8 Amul

Global Shared Feature: Deciding on Media and Measuring Effectiveness Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) has successfully implemented its Amul butter campaign primarily through the use of billboards at strategic locations on a pan-India level. The campaign uses a Amul butter mascot, popularly known as the Amul girl, which has won the hearts of Indian consumers by playing the role of a social observer and commenting on current events using humor. This has succeeded in enhancing the brand image of Amul leading to a virtual monopoly for the GCMMF in the butter category. The success of the campaign is reflected in the GCMMF’s plan to nominate it to the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest running campaign in India.

Feature Copy The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), India’s largest food products marketing organization, has successfully implemented its Amul butter campaign primarily through the use of billboards at strategic places. The campaign, which started in 1967, introducing Amul butter’s brand ambassador—a round-eyed, chubby-cheeked girl in a polka-dotted frock, had been India’s longest running campaign. The Amul butter campaign forms part of the collective memory of a large number of Indians, many of whom grew up watching the Amul butter topicals. When the campaign was launched in 1967, Amul wanted to break the dull, boring image built by normal corporate advertisement and establish a livelier image. Moreover, Amul wanted a mascot which would win hearts of housewives and could rival ‘The Butter Girl’, the mascot of the main competitor Polson. The challenge was to bring excitement to the image of Amul butter by involving humor but without offending the Indian mass and housewives who had taken food seriously and would not like to fool around with it. The campaign was managed by Sylvester daCunha, who in collaboration with artist Eustace Fernandes, created the Amul butter mascot, now popularly called Amul girl. They also wrote the tag-line “Utterly Butterly Delicious Amul”. The campaign introduced the strategy of wooing the consumer by applying humor in advertisements for the first time in India. Since the campaign planned to use a number of billboards in the city of Bombay (now Mumbai), the sketches were kept simple so that painters could paint the billboards quickly. The first billboards, put up in 1967, not only charmed everyone’s hearts but also enabled Amul butter to establish itself in the city of Bombay. As the campaign became successful, Amul continued the campaign with the objective of ruling the hearts of consumers by reminding them of its presence in their daily life. While the initial ads made statements of some kind or the other, the campaign slowly acquired a topical tenor. The campaign utilized billboards at strategic locations on a pan-India level and emerged as a communication tool that commented on current events related to politics, television, films, celebrities, cricket, economy, environment, festivals, foreign affairs, great Indians, Internet, kids, lifestyles, music, sports, strikes, and the urban life. The message strategy tried to evoke humor in the target audience by use of Hinglish, a mixture of Hindi and English. The message, with the Amul butter girl playing the role of a social observer, succeeded in connecting with the target consumer, thus enhancing the brand image. The success is also reflected in the sales as the sales of Amul butter has jumped from less than INR 1 million in 1967 to over INR 5 billion in 2007. Over the last forty years, the basic structure of the campaign has remained the same with the Amul girl holding out her favorite packet of butter, accompanying a sketch of the topic for which comments were made along with the catch-line “Utterly Butterly Delicious”. The consistency has been attributed to GCMMF’s policy of continuing with the same agency for the execution of campaign. Another hallmark of the Amul butter topical campaign had been the speed with which the advertisements were put up on the billboards overnight. daCunha Communications, who have been handling the campaign for nearly forty years, credit the speed of execution to the free hand given by GCMMF to the ad agency for the content and the artwork of the ads. In fact even the top management of GCMMF comes to know about the contents of the ads only when the advertisements go on the billboards. For each of the products, GCMMF has a policy of spending up to one percent of the previous year’s turnover for the next year’s advertising. However, the high levels of brand awareness, large-market share, and the low cost of billboard strategy ensure that GCMMF does not have to spend more than one percent of Amul butter turnover on advertising. Despite the entry of many new players in the butter market, GCMMF is only spending INR 20 million on a turnover of INR 5 billion for advertising Amul butter. In order to maintain dominance, GCMMF undertakes regular brand impact analysis for the campaign, based on sales audit reports by A. C. Nielson.

Sources Gaurav Sood, “Utterly butterly adorable campaign,” The Tribune, http://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20010304/spectrum/main7.htm, March 4, 2001. Mini Verma, “The moppet who put Amul on India’s breakfast table,” The Asian Age, http://www.amul.com/story.html, March 3, 1996. Mitul Thakkar, “Utterly Amul: The naughty turns forty,” The Economic Times, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Cons_Products/Food/Utterly_Amul_The_naughty_turns_forty/rssarticleshow/242486 8.cms, October 3, 2007. Rita Sawhney, “Utterly Butterly Delhicious,” The Times of India, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/520300625.cms, September 11, 2001. Saurabh Turakhia, “Amul girl@ 40: Still on every bread you take”, The Hindustan Times, October 4, 2007. Sravanthi Challapalli, “Staying Power,” The Hindu Business Line, http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2005/06/02/stories/2005060200050100.htm, June 2, 2005.

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Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using billboards as communication media for Amul butter campaign.

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Comment on the objectives and budget allocation process for Amul butter campaign. Do you feel that the budget needs to be increased in the light of entry of new players?