Cult-tural Marketing

To the list of newfangled marketing buzzwords, let’s add the term cult. The proposition of cult marketing holds reign upon the notion that a way to convert—ahem, excite … OK, convert—consumers is by using timeless human behavioral drives found in religious cults. Heck, fellow acolytes, nothing is more permission-, buzz- and one-to-one-based than “a central ideology with a parallel social universe rich with customs.”

Thus, cult brands such as Apple, Harley-Davidson, Linux and eBay derive their unique stature from a consumer base that exhibits unholy devotion.