Psychology of Cult Branding: How to convert your customers into your tribe

 July 2018

Writer and copyrighter Eleanor Goold in her May 24, 2016 online article The Psychology of Cult Branding: How to convert your customers into your tribe provides an unusual foil for evaluating the Psychology of Vision (POV) large group awareness venture and perhaps gives us clues why Chuck and Lency Spezzano's for-profit enterprise is rapidly declining both as a cult and as a business.

https://web.archive.org/web/20161125173059/https://medium.com/manager-mint/the-psychology-of-cult-branding-how-to-convert-your-customers-into-your-tribe-34a1a26157b6

Goold uses a broader definition for "cult" than we are used to on our own blog, so the word does not necessarily carry the same negative connection for her as it does for us involved with the narrower interpretation. Indeed, she is promoting the concept of cult branding as a way to build a loyal customer base.

She offers "8 top tips you’ll need to consider if you want to give your brand — no matter how big or small — that sexy ‘cult’ status star factor." I'd like to go over these points with POV in mind:

1. Create an awesome ‘Badge of Success’

Psychology of Vision does have a recognizable logo, created in 1993 by Eric Woo Design. No disrespect to Mr. Woo, but it is sort of funny that his name is the same as a derisive term skeptics use to describe groups like POV. Mr. Woo was apparently under the mistaken impression Chuck Spezzano is a "psychologist" when he created the logo.

https://psychologyofvision.blogspot.com/2015/12/psychology-of-vision-logo.html

POV also has an easy to remember slogan, "Friends Helping Friends," which basically suggests to the client an offer of a substitute family unit and insular community to join-- at an expensive price. Chuck is frequently called "Uncle Chuck" and Lency has also been called "Mom" by several followers.

In terms of luring in customers who are emotionally vulnerable and easy to victimize, which is what POV is all about, they initially scored quite well on Goold's first point, but as the years have gone by the corporation has failed to keep up with trends and now comes across as corny and blatantly fake. More on that later.

2. Get the right people on board right at the start

Chuck Spezzano has an APA-unaccredited Ph.D. from a now extinct private school in an unemployable degree called "Professional Psychology," according to his dissertation. He began falsely advertising himself as a "psychologist" (he has never been a licensed "psychologist") quite early in his career and continues to let others do so. The State of Hawaii fined him for pretending to be a professional in 2004. This organization was crippled the minute it shot out of the gate. You can only lie about your credentials for so long before it catches up to you.

https://psychologyofvision.blogspot.com/2017/10/honolulu-advertising-clips-from-1980s.html

https://psychologyofvision.blogspot.com/2015/09/charles-lee-spezzano-ph-d-in_28.html

https://psychologyofvision.blogspot.com/2015/09/state-of-hawaii-v-charles-l-spezzano.html

Those who sign up to become POV franchise holders in their steep organizational pyramid scheme can rise to certain ranks, such as "POV Trainer Level 1" and so forth. The higher the level the more they have to pay in an annual "licence fee" to the tune of thousands of dollars. The Spezzanos are infamous for throwing trainers under the bus, blaming them for shortcomings in the program and discarding their services on a whim.

https://psychologyofvision.blogspot.com/2017/02/more-smelly-doodah-hit-fan-than-usual.html

https://psychologyofvision.blogspot.com/2017/02/psychology-of-vision-trainer-depletion.html

If you have any doubt POV is a rigid authoritarian corporation that treats the trainers like livestock, I suggest you carefully read the Psychology of Vision Trainer's Manual.

https://psychologyofvision.blogspot.com/2015/09/psychology-of-vision-trainers-manual.html

Many people who have been associated with Psychology of Vision in the past have taken great pains to erase all online record that they have been connected with the cult.

3. Utilise the power of the grapevine

In the distant past when the online world was young, POV did attract a couple people who were Internet-literate, such as Julian Ticehurst, and you could say they had a vibrant and transparent digital presence in those days. Those days are long gone.

https://psychologyofvision.blogspot.com/2015/11/new-age-diffuse-communities-by-dominic.html

Today they are found on the "traditional" social networks, usually serving as an echo chamber where unoriginal New Age memes are regurgitated. Chuck Spezzano recycles the same inane platitudes over and over as if on automatic pilot via Facebook, Twitter, etc. Their chief Facebook page is a closed group. Ever since POV has come under some serious scrutiny in the past five years the cult has been removing Youtubes and online documents, offering discussion only through gated deep web communities where the absent critics are demonized.

Any recent efforts to jazz up POV and make it at one with the current trends have been somewhat comical.

4. Take advantage of the opposition

Psychology of Vision does not play well with their competitive alternative healing/New Age marketers. But in terms of "opposition" the real "us vs. them" for POV is how they regard their critics. The more POV is investigated, the more they hunker down, crawl under rocks, and the less transparent they become. This is the opposite of outreach and has hurt their recruitment. They can only bully and strike fear into the hearts of the already converted for the most part, and that population is dwindling by the day.

5. Learn how to make ‘Love Bombs’

                             The Spezzanos love bomb a recruit at a training in Hawaii, April 2017

The Spezzanos are experts at "Love Bombing." This is not a good thing.

https://psychologyofvision.blogspot.com/2017/04/love-bombing.html

However, in POV, as the Beatles sing "love has a nasty habit of disappearing overnight."

http://psychologyofvision.blogspot.com/2016/05/nafps-selections-messed-her-head-up-to.html

6. Be consistent 100% of the time. Every time!

Being fad followers, the Spezzanos will change their doctrine on a dime if it means more profit. This must confuse the long-term members.

Just one example. After attending Amma and Bhagavan's Oneness University in 2007, the Spezzanos incorporated many OU beliefs into the POV program, such as a greater emphasis on "Oneness" and the use of and training in Deeksha blessings. POV followers, at their own expense, were expected to also attend OU. Oneness University was counted, along with A Course in Miracles, as one of the two "greatest inspirations" for POV as stated in their literature.

But at some point after a few years the love affair came to an end. Aside from a vague statement from Lency, the exact reasons have never been made clear from a POV official. References to OU were erased from POV websites and today they deny it had any impact all, which is total baloney.

https://psychologyofvision.blogspot.com/2016/01/psychology-of-vision-hates-oneness.html

Also, Chuck and Lency sometimes contradict each other on key points. POV actually has sort of a "split mind" and can be divided into two sub-cults attracting two very different kinds of followers. When Lency (falsely) announced she would no longer be engaged in international travel for "trainings," a substantial number of POV trainers bailed.

7. Be authentic, honest and never imitate

POV is inauthentic, dishonest, and has nothing in their program that has not been swiped from others. Some of their work borders on plagiarism and they seldom give credit to their sources. In one case the healer Rasha took the Prince Rupert, BC trainers to task for stealing her quotes and making it appear she endorsed this rinky dink cult.

In addition, Chuck Spezzano will privately admit his own work is a "hoax."

https://psychologyofvision.blogspot.com/2016/10/even-chuck-himself-says-that-his.html

8. Stand out from the pack (in a good way)

Well, POV is halfway there. It stands out from the pack-- but not in a good way. Several other alternative healers/New Age merchants hold Psychology of Vision in low regard. And for good reason.

https://psychologyofvision.blogspot.com/2017/07/dave-oshana-comments.html

https://psychologyofvision.blogspot.com/2015/10/kelly-tobey-rates-his-peers.html

https://psychologyofvision.blogspot.com/2015/10/ist-er-nun-ein-trixter-funderieter.html

https://psychologyofvision.blogspot.com/2017/01/consumer-alert-using-checklist-to-shop.html

Goold has provided us with an intriguing checklist.