To die leaving a multi-million-dollar global business empire is an achievement. To do so while countless devotees still regard you as a spiritual leader is about as likely as Yogic flying. The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru of the Beatles, pulled it off.
His Legacy - beyond the mundane $2Bn his estate is reckoned to be worth, is a treasure-trove of tips for Brand management success.
Make yourself stand out. Instead of staying in India, where he
would have jostled for position among sadhus and mystics without
a number, the Maharishi took his Pop-Veda message to the world,
visiting the US in 1959 and setting up a base in California.
Choose the right product. Transendental Meditation, as trade-
marked by the Maharishi, has two attractive qualities:
Its easy to sell - how could a message that you can attain enlight-
ment without self-denial not be ?
Second - its effectiveness is almost impossible to disprove,
people who believe they have reached a higher consciousness
are highly unlikely to let anyone else convince them otherwise.
Make good use of celebrity endorsement. If George Harrison
had not take the rest of the group to north Wales in 1967 to
meet the Maharishi, and the Fab Four had not made the pilgri-
mage to the foot hills of the Himalayas, it would all have been
so different. (even though some Beatles later fell out with him,
the power of the images of the guru and the Liverpudlian
mopheads in white robes and garlands had already unleasced
the Brand.)
Innovate around your core strength. After the success of
TM in the flower-power 1960's, the Maharishi diversified into
"consciousness based education" setting up colleges and Univer-
sities. In 2000 he set up the Global Country for World Peace.
Charge what the market will bear. If you can persuade people
to part with $1m for your World Peace Fund to go on training
course, then, for heaven's sake, you should.
Lastly, let people feel they are buying not just a product, but
also a set of values, a lifestyle "The Power of OM"
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