Branding lessons from My Name is Khan

The movie uses a combination of attitudinal concepts anchored in a cultural environment..

My Name is Khan (MNIK), the current buzz among people of all ages and social classes, has linkages with the concepts of consumer behaviour that are as important as the charismatic star cast. The movie uses a combination of attitudinal concepts anchored in a cultural environment and some topical issues.

The mood

Hindu-Muslim interaction has a long history and has become an important part of Indian culture in recent times. People in this part of the world are just about recognising that differently-abled people need to be treated with special care. Even major cities and public places lack the facilities that are required for differently-abled persons in contrast to the Western world.

The communal interaction and autism disorder associated with the main character sets the mood for the movie (mood is a non-stimulus-specific emotional state that is lower in intensity than an emotion-stimuli. It can be a product, service, movie, person or any information input to any of the sensory organs).

This mood-setting happens within minutes of the start of the movie and is akin to the ambience or layout in a retail store.

Cognitive beliefs and affective states

An attitude has three components — cognitive, affective and conative. Cognitive beliefs are concerned with the features or characteristics or benefits of a product or service. In this case, MNIK is the service and the storyline delves into several beliefs that are a part of the culture or viewers’ psyche.

For instance, autism as a disorder reflects the belief that the main character cannot think rationally all the time, or the belief that a divorced woman with a child requires both financial and emotional support. The belief that a woman settled abroad can take up a profession as a hair stylist without the social stigma generally attached to such a profession in India. The belief that there is animosity against a particular religion, based on some negative happenings, allegedly caused by a small section of people of that religion. The belief that there is always hope for the husband and wife to unite against the odds or the Oriental belief that fate wreaks havoc on a family that is happy. The belief that there is a need to go to the rescue of people affected by natural disaster or the belief that Indians achieve recognition in the US (this has been innovatively used by the writer by bringing in autism to achieve this recognition). The belief that a movie filmed abroad will bring in a refreshing change or the belief that people belonging to a particular religion are not treated well at the port of entry in the US (this happened to the hero of the movie in real life) – all these beliefs have been effectively converted into affective or emotional states.

In several product categories, branding depends on the extent to which a brand can use emotional or symbolic meanings or associations. A brand such as Volvo, known for its safety (cognitive), showed an advertisement commercial that had several people talking about how they were saved from accidents by the brand (emotional). In a similar manner, MNIK converts several beliefs cited into emotional states through its sequences and picturisation. This is in tune with the mood set by the initial frames.

Every belief cited is converted into emotions and the range of emotions portrayed are in line with the Plutchik theory of emotions. They use both positive and negative emotions to convert the beliefs into emotions.

Gerald Zaltman, a pioneering qualitative researcher of consumer behaviour, observed that rarely do marketers use negative emotions and that even when they use positive emotions, they do not explore several ways of using these positive emotions. MNIK uses a range of executions to reflect positive and negative emotions. For instance, joy and happiness are captured in several aspects. The hero’s first meeting with the heroine in a beauty parlour (a mild pleasant arousal), his persistent pestering to “marry me” (a surprise-filled delight) and the wedding (ecstasy) reflect the range associated.

Indian culture is about showcasing both positive and negative emotions. This is portrayed in the opening of a new salon started by the couple (happiness) and also the grief expressed in scenes of the movie. The heroine’s outburst of grief with a powerful scream (sorrow) and the verbal attack (hatred) on the hero after losing her son are examples. The bewilderment of the hero in not catching up with the gravity of the situation due to his disorder after the violent death of his son (horror), the help rendered by the hero to the marooned people (compassion) and in the process recalling his son (nostalgia) create states of high emotion.

There is also a ritualistic element associated with religions in the prayer scenes. The emotional or the affective state associated with any product or service is important as it is the “overall evaluation” of the offering in the consumer’s mind (viewer in this case).

While there may be several movies that carry emotions, the systematic conversion of cognitive beliefs associated with the specific culture into affective states and the type, frequency and range of emotions used at periodic intervals makes this offering stand out from the viewpoint of attitude creation.

‘Intention to act’

The cognitive and affective aspects have an impact on the conative aspect of attitudes. It is the intention to act. In this case it is associated with the word of mouth associated with MNIK.

The digital buzz associated with the movie on the date on which this article was written amounted to around seven million results produced through a search engine, some of them may have been created after the movie was launched. The cumulative charisma of the star cast (who have been around for quite some time) adds to the emotional state, enhancing the likeability factor associated with the movie.

MNIK demonstrates the need for conceptual thinking in an era characterised by the digital world.

(The author, S. Ramesh Kumar, is Professor of Marketing, IIM, Bangalore)