AMUL is a household name in India with absolutely no exception. We have all used one or the other dairy product from the milk revolutionaries at some point. AMUL, an Indian Dairy Cooperative Society was founded by Tribhuvandas Patel in 1946 in Anand, Gujarat, also popularly known as the milk capital of India. However, over the years, the brand strategy of AMUL and quirky marketing have become more popular than the actual products they sell (not saying their dairy products are anything but delicious)!
What makes them stand out among the top brands of India is the fact that they never let an opportunity go to waste. Their marketing with the popular ‘AMUL girl’ reflects the pulse of the nation. They have not shied away from voicing unpopular opinions either making them an unbiased entity. Let’s take a closer look at the brilliancy that is AMUL’s marketing campaigns.
The Unique Brand Strategy of Amul
They work superbly in choosing a drifting subject and make an ad about it. Through different advertisements, they have frequently raised voice against issues, which are generally not considered important in FMCG product advertising.
- In 1966, AMUL recruited Sylvester da Cunha to design an ad campaign for Amul Butter. DaCunha created a series of hoardings with different ads on it related to daily issues. The campaign became famous and earned a Guinness World Record for the longest-running advertisement crusade in the world.
- In the 1980s, a famous cartoonist, Kumar Morey, and a scriptwriter Bharat Dabholkar were hired by the company in order to design the sketch for the Amul ads. Scriptwriter Dabholkar rejected the trend of making celebrities appear in advertisement campaigns and requested the chairman of the company, Verghese Kurien, to create a peaceful and free atmosphere in order to encourage the development of creative ads.
- The Amul Girl is the public mascot for the promotion of the brand. AMUL has been keenly utilizing the cartoon figure in its longest-running advertisement crusade. The main motive of using this cartoon figure for each and every print ad is to add a pinch of humor to it. The Amul Girl is capable of commenting on touchy subjects without offending anybody, whenever something happens; people wonder “what will the Amul Girl say?”
Amul’s hilarious and intelligent ad campaigns
- AMUL has a creative approach towards every issue and due to this, the ads created by the team are instant. The ads reflect the state of mind of the nation at that moment. The country loved the way the team tackled the Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi Campaigns (addressing it as “Embracing or Embarrassing?”). The commercial was released soon after Gandhi strolled over to Modi during a heated session in Parliament and embraced him.
- Another example of Amul’s hilarious ad campaigns is the Jagmohan Dalmiya Advertisement. The advertisement released when the former chief of the Board of Control for Cricket in India was blamed for misusing funds in 2008. It utilized the expression “Dalmiya mein kuch kala hai?”, a quip on a typical Hindi proverb that implies “something is fishy”.
- AMUL came up with a really creative ad campaign on the increased onion prices. The ad posted by the organization on its official Twitter handle has the notorious mascot girl shuffling three onions and the headline ‘Kaho Na Pyaaz hai’ was thereafter the word Amul at the bottom with a tagline ‘Won’t make you cry!’ The post has been retweeted multiple times, with 1.5K likes.
Campaign with no bias
The trio of Da Cunha, Copywriter Manish Jhaveri, and Artist Jayant Rane has always encouraged the idea of creating unbiased ad campaigns in order to be witty and unique at the same time.
- They released an advertisement related to the news “Article 370 abolished”. The trio chose to take what they accepted was the center street, with the Amul boy and Girl, each holding half a slice of bread while representing Jammu and Kashmir in traditional attire. It was maybe more disruptive than they suspected, however, it exhibited the brand’s eagerness to even now push the limits inside India’s vanilla marketing landscape.” Children always point out the right things. The Amul girl is a cheerleader – she’s firm but always smiling.” Says Da Cunha.
- Sports, particularly cricket, and film and other entertainment news are regularly featured on the page in the form of print ads. For instance, AMUL riffed on Priyanka Chopra Jonas hitting worldwide features with her raincoat outfit at the 2017 Met Gala.
- They likewise honor the expired, with monochromatic tributes issued for learned personalities, for example, former president and researcher A P J Abdul Kalam, government official Sushma Swaraj and fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.
AMUL is one brand that is adhering to the old-fashioned method of brand strategy. They create short and simple content and ad campaign; which would lead to mass appeal. The connection of people with the products of the brand is accomplished through a planned brand strategy, which highlights the identity of the brand. Over the long haul for organizations to succeed in the forefront of advertising and serious time; Brand Identity is obligatory. AMUL is not only a brand new, but it has also become a perennial movement in itself that has changed the nourishing and enriching face of India by their unbiased and hilarious ad campaigns. Many new startups can take tips from the brand strategy of AMUL.