Vijay Mallya, rebranding a persona
The idea is to preserve what he wanted to be addressed as in public space, never mind the fact that he is a 'fugitive' on the run out of India accused in alleged economic offences done in India. In many ways, I stoked the fire. I put up a LinkedIn post right after the stellar IPL win by RCB. The Royal Challengers were no longer challengers, they were champions.
In my post I said a simple thing: 'As we celebrate the success of RCB @18, it is important for brands to credit those who deserve it. RCB is today an IPL sensation. A business sensation even. It took a lot. Every brand has 'nayaks' & 'khalnayaks'. The role of Mallya as the builder of RCB cannot be forgotten. We must speak the correct along with the politically-incorrect.' I ended with, 'What say?'
I have some 1,76,000-plus impressions on the post, growing by the minute. And people said a lot. I got a lot of flak. And crazily, a lot of admiration for calling a spade a spade. This got me thinking. And right then dropped the VM podcast. All this was preceded by his posts that told the world at large and his 5.6 million followers that he was still avidly tracking the IPL, ball by ball. In the podcast, VM said sorry to the Kingfisher Airlines staff whom he had left high and dry after the fiasco. He jolly well needed to. This is his big crime of omission and commission.
The VM brand does not seem to be down and out, as most believe him to be. He is alive and kicking. And kicking a lot after the RCB win. As Brand VM is in focus again, let me quickly examine what went wrong and what went right for it. What went right first.
VM did well when he decided to get his branding act right. He decided to step out of the mould of his father, the renowned Vittal Mallya. He realised that the business of spirits needed a spirited imagery that all the boring use of film stars in surrogate advertising could not handle.
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