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After
last year's theme of Sources of Cool, cult branding
took centrestage at the MTV Brand Equity Youth Marketing Forum
2002 at the Hotel Taj President in Mumbai on Wednesday, 8
May 2002.
The
forum brought together cult builders from the world over to
analyse, ponder and discuss threadbare what goes into the
making of a brand into a cult. Attended by over 400 creative
minds from the Indian advertising and marketing fraternity,
the forum witnessed Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann
compare a cult brand to a religion, Carmichael Lynch CEO Lee
Lynch demystify the Harley Davidson legend and DDB Needham
Worldwide chief strategic officer James Best dissect strategy
behind the fanatical following commanded by the self effacing
Love Bug Beetle.
An
insight into the workings of the teen mind was provided by
Teenage Research Unlimited vice president Michael Wood, while
contemporary ad and music video maker Michel Gondry joined
the gathering on video conference from Paris to share his
thoughts on the making of a cult. 
True to the MTV image, the forum kicked off with a desi version
of the hit Moulin Rouge blockbuster hit, and MTV's
star VJ Cyrus Broacha anchored the event with co host Mini
Mathur. Adman Piyush Pandey moderated the proceedings. The
fifth YMF, MTV India head honcho Alex Kuruvilla termed this
year's forum an even greater success in terms of participation.
The first speaker, Wood spelled out the Teen Value Monitor
evolved by his agency in his speech, listing among them a
quest for fun, search for identity, a compulsion to rebel
and aspirations as the key factors that drive youth demand
in the market. While most of the youth are either passive
observers or conformers of trends, it is the 'edge' group
with its yen for originality that drives innovations in the
market and often provides a definition for a cult brand, he
said. Successful brands, he pointed out, were not just relevant,
engaging and enduring, they also have to connect emotionally
to the consumer. Citing several US brands, which have achieved
an emotional connect with the viewer through innovative marketing,
he said the key elements of a cult brand 'daring to be different'
and knowing the product identity thoroughly. A fine example
of one such in India is the Bullet brand, Wood remarked.
 The
Indian motorcycle however, has much to learn from the US veteran,
the Harley Davidson, which, as Carmichael Lynch CEO Lee Lynch
pointed out, had witnessed 15 US presidents, two world wars
and one depression; and lived to tell the tale. The cult brand
that went through some rough patches re-invented itself with
novel promotional strategies 20 years ago, including direct
contact with users, test drives on rented race tracks and
effective word of mouth publicity. Despite low ad budgets,
says Lynch, the brand managed to reach to the potential and
the existing customer with 'advertising with an attitude'
- the matter coupled with a unique way of saying it. Harley
Davidson has become a cult, with people eager even for the
annual company catalogues and the 570,000 strong Harley Owners
Group, which helps propagate the brand.
Another brand, which had the guts but lacked the look of a
cult brand, and yet made it to the top of people's minds over
the decades, was the simple, self-deprecating Volkswagen Beetle.
DDB Needham Worldwide chief strategic officer James Best described
the process which went into converting the Beetle's ugliness
into one of its strengths.
Nearly 20 years after it came into existence, the DDB team
created 400 press ads, which accepted the fact that the Beetle
was not great on looks, but that it made up on reliablity
and durability. "It broke the rules of the day, by not resorting
to bombastic slogans and by stressing on its theme of difference
rather than conformation," he observed. 
The next turning point for the brand came in 1998 when a new
Beetle model designed for the Detroit Auto Show was approved
for manufacture. Best says the second model suffered an image
blow with its more 'expensive and hedonistic' image as opposed
to the 'practical and rational' picture offered by the earlier
model. A fresh ad campaign was necessitated to bring back
the sentiment that brought back memories of the first model,
Best said.
Moulin Rouge and Romeo+Juliet director Baz Luhrmann
however turned out to the star attraction of the day, with
his poignant and incisive observations on the definition of
a cult. Converting the podium onto an impromptu set (with
Pandey roped in as a 'producer') Luhrmann injected zest into
the debate by pointing out that a cult is very much like a
religion for many.
While it is the universal story that holds both together,
the cult movie has a particular language which reaches out
and appeals to a particular audience. "Everybody cannot hear
it in the langauge in which it is spoken, if it were, it would
not be a cult", he pointed out.
 And
for those who would look upon Moulin Rouge as a cult
film, Luhrmann's words should be an inspiration. It was during
a visit to Rajasthan that Luhrmann happened to view a Bollywood
potboiler in a theatre, a movie that reached out and touched
him, despite not understanding the language. Returning to
native Australia, Luhrmann decided to imbibe the same elements
- broad comedy, high tragedy and musical extravaganza that
would appeal to all audiences into one film.
It took the filmmaker five years, and resulted in Moulin
Rouge.
Click
for details of Michael Wood's presentation
Click
for details of Lee Lynch's presentation
Click
for details of James Best's presentation
Click
for details of Baz Luhrmann's presentation
Click
here for a Slide Show of MTV Youth Marketing Forum
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