An iconic dialogue of Big B goes, “Hum jahan khade ho jaate hain, line wahi se shuru hoti hai”.
First-mover Brand
And Amitabh Bachchan has proven this dialogue right multiple times over the years – Be it by emerging in an angry young-man image at a time when Bollywood heroes in romantic roles were winning the love of fans, to now being the first Bollywood superstar to launch his own NFT (non-fungible token). I am sure many of you must be wondering what is an NFT? When I came across this term for the first time recently, I Googled it (as many of you must be doing now 😊) and then tried reading on it a little to guage some idea, though I still cannot claim to have gained much knowledge on this.
And here is 79-year-old, Amitabh Bachchan, who understood the new space and has started to capitalise on his persona & celebrity status through assets that are digitally present in tokenized form, characterised by limited ownership, thus eliminating the possibility of duplication.
He has been the ‘Shahenshah’ through all the times, be it in the age of limited media to the current age of ever expansive media and ever intrusive social media. He has done it all and ruled it all. He has managed to defy the stereotypes linked to old age with such ease. Bachchan has managed to influence all generations with his cool dialogues, cooler fashion and coolest ‘buddha hoga tera baap’ image, because this man doesn’t seem to get old.
Big B has always been the initiator, one to begin the ride on every trend that others then follow. Latest one, with launching of his own NFT, he has come a long way!
Revive to survive
This man’s life has been a mix of big successes and big failures. But after every failure, he revived, invigorating himself and that's what makes him a brand, one who is loved and trusted by all.
We all live in a Branded world. Every product, be it ‘roti kapda aur makaan’ and water too, is walking the branding path.
Then why should we stay as commodities? We all need to build our Personal Brand. There are so many examples around us to learn and draw inspiration from. Amitabh Bachchan could do it, because he refused to limit himself within the confines of a commodity like existence. He is the towering Personality Brand today because he did not walk a defined path, but had the valour to take a plunge into unchartered territory. He changed the rules of the game in the most relevant way and thus reached the zenith of success.
Move ahead with Vision and Vigour
Like any other Power Brand, be it Coke, Google or Facebook, brand Amitabh also had a normal start to its journey in Bollywood with the movie ‘Saat Hindustani’. And the way today Coke has become synonymous to happiness, Google is used as a ‘verb’, Facebook has become an ‘alternate world’ where billions have their presence, so has Amitabh Bachchan evolved and is now recognised as ‘Is Sadi ka Maha Nayak’. Be it an organization or a person, the brand building doesn’t happen in a single day. It’s the years of effort, with fair number of successes, failures, setbacks, combined with larger comebacks, following a consistent process, that makes up a Power Brand.
What is common among all these strong brands is them being visionaries, knowing the path to follow and the destination to reach, right from the beginning of the brand journey.
Within the entertainment space, Amitabh Bachchan made a mark on the minds and hearts of his target audience by his blockbuster performances over the years. Knowing fully well the typecasting trend in entertainment industry, he exhibited great vigour by being continuously on the move and exploring different roles & spaces.
Bachchan went beyond the angry young man image and could effortlessly tickle his fans with some of his memorable comic roles as seen in movies like Chupke-Chupke, Satte pe Satta, Amar Akbar Anthony and also in more recent ones like Piku, 102 Not out.
Strong, Unique, Favourable Point of Differentiation
His impressive personality comes across and connects through his voice, which is a strong & unique element of brand Amitabh’s identity. Knowing oneself in and out and capitalising on one’s unique attributes is a critical step towards building personal brand. Amitabh Bachchan went ahead and lent his voice to many songs, which became big hits – Neela Aasmaan and Rang Barse from Silsila, Main Yahan Tu Wahan and Holi Khele Raghuveera from Baghban, and who can forget Mere Angne Mein from Laawaris and Mere Paas Aao from Mr Natwarlal. More recent ones include Chalo Jane Do from Bhoothnath, Atrangi Yaari from Wazir and Badumbaaa from film 102 Not Out. Big B the Bollywood legend, along with his charismatic personality and acting skills, has always managed to evoke the right emotion with his intense & deep baritone voice that is highly recognisable.
Amitabh’s voice, when lent to any piece, creates the magic. In the very recent release, Chehre, Bachchan recites a powerful poem in the movie’s majestic title track, and it has turned into a masterpiece. Amitabh Bachchan even became India’s first celebrity voice to be featured on Alexa, where users can choose whom they wish to listen to, The Big B or Alexa. The feature is available on Amazon Echo devices, of course on chargeable basis.
Depth of his voice, fluency in language, his diction, voice modulation are a perfect package, which makes Big B’s skills with the spoken word as legendary as himself. On so many different platforms, Bachchan has recited his father Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s poetry and mesmerized the audience each time. In the current zeitgeist around blockchain & NFTs, Bachchan has extended further and created Madhushala NFT which is the poem collection of the actor’s father recorded in the superstar’s own voice. Recent news of this NFT collection having received the highest-ever bidding in India at $756,000 when the auction ended on 4th Nov. 2021, was nothing short of amazement. This kind of stupendous success took India’s entertainment and social media industry by storm with many Bollywood and regional stars now all set to sell their digital collectibles.
Immense growth could be seen in the brand value of Amitabh Bachchan, linked to his voice, which is the most likeable brand element.
Being socially responsible
A legend on the big screen, phenomenal host on the TV screen, brand endorser of multitude brands and face of various campaigns by the Government of India, the brand has been on a continuous roll. In 2002, Amitabh Bachchan was associated with the pulse polio campaign, when India was undergoing a massive outbreak of Polio. Big B as the brand ambassador for the pulse polio campaign with the tagline of “do boond zindagi ke” did wonders in liberating country from this menace. He also became the UNICEF’s Goodwill ambassador in 2005, standing up against sexual violence and AIDS. In 2017, he was appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador for awareness of Hepatitis by the World Health Organization for South East Asia. Having survived the battle himself, he understands the pain and can help raise awareness towards hepatitis. The voice of Mr. Amitabh Bachchan is heard and trusted by all irrespective of the cultural, social and economic background. He got associated with various social campaigns like NDTV’s ‘Banega Swachch India’ campaign sponsored by Dettol, which successfully brought in big donations towards the cause. Amitabh Bachchan as an ambassador has also always showed his responsibility towards the different causes he gets associated with, which makes the brand credible.
Expanding circle of influence & media presence
Big B’s presence on multiple grounds, enables his appeal to spread across all different generations. With ease he wore the garb of a tech-savvy, innovative, media smart stalwart creating a dent on the minds and hearts of the Indian youth. Today, we see this 79-year-old actor vivaciously active on social media, be it Twitter, Insta and the like, playing the role of an excellent media manager of his own personal brand. AB has kept his relevance live by connecting to all things current, which denote trend and through which he is able to reach to a wider audience.
Connection to Values in action & behaviour brings credibility
Which other Bollywood actor of Amitabh’s generation, do we see with this kind of a brand graph? Hardly any. But this graph also had its downturns, when his films stopped working, his ambitious business venture, ABCL, failed drastically in the 1990s, which landed him under an enormous debt. His deep-rooted values, human-humble approach to life, his persistence & resilience enabled his comeback, which was nailed hard this time and we see him going strong & tall still. TV game show, Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), brought him back to the screen but to a smaller one, which was interpreted as a big mistake by many. Super success of KBC and continuously rising graph of Amitabh since then, clearly shows that the screen size did not dwarf his personality but KBC & Big B's association changed the fortune of the small screen in a big way.
A first-of-its-kind study, called TIARA Research Report conducted in Oct. 2020, on Celebrities as Human Brands by the Indian Institute of Human Brands (IIHB), rated Amitabh Bachchan as the most trusted, prestigious and respected celebrity brand endorser in the country. This comprehensive report rates celebrities on trust, identification, attractiveness, respect and appeal (TIARA). It was based on responses of more than 60,000 participants from across 23 cities in the country.
How is this 79-year-old veteran actor able to manage such a good fit with so many brands? Sandeep Goyal, chief mentor at IIHB said, “Bachchan is evergreen. He has scored better than actors and sportspersons who are even 50 years younger to him.”
Immense trust & respect that he has garnered is owing to his long years of contribution in the field of cinema and society. Extremely important has been the role of family values and image that makes brand Amitabh wholesome. Roots of this brand belong to the highly respected literary family of Harivansh Rai Bachchan, his father, who was an Indian poet and writer of the Nayi Kavita literary movement of early 20th century. And Amitabh Bachchan has so rightfully kept those values intact & his actions & behaviour uprightly connected to those values.
There were recent news reports around Amitabh Bachchan (which I have analysed in the News Analysis section) cancelling his endorsement contract with the tobacco brand Kamla Pasand and returning the money received for the promotion. He also made clear that he signed the deal, not aware that it falls under surrogate advertising. This single move talks big about the values brand Amitabh Bachchan stands on and further enhanced the trust people have in him.
Value-driven approach makes the brand meaningful & effective. Being visible on multiple media platforms keeps the brand impactful. Brand journey backed by right performance and recognitions make the brand believable.
And we see it all in the way Personal brand Amitabh Bachchan has been built inch-by-inch to bigger leaps & bounds. A strategic path & direction is clearly visible in the journey of this brand.
Make brand Believable to become resonant over a period of time
Right & strong performances created cult films like Zanjeer, Deewaar and Sholay. He has appeared in close to 200 films in a career spanning almost five decades. For his contributions to the arts, he received some of the most prestigious accolades from the Government of India, the Padma Shri in 1984, the Padma Bhushan in 2001 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2015. His success in his skill is displayed through four National Film Awards as Best Actor and a Dadasaheb Phalke Award for lifetime achievement Within country and beyond, immense love of fans that he has earned and being widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of Indian cinema, goes far above & beyond all awards and accolades.
A true brand who injects positivity, exhibits energy, ignites faith and evokes hope.
A serious thought and effort from your end can make you succeed as well in building your Personal Brand.
To put across the steps & process in brief:
Spend time in Knowing Yourself
Identify a unique quality/talent within You
Carve out a point of differentiation within Your identified talent
Exploit all different but relevant media to spread message about you and your creation
Build up a story around you. Make people talk to you and about you
Continuously improvise, evolve, expand in an endeavour to hit the moving targets
My voyage into the sea of Personal Branding began long back. An accidental journey it was.
Very recently, I started fuelling it with right intent & conscious effort.
Radars to direct me, Anchors to help me sustain, Beaming light posts to motivate me are all in place.
Miles to go……
Research contribution to the article by:
Ms Itika Samar
Student - MBA Tech, NMIMS, Mumbai
Sources:
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