15 brands with fanatical followings

It's not easy to amass a cult following.

But some brands have managed to cultivate tremendous loyalty from their customers.

Bizarrely enough, others looking to emulate this sort of success look to actual cults for inspiration, cult expert Rick A. Ross told Business Insider.

Cults depend on strong ideologies, differentiating worldviews, and iconic leaders to hook their followers.

These brands have managed to figure all that out. There's one brand on this list, though, that recently lost its formerly loyal following a major crisis.

Danielle Schlanger and Kim Bhasin contributed to an earlier version of this story.