Was watching Rocky Balboa yesterday when a random thought came to mind. The reason that half the world adores Rocky is because he always came across as unpretentiously courageous. Rocky was a man who’d stand up against opponents who most others would shudder to face off with and then go on to beat them. It was his courage and simplicity that made him such a loved character in the movies.
Within the movies space, think of some of the real classics. Lagaan, again loved for a team of underdogs that had the courage to take on the existing system. True of Chak De India, true of Remember the Titans and even true of an otherwise useless movie like Gadar. Movies show us that people love characters that demonstrate genuine “courage”. These are the characters that are immortalized, remembered across generations…
So, when was the last time we referred to a brand as courageous?
I can’t think of a single brand that I’ve worked on in the last few years that would like “courage” to be a part of their brand world (each of us can call that different names). We like to be customer friendly, idealistic, warm, blah, blah, blah but not courageous.
Yet, every single brand desires and wishes to command respect from its customers?
Think about some of the people that we respect. The jawans/soldiers who keep the terrorists out every night, cricketers like Dhoni who’ve had the courage to push for their own will in order to drive a larger Indian dream, movie characters like Rocky and people around us who we know have had the courage to fight the system and make a difference…
The reason why the TOI Lead India ad connected with people is because a little kid had the courage to do what others couldn’t: remove a simple obstruction from the road, one that his small frame could never possibly move. Yet, he tried….showed the courage….and managed to move the tree.
So clearly, even our customers respect individuals who demonstrate courage…
Yet brands want to be respected and yet, they don’t want to demonstrate courage…Sounds funny, doesn’t it??
The only plausible reason that could exist is that most brands don’t want to “walk the talk”. Courage demands an action, and usually an action that takes on an establishment. Hence, to demonstrate courage requires
1. Conviction for a belief that you may have (Aamir Khan was convinced that the Lagaan levied on him was incorrect in Lagaan and hence would go to any extent possible to reverse it, our soldiers are convinced that the country’s security comes ahead of their lives)
2. Action – The physical act of taking on people/individuals who are in opposition to your belief/cause and come out on tops.
In today’s world, most brands want to be dynamic/ fluid and at best “mediums” that drive change. They want to be catalysts rather than initiators or leaders of change. Belief systems in brands are also fluid, we know what we will not stand for but we are not really sure what we will stand for. And even if we do know, we will do precious little to hold forth on our stand.
Brands like Idea and Tata Tea do have a conviction. In the case of “Idea”, the conviction of equality is a noble one. But will it do something to ensure that the “caste reservations” will be eradicated. Will it ensure that “female infanticide” will not exist in the world over the next 10 years? Will it make a firm statement against Raj Thackeray for trying to create a “communal divide” in Mumbai?
That’s the difference between a brand with good intent and a courageous brand. Unfortunately, there are many with intent and very, very few with courage.
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