She is a blue-haired girl with a contagious smile; she is humorous, mischievous, and loves to give her opinion on day-to-day matters. Have you seen her anywhere? Of course, you must have! She’s the darling of India, our favorite, the iconic Amul Girl! Be it the ‘utterly butterfly delicious’ ad with 3 kids on a voyage to the fantasy world of Butter Land, enjoying butter with Amul Girl, or the ‘Zindagi makkhan’ ad with melting butter on sweetcorn and waffle. It is the mouth-watering quality of these ads that reminds you of extra butter on pav bhaji or the simple butter, which can make your roti so special.

Welcome to the Era of Amul!

Do you remember sitting casually on the sofa, watching TV when your stomach used to scream for ice cream after observing a bride eat ice cream? Do you remember reading the newspaper to see Amul Girl ‘pav-teaing’ with her friends? Or recall watching Ramayana during lockdown when a kid comes, just to say “Dekho mujhe na btana ise kaise hai khaana”? You can never remember milk or any milk product, without at least once, getting the image of Amul in your head. Amazing, isn’t it?

Do You Know?

But did you know that Amul achieved this image by spending less than 1% of its sales on advertising? Now compare it with the standard 15% spent by most of the FMCG brands. You might ask, then what’s the secret? The famous Amul girl? Or the iconic Preeti Sagar’s ‘Mero Gaam Katha Parey’ song? Or the nostalgic ad of grandparents trying to resist the temptation to eat their favorite chocolate ice cream, all in vain? Or is it the combination of everything?

White revolution and Amul

Before going to the root cause, let us understand the background of Amul. The 1940s marked the beginning of Amul, at that time Polson, a dairy company, used to exploit the farmers. They used to buy milk from the farmers at a nominal rate but used to sell it at a much higher price to the customers. And that milk wasn’t even real, they used to mix it with a lot of water. It was then decided by Sardar Vallabhai Patel to encourage farmers to form a cooperative, to supply milk directly to the customers. So that customers can get milk at a reasonable price and farmers can get a fair price for their hard work. This marked the beginning of the ‘white revolution’ and led to the birth of today’s largest milk cooperative in the world, Amul.

What about our Amul Girl? From the beginning, Verghese Kurian was particular about creating a strong brand image. So, in 1966, Sylvester de Cunha was given the responsibility to look after advertising. Cunha and his team created the iconic Amul girl, along with the tagline ‘Utterly Butterly Delicious’. The irony is that the symbol was created by taking inspiration from its competitor, Polson! But where Polson presented a gentle and soft girl, our Amul girl was cheeky and playful. The best part is that this blue-haired girl was always connected to the current happenings of the world and was a master at producing witty remarks. And that was one of the secret ingredients, which caught attention. 

Amul’s Jingle

The next ingredient was the Amul jingle, ‘Aage aage badhta hai India, Amul doodh peeta hai India’, all of us have seen This ad, and no matter how much you want to deny it, as you read the jingle, you remembered its tune as well. That’s the work of any jingle, when a simple line can remind you of the brand, just imagine the potential it holds. It familiarizes you with the brand, gradually building trust, and then leaves you with a strong memory to keep getting back to the brand. That is the beauty of any jingle, which has been utilized by all the ads of Amul.

Umbrella Branding

And last but not least, umbrella branding or family branding! We all know that Amul is an FMCG company, which produces mostly milk and milk products. After the consumers have identified the products of any brand, they can just sit back and take advantage of family branding, without allocating a separate budget for each item. And that’s what Amul is doing, it has passed the same principle across all its products and now it’s advertising under the same umbrella. 

So, next time whenever you come across any ad of Amul girl in the newspaper, rather than just smiling at her witty remarks, just take a moment to appreciate the emotional connection it has achieved, the person who has designed this advertising icon, who can fit in everywhere, and amazing one-liners that bring out the current event without forgetting to remind you of the brand. Because, it is hard to ignore a brand, which has left an indelible mark on its audience.

Written By Maitreyi Bhuyan