Brands that chose not to blink in 2017

A few prominent brands broke with convention this year, by talking back to belligerent mobs online and irate consumers writes Sandeep Goyal

As the year draws to a close, we look at the big and significant developments in branding, advertising, media and marketing and how these could impact  2018. We start the series with brands that refused to buckle down, even in the midst of mass outrage.

2017 brought us face-to-face with a new type of brand: brazen, and with bullish braggadocio. Unapologetic. Unfazed. Be it Indigo Airlines, Zomato, Uber/Ola … even Republic TV, in the year gone by we witnessed a significant change in the behaviour of some brands and their owners, who resolutely chose to stay firm in the face of controversy and did not blink despite adverse mass-media coverage and social media backlash. 

Indigo Airlines had possibly the worst year ever as far as controversy was concerned. Indigo has always been a no-nonsense brand, in fact most times frosty and aloof, in most of its public interfaces. So, when celebrated badminton player P V Sindhu lashed out about her poor experience on a Mumbai-Hyderabad flight, Indigo did not bat an eyelid. It just played straight bat and refuted Sindhu’s claims, stating that she had boarded the flight carrying an oversized luggage that did not fit the overhead bin. Accordingly, she was informed that it would be moved to the cargo hold of the aircraft (as per policy followed for all customers). Indigo also rejected claims of misbehaviour by the member of ground operations team. The firm denial by Indigo of any misdemeanor killed any further controversy. 

But it was soon in the vortex of controversy again. An ordinary traveller took to Twitter to complain about how Indigo Airlines seated his 4-year old child away from him in a flight and how the staff were heartless. Indigo again did not bat an eyelid. The airline tweeted right back saying that he should have pre-booked his seat. No apology. No further explanation. End of controversy. 

Indigo, however did take it on the chin when its ground staff supposedly assaulted and dragged 53-years old passenger Rajiv Katiyal, and the video went viral, earning Indigo unholy sobriquets like ‘Indigoon’! For once, Indigo did not get away with its usual brusque rebuttals. In fact the sacking of the whistleblower created an even bigger controversy forcing Indigo to finally apologise. 

Zomato’s Hindi language expletives laden ads, complete with MC-BC, triggered an avalanche of outrage in social media. The quirky outdoor advertising of the online restaurant guide and food ordering app, was surely cheap and sexist. First, Zomato behaved as if nothing had happened, and the ads were in good humour. But soon enough realisation hit home that brand credibility was at stake. The ads were quickly pulled down. The company also launched a discount coupon code, ‘Outrage’, offering a 10 per cent discount as ‘an acknowledgement that it had learnt a lesson.’

Bhavish Aggarwal of Ola ignited controversy with his comments at a conference in Hyderabad in March earlier this year, ‘Didi (China’s Didi Chuxing) versus Uber was like World War II, but in India (Ola versus Uber) would be like the Vietnam War. We will be like the local guerrillas and move to the nooks and corners of our country’. The comment raised a major hungama in social media as his analogies were seen to be in poor taste. Bhavish remained unfazed. 

Despite all the din, noise and controversy, and despite its launch having been pushed to next year, the makers of Padmavati have remained unapologetic maintaining at all times that there is nothing wrong with the content of the movie. Which, given the intensity of the protests and politicalisation, is commendable. Kangana Ranaut also stood her ground with her comment on nepotism in Bollywood. Ranaut is as is seen to be ‘different’ and this inflexible steadfastness on what she had said actually won her an enlarged fan following. 

Amitabh Bachchan is said to have once famously advised Shahrukh Khan, “No matter what, apologise.” In a similar vein, much like celebrity brands, large corporate brands too suffer from the Goliath disadvantage: of being always up against sinless David. Is there a future for the unapologetic, unfazed brand in the times we live in? The events in 2017 seem to indicate so.

Indigo may have finally succumbed on the Rajiv Katiyal issue but its handling of P V Sindhu and the passenger with the four-year-old child was brazen and bold. Actually, more bold. We are so accustomed to brands blinking that it surprises us when brands actually take a stand and are not afraid of bad press and negative social media. The attitude and behaviour of brand owners is changing. Slowly, but changing surely. Reputations, they understand, are neither lost in the blink of an eye and nor can you always get by with a blind and bland apology.

HIT BY OUTRAGE

• Indigo was hit by several passenger complaints this year, but did not apologise until the huge backlash against the way a passenger was manhandled forced a softening of its stand
 

• Zomato refused to cower down when faced with social media ire over its ads; and when it had to pull them down, used humour to hit back at critics

Sandeep Goyal  is former chairman of Dentsu India

Next: How nostalgia influenced brand communication and positioning in 2017 by Kunal Sinha