The Next Great Consumer Companies Won’t Be Exclusive Clubs. They Will Be Inclusive Cults.

Great cult brands drive wedges between schools of thought, alliances, communities, ideologies, and even other brands. They do this by spreading their radical differences with those searching for individualism. Ultimately, with a lot of luck and incredible attention to detail, these select few cult brands become a destination for their followers to ... See more

This is nothing new in the physical social world, but it is revolutionary in the digital social world, where groups and shared messenger threads have historically always been communal spaces.

Cult leaders are their own moderators

Cult leaders need mechanisms for elevating and blessing followers, as well as mutually reinforcing power

Cults need appoint... See more

The keywords are not necessarily prestige and exclusivity but identity and belonging.Membership is micro. To prevent reverse network effects and maintain a high signal-to-noise ratio, brands often focus on specific customer sub-segments and overdeliver for them. This works particularly well for brands that sell easily commodified products. For exam... See more

Much has been written about how brands like SoulCycle built cult-like followings by tapping into the collective desire to connect to something larger than themselves. Today, this practice has gone mainstream, so the question becomes, How can brands go beyond selling and engage with people’s spiritual lives?

As I struggled with these thoughts early on, I wanted to explore what it would mean for brands and subcultures to merge more fully, to offer a much deeper and richer meaning. This set me on a quest to learn about cults. I read about organizations which were abusive and manipulative, but which still managed to create meaningful practices that weren’... See more

As audiences coalesce around micro-communities as a refuge from an ongoing barrage of content and platforms, how brands connect with them matters. Offerings like Glossier’s Slack group, Vogue Club, and A24 All Access reveal a trend of brands rethinking their audience loyalty strategies. Providing space for fans to interact with your brand (and each... See more