Reinforcement of Brands Inspired by Faith with the Paradox of Cultural Divergence in Indian FMCG Market

Abstract

Self-esteem values, with the new art of living, in the minds of Indians, lead to establish faith among the spiritual organization. Later on, the spiritual organization branded their names and market the products in their branded name. These brands, which are inspired by faith and created by Indian spiritual gurus have even disrupted the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market by being customer-centric instead of being geared by lucrative returns. It is in this context this research is motivated: to find the cultural divergence factors that lead to change the consumption pattern of FMCG and how Indian spiritual gurus are segmenting the market. The research concludes that cultural divergence variables such as power distance, collectivism, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation influence the brands that are inspired by faith. Spiritual gurus in India are using sociocultural marketing activities such as social endorsement and cause-related marketing strategies for segmenting the markets.

Keywords

Brands inspired by faith cultural divergence spiritual gurus

Introduction and Aim

The dynamic emergence of new forms of lifestyle of consumerist societies paves the way for linking cultural values with business values. The commercialization of spirituality, leisure and recreation is moving at a fast pace (Nagla, 2018). The cultural stigma towards adopting a disruptive mind-set and the need for a spiritual mind with a new art of living has led to establishment of brands inspired by faith among Indian customers. The brands inspired by faith created by Indian spiritual gurus have disrupted the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market by being customer-centric instead of being driven by returns. For example, Patanjali Ayurveda Ltd, estab-lished and endorsed by a spiritual guru Baba Ramdev, is the fastest growing FMCG company in India, which had a turnover of US$1.4 billion in 2016–2017. The American business magazine Fast Company’s report ranked Baba Ramdev as 27th in its list of ‘Most Creative Business People of 2016’ (Fast, 2016). The brand name ‘Patanjali’ resonates with the cultural identity of a large proportion of the Indian population and its growth rate is exponential (Thyagarajan, 2016).

Indian retail markets are highly fragmented (Sasi, 2004) and the spiritual leaders of Patanjali products, Sri Sri Ayurveda products, Bochasanvasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha’s products, Sri Aurobindo Ashram’s products and Isha Arogya’s products are aggressively expanding their existing businesses (Edelweiss, 2015). Guenther’s research (1992) contended that the accelerating trends in diversity marketing are a challenge for the organized FMCG marketers. Using segmentation strategy and social marketing activities is a challenging task for diverse marketers (Parthasarathy, 2008).

The present research is motivated to explore the Indian cultural divergence factor that creates faith in spiritual brands and how spiritual foundations in India are identi-fying cultural divergence to augment them

In marketing, culture is considered as the shared mental software of the people about business (Adler, 2002). There is always the influence of culture on the different types of marketing mix due to the changes in the needs and wants of consumers because of cultural divergence (de Mooij, 2005). Hawkins, Best, and Coney (1986) proved that different cultural variations influence the marketing strate-gies of FMCG companies. Global marketing has also changed the cultures of nations and is playing a vital role in the emergence of a global culture (Pikturnienė, 2005). Marketers are mapping their promotion strategies based on national cultures (Kushwaha, 2016). The home country cultural change is well predicted by the marketers (Tse, Lee, Vertinsky, & Whrung, 1988). Patriotic feelings also create a culture of buying home country products (Guiso, Sapienza, & Zingales, 2006). India is not an exception. Indian FMCG companies have practised culture-driven marketing strategies (Thompson, 2001). Indian spiritual gurus, who established a corporate-style marketing plat-form to sell their products, are using social marketing to create brands inspired by faith (Gnanakumar, 2017). Warrier (2003) has explained in his research how spiritual gurus are affecting the consumption behaviour of people as well as changing their overall behaviours and person-alities. Spiritual foundations in India are using sociocultural activities to enter FMCG markets (Joshi & Nema, 2011). A research conducted by Yaveroglu and Donthu (2002) found that individual brands will evolve in such countries where the coefficient of individualism is high. On the other hand, past research conducted by Hill, Ainscough, Shank, and Manullang (2009) and Hittner and Pohle (2008) proved that social marketing activities in the form of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strengthen the value of regional brands. Brand loyalty is build up by CSR programmes through social marketing activities (Hillier, Jones, & Comfort, 2007, Patel & Majumdar, 2011; Pivato, Misani, & Tencati, 2008; Popoli, 2011; Porter & Kramer, 2006). However, the triangular relationship between cultural divergences, brands inspired by faith and socio-cultural marketing activities have not been considered in past research. We explore the phenomenon of brands inspired by faith on a group of people. Our study aims to find out whether cultural divergence factors create brands established by spiritual gurus and inspired by faith in a fragmented society in India. Hence, the research seeks answers to the following research questions.

What types of cultural divergence factors create brands inspired by faith?

What type of sociocultural marketing activity is essential for brands inspired by faith in the diver-sified markets created by the spiritual gurus of India?

What is the basis for segmenting the customers in these diversified markets?

The research will help marketers to find out the integration strategy that links cultural divergence values and social marketing activities in the diversified markets as established by the Indian spiritual gurus.

Methodology

Past research on the Indian cultural dimension has proved that Indian culture is high on the power distance, inclined towards collectivism and masculinity, low on uncertainty avoidance (Hofstede, 2011), high on context orientation (Hall 1981), high in helping (Le Vine, 2001) and high on vertical collectivism (Triandis & Bhawuk, 1997). Indians are collectivists, but they have a well-protected secret self that contains highly individualistic thoughts, feelings and fantasies (Roland, 1988). Hence, we define culture basing on the Hofstede model. Cultural divergence is the tendency for groups to become less like other groups over time (Axelrod, 1997). In this research, we consider the followers of a spiritual foundation as a homogeneous entity. As Indians are more inclined towards spirituality (Roland, 1988), we can assume that spiritual foundations give rise to brands that are inspired by faith.

The research was carried out among the followers of Isha Foundation, a spiritual organization established in 1992 by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev in Coimbatore (South India). The foundation offers yoga programmes under the name of Isha Yoga. It aims to foster people’s spiritual and physical well-being through yoga and outreach programmes such as environmental rejuvenation. It has more than nine million followers. It markets ‘Isha’ brand products through Isha Shoppe, located throughout the globe. It markets around 625 varieties of products both online and offline. The foundation is engaged in different types of regional-level campaigns that focus on education, health care and sustainable environmental models. The societal activity of the Isha Foundation enables them to add to the number of followers and increase the brand image of Isha Shoppe (Budhiraja & Khatri, 2013). From the business perspective, the sociocultural marketing activities of the Isha Shoppe include cause-related marketing, green marketing and social endorsement made by the founder of the spiritual foundation. As Isha Foundation has both spiritual value and marketing value—its product market share increased exponentially during the period 2011 to 2016—we considered the cultural values of the consumers of Isha product for this research. We gathered primary data from 1,678 customers of Isha products. The respondents were selected through snowball sampling method. Of the 1,678 responses received, 1,126 responses were found to be reliable. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.72. An interview schedule consisting of 25 structured questions about the demographic profile, sociocultural values and brand images was formulated. Table 1 shows the various stages of the research.

Table 1.

Data Analysis: Input Process Output Table

Stage	Purpose	Input	Process	Output
1	Grouping of brands of faith variables to find out impressed customers.	Primary data about brand image.	Cluster analysis	Five clusters were created.
2	To find out whether the cultural factors influence the buying the products.	Primary data based on Hofstede’s cultural index and cluster analysis results	Scores are calculated for individual respondents And analysis of variance	Cultural values are influencing the brands of faith.
3	Measuring the relationship between brands of faith and social marketing values	Cluster analysis results and social marketing values	Analysis of variance	There is a significant variation
4	Measuring the discriminant factors between social marketing values and demographic variables	Social marketing values and demographic variables	Discriminant analysis	Income and occupation are the discriminating factor
5	Measuring the association between brands of faith and demographic variables	Brands of faith and demographic variables	Chi-square analysis	There is a significant association
6	Integrating social marketing values, brands of faith and demographic variables	Results of the last three stages	Establishing triangular relationship and ROC analysis	Cause related marketing establishes high brand image and occupation is the discriminant factor.

Source: Authors.

Brands Inspired by Faith and Cultural Influence

Marketing communications reinforce the brand image of the product through word of mouth and by establishing logos/pictures (Paul, 2002). The brand image of the promotors is used by intermediaries and spiritual foundation owned by the promotors in India. The brand image creates a resonance value among the followers of spiritual foundations, which leads to brands inspired by faith. Hope is an appeal with the anticipation of fulfilment, and faith adds certainty to hope. (Fry, 2003). Faith is a strong belief in something for which there is no substantiation. It is based on behaviours, attitudes and values that show absolute certainty and trust in the brand. Brands of faith created by spiritual foundation is given widespread meaning and recognition within marketing circles (Einstein, 2007). They have an identity and an easily recognizable name and logo. These products may be launched by the spiritual or religious foundations. Gill and Lundsgaarde (2004) argued that a spiritual foundation is a form of charity and charity is a form of communal insurance. As living in the universe has a lot of uncertainty the people favouring the pessimism, prefers to link with (Gill & Lundsgaarde, 2004; Scheve & Stasavage, 2005), spirituality based organizations (SBOs) (Vasconcelos, 2015).

In the first stage, SBOs establish a conducive environ-ment to improve the lives of the people by providing essential products that enable spirituality. For example, Isha Yoga foundation produced and sold yoga-related products to its members till 2013. In the second stage, to raise funds for charity, SBOs market products. Isha Foundation now produces and sells garments, accessories, food products and other FMCG products. It rents a separate store in the shopping malls in Bangalore other than its head office in Coimbatore. It also has an online store. Table 2 shows the different categories of products marketed by Isha Foundation and the value of the purchases made by the respondents.

Table 2.

Value of Product Purchased by the Respondents from the Foundation

Sl. No	Product Category	Value (In Rupees)	Percentage
1	Apparel and dress items (regular usage)	1,015,500	31
2	Food and beverages (healthy snacks, rice and dosa mixes, ragi and millets, etc.)	808,250	25
3	Herbal and health care products (herbal soaps, herbal shampoos and hair conditioners, herbal oils, moisturising lotions, etc.)	467,500	15
4	Gifts and accessories products (paintings, bags, stationary, etc.)	712,250	22
5	Spiritual offerings (yoga products, spiritual books, CDs, products used during yoga, etc.)	127,350	4
6	Jewellery and others	94,450	3
	Total	3,225,300	100

Source: Primary data collected from 1,126 respondents during 2018.

Table 2 indicates that around one-third of the charity funds are generated from the sale of apparels, one-fourth from the sale of food and beverages, and one-fifth from the sale of gifts articles and accessories. The products from the spiritual foundation are giving competition to other products in the open market. Phatak, Ragi, and Sondhi (2017) argue that products marketed by Indian spiritual leaders give healthier competition to multinational firms in the FMCG sector.

The research conducted by Iyer (2016) on the economies of religion proved that spiritual foundations on the lines of religion influence human behaviour by affecting their beliefs and actions. The research also proved that the ‘spiritual capital’ influences the ‘non-market’ behaviour of the followers and leads them to establish faith in their products. Hunt and Vitell’s (1986) research on marketing ethics proved that the spiritual beliefs of an individual influence their ethical decision-making process (Hunt & Vitell, 1986). Hence, we assume that brands of faith influence the buying habits of the followers of various spiritual foundations.

We measure a brand inspired by faith with the brand image value the respondents perceive using customer rating method as propounded by Dawes, Meyer-Waarden, and Driesener (2015). Cluster analysis is employed to classify the respondents according to the ratings based on the values of the brand (inspired by faith). Sixteen sets of variables that describe similarity between objects regarding brands inspired by faith were selected to formulate clusters. The attitudinal variables used for measuring the brands inspired by faith are listed in Annexure 1. Cluster centroid is used to differentiate the clusters, and a five-cluster solution is developed (Table 3).

Table 3.

Cluster Label of Brands Inspired by Faith

Cluster	Label	No. of Respondents
I	Impressive cluster	278
II	Stirring cluster	394
III	Striking cluster	101
IV	Modest cluster	125
V	Unimpressive cluster	228
	Total	1126

Source: Authors.

Cluster analysis reveal that 56 per cent (both impressive and stirring) of the respondents in the sample were highly conscious about the brand ‘Isha’. Based on the cluster analysis, we conclude that 672 customers have impressive values towards the brand image Isha. Hence, these cust-omers are considered to perceive high value for the brand inspired by faith.

Spirituality reflects an individual’s original orientation toward a more significant transcendental realism (Piedmont, 1999), and it defines culture (Eaves, D’Onofrio, Murrelle, Maes, & Spilka, 1999; Kendler, Gardner, & Prescott, 1997; Miller, Weissman, Gur, & Adams, 2001). The studies conducted by Geyer and Baumeiste (2005) proved that spirituality is the highest level of motivation that arises out of unique human quality; hence, a new cultural value emerges from spirituality. The research conducted by Nagai (2007) proved that the universal appeal of spirituality is culturally determined. A study conducted by Krause, Ingersoll-Dayton, Liang, and Sugisawa (1999) validated the importance of cultural variability among spiritual foundations. Minkov and Hofstede (2014), in their research, conclude that the influence of national culture is much stronger than that of religion. Hence, we propose a hypothesis that cultural values of a nation influence the values of its spiritual foundations. We compare the cultural values among different spiritual foundations with that of the national cultural index.

We test the influence of cultural divergence factors over brands of faith created by spiritual foundations. The cultural dimensions are measured based on Hofstede’s (2011) national-level cultural value index. Kumar, Gaur, Popli, and Akbar (2016) in their research re-established Hofstede’s cultural values in the application of marketing in rural India. Predispositional statements for cultural values are established based on the functional values created from Hofstede’s cultural dimensional index. These statements (refer to Annexure 2) are reflected in the inter-view schedule, and the response is measured on a five-point Likert’s scale. The scores are calculated for individual respondents (refer to Annexure 2). Table 4 shows the comparative cultural dimensional scores.

Annexure 2: Calculation of Cultural Dimensional Values (Based on Hofstede Model 2011)

Table 4.

Comparative Cultural Dimension Scores

Sl. No	Hofstede’s Variables	World’s Averages of Hofstede’s Dimensions	India’s Averages of Hofstede’s Dimensions	Spiritual Foundation – Average (as Calculated by the Researcher)
1	Power distance	55	77	81
2	Individualism versus collectivism	43	48	42
3	Masculinity versus femininity	50	56	57
4	Uncertainty avoidance	64	40	39
5	Long-term orientation	45	51	54

Source: Hofstede’s (2011) research for the global and national Index; authors calculated value for spiritual foundation.

The results indicate that the members of this foundation show a high level of power distance, which reflects that hierarchical order prevails in the foundation. The scores for the dimensions of individualism versus collectivism is low, which reflects that collectivist societies act predominantly as members of a life-long and cohesive group or org-anization. The dimension of masculinity indicates that the spiritual foundation will be driven by achievement and success. Uncertainty avoidance score is low among the followers of spiritual foundation. It reflects that the followers have fewer rules, and they do not seek to control all outcomes. It also means a higher level of patience for a variety of suspicions and thoughts and a high tolerance for ambiguity (Thakur, 1986). Masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation are almost corres-ponding to the national index created by Hofstede. Indi-vidualism versus collectivism index almost equals the global index. Hence, we conclude that the national culture influences the behavioural pattern of the followers of a spiritual foundation in India.

The high power-distance score indicates that the more spiritual an individual follower is, the more likely they will be ethically predisposed (Vitell et al., 2016). The indivi-duals who scored high on power distance had a weaker relationship between spirituality and ethics. They will be actively and passively benefiting from unethical situations. Hofstede (1984) argued that individuals with a higher power-distance more readily accept the inequality of power as they perceive differences between superiors and subor-dinates. As the power distance index is high among the followers of Isha Foundation, we conclude that the power of the leader determines the faith of the subordinates. A brand inspired by faith is a predominant factor if the power distance between superiors and subordinates is high.

In the next stage, we try to establish a relationship between brands of faith and cultural dimensional values. Einstein (2007), in her book Brands of Faith argues that to compete effectively, faiths had to become brands, and the development of strong brands within a consumer culture has the potential to serve as a substitute for relationships (Burns, 2012). We apply the ‘F’ test to find out whether the group means of the brands inspired by faith as classified based on the cluster analysis differs significantly with the cultural value created for each respondent. The cluster values of the brands (created in Stage 1) have been considered as the dependent variable. The cultural dimen-sional score of individual respondents is considered as the independent variable. We formulate the null hypothesis that brands inspired by faith cluster values depend on the cultural value scores. The output of the F test and Granular R² values are given in Table 5.

Table 5.

Cultural Dimensional Values vs. Brands of Faith: ANOVA

Sl. No	Cultural Divergence Variables	F Value	Sig.	Granular Quintile-R²
1	Power distance	66.762	0.000	0.72
2	Individualism-collectivism	74.502	0.000	0.76
3	Masculinity-femininity	11.105	0.567	0.21
4	Uncertainty avoidance	43.282	0.005	0.56
5	Long-term orientation	62.488	0.000	0.71

Source: Authors.

The calculated value of F is higher than the table value of F with the degrees of freedom for four variables. Hence, we reject the null hypothesis at 95% confidence interval for the four variables of power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation. We conclude that there is a significant variation between brands of faith with cultural values. However, ‘masculinity–femininity’ does not have a significant variation in the brands of faith variable.

In the spiritual foundation, the followers’ average masculinity value is higher than the average masculinity values both of India and global. Brands inspired by faith also do not depend on masculinity values. Hence, we assume that the reason for the non-dependency of mas-culinity variable with brands of faith is due to a high level of masculinity values. Exploratory research conducted by Hofman and Newman (2014) in China-based organiza-tions established that CSR practices are utilized to motivate diverse groups of employees within China-based organi-zations, where masculinity orientations of the employees are high. Spiritual foundations also engage their followers in different types of social responsibility programmes. Such social responsibility programmes are linked with socio-cultural marketing by spiritual foundations. Hence, in the next stage, we explore the social marketing values created by the spiritual foundations.

Sociocultural Marketing Values

Culture always has an influence on the marketing mix. This is because the needs of consumers change as a result of cultural diversification (de Mooij, 2005). Asian busines-ses implement strategies from more tradition-based and informal perspectives than the Western managers, who adopt rather contrasting systematic, scientific and formal approaches (Chen et al., 2001). A research on cultural diffusion in Asian-born consumers concluded that they are more brand conscious and depend on their community for taking decisions (Tahmid, 2012). The research conducted in the past proves that marketing strategies are framed after identifying the culture of a specific segment because each segment has different needs according to its income, customs and traditions. (Acar, Premasara, & Glen, 2011; Tarun, 2016). Since cause-related marketing, green market-ing and social endorsement groups are practised by Isha Foundation, we decided to include them.

We wanted to find out whether there is any significant relationship between cause-related marketing efforts and brand image. One-way analysis of variance was employed to find out the variation within and between the brand image centroid values of the clusters and preference towards cause-related marketing. A null hypothesis that there is no variation between the means of brand image clusters variables and preference towards cause-related marketing, was formulated.

As the calculated F value is higher than the table value of F (Table 6), it can be interpreted that brand image has a significant variation in cause-related marketing. The relative magnitudes of the means for the five categories indicate that a high level of cause-related marketing efforts leads to the creation of a superior brand image.

Table 6.

Cause-related Marketing and Brand Image: Variance Analysis

Variance	Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F- Value	Significance
Between groups	218.40	4	54.600	24.92	0.00
Within groups	2456.84	1121	2.191
Total	2675.24

Source: Authors.

Respondents who prefer cause-related marketing were segmented based on age, income, education and occupation. Stepwise multiple discriminant functions were formulated to identify the demographic discriminant factor that diff-erentiates the cause-related marketing variables among the demographic factors. Based on the equality of group means, two functions are formulated. The results are dis-played in Table 7.

Table 7.

Discriminant Analysis of Cause-related Marketing: Tests of Equality of Group Means

Variables	Wilks’ Lambda	F	Significance
Age	0.846	2.427	0.03
Income	0.923	4.234	0.00
Education	0.912	1.321	0.53
Occupation	0.981	4.980	0.00

Source: Authors.

Occupation and income are the two discriminating functions identified by the model. The eigenvalue asso-ciated with the first function (occupation) is 0.24. The canonical correlation associated with this function is 0.180. Thus, 72.2 % of the variance in the cause-related marketing variable is explained by this model.

We conclude that cause-related marketing significantly influences the brand image. The occupation is the pre-dominant demographic variable that discriminates the customers towards cause-related marketing.

There is a dire need for protecting the natural enviro-nment. Green marketing intends to satisfy customers while imposing a minimal detrimental effect on the natural environment (Polonsky, 1995). We wanted to find whether there is any significant relationship between green marketing efforts and brand image. One-way analysis of variance was employed to find the variation within and between the brand image centroid values of the clusters and preference towards green marketing. A null hypothesis that there is no variation between the means of brand image clusters variables and the preference towards green marketing was established. Table 8 shows the output of the variance analysis.

Table 8.

Green Marketing vs. Brand Image: ANOVA

Variance	Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F	Significance
Between groups	23.524	4	5.881	2.787	0.68
Within groups	2,253.411	1121	2.110
Total	2,276.935

Source: Authors.

The calculated value of F is less than the critical value of ‘F’ with 4 and 1,121 degrees of freedom, resulting in a probability of zero at 95% confidence level. The null hypothesis is thus accepted and it may be concluded that brand image does not depend upon the ‘green marketing’.

In the diversity marketing system, endorsements are made through regional level cultural programmes. Isha Gramotsavam is a programme organized by the Isha Found-ation. Isha Gramotsavam encourages the living spirit of the villagers of Coimbatore region. To make the programme a great success, more than 600 teams with more than 7,500 players participate in the events and sports conducted by Isha Gramotsavam every year.

One-way analysis of variance was carried out to identify the significant variation among and between brand image and social endorsement activities. The null hypothesis that there is no variation between the means of brand image cluster variables and the preference towards social endorse-ment was formulated. The result is interpreted with the associate ‘F’ probability value of 0.00 at 0.05 level of significance. The results are produced in Table 9.

Table 9.

Social Group Endorsement Vs. Brand Image: ANOVA

Variance	Sum of Squares	Df	Mean Square	F	Significance
Between groups	32.566	4	8.141	9.444	0.00
Within groups	967.211	1121	0.862
Total	999.777

Source: Authors.

The calculated value of F is higher than the critical value of ‘F’; hence, the null hypothesis is rejected. We conclude that brand image has a significant variation with social group endorsement. The relative magnitudes of the means of clusters suggest that there is a linear relationship between social group endorsement and brand image.

Multiple discriminant analysis was employed to find out the demographic variables that discriminate the social group endorsement countenances. Two functions (occupa-tion and age) were formulated based on the equality of means. The results are produced in Table 10.

Table 10.

Discriminant Analysis of Social Group Endorsements: Tests of Equality of Group Means

Variables	Wilks’ Lambda	F	Significance
Age	0.982	7.218	0.00
Income	0.978	0.678	0.21
Education	0.992	1.788	0.13
Occupation	0.872	12.234	0.00

Source: Authors.

The eigenvalue associated with the first function (Occupation) is 0.248. The canonical correlation asso-ciated with the function is 0.448. This model explains 95.4 percent of the variance in the social group endorsement variable. The eigenvalue associated with the second function (Age) is 0.018. The value of Wilks’ lambda is 0.724. This transforms into a chi-square value of 3228.612, with 4 degrees of freedom that is significant at 0.05 level. Thus, the functions together significantly discriminate the social group variables. However, when the first function is removed, the Wilk’s lambda associated with the second function is 0.982, which is not significant at the 0.05 level. Therefore, the second function does not contribute significantly to group differences. Hence, it can be inferred that occupation is the first significant demographic variable that discriminates the social group endorsement variables.

Chien-Hsiung’s (2011) research identified a positive association between brand image and demographic vari-ables. To construct a relationship between brand image and demographic factors, we employed chi-square test. The null hypothesis that brands of faith are independent of the demographic variables was formulated. The results are in Table 11 (95% confidence limits).

Table 11.

Chi-square Analysis: Brands of Faith

Variables	Chi-square value	Df	Significance	Phi value	Contingency Co-efficient	Crammer’s V	Lambda Co-efficient
Age	84.5	16	Significant	0.21	0.20	0.14	0.08
Income	31.6	16	Insignificant
Education	78.8	12	Significant	0.32	0.28	0.23	0.12
Occupation	242.6	16	Significant	0.69	0.62	0.60	0.57

Source: Authors.

The null hypothesis is rejected at the significance level of 0.05 for the demographic variables such as age, edu-cation and occupation. Hence, the brand image is signifi-cantly associated with the age, education and occupation of the respondents.

Cause-related marketing and social group endorse-ment activities of firms tend to create a brand image. We apply realistic-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to find out which of these activities highly influence the brands of faith. ROC curves were drawn to assess the brands of faith centroid values with social group endorsement and cause-related marketing variables. ROC curves explored the precision of diagnostic tests. They were used to find the best cut-off value for imp-ressive and unimpressive cluster test results. The gra-phical representation of this trade-off is presented in Exhibit 1. Table 12 shows the asymptotic significance of ROC analysis.

Exhibit 1.

Brands Inspired by Faith: ROC Curve

Table 12.

Brands of Faith ROC Analysis

Test Result Variable(s)	Area	Std. Error	Asymptotic Sig.	Asymptotic 95% Confidence Interval
Test Result Variable(s)	Area	Std. Error	Asymptotic Sig.	Lower Bound	Upper Bound
Social group endorsement	0.560	0.018	0.001	0.526	0.595
Cause-related marketing	0.612	0.017	0.000	0.578	0.647

Source: Authors.

The area under the curve for is 0.56 and 0.612 respectively for social group endorsement and cause-related marketing. As the cause-related marketing curve occupies the maxi-mum level over the cut-off line, cause-related marketing techniques can be applied to improve the brands inspired by faith better than can be applied to improve social group endorsements.

The discussions prove that a brand inspired by faith depends on the cause-related marketing and social group endorsement activities. Cause-related marketing creates the brand image in a leveraged manner compared to social group endorsements. ‘Occupation’ is the demographic variable that discriminates cause-related marketing. ‘Occupation’ is also associated with the brand image. The triangular relationship is exhibited in Exhibit 2.

Exhibit 2.

Source: Authors.

We conclude that if societal marketing activities associated with cause-related marketing are stratified based upon the occupation of the customers, it will build brands as inspired by faith. Segmentation based on the consumers’ occupation is the foremost discriminant variable. Therefore, the occupation of customers can be used to segment the customers in the diversity marketing strategies of spiri-tual gurus.

Findings and Conclusion

Divergent cultural variables such as power distance, collec-tivism, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation influence the brands inspired by faith. The followers of a spiritual foundation have their own distinct culture, and their social affinity values increase the brands of faith. Social group endorsement and cause-related marketing are the marketing strategies suitable for spiritual foundations (to market their product/service). Age, education and occupation are demographic values that influence the brands of faith. Spiritual foundations segment their customers based on the occupational values and they use the cause-related marketing strategies to increase the values of brands of faith.

As the cultural values related to the art of living have been recognized by the society as the measure of social well-being, spiritual leaders can enhance their brand value through faith. Social media communication about cause-related marketing can create trust in society. On the other hand, societal marketing activities cannot target the entire society. Hence, it is required to be stratified. While stratifying, the players of diversity markets have to target a group based on the values generated by the stakeholders in the foundation. The diversified markets created by Indian spiritual gurus provide cultural diversity. The business value created by them increases the social values, which are essential to uplift the society. We conclude that if any group of people integrates business values and societal values, it improves the economic value for that society, and they can utilize the social currency in the form of brands inspired by faith.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Annexure 1

The statements used to measure the brands inspired by faith are listed as follows:

I love this brand

Using this brand gives me pleasure

I am really happy that this brand is available.

This brand rarely disappoints me

I am attracted to this brand

I desire this brand

I want this brand

I look forward Io using Ibis brand

My daydreams often include this brand.

This brand often dominates my thoughts

This brand always seems to be on my mind.

I consider myself loyal to this brand

I buy this brand whenever I can.

I am blessed with this brand.

I feel the brand is from the Guru’s masterpiece.

I am generous in using the brand.

I am gifted for using the brand.

I am courageous to use this brand.

I am determined to use this brand.

I am blessed to use this brand.

Calculation of Cultural Dimensional Values (Based on Hofstede Model 2011 )

Sl. No	Variables	Statements (Asked in 5-point Scale)	Increasing Score (1 to 5)	Decreasing Score (5 to 1)
1	Power distance		Large power distance	Small power distance
		I believe that spiritual guru’s product is superior	+
		I believe in a hierarchy of order in our spiritual community.	+
		Older people are both respected and feared	+
		Income distribution in our spiritual community is rather even		–
		Spiritual foundation stressing the equality of believers		–
2	Individualism		Collectivism	Individualism
		We in the spiritual foundation are consciousness	+
		Harmony be always maintained among spiritual foundations	+
		The relationship among the members of spiritual foundations prevails over tasks	+
		The right of privacy is prevailing.		–
		My personal opinion is highly regarded		–
3	Masculinity		Masculinity	Femininity
		The admiration for me is very strong	+
		The work prevails over the members in the spiritual foundation	+
		Our spiritual foundation focuses on gods	+
		The spiritual foundation focuses on fellow human beings		–
		In our spiritual foundation, men and women should be modest and caring		–
4	Orientation		Long-term orientation	Short -term orientation
		We, in the spiritual foundation, are led by shared tasks	+
		Thrift and perseverance are considered important by us	+
		We believe that important events life will occur in the future.	+
		Our traditions are sanctified.		–
		Our service to others is an important endeavour		–
5	Uncertainty avoidance		Strong in avoidance	Weak in avoidance
		Our role is clear and well defined in the spiritual community	+
		We believe in religion, philosophy and ultimate truth	+
		We will follow the spiritual foundation rules, even if we dislike.	+
		I dislike the few rules of the foundation		–
		I will accept the in heritance of life as it comes on each day		–
	Total score (Maximum 125)
	Converted score (Actual Score/125 * 100)

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