Dalda & Amitabh- Culture, Context, and Category

Dr. Kanwal Kapil

Dalda & Amitabh- Culture, Context and Category

Kanwal Kapil gasped as the Dalda Active commercial filled the television screen before him. So, it is back.
Now that is interesting, he said. Soumendu Biswas, his friend, stopped stirring his tea and watched the
return of the evergreen Dalda. What a brand. What legacy, what equity, said Kapil. Wonder what this will
lead to. It will lead to Kaun Banega Crorepati if only you will tune in to Star Plus, said Soumendu. Kapil
obeyed and as the voice of Amitabh Bachan (AB) filled the room, he heard Soumendu say. What a brand.
What equity. Kapil sniggered. I wish he will have the wisdom to drop out of his programme soon, he said.
Why? Asked Soumendu. Because it will dilute his equity fast. He was good as a launch pad, but he is not
adding value any more. If you replace AB with say, Mohan Kapoor, do you think the viewership will drop?
No! People are watching the crores, not AB. What is he doing on this programme.

He is there to lend status, grandeur, to symbolize big events, said Soumendu. It‘s amazing what hold he has
even on a programme like this. Soumendu, if a sandwich spread were to be named Dalda, people would buy
it. Once. Maybe twice. But it won‘t ring true. I don‘t have the marketing vocabulary to express this but
Dalda does not stand for what a sandwich spread delivers. Dalda is about an experience and a feeling,
about everyday situations. Just because it has marketable strengths, attributes that are marketable. It does
not mean you simply pick it up and place it in any category. The brand will weaken just as the brand Amitabh
Bachan will weaken if it continues to attach itself to a category which does not enhance or use its core
values. Soumendu mused. That was what led to the decline of brand AB, ―he said. Brand AB was a
favrourite with Soumendu and he quoted from it during brand presentations. Watching the brand all these
years had even led to a certain closeness, an empathy with its evolution. The first time he saw a decline in
the AB brand was in the late 80s when Bachan was no more true to the essence of the category AB type
films. The AB type film was beginning to lose contextuality. It was also the time when he became the
superman-superstar all purpose dream of the masses as a personality. In marketing terms he saidtoKapil,
―the brand AB had become very powerful while the category AB type films had lost power.

This is interesting, said Kapil. Dalda, too, had become synonymous with the vanaspati category. But its
brand managers have always sought to rejuvenate and manage the Dalda brand in the face of a changing
category. Whereas, said Soumendu, ―the brand AB had no brand manager. There were brand builders in
Salim and Javed, but they were not responsible for managing the brand. They were cashing in on the
category AB type films and when it peaked – it also coincided with their split – the category died. That was
when the brand AB needed a brand manager to save it from being buried with the category‖.

Dr. Kanwal Kapil: Associate Professor of MDI, Gurgaon prepared this case. The cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussion.
Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management. Copyright ©
Author. No part of this publication may be reproduced, store d in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any
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 Dalda & Amitabh- Culture, Context, and Category

Why you say the category died, asked Kapil. What was unique about the AB type films? It‘s like this, said
Soumendu. There is nothing that distinguished AB films from other films at the first level. Revenge,
violence, anger – these were present in most films. AB type films were centered on an idea – of a person
who was marginalized by society, fighting to be legitimately accepted into mainstream society. It‘s not just an
angry young man, but a man who is hurt. And the motivation is always more complex than revenge. Take
the example of Deewar. He has been humiliated. In Trishul, it‘s abandonment. The stronger AB films had
focused more on humiliation and the resultant pain. They all deal with neglect, abandonment, pain and
psychological damage.

And how was such a category contextual? Asked Kapil. Get into the social concern of the 70s, said
Soumendu. It was a period when the father skimmed off the son‘s youth. Barely out of the freedom struggle,
he hitched his dreams of growth and prosperity on his son. Seeking immortality through the son, he tended
to live his dreams through his son‘s life. Such a father, we find, has a very minor role in all AB films, but it is
a common theme in them – he either abandons his son or neglects him. This was the context in which the
AB type films found mass appeal as a category.

Then again, even at a political level, there was a deep sense of loss of cherished authority figures. The 70s
was the era of corruption, of getting nowhere. Till the 60s, there was hope; you actually believe in Nehru,
Bose and Gandhi because they stood for certain cherished values and principles.

That era was eroded in the 70s suddenly that abandonment was not just by the biological father, but also the
abandonment by the authority figure in society at large, where values and authority were the male aspect of
life. Suddenly, you were on shifting sands and Amitabh spoke to everyone who belonged to that era, who
identified with that sense of loss of parenting and authority. Where he says, ―the people who abandon me
are these corrupt men‖, be it the law, the landlord, the grain-hoarding merchant or the construction site
employees. It were these people he has fighting and he was asking for his place back in society as the
person who had a greater right to be there because he was value-driven – so what if he was illegitimate.

He is the Karna who is irrevocably born on the wrong side of society, said Soumendu. He makes an effort is
to come back. In a society which is so much about continuity and a correct past. How does he overcome his
rootless birth and nameless origins? In Trishul, the supreme irony was so very Karna-like, born right but
condemned to live as a discard. Or Shakti where he is so devoted to the man who gives him shelter, that he
is willing to sin for him.

―Then how did the category AB type films lose context‖? Asked Kapil. In the case of Dalda, vanaspati lost
relevance because health became the new context.

The 70s was the right time for the AB type films, not the 60s, not the 80s, replied Soumendu. Today, those
experience or sufferings are not relevant. Today, you can be illegitimate, your father can abandon you, it is
okay. These can be anomalies, they cannot hook you; but in the 70s it was not a story, it was the revelation
of the times. The whole idea of legitimacy is itself an orientation to the past. Legitimacy in the 70s was
important because the past was important since the issue was not much to look forward to. So, what you
held humble was the honour of the past. The idea of preserving, maintaining the past was seen in words like
Baapdadaon ki kamai, Khandaan ki izzat. These were born out of a fear of destroying what you had and
never a belief that you could build something new, because the 70s did not assure a future, an ability to
create a new, build afresh.

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 Dalda & Amitabh- Culture, Context, and Category

It was a hopeless era. That‘s why there was a fear that nothing should crumble, at best, you should be able
to retain what you had. But today, the past is of no consequence. It is what you can build for the future that
is relevant, be it a political manifesto, an organization vision or a career plan. Hence, the obsession of the
70s with the legitimacy of the past. Therefore, the 70s AB type films will not have appeal today. Today‘s
values are different. The idea of marginalization will always be relevant but the elements will change with
times. Therefore, the ingredients of anger, violence, etc. continue but they will be born out of different issue
of marginalization.

Take a look at what are modern day issues. For Dalda, taste will have to go with health. In movies
Khandaan ki izzat is a soft issue. It doesn‘t hold such high appeal any more. Likewise, death is a soft
consequence. The modern day outlook is that life goes on. You see it in film like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and in
Kaho Na Pyar Hai. They tell you that if your loved one dies, don‘t worry, you will find another – one who is
probably richer and has a better haircut. Nothing is devastating anymore – life goes on. Two wives are fine,
breaking marriages are not shocking anymore and relationships gone sour are not devastating.

Then why did AB, the brand, fail? Asked Kapil. I can understand a temporary setback like in the case of
Dalda. The brand-superstar status still has high recall though. So, have his abilities diminished? Not at all,
said Soumendu. The attributes of the brand continue to be the same and stellar, but the movies that this
brand sold, be it Deewar or Muqaddar, had a certain context in the consumer need, and hence demand. The
consumer thought these films were about AB, whereas it was not so. Nobody intended that AB become
synonymous with the category. The brand AB was born out of this category and AB became larger than the
category AB type films. Because AB overpowered the category. But look at what happened next, went on
Soumendu. The category had lost value; the brand AB had become overpowering the industry was sitting on
a goldmine, brand AB, and it did not know how to nourish its attributes and values. Overwhelmed by the
brand, it began making films for AB.

Instead of the performer being a part of the film, the film became a vehicle for the performer. The personality
of AB became larger and was now competing with brand AB. So, films were produced with brand AB in
them. Those films were at complete dissonance with the brand AB. Because for the brand to sell, what was
decided was the composition of the AB type films. The brand was in harmony only with AB type films, not
with the new category, it was being thrust into, in marketing parlance, Dalda the super-strong brand name of
the 50s, 60s and 70s come to stand for vanaspati and is a more evolved state, edible oils. But brand Dalda
cannot sell sandwich spread in its current form.

Now, in the 80s, the brand declined with the birth of films like Mard, Coolie – film makers misread the man,
felt Soumendu. They saw AB films as the man. Now understand how the market behaved, he said – or how
marketers behaved. The brand had been created. It was now a matter of doing another line extension for
the brand. Since there was no brand manager, the brand AB was available for anyone who would take on
the franchise. So, these film producers became self-appointed franchisees. They were supposed to
understand the brand. But they misread the brand and marketed it as something else. They were so
enamoured by the ingredients in the brand that they mislook the ingredients for the brand and constructed
things around it like the Mirinda brand. Or they started describing it by component rather than by its core
values. So they constructed AB type films, element by element – one Deewar type scene, one Sholay type
scene. And what they ended up portraying was Amitabh Bachan, who was so aware of being AB looks at
Mard, Coolie, Shahenshan, Toofan and Jadugar – all these films did not connect. They had the elements but
no emotional quality.

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 Dalda & Amitabh- Culture, Context, and Category

The mard link of movies could not present a credible background to his angry young man portrayal because
the context had gone. The psychological hooking was not there. They were mere stories. No core. Then
you depended on the personality, the great actor AB. Now, look at Dalda. Its birth and genesis in the 60s
had a subtle emotional hooking quality in an era when vanaspati was a big breakthrough. In the context of
the 60s, it was seen as the credible, dependable cooking medium to the extent that it brooked no competition
and became synonymous with the category.

In the late 70s and early 80s with the entry of other edible oils, Dalda vanaspati evolved into Dalda cooking
oil which brought with it the hooking of the erstwhile vanaspati. Then when the sunflower oils came in on a
health platform. Dalda lost context. If the manufacturer had tried to name his sunflower oil Dalda it would
have been like fitting AB into a Mard, Coolie, etc. You can‘t fit a brand into a story or build a new story
around an old brand that had already told a story.

So, to understand the brand AB, you have to understand the evolution of films and where the brand can fit in
with some evolution. The personality of Vijay, the raving crusader avenging his abandonment will not find a
following in today‘s market as the theme will not sell. It is too weak. Abandonment is not devastating. It can
at best be an ingredient but not the gravy – which today is survival with complete disregard of the past.

But how does Vijay the mythical concept of strength in the 70s evolved? Asked Kapil. It has evolved into
Rahul. In the 90s, the mythical concept is Rahul who want to blend tradition with modernity. He is relaxed
and fun-loving. Every film and commercial has a Rahul. He stands for someone wild, naughty and very
comfortable. He was restless. You might transact with him but you did not want to get too close to him – he
was dangerous and intense. But Rahul is cool. That is why children love Shahrukh Khan but children did not
love Vijay or AB.

Kapil could see the similarities. After close to 25 years of unquestioned leadership, Dalda disappeared when
Cholesterol became an issue. Taste as an attribute had been satisfied but a new need called health
presented itself. Then came sunflower oil. Also, he felt, Dalda belonged to an era when the understanding
of brands was still evolving and nobody probably realized that brands could outgrow categories.

In trying to replace ghee in a family‘s palate, Dalda probabl;y said that you could show love for you family in
less expensive way – through vanaspati. It had a context: it did well. Then the context changed and the idea
was rewritten by the industry, which said, caring for your family means spending that extra rupee and getting
the safer cooking medium.

Kapil now felt that the revival of brand AB lay in its genetic code. Every brand, he felt, has a genetic formula.
He had seen that the brand AB had been built by the cumulative memory of his various movies, his
exploration of the roles and the context in which these movies took birth. It was when the market sought to
juxtapose elements that the coherence was lost. And yet, it was the enduring memory that lent AB a
different meaning to different generations of viewers.

He had noticed, for instance, among brands like Lux, Dalda and Colgate that consumer preference endured.
At 50, these consumers continued to reverse these brands which they had bonded with in their youth. Ditto
brand AB. Why else would contestants pitching for crores address him ―Sir‖ he asked himself. It was the
reference accorded to a successful brand. Naturally, the consumer set was willing to forgive mishaps like
Mard and Coolie, regarding these as unrepresentative. For instance, the Pond‘s brand was not harmed even
when it extended into and failed in soaps. It was Pond‘s Dreamflower Talc that had left and incredible
impression and enduring image.
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 Dalda & Amitabh- Culture, Context, and Category

Kapil was sure that brand AB failed because the self-appointed franchisees of this brand simply tried to
repeat the past in the present that was vastly different. There was such an inexplicable reverence to the AB
type films of the 70s and the 80s that they sought to recreate that context. Unwilling or unable to let brand
AB evolve and grow into the changed context. And that was exactly what Dalda would not allow to happen,
he knew. Dalda would modernize, based on altered consumer needs of health. He now said: Dalda must
adapt to the context through its deliverables and its communication. It must not allow its past to determine its
path today and in the future.

―Ditto AB‖ said Soumendu. This brand continues to be narrowly defined, defined by the splendour and
context of the AB type films. By reinforcing its outdated character, they rendered the brand even more
incapable of extension.

The trick, mused Kapil lay in dissociating brand AB from the category AB type films. No doubt, the brand AB
would serve as a memory of the AB type films, but what was being overlooked was that brand AB had its
own identity, meaning and inner energy which was quite distinct from the category it modeled for. Yet that
was its stumbling block – its larger than life associated with an era, which produced an even larger category,
the AB type films. So, was the AB type film a category produced by the brand or the era of th 70s, he mused.
He realized that both (the brand and the category) were mutually exclusive and the exclusivity could have
been maintained had there been a brand manager. For, in a marketing sense, the AB type film was only a
surface characteristic of the brand AB, whereas AB, the brand, was, in fact, an artist who could create,
innovate and change for a wide variety of emotions, feelings and contexts.

Brands like Sanjeev Kumar had done it. If brand AB got stuck, it was because of this preoccupation with the
elements of the category AB type films. This unwillingly made AB a prototype brand, thought Kapil as he now
switched off the television. The power of a prototype brand is itself self-restricting in that it can, at best,
extend into more superior categories, but never into categories where other prototypes exist. In a way the
Mard, Coolie category had prototypes like Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor, therefore, an AB could not leave a
mark (which is what prototype brands seek to do change the category or dominate it. By extending into such
categories, the AB brand itself declined. Thus, a Cadbury failed when it tried to extend into biscuits also
because it was a category already dominated by Britannia.

Time and again, the decline pointed to an extended and intense association with the category AB type films.
The category itself dished out a single product – angry young man on the rampage – with moderate tweaks
to its ingredients.

Or had the brand aged, wondered Kapil. In a way, it could be said that the brand aged because it was not
saying new things or doing new things for the consumer who was evolving. In short, the brand did not
appear to belong to the changed era. The new era sought expression on the newer changed values. The
90s individual was no more craving for attention or acceptance. In the 90s everyone was bussy with
redefining the status of women, the role of the man as a father and a husband, extolling the complete man
who wanted to survive through self-evolution. The icons of the modern day individual were cola, IT, fitness
and the complete man who wanted to ‗kuch paana hai, kuch kar dikhana hai‘. Not one who battled a ghost
from the past like ‗mera baap chor hai‘ or ‗mera baap kaun hai‘.

Kapil had a distinct feeling that the brand AB born in the tumultuous era of the 70s, in fact, had the makings
of the millennium hero – tough, cool, resilient and determined. Will this brand be allowed to survive, he
wondered. Yes, he felt it adopts merely resting on past………………….