"Cult Brands"

There is a good article on "Iconic Brands" and whether India can have "Cult brands" in this week's strategist. Questions on what is a "Cult Brand" and how one is built are detailed out. Most of the people interviewed for the article are of the opinion that it would be difficult for India to build iconic brands, apart from the LG chief and Prof Jha. The reasons given are that the country is so diverse that it would be very difficult to for a single brand to have a very loyal and emotional following, which they say is a prerequisite for cultivating a cult brand. Another reason quoted is the culture differences among the countries like US and Europe which have cult brands, versus India, according to Shripad Nadkarni, in India as a child we are encouraged to "Fit-in" rather than "stand-out". This has a bearing on 'Cult Brands" as they tend to have loyal following from consumers who prefer to go against the main stream. One point which I think has been missed out is that brand building and customer orientation in the country is just a decade and half old, before than in the regulated economy no one actually cared for the consumer. Building iconic or cult a brand is a long term work, as can be seen from the examples, Harley Davidson is a 101 year old brand, and Nike is also a very old brand. We also have much younger examples like that of iPod, but then the brand piggy-backed on the apple brand. In essence what I am saying is give more time for the marketing in India to mature and we also would be able to produce iconic or cult brands in the country.