AMUL- The Taste of India
Born: 1946, christened in 1955n 1955
History: Originally marketed by the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union, Anand, it was taken over by the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) in 1973
Status: Has a 15% market share in the Rs15,000 crore milk category, and a 37% share in the Rs900 crore organized ice-cream segment.
Starting with milk and milk powder, the Amul brand today covers a range of dairy products—from chocolates to cheese and, of course, butter
Brand story: If a brand’s value is to be judged by the ease with which it can be recalled, then Amul’s marketing campaign wins hands down.
With its clever use of topical events, Amul’s utterly butterly campaign—it has the distinction of entering the Guinness World Records as the longest running campaign—has won the brand several accolades.
Playing the role of a social observer, its weekly comments have tickled India’s funny bone since 1967, when Sylvester Da Cunha’s irrepressible Amul girl first had her say.
But what’s kept the brand going all these years? “We have changed the packag ing, our technology and our approach to mar keting based on the changing taste buds of our consumers.
However, the only thing that has helped us sail smoothly is that we have not changed our core values—give the best quality product to the consumer, and the best possible price. It holds true in any era,” says B.M. Vyas, managing director, GCMMF.
In fact, it is not just the core values at Amul that have remained the same; the core team associated with the brand is still the same. Even the advertising agency hasn’t changed, and Da Cunha and FCB Ulka, have played a pivotal role in the growth of Amul.
“This has helped us maintain consistency in our communication. Our strategy of umbrella branding has also helped establish our brand firmly in people’s minds. This, despite the fact that we do not spend more than 1% of our turnover for marketing, compared with 7-8% (spent) by most of the food and consumer product companies,” R.S. Sodhi, head of marketing, GCMMF, says.
From Utterly butterly delicious Amul to The Taste of India, Amul continues to be the toast of the country.
