When Brand Represents Brand

The Brand of the product is usually built by a company through its logo & its offerings for an instance the four interlaced rings represents “Audi”, the iconic golden ‘M’ represents “Mc Donald’s”, half bitten apple for “Apple” etc…

So we can say that the Brand is something which helps us to identify the company by its visual representation or unique name or design, so that its remains in the minds of customer. The company spends lot of money in creating the Brand logo’s because they know it’s the Brand which helps them to get their target customer. The smart Deepinder Goyal changed his company name from Foodiebay to Zomato as he felt the later name of foodiebay has a term ‘e-bay’ that may filter down his clients and customers, so he decided to change the name to “Zomato” which sounds foodie too.

But have you ever seen a Brand being a Person, note you may get into an argument saying “Yes, I know one Narayan Murty is a Brand name for Infosys” “Azim Pemji for Wipro” “For Tata its Ratan Tata”. But my question is.. Are they really come into a category of “Brand”?  The answer is No…they are just a founding fathers to their company or a building block for a company. You can categorize them to be a “Brand Ambassadors” but not as a Brand.

As per Wikipedia’s knowledge database it defines Brand as “A brand is a name, term, design, or other feature that distinguishes one seller's product from those of others”.

But I have actually seen a person who can be named as a Brand but not as Brand Ambassador, he carries his personality that influences the people at large specially the youth. The companies want him to promote their products. Even our Prime Minister Narendra Bhai Modi crowns him to be one among “Nava Ratna” for “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan”. He is in-fact more than a brand. He is been worshipped by his fans, never matter what image he carries, there is a probability that a stock price hits low after a time but this person is always in a bullish trend. The India Inc bets on him. So who is he..??

He is none other than “The Dabangg Man of Bollywood Salman Khan”, who rules Bollywood Box Office. Let me tell you what makes this person to be celebrated and worshipped by his fans across the world:

1. He is been helpful in launching careers of many stars like Hrithik Roshan, Himesh Reshammiya, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Sajid-Wajid.
2.  He is the founder of “Being Human”
3.  Helps the needy & stars turn up to Salman Khan for help
4.    Despite controversies, flops, disaster’s will never affect the status of Salman Khan
5.   Always speaks from Heart.

It was rightly said by Kareena Kapoor Khan to tell that “Salman is a Religion” so to be a religion means a lot, brand is a small thing which I am talking about. There are many corporate and advertising agencies who are in race to get there contract signed by him. The top companies in the market want him to promote their products.

In the year 2014, Salman Khan’s Brand Value was reported to be $51.8 M. In India the only brand created by celebrity having global scalability is Salman Khan’s Being Human. He banged the box office in the year 2009 with the movie ‘Wanted’ from that film he started the race of 100 crores in the Bollywood. According to recent data analysis Salman Khan is considered to be most trending celebrity on Social media as well as on TV, every year there is multiplying effect of his fan following list. Especially his show “10 Ka Dum” telecasted on Sony Channel gained the highest rating 4.5.

On May 6 the news media covered a report on verdict of Salman’s hit and run case, where he was found guilty (later he was granted bail- which is debatable topic). This was the moment when everyone thought his brand image would be affected. Most of the companies thought to pull off their ad on television on the verdict announced on May 6.This was the time where Salman’s one-third of endorsements faced threat. But it was Salman’s Philanthrophic activity,popularity & visibility in the industry made his presence felt so strong that his image remained undamaged & it also did not impact promoters, endorsers & Bollywood production house.He is the only star who’s personality is not been affected. Because he is Salman Khan….the one & only kind of celebrity who’s popularity is reached beyond expectations. In the past we have seen Tiger Woods brand being affected by his controversies related to his personal life. But it’s did not happen in the case of Salman Khan.

Salman is currently promoting the brands:

1. Thumbs Up
2.  Revital
3. Wheel
4. Suzuki
5.  Astral Pipes 
6. Yatra.com
7.   PNG Jeweler
8.  Relaxo Footwear
9.  Mandhana Industries (Designs & Markets “Being Human” fashion & clothing accessories)

He is the maseeha, who lends helping hand to the poor people through his Being Human Foundation, helps new comers by training them & mentoring them, promotes billion dollar company products and always remains grounded.

"It's easy to own a Brand but difficult to be one"