INDEX

1 Introduction to branding

2 Building a brand

3 Branding strategies

4 Brand building of AMUL

5 References
 Introduction to branding

Brands are different from products in a way that brands are “what the consumers buy”, while

products are “what concern/companies make”. Brand is an accumulation of emotional and

functional associations. Brand is a promise that the product will perform as per customer’s

expectations. It shapes customer’s expectations about the product. Brands usually have a

trademark which protects them from use by others. A brand gives particular information

about the organization, good or service, differentiating it from others in marketplace. Brand

carries an assurance about the characteristics that make the product or service unique. A

strong brand is a means of making people aware of what the company represents and what

are it’s offerings.

To a consumer, brand means and signifies:

 Source of product

 Delegating responsibility to the manufacturer of product

 Lower risk

 Less search cost

 Quality symbol

 Deal or pact with the product manufacturer

 Symbolic device

Brands simplify consumers purchase decision. Over a period of time, consumers discover the

brands which satisfy their need. If the consumers recognize a particular brand and have

knowledge about it, they make quick purchase decision and save lot of time. Also, they save

search costs for product. Consumers remain committed and loyal to a brand as long as they
believe and have an implicit understanding that the brand will continue meeting their

expectations and perform in the desired manner consistently. As long as the consumers get

benefits and satisfaction from consumption of the product, they will more likely continue to

buy that brand. Brands also play a crucial role in signifying certain product features to

consumers.

To a seller, brand means and signifies:

 Basis of competitive advantage

 Way of bestowing products with unique associations

 Way of identification to easy handling

 Way of legal protection of products’ unique traits/features

 Sign of quality to satisfied customer

 Means of financial returns

A brand, in short, can be defined as a seller’s promise to provide consistently a unique set of

characteristics, advantages, and services to the buyers/consumers. It is a name, term, sign,

symbol or a combination of all these planned to differentiate the goods/services of one seller

or group of sellers from those of competitors. Some examples of well known brands are

Mc Donald’s’, Mercedes-Benz, Sony, Coca Cola, Kingfisher, etc.

A brand connects the four crucial elements of an enterprise- customers, employees,

management and shareholders. Brand is nothing but an assortment of memories in customers

mind. Brand represents values, ideas and even personality. It is a set of functional, emotional

and rational associations and benefits which have occupied target market’s mind.

Associations are nothing but the images and symbols associated with the brand or brand
benefits, such as, The Nike Swoosh, The Nokia sound, etc. Benefits are the basis for purchase

decision.

Building a brand

At times, organizations are often inspired by a variety of ideas to create products and services

which can be offered locally or globally. Generally, such products or services require the

establishment of a brand or company name. Often these brands include both logo and

lettering and can do a long way in advertising such products or services. Therefore, one of the

most important steps in building a Brand is decide upon a brand name for the product or

service one wishes to sell.

Branding is a process that allows an individual or a group of individuals the ability to

provide a brand image and lettering to an idea. Upon doing so, one has a better chance of

selling such items to a broader audience whether that be on a local or global level. Therefore,

while the old adage “nothing happens until somebody sells something,” still stands true to

some extent, at times almost seems as if the process of advertising and branding has

overtaken the desire to sell.

Although branding generally identifies the company and philosophies behind same, it can

also be representative of those working for such a company. This is a good thing as it

generates the right type of audience to the product or service being sold based on personal

relationships with those running the company. Therefore, benefiting both the organizations

selling the branded product or service and the dealers buying same.

One of the most important steps in selling any product or service is the belief one holds in

relation to the item. Therefore, only those who strongly believe in the products and services

offered by the company are going to be good at selling same. Otherwise, one may want to
work from an advertising or graphic artist perspective in relation to advertising rather than

sales when it comes to time to market same.

Another step is to build a brand that maintains loyalty with its customer base and has a strong

customer service department. For, having such a department in today's world where one is

both experienced and knowledgeable when it comes to helping others can be a rare find. So,

companies who represent oneself has having a strong customer base and even stronger

customer service department are often more successful than those who do not.

A very important step in marketing a brand is to identify the target audience before creating

the logo and lettering in relation to marketing. This is because different age groups react

differently to a variety of logo and lettering especially as so much is misrepresented by a

variety of gangs and others using such material inappropriately. Therefore, if one can define

the brand name, logo and lettering and present same to a marketing research review panel or

the like, one may be able to gain a better understanding of which audience one needs to direct

their product or service to in order to create the most sales.

Still, if one can communicate the use of their product or service clearly, establish trust

within the community, be that locally or globally, aim marketing at the right audience, build

a base of buyers and customer loyalty and offer great customer service, then one is on their

way to not only creating and advertising an excellent brand but selling one as well.

Therefore, when looking for steps in building a brand, there are many steps which one can

complete to help make the creation of such brand an easier task. These include, knowing your

audience, building your brand, finding a great logo and lettering to represent same, targeting

the appropriate audience and placing a number of ads in as many online and offline

advertising venues one can find. For, after doing so, one may just find that they are selling

even more products and services than one had ever dreamed possible.
 Branding strategies

Company name

Often, especially in the industrial sector, it is just the company's name which is promoted

(leading to one of the most powerful statements of branding: saying just before the company's

downgrading, "No one ever got fired for buying IBM"). This approach has not worked as

well for General Motors, which recently overhauled how its corporate brand relates to the

product brands. Exactly how the company name relates to product and services names is

known as brand architecture. Decisions about company names and product names and their

relationship depends on more than a dozen strategic considerations.

In this case a strong brand name (or company name) is made the vehicle for a range of

products (for example, Mercedes-Benz or Black & Decker) or a range of subsidiary brands

(such as Cadbury Dairy Milk, Cadbury Flake or Cadbury Fingers in the United States).

Individual branding

Main article: Individual branding

Each brand has a separate name (such as Seven-Up, Kool-Aid or Nivea Sun (Beiersdorf)),

which may compete against other brands from the same company (for example, Persil, Omo,

Surf and Lynx are all owned by Unilever).

Attitude branding and iconic brands

Attitude branding is the choice to represent a larger feeling, which is not necessarily

connected with the product or consumption of the product at all. Marketing labeled as attitude

branding include that of Nike, Starbucks, The Body Shop, Safeway, and Apple Inc.. In the

2000 book No Logo, Naomi Klein describes attitude branding as a "fetish strategy".

"A great brand raises the bar -- it adds a greater sense of purpose to the experience, whether

it's the challenge to do your best in sports and fitness, or the affirmation that the cup of coffee
you're drinking really matters." - Howard Schultz (president, CEO, and chairman

of Starbucks)

The color, letter font and style of the Coca-Colaand Diet Coca-Cola logos in English were

copied into matching Hebrew logos to maintain brand identity in Israel.

Iconic brands are defined as having aspects that contribute to consumer's self-expression and

personal identity. Brands whose value to consumers comes primarily from having identity

value are said to be "identity brands". Some of these brands have such a strong identity that

they become more or less cultural icons which makes them "iconic brands". Examples

are: Apple, Nike and Harley Davidson. Many iconic brands include almost ritual-like

behaviour in purchasing or consuming the products.

There are four key elements to creating iconic brands (Holt 2004):

1. "Necessary conditions" - The performance of the product must at least be acceptable,

preferably with a reputation of having good quality.

2. "Myth-making" - A meaningful storytelling fabricated by cultural insiders. These

must be seen as legitimate and respected by consumers for stories to be accepted.

 3. "Cultural contradictions" - Some kind of mismatch between prevailing ideology and

emergent undercurrents in society. In other words a difference with the way

consumers are and how they wish they were.

4. "The cultural brand management process" - Actively engaging in the myth-making

process in making sure the brand maintains its position as an icon.

"No-brand" branding

Recently a number of companies have successfully pursued "no-brand" strategies by creating

packaging that imitates generic brand simplicity. Examples include

the Japanesecompany Muji, which means "No label" in English ("Mujirushi Ryohin" –

literally, "No brand quality goods"), and the Florida company No-Ad Sunscreen. Although

there is a distinct Muji brand, Muji products are not branded. This no-brand strategy means

that little is spent on advertisement or classical marketing and Muji's success is attributed to

the word-of-mouth, a simple shopping experience and the anti-brand movement. "No brand"

branding may be construed as a type of branding as the product is made conspicuous through

the absence of a brand name. "Tapa Amarilla" or "Yellow Cap" in Venezuela during the

1980s is another good example of no-brand strategy. It was simply recognized by the color of

the cap of this cleaning products company.

Derived brands

In this case the supplier of a key component, used by a number of suppliers of the end-

product, may wish to guarantee its own position by promoting that component as a brand in

its own right. The most frequently quoted example is Intel, which positions itself in

the PC market with the slogan (and sticker) "Intel Inside".

Brand extension and brand dilution

The existing strong brand name can be used as a vehicle for new or modified products; for

example, many fashion and designer companies extended brands into fragrances, shoes

and accessories, home textile, home decor, luggage, (sun-) glasses, furniture, hotels, etc.

Mars extended its brand to ice cream, Caterpillar to shoes and watches, Michelin to a

restaurant guide, Adidas and Puma to personal hygiene. Dunlop extended its brand from tires

to other rubber products such as shoes, golf balls, tennis racquets and adhesives. Frequently,

the product is no different than what else is on the market, except a brand name marking.

There is a difference between brand extension and line extension. A line extension is when a

current brand name is used to enter a new market segment in the existing product class, with

new varieties or flavors or sizes. When Coca-Cola launched "Diet Coke" and "Cherry Coke"

they stayed within the originating product category: non-alcoholic carbonated

beverages. Procter & Gamble (P&G) did likewise extending its strong lines (such as Fairy

Soap) into neighboring products (Fairy Liquid and Fairy Automatic) within the same

category, dish washing detergents.

The risk of over-extension is brand dilution where the brand loses its brand associations with

a market segment, product area, or quality, price or cachet.

Multi-brands

Alternatively, in a market that is fragmented amongst a number of brands a supplier can

choose deliberately to launch totally new brands in apparent competition with its own

existing strong brand (and often with identical product characteristics); simply to soak up

some of the share of the market which will in any case go to minor brands. The rationale is

that having 3 out of 12 brands in such a market will give a greater overall share than having 1

out of 10 (even if much of the share of these new brands is taken from the existing one). In its

most extreme manifestation, a supplier pioneering a new market which it believes will be
particularly attractive may choose immediately to launch a second brand in competition with

its first, in order to pre-empt others entering the market. This strategy is widely known

as Multi Brand Strategy.

Individual brand names naturally allow greater flexibility by permitting a variety of different

products, of differing quality, to be sold without confusing the consumer's perception of what

business the company is in or diluting higher quality products.

Once again, Procter & Gamble is a leading exponent of this philosophy, running as many as

ten detergent brands in the US market. This also increases the total number of "facings" it

receives on supermarket shelves. Sara Lee, on the other hand, uses it to keep the very

different parts of the business separate — from Sara Lee cakes through Kiwi polishes to

L'Eggs pantyhose. In the hotel business, Marriott uses the name Fairfield Inns for its budget

chain (and Ramada uses Rodeway for its own cheaper hotels).

Cannibalization is a particular problem of a Multi Brand Strategy approach, in which the new

brand takes business away from an established one which the organization also owns. This

may be acceptable (indeed to be expected) if there is a net gain overall. Alternatively, it may

be the price the organization is willing to pay for shifting its position in the market; the new

product being one stage in this process.

Private labels

Private label brands, also called own brands, or store brands have become popular. Where the

retailer has a particularly strong identity (such as Marks & Spencer in the UKclothing sector)

this "own brand" may be able to compete against even the strongest brand leaders, and may

outperform those products that are not otherwise strongly branded.

Individual and organizational brands

There are kinds of branding that treat individuals and organizations as the products to be

branded. Personal branding treats persons and their careers as brands. The term is thought to

have been first used in a 1997 article by Tom Peters. Faith branding treats religious figures

and organizations as brands. Religious media expert Phil Cooke has written that faith

branding handles the question of how to express faith in a media-dominated culture. Nation

branding works with the perception and reputation of countries as brands.

Crowd sourcing branding

These are brands that are created by the people for the business, which is opposite to the

traditional method where the business create a brand. This type of method minimizes the risk

of brand failure, since the people that might reject the brand in the traditional method are the

ones who are participating in the branding process.

Nation branding (place branding and public diplomacy)

Nation branding is a field of theory and practice which aims to measure, build and manage

the reputation of countries (closely related to place branding). Some approaches applied, such

as an increasing importance on the symbolic value of products, have led countries to

emphasise their distinctive characteristics. The branding and image of a nation-state "and the

successful transference of this image to its exports - is just as important as what they actually

produce and sell."

 AMUL Company History

The Brand Building Challenge - Amul

Amul was set up in 1946 and its full form is Anand Milk- producers Union Ltd. The

Brand Amul is a movement in dairy cooperative in India. The management of the

brand name is done by the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd

(GCMMF) which is a cooperative organization.

Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) is India's largest food

products marketing organization. It is a state level apex body of milk cooperatives in

Gujarat which aims to provide remunerative returns to the farmers and also serve the

interest of consumers by providing quality products which are good value for money.

Amul is located in the town Anand which is in the state of Gujarat and it has set up

itself as a model for development in the rural areas. The Amul Brand has started the

White Revolution in India which has helped to make the country the biggest

manufacturer of milk and its by-products in the whole world. Amul has around 2.9

million producer members covering 15,322 village societies and the total capacity

for handling milk is around 13.07 million liters every day. The brand's capacity for

milk drying is around 647 Mts. each day and its capacity for cattle feed manufacturing is

about 3740 Mts. each day[

Achievements

Amul has always been the trend setter in bringing and adapting the most modern

technology to door steps to rural farmers.

GCMMF bags Agricultural and Processed Food Exports Development Authority

(APEDA) AWARD for 11th year in a row in 2006-07

Amul Pro-Biotic Ice-cream receives No. 1 Award At World Dairy Summit in 2007

GCMMF emerged as the top scorer in the service category of the prestigious

IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj National Quality Award - 2003

Amul - The Taste Of India (GCMMF) Receives International CIO 100 Award For

Resourcefulness in 2003

Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award - 1999

Amul is the live example of how co-operation amongst the poor marginal farmers

can provide means for the socio-economic development of the under privileged

marginal farmers.

Amul Brand Umbrella caters several products under broad categories of butter, milk,

cheese, ghee, milk powder, curd, ice cream, flavored milk, health beverage,

condensed milk, sweets, chocolates and confectionary.

Amul’s sales turnover for the past 16 years has been depicted in the chart below. It

has grown at a CAGR of 11% over the past 16 years achieving the turnover of

Rs.80,053 million in FY2009-10.

Brands identity,personality and symbolism

AMUL means "priceless" in Sanskrit. The brand name "Amul," from the Sanskrit

"Amoolya," was suggested by a quality control expert in Anand.

Amul has fetched a greater mileage for itself by introducing ‘The Taste

of India’ campaign after the liberalization of the Indian economy in

1991. Since 1967 Amul has successfully built the brand personality

with a cute little moppet girl wearing a polka-dotted frock as its

mascot (symbol) and made her a part of our lives.

Amul continues to show the same six-year-old girl in the “Utterly

butterly delicious” advertisement of Amul butter, which reflects that the brand never

gets old. She just comes in so casually each time with an all new dimension to

something already existing, either making fun of it or mocking at it, each time

minimizing the impact of the event & people mentioned but highlighting and

emphasizing only and only “UTTERLY BUTTERLY DELICIOUS.. AMUL”

The Amul brand is not built as a product but as a movement to make India the

largest producer of milk in the world. It is representation of the economic freedom of

dairy farmers. The core values of the company are:

- To provide remunerative returns to the farmers

- Give the best quality product to the consumer

- and the best possible price

Amul as an umbrella brand is presently used for sub branding for the different products manufactured by Amul;

like Amul Gold and Taaza in the milk category amongst other products, which includes Amul butter, Amul ice-

creams and the like.

 Strategic decisions taken to build the brand

The strategic decisions that developed Amul as a brand can be classified in the

following broad categories:

1. Technology

2. Pricing

3. Quality

4. Product Portfolio

5. Distribution Network

1. Technology Strategy:

The technology, packaging and Amul’s approach to marketing is based on

the changing taste buds of the consumers. The technology strategy is

characterized by four distinct components:

new products

process technology

complementary assets to enhance milk production

e-commerce

Few dairies of the world have the wide variety of products produced by the

Gujarat Cooperative Milk and Marketing Federation (GCMMF) network. Village

societies are encouraged through subsidies to install chilling units.

Automation in processing and packaging areas is common, as is Hazard

Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) certification.

Amul actively pursues developments in embryo transfer and cattle breeding

in order to improve cattle quality and increase in milk yields.

GCMMF was one of the first FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) firms in

India to employ Internet technologies to implement business to consumer

(B2C) commerce. Today customers can order a variety of products through

the Internet and be assured of timely delivery with cash payment upon

receipt.

Another e-initiative underway is to provide farmers access to information

relating to markets, technology and best practices in the dairy industry

through net enabled kiosks in the villages.

GCMMF has also implemented a Geographical Information System (GIS) at

both ends of the supply chain, i.e. milk collection as well as the marketing

process. Farmers now has better access to information on the output as well

as support services while providing a better planning tool to marketing

personnel.

2. Pricing Strategy

At the time Amul was formed, consumers had limited purchasing power, and

modest consumption levels of milk and other dairy products. Thus Amul adopted

a low-cost price strategy to make its products affordable and attractive to

consumers by guaranteeing them value for money.

3. Quality

Amul has not changed its core values –give the best quality product to the

customer.

A key source of competitive advantage has been the enterprise's ability to

continuously implement best practices across all elements of the network: the

federation, the unions, the village societies and the distribution channel (TQM

activities).

A regular Friday meeting is conducted that has its pre-set format in terms of

Purpose, Agenda and Limit (PAL) with a process check at the end to record

how the meeting was conducted. Similar processes are in place at the village

societies, the unions and even at the wholesaler and C&F agent levels as well.

Examples of benefits from recent initiatives include -

o reduction in transportation time from the depots to the wholesale

dealers, improvement in ROI of wholesale dealers, implementation of Zero Stock Out

through improved availability of products at depots and

o implementation of Just-in-Time in finance to reduce the float

Kaizen at the unions have helped improve the quality of milk in terms of

acidity and sour milk. (Undertaken by multi-disciplined teams, Kaizen are

highly focused projects, reliant on a structured approach based on data

gathering and analysis.) For example, Sabar Union's records show a reduction

from 2.0% to 0.5% in the amount of sour milk/curd received at the union.
4. Enhance Product Portfolio

Amul’s strategy of umbrella branding has also helped establish its brand firmly in

people’s minds. The network follows an umbrella branding strategy. Amul is the

common brand for most product categories produced by various unions: liquid

milk, milk powders, butter, ghee, cheese, cocoa products, sweets, ice-cream and

condensed milk.

5. Distribution Network

Amul products are available in over 500,000 retail outlets across India through

its network of over 3,500 distributors. There are 47 depots with dry and cold

warehouses to buffer inventory of the entire range of products.

GCMMF transacts on an advance demand draft basis from its wholesale dealers

instead of the cheque system adopted by other major FMCG companies. This

practice is consistent with GCMMF's philosophy of maintaining cash transactions

throughout the supply chain and it also minimizes dumping.

Wholesale dealers carry inventory that is just adequate to take care of the transit

time from the branch warehouse to their premises. This just-in-time inventory

strategy improves dealers' return on investment (ROI). All GCMMF branches

engage in route scheduling and have dedicated vehicle operations.

Consumer Insights

The Brand Building Challenge - Amul

At the time Amul was formed, consumers had limited purchasing power, and modest

consumption levels of milk and other dairy products. Thus Amul adopted a low-cost

price strategy to make its products affordable and attractive to consumers by

guaranteeing them value for money. Amul milk enjoys 86% market share in India.

Amul have time to time used several marketing research data and consumer insights

for following customer aspects and have defined their market segmentation

accordingly.

Behavioral

• User status , Usage rate

Demographic

• Income , Age , Sex , Family

Psychographic

• Activities and lifestyle

Geographic

• International , Regional

Buying condition

• Purchase location , Who buys , Type of buy

The Amul Model narrowed the gap between the producer and the consumer,

connecting the dairy farmer to the consumer through its organic network. The

success of this model ignited interest across India, where this model was replicated,
in essence leading to the White Revolution.

Despite competition in the high value dairy product segments Amul ensures that the

product mix and the sequence in which Amul introduces its products is consistent

with the core philosophy of providing butter at a basic, affordable price to appeal the

common masses. This helped AMUL BUTTER to create its brand image in the

household sector of the society.

However, the main thing that has helped Amul sail smoothly is that they have not

changed their core values—give the best quality product to the consumer, and the

best possible price. It holds true in any era. In fact, it is not just the core values at

Amul that have remained the same; the core team associated with the brand is still

the same. Even the advertising agency hasn’t changed, and DaCunha and FCB Ulka, have

played a pivotal role in the growth of Amul. This has helped maintain

consistency in market communication. Amul strategy of umbrella branding has also

helped establish their brand firmly in people’s minds. This, despite the fact that

Amul only spends than 1% of our turnover for marketing, compared with 7-8% (spent) by

most of the food and consumer product companies. From Utterly butterly delicious Amul to

The Taste of India, Amul continues to be the toast of the country. Striking out on its own,

with Amul Outlets or parlours to deliver consumers total brand experience Launched in

2002, there are now 5000 Amul parlours across the country, which contributed 3% to the

brand’s total turnover last year. High profile locations: Amul parlours are today present on

campuses of Infosys, Wipro, IIM-A, IIT-B, Temples, Metro rail and railway stations in

Gujarat.
 Brand Positioning

Life begins at 60. Ask Amul synonymous for all things dairy. It focuses on India's

largest consumer segment, a.k.a. middle class society. This segment of consumers is

urban and knowledgeable. They need a great taste but they are equally health and

quality conscious.

Amul is the oldest and the most established dairy brand in the country, with its first

product, Amul butter, being marketed since 1946. Today, the company has its roots

deep in the dairy market and is increasingly focusing on the value added segment

that includes health drinks, cheese and dairy based desserts

Amul has carefully cultivated its family based homely image.

Brand positioning statement: “The taste of India” It has created a value for everyone

in the value chain, be it a customer or the supply chain.

Positioning Components:

Emotional Component: Through the campaigns like “Gift for someone you

loved” and “Taste of India”

Functional attributes: Unique functional attributes of Amul are:

oValue for money – The best quality diary product at the reasonable price

o Product Availability – Amul has huge supply chain and distribution

networks across India and has strong link back to the sourcing farmers.

Descriptive Factor – Amul has become a family brand and it relates to its

Homely image.

Brand Consistency: Amul runs the Topical campaign for last 4 decades. It is one of

the longest running advertisements in the world

Target Market and segment: Amul has positioned variety of products for different

market segments e.g. To target teenager Amul launched products like, Amul Kool, chocolate

milk, Neutramul Energy drink , “Munch Time”

In Nov 2007, Amul launched “Fresh Paneer” that claims to be Free from any

harmful chemicals

For Health conscious segment, Amul launched Pro-Biometic Wellness Ice cream &

sugar free Delights for the diabetics

For Women Amul Launched Amul Calci+

Point of Differences (POD):

Quality with affordability

Amul is a Mass market player with no premium offering

Sheer size and scale of operations

Value additions to the customer

Positioning Method:

Impulse purchase: Simple memorable slogan message “A gift for someone you loved”

Brand Re-positioning:

For young people below the age of 20, Amul is now moving away from its carefully

cultivated image of just a family brand popular with the homemaker. So while the

ponytailed Amul girl will continue to be the brand ambassador with her Utterly

Butterly spoofs, the brand has started changing its lingo to cater to Generation X, Y

and even Z. So the new television commercials, created by DCB Ulka, position the

products on the 'Utterly Healthy' platform where thin is in.

Role of Advertisement

64 years after it was first launched, Amul's sale figures have jumped from 1000 tons

a year in 1966 to over 9,30,200 tons a year in 2009-10. No other brand comes even
close to it. All because a thumb-sized girl climbed on to the hoardings and put a

spell on the masses.

It all began in 1966 when Sylvester daCunha, then the managing director of the

advertising agency, ASP, clinched the account for Amul butter. The butter, which had

been launched in 1945, had a staid, boring image, primarily because the earlier

advertising agency which was in charge of the account preferred to stick to routine,

corporate ads.

Sylvester daCunha designed an advertisement campaign as series of hoardings with

topical ads, relating to day-to-day issues. Thus was born the Amul Moppet, a little

girl who would warm her way into a housewife’s heart. Amul since then have been

following different promotion and advertising campaigns with Amul moppet taking

central role in the advertisement

Uses a variety of media to communicate - Most famous is billboard campaign

using Amul moppet and topical ads

Call her the Friday to Friday star because Every Friday, since 1967, this little girl

appears at billboards, strategically placed all over India, focusing on the item of

the week – tongue in cheek, of course

Amul food festival, which has been held for the last four year between October

and December in about 50,000 retail outlets

The Chef Of India promo invites hotel chefs to come up with recipes using as

many Amul products as possible, and is conducted at city, state and national

level

There are no boundaries and nothing is off limits. From the political scene, to

entertainment, from local news to international, from sports to stars, she has a line
for everything. Often said to be playing the role of a “social observer with evocative

humor”, the billboards became, and still are, a topic of conversation amongst

millions. With their “hing-lish” (a combination of Hindi and English) punch-lines, they

have won the maximum number of awards in India for any ad campaign ever! This

little thumbelina seems to have the masses, right where she wants them – wanting more of

her and of Amul. No other brand comes close to what Amul has been able to

accomplish.

Brand Drivers

The first lots of products with the Amul brand name were launched in 1955. Since

then, they have been in use in millions of homes in all parts of India, and beyond.

There is something more, though, that makes the Amul brand special and that

something is the reason for the commitment to quality and value for money. Amul is

the brand name of 2.9 million farmers, members of 15,322 village dairy cooperative

societies throughout Gujarat. This is the heart of Amul, it is what gives strength to

Amul, and it is what is so special about the Amul saga.

The Amul Pattern has established itself as a uniquely appropriate model for rural

development. Amul has made India one of the largest milk producers in the world.

Amul, therefore, is a brand with a difference. That difference manifests itself in a

larger than life purpose. The purpose – freedom to farmers by giving total control

over procurement, production and marketing.

In an interesting piece published in 2001, Varghese Kurien, the Father of White

Revolution in India and the architect of the decentralized and highly integrated dairy
cooperative model said that the brand name of the movement, Amul, serves the role

of a contract. “It is the assurance to the buyer that her specifications will be met. It is

the seller’s assurance that the quality is being provided at a fair price”. He further

said, “If Amul has become a successful brand – if, in the trade lingo, it enjoys brand

equity – then it is because we have honored our contract with consumers for close to

fifty years. If we had failed to do so, then Amul would have been consigned to the

dustbin of history, along with thousands of other brands.”

According to Kurien the major elements of Amul’s contract with its customers are

quality, value for money, availability, and service. “Our commitment to the producer

and our contract with the consumer is the reasons we are confident that cooperative

brands, like Amul, will have an even bigger role to play in the next fifty years.” said

Kurien.

Amul is excellent example of brand which demonstrates how each failure, each

obstacle, and each stumbling block can be turned into a success story. In the early

years, Amul had to face a number of problems. With every problem came opportunity

and chance to turn a negative into a positive. Milk byproducts and supplementary

yield which suffered from the lack of marketing and distribution facilities became

encumbrances. Instead of being bogged down by their fate they were used as

stepping stones for expansion. Also Backward integration of the process led the

cooperatives to advances in animal husbandry and veterinary practice.

Organizing market to excellent supply chain is critical to the success of marketbased

development

Infrastructure investment is crucial to rural development

From livelihood to wealth creation is equally important for rural development

Wealth creation requires transforming community

 Closer to Nation and developing home grown entrepreneurs

The journey from Co-operative to Corporate is not that easy. Still Amul did not forget

its Social Responsibilities. Initiatives like: Green Amul Green India, One Member One

Tree, Amul Baby Growth Plan, Amul Relief Trust, Amul Shakti Vidyashree Award and

many more in the list are really impressing.

Future Steps for Brand Consolidation

Amul enjoys a good brand recognition and high recall. It has ventured in to broad

range of diary based products in the last decade. However, there is still lot to do for

Amul to continue garner the customer base and brand loyalty.

Amul stood at rank 21

in the top 21 list of global milk processing companies in

2009. With global market share of 0.4 percent as of year 2007 data, there is huge

potential to capture the unorganized sector (organized sector put together,

accounted for only 21 percent of the market share globally).

Recommendations:

Focus on retail expansion in Indian cities, towns and villages – increase

branded Amul parlours to capture the consumer attention and keep the

competition at bay

Amul can venture into offering low-fat versions of its products as it would

help capture the hearts of second and third generation Indians in US & Global

Market

Amul can venture out on new products like dairy based sweets, baby food

products
 Amul must try to understand the cause of certain products like Amul basundi,

gulab jamoon, and chocolates etc not being very popular. Amul need to take up

thorough market research and work on improving these products

Though Amul’s hoardings are a huge success, it can penetrate even better in

the rural areas by advertising actively through the media viz cable channels and

newspapers. Sponsoring more shows on TV, sports events can be of great help.
 References

http://www.amul.com

http://www.amul.com/story.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul

http://www.indiainfoline.com/Markets/News/AMUL-Most-Trusted-among-Indias-Food-

andBeverage-Brands/5068333116

http://www.india-seminar.com/2001/498/498%20verghese%20kurien.htm

http://www.scribd.com/doc/19978355/Amul-ppt-Presentation-Largest-Food-Brand-inIndia-

Asia

http://www.indiadairy.com/ind_marketing_quality.html

http://www.ibef.org/artdisplay.aspx?cat_id=60&art_id=23218