Call her the Friday to Friday star. Round eyed, chubby cheeked, winking at you, from strategically placed hoardings at many traffic lights. She is the Amul moppet everyone loves to love (including prickly votaries of the Shiv Sena and BJP). For 50 odd years the Utterly Butterly girl has managed to keep her fan following intact. So much so that the ads are now ready to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for being the longest running campaign ever. The ultimate compliment to the butter came when a British company launched a butter and called it Utterly Butterly, in year 1997.
The history of the advertisement campaign goes way back to 1966 when Sylvester daCunha, then the managing director of the advertising agency, ASP, clinched the account for Amul butter. The year Sylvester daCunha took over the account, the country saw the birth of a campaign whose charm has endured fickle public opinion, gimmickry and all else. They thought of a little girl and so it came about that the famous Amul Moppet was born. And she has always remained the cute little 4-year-old girl eating butter. In 1969, when Bombay first saw the beginning of the Hare Rama Hare Krishna movement, Sylvester daCunha, Mohammad Khan and Usha Bandarkar, then the creative team working on the Amul account came up with a clincher — ‘Hurry Amul, Hurry Hurry’. Bombay reacted to the ad with a fervor that was almost as devout as the Iskon fever. That was the first of the many topical ads that were in the offing.
It is interesting to note that the Amul girl has always been flying high on the hoardings but never seen on television. Amul followed the umbrella branding strategy in its advertising. Amul is the common brand name for the company’s products across categories — the Amul girl has also been used to advertise Amul ghee and milk. Its ad campaign ‘Amul doodh peeta hai India,’ conceptualised & created by Draft FCB-Ulka, was drafted to proclaim its leadership position, and was targeted at people across all income categories. The corporate campaign ‘The Taste of India’ caters to people belonging to all walks of life and across cultures.
The Amul girl, apart from promoting a $1-billion brand, has been bringing smiles to millions. Where does Amul’s magic actually lie? Many believe that the charm lies in the catchy lines, which revolves on humour that anyone could enjoy.
Rahul daCunha, Creative Director, da Cunha Associates elaborated, “Amul’s advertising has become a little edgier, a little more satirical in the last few years. We tend to focus more on popular culture and Bollywood now. My favourite in the last year was ‘Pow Bhajji’ when Harbhajan Singh slapped Shreeshant, and ‘Jhoota Kahin Kaa’ when the shoe was thrown at George Bush. The Amul ads have been loved so much because the idea is so simple and usually, the topic deals with something that everyone is thinking about, hence instant identification. There is no fixed budget for Amul advertising, and that the spends vary every year.The Amul Butter billboards have become a culture by itself. I do not think there has been any Indian moment of significance – whether its sports related, film related, politics related, personality related, achievement related, etc that has not been celebrated cheekily by Amul Butter. I once saw a take on India Shining too — they called it India Dining. I was touched.
Taking on the role of a social observer, Amul hoardings have played a significant part in paving the way for a novel, no holes barred and tongue-in-the-cheek Indian, who mocks, celebrates and comprehends contemporary issues and history in a brand new way. As the sun dawns over the horizon on Friday morning, look out for yet another illustrative depiction from Amul that teases its way through into the minds of a satirical new India. With advertising and marketing expenditures amounting to less than one percent of its total revenues, Amul stands out for its quality and variety. Indeed, a Taste of India.
