Imagine this. You’re sitting on a sun-washed terrace with a small group of brand enthusiasts from around the world. The talk is about strategy, design, innovation, and the future of marketing. Across a green velvet expanse lies the 16th-century chateau where you’ve just spent the morning working hard on your brand. But now it’s lunchtime, and attention turns to the salade chevre chaud. The purpose statements, positioning frameworks, and launch roadmaps can wait—at least until the ile flottante.

Some brands create such strong customer communities that they are practically cults. Apple, the Grateful Dead, and Harley Davidson are a few good examples. The customers for these brands become part of a tribe - with its own culture and sense of belonging. The brands that succeed in creating such a strong connection among its customers and employees benefit from exceptionally high levels of loyalty, to the extent their customers rarely practice brand-switching – instead, they actually promote the brand actively – and often try to convert others into becoming "brand believers".