AMUL, the
acronym for Anand Milk Federation Union Limited, the Indian dairy cooperative,
based at Anand in the state of Gujarat, means valuable in Sanskrit. In many
ways Amul, represents the transformation of India from pre-independence days to
the modern vibrant nation making its mark on the world as a global leader.
Formed in 1946
(pre-independence India), to counter the exploitation of marginal milk
producers by the representative of The Polson Dairy, it is a brand managed by
the masses for the masses (a cooperative body, jointly owned by 3 million milk
producers in Gujarat). Starting modestly with the sale of milk to the the
Bombay Milk Scheme, in1946, it now boasts of
a product range that includes milk powders, milk, butter, ghee, cheese,
Masti Dahi, Yoghurt, Buttermilk, chocolate, ice cream, cream, shrikhand,
paneer, gulab jamuns, flavoured milk, basundi, Amul Pro brand and others. Just
like the transformation of India, it has also grown from a local brand to a
global brand with presence in more than 40 countries. The major markets are
USA, West Indies, and countries in Africa, the Gulf Region, the SAARC
neighbours besides Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Japan, China, Hong Kong
and Australia.
In the 70’s
Amul spurred India's White Revolution, which made the country one of the
world's largest producer of milk and milk products. Just like India’s Federal
structure (Centre, States & the PRI institutions), The AMUL is also a
three-tier cooperative structure consisting of a dairy cooperative society at
the village level affiliated to a milk union at the district level which in
turn is federated into a milk federation at the state level. To cater for the
growth & needs of modern India, Amul has also been launching beverages in a
wide variety viz Amul PRO, sports drink -Stamina, Kool Koko, Kool Café - ready
to drink coffee etc. As a recognition of ther modern lifestyle, it even
launched ATM (Any Time Milk) machines which dispenses a 300-ml pouch of fresh
milk for Rs 10/-.
The Amul ‘ad-campaign’ – The Taste of India
has been a unique campaign which has been based on themes of contemporary
events with very strong mass connect. Mr Verghese Kurien, the chairman created
a free atmosphere that fostered the development of the ads. The campaign
started in 1966 when Amul hired Sylvester da Cunha, then managing director of
the advertising agency AS to design an ad campaign for Amul Butter. He designed
a campaign as series of hoardings with topical ads, relating to day-to-day
issues. Some of the controversial Amul ads include one commenting on the
Naxalite uprising in West Bengal, on the Indian Airlines employees strike, and
one depicting the Amul butter girl wearing a Gandhi cap. Despite encountering
political pressure on several occasions, daCunha's agency did not back down.
The ad- campaign was immensely popular and earned a Guinness world record for
the longest running ad campaign in the world.
In the 1980s,
cartoon artist Kumar Morey and script writer Bharat Dabholkar were brought in
for sketching the Amul ads. Mr Dabholkar, rejected the trend of using
celebrities in advertisement campaigns and continued with the theme of
contemporary issues. The ideas are generated through a slew of incentives to
the agents as well as the employees who can participate in special programs for
the same. Their ideas are rewarded and compiled as “amul hits of the year ----“
With the advent of Television, the campaign also entered the TV advertisement era and has been a trendsetter of sorts in the milk products. They also use the modern means viz ‘twitter’ to communicate their support for or against the issues and act as opinion makers. TV AD Campaign
-By Shivani Phaugat
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