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Even when we speak of a human brand, the concept of A-R-C (Autonomy, Relatedness and Competence) explains it perfectly. A brand is popular when it applies to human motivation and that's what A-R-C theory explains.

Autonomy refers to a person's need to feel that his or her activities are self-chosen. Associated with the fulfillment of this need is a person's perception that he or she is free from any pressure and is able to express him or herself as he or she wishes. Brand AB had that image of self-determination - for the first time it gave the people a sense of freedom to make own choices and to protest against being oppressed by the society, express their frustration against the corrupt society without being pressurized. Relatedness refers to a person's need to feel a sense of closeness with others - and people felt close to the sufferings of the Brand AB, the image of being neglected by the society as they themselves were suffering from the same situation. Competence is about the feelings of effectiveness and achievement in his or her activities. People loved the success and achievement of Brand AB characters while fighting against the corruption. They also wanted to do that and loved to see Brand AB doing the same on-screen.

Fall of the Brand AB

As is the case of product brands, a human brand should also re-invent with time in order to stay relevant with the changing social and political context, changing mindset of the people. When we talk of photo-copying today, we say Xerox instead of photo-copy. Similarly, Brand AB became so large that film-makers still made the films with that particular brand image of Angry Young Man, instead of re-positioning the brand. Main problem was social outlook of 80s had changed from that of gloom to brightness; it had become an era of achievement and achievers. This was due to the rise of a young Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi - it was an era of hope, life was more organized, there was an all round development in the society. The image of Brand AB as a person fighting against a corrupt society for social justice was totally out of context.

Then being a close friend of Rajiv Gandhi, he joined politics. Because of his huge popularity, he won easily from ancestral hometown of Allahabad in 1984. But in politics, he could not get the guidance of any brand managers, as in case of his film career. He left politics because of controversies; particularly after Rajiv and he were implicated in the infamous "Bofors" case along with the U.K. based Hinduja Brothers.

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* Contributed by: -
Shirshendu Ganguli,
Research Scholar,
ICFAI Institute for Management Teachers, Hyderabad.