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K AAV I N T ERN AT I ON AL J OU RN AL OF ECON OM I CS,COM M ERCE

& BU SI N ESS M AN AGEM EN T

CULT BRANDING: A STUDY OF MARATHI NEWSPAPER

‘LOKMAT’ IN WEST MAHARASHTRA.

AUTHOR
Prof. GANESH WAGHMARE
Asst. Professor
Sri Balaji Society’s Balaji Institute of Management
and Human Resource Development
Pune (Maharashtra)

CO-AUTHOR
Prof. SHEKHAR CHAVAN
Asst. Professor
Rajgad Institute of Management Research &Development
Pune(Maharashtra).

Abstract “Lokmat” Marathinewspaper as an example to study

Customer mind is flooded with the brands and
the concept of brand cultism in West Maharashtra.
brands have become non-separable part of day to day
life. When the brands delight the customers, they Keywords: Cult, Brand Cult, Cult Branding, Brand
Loyalty
build the brands. In case of dissatisfaction, the
customers tear the brands down. So marketers should
1. Introduction
make the customers to be passionate about their
Cult branding is nothing but techniques used to
brands. This article study how a brand can be made
generate devotion. Motivations, desires and attitudes
as cult brand in the market. This study has chosen
of customers are key to the success of a cult
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brand.This concept is relatively new and its gaining 7. Kolhapur (including Sangli & Satara)
importance in the Indian market. Indian brands are 8. Nashik
now concentrating to attain cult status. 9. Jalgaon (inclusive of Dhule and Nandurbar)
Lokmat (literally 'People's Opinion') is a Marathi 10. Akola (including Buldhana, Washim and
language newspaper published from Mumbai, and supplements)
several other cities in Maharashtra state. Founded in 11. Goa
1971 by Jawaharlal Darda, in 2014, as per Indian
Readership Survey (IRS 2014) it was the tenth Main sections: Local, Maharashtra, National,
largest Indian daily with 5.887 million readers and International, Agriculture, Sports. These sections are
in Marathi, it is the largest selling daily with 1.4 covered in every day all editions of Lokmat.Besides
million copies a day. As per IRS 2010 Q3, Lokmat the above, there are some special sections, which only
has a total readership of 23.67 million; Lokmat has a appear in certain editions or on certain days.
total readership of 23.67 million. Its registered and
They are:
corporate offices are located in Mumbai,
Maharashtra (India) and its main administrative 1. Lokmat Appointments (every Wednesday and
Saturday for Mumbai)
center is located in Nagpur (India) and daily
2. Bruhan-Maharashtra
circulation is1,326,188 (as of Jul - Dec 2015).The
Lokmat fit the frame work for cultism based on the 3. Oxygen- for youth
seven rules as mentioned by Mathew Raga. 4. Urja- for adolescent children
5. Health and Fitness
Lokmat has 11 Marathi editions in Maharashtra. 6. Travel and Tourism News
7. Sakhi- for women
1. Nagpur (including Chandrapur, Yavatmal,
8. Manthan- literature
Wardha, Gondia, Amravati and Gadchiroli
supplements) 9. Almanac and Horoscope

2. Aurangabad (including Separate Hello Lokmat 10. Culture and Society

Supplement For 8 Districts in Marathwada) 11. Business and Finance

3. Mumbai (including Ratnagiri & Sindhudurg) 12. Lokmat Shopping

4. Pune 13. Lokmat Birthday Wishes

5. Ahmednagar (including Shirdi and Beed)

6. Solapur 2. LiteratureReview
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2.1 Cult
A cult in general notion is a sect or group or a 2.4 The Seven Golden Rules of CultBranding
faction. Like religious cult that attracts thousands of
devoted disciples, certain brands have magnetic Cult brands aren't just companies with products or
characteristics. They attract die-hard customers who services to sell. To many of their followers, they are
will be devoted to thebrand. a living, breathing surrogate family filled with like-
minded individuals. They are a support group that
2.2 Brandcult
just happens to sell products and services. This is the
Brand cult is defined as a phenomenon where
reason why these brands all have such high customer
customers display an unusually strong emotional
loyalty and devoted followers. That's how cult
involvementwithaparticularbrand;thuslendingthebran
branding works.
dan exceptionally high degree of customer loyalty,
Building cult Brands is a widespread strategynow
along with an amplified sense owning the brand
across global. This concept is relatively new and is
gaining importance in the Indian market. Indian
2.3 Cultbranding
brands are now concentrating to attain cult status.
Cult branding creates an experience, a
Matthew Ragas suggest the following rules to select
feeling an aura of a group identity- involving the
cultbrand.
customer in a way the employs them. Consumers
1. Consumerswanttobepartofagroupthat’sdifferent.
become passionate and empowered about the cult
2. Cult brand inventors showdaring and
brands. If a product or a brand fulfills this desire of
determination.
a person, the customers become a core loyal to the
3. Cult brands selllifestyles.
brand/product. This serves as the basis for Brand
4. Cult brand will make the customers as
cultism. Some of the remarkably successful and
Brandevangelists.
powerful cult brands are Harley Davidson,Apple
5. Cultbrandsalwayscreatecustomercommunities.
computer, vans shoes, etc. Bullets, Ambassador,
6. Cult brands areinclusive.
AMUL, and Khadi are some of the commonly
7. Cult brands are `sharing' and`collaborative'
referred cult brands in India. All the cult brands
2.5 Brand loyaltyscore
have the customers with fiery passion and fierce
Brand Loyalty is the essential element for
loyalty towards thebrand.
any brand to make the mark in the Market. Cult
Brand should have strong loyal customers. They
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should be hard-core loyalist of the brands and they 6. High Print quality and easy toread
should not switch the brand.There are two different 7. I love thisNewspaper
approaches for measuring brand loyalty: the I will recommend this paper to my
downstream one, based on observingconsistent friends/relatives thebehavioral component of brand
purchases of a brand over a period of time and the loyaltycanbe found by calculating the proportion of
upstream approach, which focuses on the motives buying the Newspaper. This method has taken both
that are behind a repeat purchasing of a brandAfter attitudinal and behavioral component together.
reviewing fifty-five definitions/measures employed
in various research efforts over several yearsand 3. Objectives of theStudy
arrived the following definition. Brand Loyalty is • To find out whether ‘Lokmat’ has achieved
defined as Biased(i.e., non-random), behavioral the“cult brand ”status
response(i.e., purchase)expressed over time by • To measure the brand loyalty level of ‘Lokmat'
some decision making unit with respect to one or customers
more alternative brands and is a function of • To suggest suitable strategies for ‘Lokmat' to
psychological (decision-making)processes. Based attain cultstatus.
on above definition, the following formula was
developed which links attitude toward the favorite 4. ResearchMethodology

brand and purchase behavior.Brand loyalty = (∑ ResearchApproach :DescriptiveResearch

attitude towards favorite brand / 40) X (Proportion SamplingTechnique : Convenient sampling

of purchase of favorite brand over the last ten Methods of the Data Collection: Survey method

occasions)The following attitude statements are using the questionnaire

evaluated on five point likert scale reflecting Approach: Online and offline

theReaders attitude toward their favorite Sample Methodology: The Total sample size is 175.

Newspaper are: Samples have been collected from the six Municipal

1. Highly reliable & crediblesource corporations of West Maharashtra Region.

2. Unbiased Newspresentation
Cities Sample Size
3. I am enhancing my language /fluency by Pune 50
reading thispaper Solapur 25
4. Wide coverage of political& sportsnews. Ahmednagar 25
5. More entertaining and colorfulpictures Nashik 25

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Kolhapur 25 Ahmednagar 82.91% Strong Loyal
Sangali 25 Customers
Nashik 80.51% Strong Loyal
Customers
5. Analysis
Kolhapur 70.16% Loyal Customers
The major objective of Cult Brand analysis is to
Sangali 68.25% Loyal Customers
find whether customers perceive “Lokmat” as
Cult Brand. This can be done based on following
The Lokmat is getting the benefit of strong
essential elements of cult brands.
loyalty of its customers from the Major cities
1. Brand Loyaltyscore
except Pune. It is having the strong hold among
2. FulfillingthesevengoldenrulesofCultBranding.
customers in Ahmednagar followed by Nashik.
Hence Solapur city is enjoying the loyal
customers of Lokmat with 78.21% of
loyalty.Pune Market will be the concern for
5.1 BrandLoyalty
Lokmat, as it is showing the relatively less
Brand loyalty scores are calculated from the loyalty towards the brand. But, Lokmat is still
aboveformula. Customers who are having the dominating the Pune Market.
loyalty score less than 20%, called asswitchers. 5.2 BrandCultism

Cult status of “Lokmat” is tested based on the seven

Table no: 1 Classification of Loyalty scores
Loyalty scale Loyalty scores rules. Percentage Analysis is used to check whether
Least loyal customers 20 – 39% the customers perceive “Lokmat” as a Cult.

Less loyal customers 40-59%

Table No. 3 Brand Cultism according to the rules
Loyal customers 60-79%
Strong loyal customers 80-100% Seven Golden Rules Score %
Consumers want to be
part of a group that’s 90/175 51.42
Table no: 2 Brand Loyalty Score of “Lokmat”
different
across West Maharashtra Region.
Loyalty Cult brand inventors
Regions Loyalty Scale show daring and 155/175 88.57
Score
determination.
Pune 60.34% Loyal Customers
Cult brands sell 125/175 71.42
Solapur 78.21% Strong Loyal
Customers lifestyles
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Cult brand will make the Rule 4: cult brand will make the customers as
customers as Brand 88/175 50.28 Brand evangelists
evangelists 50.28% of the customers will convince
Cult brands always their friends to buy “Lokmat”. They consider the
create 80/175 45.71
brand as one among member of their family. They
customercommunities
don’t even consider other newspaper to read.
Cult brands are
inclusive and Universal 148/175 84.57 Remaining half of customers (49.72%) of the
customers don’t share these views. They don’t
Cult brands are
`sharing' and 130/175 74.28 want to be evangelists of Lokmat.
`collaborative'
Rule 5: Cult brands always create customer
Rule 1: Consumers want to be part of a group communities.
Lokmat does not have any organized
that’s different.
customer club or community. But 45.71% of the
Only half of the (51.42%) of the customers
customers will prefer to become the member of
felt that they wanted to identify themselves with
customers club and having the discussions with the
“Lokmat” These customers would like to discuss
other readers of Lokmat
about the issues published in “Lokmat” regularly.
Rule 6: Cult Brands are inclusive.
Rule 2: Cult brand inventors show daring and Majority of the customers (84.57%) feel
determination
Lokmatcan be proud of having the image of that “Lokmat” gives News for all ages and across

daring & determined Newspaper. 88.57% of the various income and occupation categories. Most of

customers felt that “Lokmat” is showing daring and the customers agreed that the brand is universal

determination. They identify the brand as a and inclusive. They do not identify with the

journalism of courage and they strongly believe that particular group.

Lokmatwill face all oppositionsboldly. Rule 7: Cult brands are `sharing' and
`collaborative'
74.28% of the customers have felt that
Rule 3: Cult brands sell lifestyles
Majority (71.42%) of the customers strongly “Lokmat” represents customer opinions & beliefs

believe that “Lokmat” has changed not only their through its writing and it always response to

lifestyles but also their friends’ life style. Only 28.58 readers voice. They strongly validate that Lokmat

% of the customers believe that the brand has not is functioning in sharing and collaborative mode.

changed their life styles. 6. Conclusion

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Lokmatis going on right direction in attaining the Lokmat is an example of maintaining an
cult status because of the following reasons: emotional bond with its customers, often
Lokmatis having the strong loyal customers in functioning as a refuge for their timely need. Our
Ahemednagar, Nashik and Solapur. Strong Brand study showed that not only Lokmat is trying to be a
loyalty is the basic constituent of cult cult brand, but there are major three Marathi
Brand.Lokmatsatisfies four rules among seven newspapers which are dominating in west
golden rules of Cult Branding. Majority of the Maharashtra market these are Daily Sakal,
customers (More than 60%) are validating the Maharashtra Times and Loksatta the hence despite
four rules.Lokmatcould not be called as Cult of that in rest of Maharashtra Lokmat is having
brand now, but it is one among the eligible unique elements that place it as a number one
brands to reach the cult status in future. As it is brand among all newspapers.
having the strong asset of it strong loyal customer Now days as it seems to be tuff deal with
base in West Maharashtra Region, it may become choosy, techno savvy and rational market segment
the Cult Brand in future. so Lokmat must become active in social media
7. Suggestions and Conclusion therefore they should launch different Apps, Blogs,
“Lokmat” is going on right direction in websites to encounter the problems and promote
attaining the cult status. Lokmatshould make the brand for different target markets. ButLokmat has
loyal customers into strong loyal customers by to travel long distance to reach the magic
designing and effective implementation of Loyalty destination of “Cult Status”.
Development Programmes throughout West
Maharashtra Region
As it is the biggest player in Media
inMaharashtra, It may consider initiating the
Reader clubs or forum to
strengthentheiraffectionatetowardsthebrand.Ithasto
take immediate steps regarding the facts of Pune
market as it is having relatively less loyal
customers in Pune.The above strategies may
definitely help Lokmat to strengthen their loyal
customer base.

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References
¾ http://www.lokmat.com/
¾ Matthew W.Ragas and Bolivar J.Bueno, The
Power of Cult Branding, Prima Lifestyles, 1st
edition, September 24, 2002
¾ http://www.allaboutbranding.com/
¾ www.cultbranding.com/cult_brand_ruleshtm -
9k
¾ Consumers' true brand loyalty: the central role
of commitment, Abdelmajid Amine, Journal of
Strategic Marketing, Routledge, Vol. 6, 1998,
pp. 305 – 319
¾ Consumers' true brand loyalty: the central role
of commitment, Abdelmajid Amine, Journal of
Strategic Marketing, Routledge, Vol. 6, 1998,
pp. 305 – 319.
¾ Jacoby, J. and Chestnut, R. W., “Brand
Loyalty: Measurement and Management”,
John Wiley andSons,New York, 1978, p.80
¾ Roth, M.S. & Romeo, J.B. (1992). Matching
product category and country image
perceptions: A framework for managing
country-of-origin effects.
¾ Schau, H.J., Muñiz, A. & Arnould, E.J. (2009).
How Brand Community Practices Create
Value. Journal of Marketing, Vol. 73, p. 30-51.

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