The Book

The Culting of Brands: Turn Your Customers Into True Believers, Portfolio, Penguin, New York, 2004.

The Authors

Douglas Atkin

The Big Idea

We all crave ‘meaning’ and ‘belonging’. Cult-like brands have become the new religion because they provide these two basic human needs.

Speed RAP

People queue overnight to be the first into the new Apple temples, I mean, retail stores. Cult-like brands inspire extreme religious-like customer loyalty – and fanatical behaviour.
Customers are no longer satisfied with mere product. They’re buying into an ideology with meaning, purpose and value; an identity with personality; and a community of like-minded, mutually interested souls.
The two most important elements of a cult-like brand are the ideology and the interaction between your customers. Your ideology provides vision, meaning and desire. The contact with you and fellow customers builds a community. This provides meaning in a chaotic world and a place of belonging.

The RAPs

Review: The Book, The Author, The Recommendation
Context: A Soap Story
1 The Culting Edge
2 Cause
3 Believe
4 Build
5 Demonize
6 Touching
7 Meaning
8 Belonging
9 Committing
10 Leading
11 Your Brand Plan

Your Challenge

Start a cult today. Cult your brand and build a devoted following of loyal customers. Be different, take a stand and build a meaning engine and a community that lets your customers be more of themselves.