Amul | Success Story of the brand which is the Taste of India

Amul is an Indian Dairy state government cooperative society. The company is based at Anand in Gujarat, India. The cooperative brand managed by the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.

History

Amul cooperative registered on 19 December 1946. The company was formed because of the exploitation of marginal milk producers by traders and agents in small cities. There was an unfair trade practice going on so the farmers of Kaira approached Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel under the leadership of local farmer leader Tribhuvandas K. Patel. He advised the farmers to form cooperatives and supply milk directly to the Bombay Milk Scheme instead of Polson.

Milk collection decentralised as most of the makers were minor farmers who could provide 1–2 litres of milk each day. Cooperatives were framed for every town. The cooperative was led and created by Dr Verghese Kurien along with H M Dalaya. His innovation in making powdered milk from buffalo milk made its commercial sale led to the first modern dairy of the cooperative at Anand. Within a short span of time, they got huge success from neighbouring cities of Gujarat.

Advertising strategy

The first step of Amul toward its successful marketing strategy is the tagline – “The taste of India”. In 1966,they hired Sylvester da Cunha, the Managing director of an advertising agency to design an ad campaign for the brand. Sylvester had designed a campaign as a series of hoardings with ads relating to typical day-to-day issues. In the 1980s, cartoon artist Kumar Mohey hired to sketch the ads of the brand. The never-ageing girl, wearing a white polka dotted dress and blue hair was the main icon of the company.

It was this girl who was the Advertising mascot of Amul. The girl’s first ad featuring the butter as “Utterly Butterly Delicious” was a major success.

There were several controversial ads by the company. Like the one commenting on the Naxalite in West Bengal. Then the one depicting the Amul girl wearing a Gandhi cap. They had also tweeted a picture featuring the Amul girl implying that “freedom of choice” has died when the Supreme Court of India criminalized Homosexuality again. The ad for “Aage badhta hai India” very well received by the audience. It also showed how Milk is an essential product in every household, with the catchy tune of the song. It has about 4 million views on YouTube.

In 2020, they also posted a picture of the Amul girl treating Joaquin Phoenix with butter after his academy award for the role of Joker. But again, they criticized since Phoenix is a vegan. It had also posted a picture of the girl celebrating with PV Sindhu for winning the bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics which took place recently.

Products

In 1946, the first milk union was established and during this year AMUL was founded. It is a leading food brand as it has many products such as Amul Butter, Amul Milk Powder, AmulGhee, Amul spray, Amul Cheese, Amul Chocolates, Amul Shrikhand and Ice cream, Nutramul, Amul Milk and Amulya.

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