in at full value a year later for a bigger bike.

How Cults Seduce

 13
CULT CASE 3:

PASSIONATE COMMUNITY — E-BAY

In 1997, e-Bay found itself in a full nelson, when major fraud scandals threatened
their credibility and business model. They were in danger of turning from some-
thing that felt like a neighborhood car boot sale into a nasty and risky black market.
But if they introduced draconian regulations they would kill that special, folksy vibe
even quicker. So they turned to their community instead and established a whole
architecture of trust;

i. Loyalty Tiers. The more you trade, the higher you get in the hierarchy, via
a rating scheme. And if you cheat or defraud, you get thrown out. Sellers with
a higher rating can actually command a premium of up to 30%. Some people
make a living just selling on e-Bay and this is supported through an extra tier
– the Power-Selling program - with added services.

ii. Participation Marketing. The average user spends 3.5 hours on the
site (longer than any where else in e-commerce). You have to rate the other
party after every sale. Some members also took it on themselves to coach
newbies. One called “Uncle Grififths” was so active in this that they were
hired by Omidyar to be the company’s first customer support rep. eBabes, a
club of ebay sellers have meetings to discuss strategies and issues.

iii. Turning the Tables. The ebay business model turns e-commerce into
a gambling game. Instead of getting in and getting out, the bidding process
encourages multiple visits as buyers check the status of their bids. There’s a
thrill to winning a bid and people get addicted. As Nancy Wilson, self-
proclaimed e-Bay Queen put it “I've never had anything I enjoy doing as
much as doing this. I watch the bidding every day like a little kid

iv. Brand News. In quick succession they introduced; the ratings system,
insurance of up to $200 against fraud, a seller identity verification service
($5, by Equifax), a ban on sellers bidding their own products, a ban on buyers
who win the auction but do not complete the sale. They also cleaned the site
up, banning firearm sales and relegating anything questionable to an Adults
Only area..

e-Bay has also created their own news. Like the entire disgruntled Silicon
Valley IT department who auctioned themselves off to another company.
Or the woman who recently put her hand in marriage up for bids.

How Cults Seduce

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CULT CASE 4:

BRAND RELIGION – APPLE

If one company can lay claim to inventing cult marketing, internally and external-
ly, it’s Apple. And for nearly thirty years they’ve proved – to our principle that cult
marketing is a only ever short term measure – that every rule has an exception.

We can only plead that the computing industry has properties in common with the
spaces studied by Stephen Hawking, and a few black holes and neutron stars are
the least you could expect.

Apple ticks every box on the cult scorecard.

They’ve done Boundaries with the only proprietary system to go it alone against
Windows and shown IBM that open platforms are the house red wine, to their cham-
pagne. they have played on “Big Brother” as a constant refrain. They’ve also drawn
a fence around profitable niches like the whole multimedia community.

They’ve done Initiation in the extreme. OSX broke every rule of product evolu-
tion (one of the authors is into his second year of waiting for music sequencing soft-
ware to get with the program) but boy does it over-deliver, once you’ve got up the
learning curve and found some OS10 drivers!

They’ve done Customs by changing the relationship between human and box.
Their designs are rivaled only by Sony in their aesthetics and accessibility. And that
pays. In a market that is supposed to be waiting for the renewal cycle to restart, 40%
of new i-Mac orders came from first time computer buyers.

Not that they’ve neglected the core. Mac geeks still have a partisan spirit that’s rem-
iniscent more of fringe sects than hardware retailing. And more than anything that’s
down to the Ideology -- or in marketing terms: Brand Religion;

i. Founder & Advocates. Steve Jobs. The man who returned to save
the company on a salary of $1. It was Jobs who started the cult, with the
secretive Mac team and their skull and cross bones emblem, a mystique
which spilled over into the launch. And the apostles are hardly less
impressive. Like Guy Kawasaki whose smart, empassioned articulation of
the vision made him the original corporate evangelist. And Jonathon Ives,
designer of i-Mac, Cube, T4… who is fast accomplishing a one man Bauhaus.

How Cults Seduce

 15

CULT CASE 4:

ii. Brand Vocabulary. Apple invented (or at least popularized) the whole
language of graphical interface computing; folders, icons, mouse, double click.

They have also been masterful meme merchants; giving their loyal followers
the ammunition to bring down their deluded pc-user acquaintances;
CONTINUED
“C:/ONGRTLNS.W95”
“WINDOWS 95 = MAC 89 + 8MB”

“Saying Windows 95 is equivalent to Macintosh is like finding a potato that

looks like Jesus and believing you’ve witnessed the second coming!!!”*
“Macintosh. A religion, a way of life.”*

*It’s noticeable that the cult principles of the company have seeped into their language

iii. Brand Manifesto. Many Apple people genuinely believe they are
making the world a better place. This was reinforced by the company’s
initiatives in education and with disadvantaged groups.

And they have used cult media, like collectible t-shirts, to constantly refresh
the Apple allegiance (you wear your commitment on your chest). As one
contractor put it “Apple is the only place where you have to put your t-shirt
size on your job application.”

iv. Rituals & Principles. Jobs introduced the ultimate counterpart to corpo
rate normality; compulsory anarchy. They embraced diversity and soft values,
but never lost sight of results aggression. As they say at Apple; “Great
Developers Ship.”

How Cults Seduce

 16

From Cult Marketing to Global Religion?

So where is it all heading? The broadest influence may be on mainstream mar-

In an age when even the world’s hottest brands are keting campaigns; cult as tactic, not strategy. Rather
often to be found facing a firing squad - Coca-Cola than the whole 16 point program, companies can
(European dioxin scare), Nike (Child Labor), Gap cherry-pick the cult tactics.
(badly out of fashion) - it seems cult marketing is
set to grow. - Brand Religion for internal fanaticism. Like the
Nike Ekins sales force, with their swoosh tattoos.
Cult marketing is an antidote to those fat, lazy years
of “nice ads, steady growth”. - "In-the-know"MARCOM for niche audiences
like developers, pharmacists or journalists. Like
It is unusual because it is defensive (in a world of Volvo who sampled their new S60 to beautiful
offensive marketing). people, along with reservations at valet-parking
restaurants.
It is also pointing to a new killer positioning; non-
premium exclusivity. That’s why it’s also the natu- But “cult” will never become a marketing “global
ral tactic of companies like IKEA, whose exploits religion” like brand image, because it only works in
include banning customers with beards from their from the fringe. And some of us, who have caught
Bristol store, customer sleep-overs in Stockholm to the cult marketing bug, think that’s .
launch IKEA beds and America’s own DYKEA
lesbian action group.

Alex Wipperfürth (alex@plan-b.biz) and John Grant (thejohngrant@btclick.com) are known to drink their own Kool-Aid.
John's new book "After Image" is published in Europe in May 2002.

© All rights reserved. Plan B. 2002 How Cults Seduce