Malala Yousafzai: how to engineer a global brand

No one knows the name Kailash Satyarthi. He was the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize along with Malala Yousafzai in 2014. 

Malala has a better story: a young teenage girl shot in the head by the Taliban because she advocated for girls’ education in Pakistan. But not by much. Satyarthi wasn’t young. But his cause was equally good: fighting to eradicate child labour in India. And he has hundreds of scars to show for it as well, because the factories and businesses that employ child labourers usually have local political support and aren’t afraid to break a few bones.

Two of Satyarthi’s colleagues have been murdered by the mafia. Satyarthi’s ribs have been broken multiple times. His life has been painful. And the Nobel Peace committee recognized both his and Malala’s efforts and hardships in 2014. But the world only remembers Malala.

How come?

Because Malala promoted her cause systematically.

When Malala was shot in October 2012, she was rushed to Britain for her treatment. In November, while she was still recovering in the hospital, her family retained a PR company: Edelman.

Malala was lucky. While in the British Hospital, Gordon Brown came to visit her. Brown was the ex prime minister of the UK who had just taken over the position of special envoy for global education at the UN! When he saw that Malala’s family was struggling with handling the interest from the media, he recommended they work with Edelman.

Edelman straight away assigned five people to work full time for Malala, all pro-bono. 

It is this initial setting up of a professional press office that laid all the ground work of making sure Malala’s cause was not forgotten after 15 minutes. Edelman promoted Malala like they would a Hollywood filmstar.

1. They cleaned up her narrative. 

They stripped away the message that Malala used to write a blog for BBC since she was 11. That her father was a local activist and ran a school. Complexities were deleted.

And they crystalized the enemy. Malala was not merely fighting for girls’ education. She was fighting against the Taliban and the terrorists who denied girls their right for education. This crafting of the villain was important. Because when your brand stands “against” a powerful dragon, the arising conflict is what wins people’s attention in the noisy world.

2. They then built scarcity.

Edelman quickly created a waiting list. They scheduled the media who showed interest on a calendar. And prioritized access strategically. The waiting list of people wanting to talk to her was 2 months long!

This relationship with the media was cared for. Edelman made sure that a particular media channel didn’t lose interest in Malala. Access to Malala was presented as a privilege. 

3. They constantly worked on Act 2.

Malala was shot once. How to keep her story going on forever? It needed constant new chapters. 

Edelman did the outreach to get Malala to give a speech at the UN. They helped create the #girlwithabook campaign where people would post their picture with a book and a note stating “I stand with Malala.” The Malala Fund was initiated. Malala worked with Christina Lamb to write her autobiography. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Many such small and big events were planned and created constantly. Malala’s team was planning the second act way before the first act had even finished.

That’s how Malala moved on from being just a short story that the world forgot. And became a global brand. Because of this well orchestrated promotion, her cause became much bigger, and she ended up helping thousands of girls get education!

Malala’s marketing was so effective that there were people back in Pakistan who hated her.

Malala was called a CIA agent.

Articles were written in Pakistan about how Malala was a CIA agent and how her gun shot was staged. 

This is the true indicator that your marketing is working: if you aren’t liked by everybody. If people call you a sell out. 

If everyone loves you, then you are not pushing the accelerator hard enough. Controversy is a byproduct of scale. Bask in it. 

Action Summary:

• You’ve got to spend more energy behind marketing than you do behind creating.

• Brand building 101: stand against a dragon. Create scarcity and exclusivity. Constantly plan your next event and stagger your exposure.