A

Report on

Communication strategy of

Amul – the taste of india

SUBMITTED TO:

PROF. PRAVEEN PATIL

(Marketing mgnt. IBS Pune) SUBMITTED BY:

ABHINAV JAINASHINI MODY

ANKUR MAHAJANHAPPY LAMBA

RICHA MISHRA

Video of Verghese Kurien(foundMer,chairman) Interview final amul\kurian interview .mpg

INDEX

• INTRODUCTION

• WHY WE HAVE SELECTED AMUL?

• WHAT IS AMUL ALL ABOUT?AMUL’S JOURNEY TOWARDS EXCELAMUL PRODUCTS

• ADVERTISEMENT STRATEGY OF AMULMEDIA PLATFORMS USED

• CRITICAL ANALYSIS

• COMMUNICATION MIX USED ACROSS

• CONCLUSION

• BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

Advertising plays a very pre dominant role for any Marketer. Goods no matter of how good quality, they may be are of no use if they are not brought to the notice of the consumer. Advertising can be classified on the basis of target audience towards whom the advertising is directed .there could be different set of target audience. These are:

• Consumer(households)

• Industries

• Traders

• Professionals

• Institutions

In our project we would be solely concentrating on the household sector , this sector dominates any other sector in terms of its goods and services. The complexity of human behavior is one major factor which makes a job of Marketer tough.

The success of any advertising campaign depends on its effectiveness that is how effective it is in stimulating consumer to buy the product or at least give a thought to the product .there are various type of advertising media which can be used . But the choice of media is a very critical decision as a selection of wrong advertising media can lead to colossal resources and it can even have an impact on goodwill of a company. The media has to be selected taking into consideration the target audience and as a manager we also to take into consideration the Advertising Budget.

In this project which has been assigned to us by Praveen Patil we have taken a company named Amul and then we have made an analysis of its advertising and sales promotion techniques, the communication mix employed by the company for its various product categories and how effective these strategies have been in positioning Amul as not only Amul but as Amul – The Taste of India .

The project has offered us enormous scope to enhance our practical understanding of the purpose and significance of advertising and sales promotion as an effective tool of communication mix.

Why we have selected Amul – The Taste of India?

We wanted to take something different. All other companies are primarily companies whose object right from its inception has been profit maximization. We are not saying that is not out there to make profits but the point we are trying to highlight is that Amul started as a cooperative which took on the responsibility of rural development through providing source of income to millions of farmers. It is one such company which has strongly infused the message of corporate social responsibility right through it started functioning. It had spurred the white revolution in the whole country. It has done so much pride to India by making it one of the world’s leading producer of milk. Many companies reach zenith but there are very few of them who adopt a social responsibility in their functioning. Amul is indeed different from all the other companies because it started its operations at the grass root level that is farmers. There cannot be a more noble cause than this for a company to adopt .Taking this into consideration we decided that we will take Amul as our subject of study.

We would like to thank Prof. Praveen Patil who has given us this golden opportunity of penning down our thoughts and views.

What is Amul all about?

BUSINESS needs ideas, not merely money. Ventures run on just money, but starved of ideas, would eventually fall prey to competition and perish. And, if ideas are available in abundance, business can overcome other handicaps, including its relative weaker money power, compared to that of its rivals. The success story of the Gujrat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) proves this point.

Amul follows a unique business model, which aims at providing 'value for money' products to its consumers, while protecting the interests of the milk-producing farmers who are its suppliers as well as its owners. Despite being a farmers' co-operative, Amul has given multinationals a run for their money.

• The Amul Pattern has established itself as a uniquely appropriate model for rural development. Amul has spurred the White Revolution of India, which has made India the largest producer of milk and milk products in the world. It is also the world's biggest vegetarian cheese brand.

• Amul’s is India’s largest diary producing company with over half the market leading other national companies such as Mother Diary and multinational food product companies such as Nestle India and Hindustan Lever Ltd.

• Amul demonstrates how careful and consistent product stewardship combined with a deep and intimate understanding of the market leads to consistent growth and success. The company can process nearly 10 million litres of milk each day.

• The company started as the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Federation in 1946,collecting just 250 litres of milk a day. The company was formed to give farmers their due and protect them from unscrupulous middlemen. Since then the company has come a long way . but one thing is still the same . that time also it was by and for the farmers and today also it’s the same .

• In the mid 1950’s Amul looked for ways to utilize the surplus milk by manufacturing Butter, Milk,Cheese and other milk derived products.

• It is integrated into the fabric of Indian society ,from its roots in representing small farmers and struggler or the poor and impoverished in difficult circumstances.

• The brand name Amul, sourced from the Sanskrit word Amoolya, means priceless. It was suggested by a quality control expert in Anand. Some cite the origin as an acronym to (Anand Milk Union Limited)

• Amul, a brand owned by the 26 lakh milk producers of Gujarat has once again demonstrated that when farmers are given the instruments of development in their hands, they can work wonders. The billion dollar Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, the apex body of 13 district milk producers’ unions has been instrumental in making Amul a brand to reckon with.

• GCMMF Today

GCMMF is India's largest food products marketing organisation. 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. GCMMF markets and manages the Amul brand. From mid-1990's Amul has entered areas not related directly to its core business

• The AMUL experience has attracted considerable interest from the development community – predominantly anthropologists, development & agriculture economists, and political scientists. Key areas of their enquiry have been the role of AMUL in reducing social and economic inequality

AMUL’s Journey towards Excellence

AMUL’s journey towards excellence is marked by some critical understanding of the business environment in large emerging economies like India where markets have to be developed by combining efficiency related initiatives with increasing the base of marginal suppliers and consumers. The essence of AMUL’s efforts was as follows:

• It combined market and social development in an emerging economy. It recognized the inter-linkages between various environments that governed the lives of marginal milk farmers and the unmet needs of consumers.

It also changed the supply chain paradigm in order to reduce the cost to the consumer while increasing the return to the supplier.

• It realized that in order to achieve their objectives, it had to benefit a large number of people – both suppliers and consumers. While large scale had the danger of failure due to poor control and required more resources, it also had the advantage of creating a momentum that would be necessary to bring more people into the fold and thereby help more suppliers and consumers.

• It also realized that its goal could only be achieved in the long run and this required developing values in people and processes that were robust, replicable and transparent.

• It also realized that the cooperative would not be independent and viable in the face of competition if it were not financially sound. This implied that AMUL had to develop distinct capabilities that would deliver competitive advantage to its operations.

Thus this is a brief overview of Amul – The taste of India .

Amul’s Products

Bread Spreads

Amul ButterUtterly Butterly Delicious

Amul LiteLow fat, low Cholesterol Bread Spread

Delicious Table MargarineThe Delicious way to eat healthy

Milk Drinks

Amul Kool Millk Shaake Amul Kool

Amul Kool Cafe Kool KokoA delight to Chocolate Lovers. Delicious Chocolate taste

Nutramul Energy DrinkA drink for Kids - provides energy to suit the needs of growing Kids

Amul Kool Chocolate Milk

Amul Kool Flavoured Bottled Milk

Amul Kool Flavoured Tetra Pack

Amul Masti Spiced ButtermilkAmul introduces the Best Thirst Quenching Drink

Amul Kool Thandai

Powder Milk

Amul Spray Infant Milk FoodStill, Mother's Milk is Best for your baby

Amul Instant Full Cream Milk PowderA dairy in your home

Sagar Skimmed Milk PowderWhich is especially useful for diet preparations or for use by people on low calorie and high protein diet.

Sagar Tea Coffee Whitener

Amulya Dairy WhitenerThe Richest, Purest Dairy Whitener

Fresh Milk

Amul Fresh MilkThis is the most hygienic milk available in the market. Pasteurised in state-of-the-art processing plants and pouch-packed for convenience.

Amul Gold Milk

Amul Taaza Double Toned Milk

Amul Lite Slim and Trim Milk

Amul Fresh Cream Amul Shakti Toned Milk

Amul Calci+

Cheese

Amul Pasteurised Processed Cheese100% Vegetarian Cheese made from microbial rennet

Amul Cheese SpreadsTasty Cheese Spreads in 3 great flavours..

Amul Emmental CheeseThe Great Swiss Cheese from Amul, has a sweet-dry flavour and hazelnut aroma

Amul Pizza Mozzarella CheesePizza cheese...makes great tasting pizzas!

Gouda Cheese

For Cooking

Amul / Sagar Pure GheeMade from fresh cream. Has typical rich aroma and granular texture. An ethnic product made by dairies with decades of experience.

Cooking Butter

Amul Malai PaneerReady to cook paneer to make your favourite recipes!

Utterly Delicious Pizza

Mithai MateSweetened Condensed Milk - Free flowing and smooth texture. White to creamy color with a pleasant taste.

Masti Dahi

Desserts

Amul Ice CreamsPremium Ice Cream made in various varieties and flavours with dry fruits and nuts.

Amul ShrikhandA delicious treat, anytime.

Amul Mithaee Gulab JamunsPure Khoya Gulab Jamums...best served piping hot.

Amul ChocolatesThe perfect gift for someone you love.

Amul Lassee Amul Basundi

Health Drink

NutramulMalted Milk Food made from malt extract has the highest protein content among all the brown beverage powders sold in India.

Amul Shakti Health Food Drink Available in Kesar-Almond and Chocolate flavours.

Key information related to Amul’s Products :

ButterLaunched in 1955, butter was one of the first milk products offered by Amul. It was also the first time Amul successfully challenged the hegemony of an established brand. Amul's earliest competitor, Polson had been the monopoly milk supplier to the Bombay Milk Scheme. Amul displaced Polson to emerge as the undisputed leader in the butter market...

CheeseGCMMF launched processed cheese in 1959 followed by cheese powder in the early 1970s. In the 1980s the popularity of cheese increased

Ghee, Skimmed milk powder and Baby foodAmul launched ghee (clarified butter) and skimmed milk powder in 1955. Amul Ghee was an instant success...

Milk and UHT MilkAmul was the market leader in the Gujarat whole milk market with a 90% market share in 2002. Apart from supplying milk to parts of Maharashtra and Rajasthan, GCMMF also sold milk to the NDDB owned Mother Dairy in Delhi...

As we can see from the products shown above there is :

• There is product consistency in the product line of Amul as all its products are milk based .

• Amul deals only in consumer goods and not in industrial goods or any other sector.

• In 2001, GCMMF entered the fast food market in India with the launch of vegetable pizzas under the brand name SnowCap in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. GCMMF was also planning to launch its pizzas in other western Indian cities like Mumbai, Surat, and Baroda. Depending on the response in these cities, GCMMF would decide to introduce its pizzas in other cities in India.Amul also decided to bring into market low cost pizzas, The pizzas were offered in four flavours: plain tomato-onion-capsicum, fruit pizza (pineapple-topped), mushroom and ‘Jain pizzas'(pizzas without onion or garlic). It entered the Pizza business, where the base and the recipes were made available to restaurant owners who could price it as low as 30 rupees per pizza when the other players were charging upwards of 100 rupee.supplying jain pizzas shows that it was catering to needs of the masses as in India most of the people are vegetarian.

• SOUPSAmul introduced ready-to-use (just pour and heat) soups branded ‘Masti’ in tetra packs of one liter. To begin with they were introduced in two flavors - Hot ‘n’ Sour and Tomato. Said Sodhi, “It was a test marketing drive in Gujarat and in a month or two it would be introduced all over India.” And there wasn’t much competition for there were not many companies in India that sold ready-to-use soups.Sodhi added, “Soup is a milk product and that’s a secret. You will come to know only when you consume it.” Keeping the ingredients a closely guarded secret, the company stated that one of the reasons to launch soups was to utilize the already installed equipment for tetra packaging

• Amul also brought its range of ice creams into the market . the lucrativeness of this sector was very good and Amul beniffited a lot by entering into ice cream sector.

• Amul is planning to enter into the sector of bottled water.

WHAT ADVERTISEMENT STRATEGY HAS BEEN FOLLOWED BY AMUL-THE TASTE OF INDIA?

Before Amul entered the picture, companies used conventional methods of advertising where the focus was only on the food products and the tone of the pitch was serious. Amul changed the way food products were communicated to the people in India. It always advertised its mother brand – Amul, and not its products like butter, pizzas, or cheese. 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. 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.

Amul has been consistant over the communication campaign and brand strategy. AMUL has positioned itself as " Taste of India " and have ensured that their communication is in line with their positioning strategy

By insisting on an umbrella brand, GCMMF not only skillfully avoided inter-union conflicts but also created an opportunity for the union members to cooperate in developing products

• UMBRELLA BRANDING Amul’s advertising strategy has followed the concept of ‘Umbrella Branding.’ Amul is the common brand name for most of its products across categories. For instance, the Amul girl has also been used to advertise Amul ghee and milk. Its ad campaign ‘Amul doodh peeta hai India,’ conceptualised & created by 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 & across cultures. It is circled around a one day old child who needs milk as much as to a dead man who needs ghee. Umbrella branding can be a successful marketing strategy. However, this depends on having a consistent and clear brand identity across the variants. It also needs to be recognized that, while this approach can help “kick start” variant launches, halo effects are not guaranteed.

Video of utterly butterly delicious final amul\animated butter .mpg

Halo effects can keep a brand “alive” in the mind of the consumer by providing reminders of the brand’s existence. But in an active category with specific category

functionality, the brand also needs to provide consumers with reasons to choose their brand over the others.Halo effects on the parent brand

• Consumer Advertising: This is also called end product advertising .such advertisements are primarily directed at consumers. These are the advertisements which are most prominent as very substantial portion of the total advertising budget is directed to potential buyers of consumer products through mass media. The fact that the number of buyers of consumer items are generally very large and are widely distributed over a large geographically area further , enhances the importance of consumer advertising as a marketing tool. Amul had resorted to consumer advertising as it ‘s target was the middle class of indian sector.but the point to be noted is that they relied more upon emphasizing their brand rather than single product.

Institutional advertising: institution advertising s also called corporate advertising . it’s a public-relation-approach advertising. Amul had wanted to build a goodwill for its brand and also it is always expressing a viewpoint on a controversial issue through the use of billboard which we are going to discuss under media platform used.

Indirect Action Advertising : Indirect action advertising as against direct action advertising does not attempt to bring about an immediate behavioral response . The purpose of Amul was not to bring about an immediate behavioral response but the aim of advertisements was to create a image in the minds of consumer regarding Amul. Amul wanted to build long term relation with its customers that is why it never adopted practice of aggresively selling the product.

Pricing strategy adopted: Thus, AMUL adopted a low price strategy to make their products affordable and guarantee value to the consumer. The success of this strategy is well recognized and remains the main plank of AMUL's strategy even today. The choice of product mix and the sequence in which AMUL introduced its products is consistent with this philosophy. Beginning with liquid milk, the product mix was enhanced slowly by progressive addition of higher value products while maintaining desired growth in existing products. Even today, while competing in the market for high value dairy products, GCMMF ensures that adequate supplies of low value products are maintained. Amul was/is targeting middleclass people so it has always been inclined to keep its price low and at same time it assures of reasonable quality.

Huge ad campaigns are not always necessary, what you need is a genuinely interesting way to interact with your customers, tell them your story and engage them in a conversation, even if you are selling something that is soo commoditized like butter. Thus Amul believed that huge expenditure on advertising was not always

necessary , if an Advertisement has creativity and ingenuity it will achieve its purpose for which it has been designed.

Media Platform Used by Amul ?

Media Planning : It is important phase of advertising campaign after creative strategy that is preparation of the right message. Until and unless , the message is communicated through the right medium to target customers the target is of no use .Amul was also facing the challenge of which advertising media to adopt which should integrate with its objectives which were :

AMUL’s business strategy is driven by its twin objectives of:

(i) long-term, sustainable growth to its member farmers, and

(ii) value proposition to a large customer base by providing milk and other dairy products a low price

Amul has made the use of following media platforms till know :

1. Outdoor media : hoardings/billboards2. Broadcast Media : television 3. Non-broadcast Media : cinema 4. Print media : newspapers ,general interest magazines5. Internet : independent websites ,portals

OUTDOOR MEDIA : HOARDINGS

The cooperative has been making extensive use of hoardings for promoting its flagship brand ‘Amul Butter’ since 1966, and is all set to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest run promotion campaign. The advertisements are in the outdoors category and are communicated through hoardings at busy junctions in all major cities across India.Amul had used outdoor advertising to a good effect with the middle class people as their targets they were able to create an image for their brand in the minds of consumer .

The ads have a central character – a cherubic, wide-eyed, dressed in a polka-dot frock, and blue-haired girl/baby who is perhaps around 4-6 years old. A new ad is apparently created every week and these ads revolve around the latest happening thing (good/bad/ugly) in the country (or local states) and can be anything associated with politics/sports/movies/people/laws/general events etc. The ads are very creative, witty, humorous, whacky and sometimes controversial but invariably elicit a laugh, chuckle or at least a smile from almost everyone who understands the context. The ads relate butter to the topic of the ad in a very amazing & intriguing manner…primarily by playing with words. The words can be in plain English or Hinglish. Mascot advertising ( will be dealt with just after this section)Here are a few advertisements which appeared on hoardings :

The polka dot frock and blue haired girl .

This hoarding was released after the success of movie cheeni kum . the chef in the movie is Amitabh Bachan and the girl alongside her is the girl whom he calls her ‘sexy’. Amitabh Bchan is shown to be suffering from diabetes in the movie as a result of which he should avoid sugar. Amul has used its hoardings to bring the whole episode out by giving it a touch of humour.

This

hoarding was made after the release of the Shahrukh Khan starrer Om Shanti Om . He was talk of the town and every teenager desired to have body like him , this advertisement also adds to the pun.

Shah Rukh Khan Bollywood superstar sings for Indian Premier League (IPL) music video 'Run Just Run' his franchisee IPL Kolkata Knight Riders cricket team - April '08.the girl with guitar is the Amul mascot girl

Harbhajan Singh pet named Bhajji in a disgraceful act of slapping India teammate S. Sreesanth in the opposite team after Indian Premier League cricket match at Mohali, India - May '08

Indian - Dalip Singh Rana popularly known as 'The Great Khali' , a huge and impressive World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) champion wrestler - May '08.They are trying to showcase that to have body like khali eat Amul only.

The recent Amul hoardings which projected Akshay Kumar as the number one hero, rated over Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan, has raised questions in BollywoodThe Amul hoardings recently seen across town, created quite a few murmurs in the film industry. The hoardings projected Akshay Kumar as the number one hero, while the two Khans - Shah Rukh and Aamir - are shown handing out buttered toasts to Akshay with the tagline saying, ‘Singh is King’. Apparently, this running down of their numero uno position has not gone down well with SRK and Aamir.Upset at this unwarranted assessment, an industry insider close to both the Khans said, “There have been spoofs made on films like Taare Zameen Par and Om Shaanti Om, but why are the two actors made to look small in the ad, and on what basis? Whose idea was it to compare the actors and rate them?” We contacted Rahul DaCunha, head honcho of DaCunha Associates, about the concept of this particular ad. He said, “For the moment at least, after the release of Sinngh is King, Akshay was considered to be the number one and people too have accepted him as the number one hero. Even the newspapers clearly declared him as the number one

hero, it’s not as though it’s our take entirely.”But it’s true that there have been rumblings in the industry questioning the concept. DaCunha said, “Nothing has reached my ears so far. Audiences take such ad campaigns more like a joke. People have to be sporting enough to laugh off these matters.”

If we go back to January this year, there was the announcement of the impending launch of India’s smallest (and the world’s cheapest) car. The headline says whether you agree or not (referring to the controversy about whether the car was good for India or not) but the punch lies in the rhyming of the words, Nano and Maano (meaning to agree). As for the sub- head, well!!!

This one appeared when our hockey team failed to qualify for the Olympics. The head line here plays on the word Shock and Chak. Chak De (Go for it!) is a film about hockey and tells the story of how a not-so-good hockey team overcomes all odds to win the World Cup, and is apparently based on a true

story. After the movie there was a lot of hype about it being a great morale booster for hockey in India, but finally, it all came to naught and set some heads rolling in the hockey federation of India.

Popular movies are used as a theme for the Amul ads quite often. This one is a song from the popular movie Jaane Tu…ya jaane na. Basically the song goes: Pappu can’t dance…saala! (Saala is a colloquial term used to address others and it can be used in an evil sense, but in this case it is not used that way). And the ad headline says, Pappu took a chance… khaaliya ! Khaaliya means “he ate it.”’

The ad about Musharuff appeared during the time when Mush had briefly declared Emergency to gag Bhutto and Sharif, but it looks ominous now that Benazir Bhutto is dead and some people suspect that Musharuff had a hand in it. The pun here is on the word Musharaffat as Mu means “mouth” (didn’t get this fully) and sharafat means “decency” and kahan hai means “where has it gone”. Notice the sub-head! For those who don’t know, Amul’s tag line is utterly butterly delicious

Outdoor Advertising through Mascot Advertising

Is there anyone in this country who hasn't seen the Amul ads on the hoardings by the road sides, and not chuckled? The longest running ad, still hasn't lost its charm with its never-changing famous moppet in polka dotted frock and a half pony tied up.

The slogan has always been 'Utterly Butterly delicious'. What is it about the Amul ad that has kept the viewers wanting more? The biggest success seems to be like that of the Common Man, no particular time or period could have frozen this character. It does not belong to an era. It has moved along with time reacting to the new events through time

The answer to the second question is mascot advertising which has been used by Amul like a marketing tool to carve a niche for its brand.

• Mascot Advertising is a very successful concept which is being used in western countries but it is not that successful in India. Amul had taken a gamble with its Polks dot blue haired frock girl and it has paid them rich dividends.

• 50 years after it was first launched, Amul's sale figures have jumped from 1000 tonnes a year in 1966 to over 25,000 tonnes a year in 1997. 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.

• These advertisements had sometimes met up with controversies but still people liked the ;pun element in them.

• The success story of Amul says one thing to all the other ad campaigns that did not manage to last too long or had to get a whole new look in order to stay in the market. Its a mixture of keeping with the times, humor and understanding the need of the hour of the people. Amul boardings are a thing of attractions in India.

• In India, food was something one couldn't afford to fool around with. It had been taken too seriously, for too long. Sylvester daCunha decided it was time for a change of image. The image changeover was required because the earlier advertisements were very routine and boring .

• This use of mascot as a marketing medium highlights the clever use of topical advertising by GCMMF using humor, to generate higher brand recall. It out the utility of hoardings as an effective marketing communications tool for marketers.

• Where does Amul's magic actually lie? Many believe that the charm lies in the catchy lines. That we laugh because the humour is what anybody would enjoy. They don't pander to your nationality or certain sentiments. It is pure and simple, everyday fun.

• The Amul girl who lends herself so completely to Amul butter, created as a rival to the Polson butter girl. This one was sexy, village belle, clothed in a tantalising choli all but covering her upper regions. "Eustace Fernandez (the art director) and Sylvester daCunha decided that they needed a girl who would worm her way into a housewife's heart. And who better than a little girl?".And so it came about that the famous Amul Moppet was born.

• Amul ads are iconic, in that they have not changed in all this time. They are as contemporary today as they were four decades ago when they created a sensation in 1967. The ads were funny, simple and on occasion controversial but always they did their job – they got our attention!! Amul has used the hoardings and advertising to perfection. Taking cues from new films, celebrities, the creatives are fun to watch. More over Amul has sticked with the creative messages throughout

The Amul girl, apart from promoting a $1-billion brand, has been bringing smiles to millions. And this smile has spelt a huge success and changed the livelihood of over 2.5 million Gujarat farmers. The sales figures of Amul butter have jumped from a few lakh rupees in 1966 to over Rs 500 crore now. Apart from rapid growth and trustworthiness, the four-year-old girl has also ensured a virtual monopoly for Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF) that sells Amul brand of dairy products.

• This tells a lot about why big marketing budgets, huge ad campaigns are not always necessary, what you need is a genuinely interesting way to interact with your customers, tell them your story and engage them in a conversation, even if you are selling something that is soo commoditized like butter.

Online marketing efforts undertaken

a. Buying Amul Products Online : As a first step towards Ecommerce in India, Amul is delighted to offer you the cyber shopping experience with a wide range of Amul dairy products in all major cities of India. You can order your favourite Amul Ice-cream at the new Amul Icecream Cyberstore.The "Taste of India" is now a few clicks away from your doorstep.

Amul Products can now be ordered online on the website of our importer www.kanandairy.com

The key benefits of BUYING ON-LINE are:

• Products shipped in a Reusable Attractive Styrofoam Ice US $10.00 Retail Value.

• Receive Free Reusable Ice Pack for keeping food and drinks cold, US $5.00 Retail Value.

• Amul Products delivered at your doorstep overnight, saves time, mileage and parking hassles.

• Receive Amul promotional items with your package like Amul Recipe Book, Butter Girl refrigerator magnet, etc.

• Receive the satisfaction of Eating pure, full-flavored, quality sealed product manufactured fresh in India's most advanced dairy manufacturing facility.

• Get a free family pass for visiting Amul's Dairy Plant in Anand Gujarat.

• Special Offers for Party Orders of 1 or more cartons of any single Amul Product. Ask for special quote.

• Makes you directly eligible to enroll for The Fly Me Home Contest Sponsored By Amul and many more Internet Promotions in the Pipeline.

• No Sales Tax for Internet Sales except for Illinois residents at the Present time.

• Most important, all transactions are powered by AT&T Secure By which ensure complete security.

b. Amul to set up its virtual production facility in Second Life Amul, which established its presence in Second Life in March by setting up its virtual parlour, is now working to expand its presence in the virtual world. Trimensions, a Gurgaon based company, is helping Amul to develop its existence on Second Life. Rahul Dutta, chairman and managing director, Trimensions, says, “Amul is planning to buy eight-10 islands, equal to 160 acres of virtual land, in Second Life to set up

a simulation of its production and distribution facility. The objective behind launching a virtual setup is to demonstrate its functioning to the consumers, and experiment with any change in the production or distribution system virtually before executing it in the real world.”

Screenshot of Amul Ice-cream parlour

Setting up ice cream parlours on Second Life was actually a pilot project. It will take around six months to launch the virtual Amul setup on Second Life. The Amul ice cream parlours showcase topical ads of Amul starting from the late 1990s, Amul TV commercials and product displays.

Second Life is an Internet enabled virtual world in which users can create their virtual identities. These identities can move around, interact and socialise with other users. Members of Second Life can participate in individual or group activities and create and trade items like virtual property and services with each other. A member has to pay for the space he purchases on Second Life. Second Life is developed by Linden Lab, a company based in the US.

c. Amul.tv.com- It showcases short films and Tvc’s related to amul.at this site recipes of favourite Indian dishes are also given.

3.Broadcast media: Television

TV reaches every demographic category and achieves a certain impact with the use of colour , audio and motion. Amul has aired a lot of advertisements for its various product categories .some of the advertisements which we had collected are here .

WHAT WENT WRONG IN AMUL’S ADVERTISEMENTS AND WHERE POSSIBLY THEY COULD HAVE MADE A CHANGE

We are going to discuss this under two heads

• First we would focus on chocolate sector which has not been tapped to fullest by Amul. Amul with its brand name had a huge opportunity to tap Chocolate market but unfortunately it has not yet realised its potential.

• Secondly we are going to talk about pitfalls in advertisements in generally all its advertisements.

What could have Amul done in its advertisements to make its Chocolate sector profitable and competitive ?

• Amul should have use brand Ambassador like Sharukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan etc to attract people of all age groups like Cadbury does through its celebrity endorsements.

• Lack of Awareness among consumers : Main product of Amul are Milk, Butter and Cheese. It has pre dominantly been focusing on these products and lucrative sector of chocolates has been ignored.

• Company should launch chocolates in a new attractive packaging to change image of Amul chocolates in consumers mind.

• Products like Milk, Cheese etc have been positioned to such an extent that the chocolates sector of Amul did not get its proper market share and got underpositioned.

• Company should introduce Sales Promotion measures like free gifts with buy of premium packs

• It should work upon bringing out a new theme for its products. “ for someone you love “ looks more like a theme for cards and greetings rather than chocolate. Video of Amul chocolatesfinal amul\amul chocolate.mpg

• It should work upon improving the taste of its chocolates . instead of using condensed milk for its chocolates it should learn diffirent process of making chocolate.

• It should make advertisements that have strong advertisement appeals. The advertisement appeals should be such that they lead to brand recall.

• The company should make chocolate of Amul as a memorable experience for the customer.

What can amul do to make its other advertisements more attractive and appealing to consumers ?

• Advertisement should be made in such a manner that they have a strong brand recall value

• They should have used more attractive jingles in their advertisements.

• Rather than advertisements covering all the products they should focus on single product advertising. Because if it tries to advertise all its products then it can lead to advertisement clutter . consumer may find it difficult to across this advertisement clutter.

• As we can see the advertisements are not as humorous and are not having pun to that extent as we can see in case of Hoardings.

• The advertisements lack the power to touch the heart of the consumer

COMMUNICATION MIX USED ACROSS

We have already disussed the role of advertising in case of Amul , now we would like to throw light upon :

• Sales promotion • Direct marketing

Amul has not really been into personal selling because it’s aim has been to position its brand and not to approach individual customers. Moreover in case of consumer marketing that is when a product is for the masses then personal selling is not a feasible mode of communicating your product concept to the target audience.

Sales Promotion : The most common objectives of sales promotion are :

To gain additional market share or additional revenue .To expand the target marketTo inform the customer about the new uses of existing product.To develop favourable customer experience with the product.To gain advantageous shelf-space to supplement advertising and personal selling efforts.

Thus there can be numerous objectives of sales promotion .In case of Amul following sales promotion techniques have been used If a customer makes a online request for products he will receive the following promotional offers :

They also cameup with short movie “THE AMUL STORY” of 20 mins to promote and show the life of the employees working in amul and their networks.

• Products shipped in a Reusable Attractive Styrofoam Ice US $10.00 Retail Value.

• Receive Free Reusable Ice Pack for keeping food and drinks cold, US $5.00 Retail Value.

• Receive Amul promotional items with your package like Amul Recipe Book, Butter Girl refrigerator magnet, etc.

• Get a free family pass for visiting Amul's Dairy Plant in Anand Gujarat.

• Special Offers for Party Orders of 1 or more cartons of any single Amul Product. Ask for special quote.

• Makes you directly eligible to enroll for The Fly Me Home Contest Sponsored By Amul and many more Internet Promotions in the Pipeline.

• No Sales Tax for Internet Sales except for Illinois residents at the Present time.

These measures are concentrating on goods other than ice cream. The sales promotion specifically adopted in case of ice creams sector:

1. On every 1 litre purchase of any Amul ice cream get 25% free.2. 1+1 free Family/ Party pack.3. This diwali they brought schemes of getting cache free with 1litre ice cream which

attracted many housewives.

DIRECT MARKETING Amul "Utterly Delicious" Parlours

Amul has recently entered into direct retailing through "Amul Utterly Delicious" parlours created in major cities Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Baroda, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Surat. Amul has plans to create a large chain of such outlets to be managed by franchisees throughout the country. They have created Amul Parlours at some prominent locations in the country, which are run by the company or its wholesale dealers:

1. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation

2. The Somnath Temple

3. National Institute of Design

4. Infosys Technologies in Bangalore, Mysore & Pune

5. Wipro campus in Bangalore

6. L.J. College, Ahmedabad

7. Ahmedabad Airport

8. Surat Municipal Corporation

9. Delhi Police

10.Gujarat State Raod Transport Corporation

11.Jubilee Mission Medical College, Trichur, Kerala

12.Sanjay Gandhi Hospital Parlour, Amethi

13.Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata

14.Cafe Amul, MDG, Gandhinagar

"Amul Utterly Delicious" parlours are an excellent business opportunity for investors, shopkeepers and organizations. In order to come closer to the customer, they have decided to create a model for retail outlets, which would be known as "Amul Preferred Outlets"(APO).These Amul parlours are unique in the sense that they offer all Amul products under one roof. This direct marketing mesure will surely go a long way in establishing Amul further . even a brand like Cadburys isnot having any such outlet where all its products are sold under one roof .

Competitor HLL is also planning to extend Unilever’s retail brand ‘Kwality Walls Swirls’ parlors in accordance with the growing number of shopping malls in India. Amul parlours There are around 3,000 Amul parlours across the country as of now and the Federation intends to take this to number around 10,000 by next year.

Sponsorship of star voice of India

Amul had sponsored the very popular TV show Amul Star Voice Of India

With the clutter of music reality talent hunt shows on television, it becomes difficult to differentiate one from another. TALENT is the key which set AMUL STAR VOICE OF INDIA apart from the rest in its first season and brought singing talents like Ishmit Singh Sodhi, Harshit Saxena, Abhaas Joshi, Irfan Khan, Toshi to the forefront. Amul Star Voice of India has served as the ultimate platform for budding singers from across the nation to realize their dreams, the show went on to become the most entertaining and involving show to hit Indian television. In keeping with its philosophy of offering engaging and distinct content, Star Plus now announces the launch of the second series AMUL STAR VOICE OF INDIA with an even bigger bang!

GEOGRAPHICAL BASIS OF ADVERTISING

Regional

One thing unique about Amul is that the advertisements which are shown on hoardings are never shown on TV.

Otherwise an epitome of India’s largest food brand, it is interesting to note that the Amul girl has always been flying high on the hoardings but hardly seen on television. General Manager, Creatives cannot be easily translated from one media to another. The topicals(hoardings) are created in different languages & pertain to the geographical region they are put in. Every kind of media has different attributes & Amul needs to focus upon that particular media, which brings maximum recognition & effectiveness to the brand. Thus to some extent the hoardings have been use for local marketing that is their scope is restricted to the particular region.

National

Gujarat continues to be the biggest sourcing point for milk. But now raw milk is also being procured from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajashthan, Orissa, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab. Thus other cities are also contributing towards Amul. Urban centres contribute nearly 70% to the company’s revenue while the remaining 30% comes from rural areas

Rural connect : the cooperative way

Cooperatives are deeply entwined with the lives of rural people in India, where there are over 5 lakh cooperative societies with membership exceeding 22 crore. Cooperative way is a natural approach for rural development, as well as for reducing disparities in access to technology. When combined with the potential that Information and communication technology offer, cooperatives could , continue to play an important role in fostering economic productivity and rural growth, with linkages extending to the grassroots level.Thus it can be said that Amul has a strong basis for rural development.

Video of village butterfinal amul\butter village .mpg

INTERNATIONAL MARKETING

GCMMF has a wide range of products in the processed cheese segment. It has also been a pioneer in the specialty cheese market in the country. Its cheese business grew at 18% in 2005-2006. GCMMF exports cheese to the tune of 600 tons, making it the largest cheese exporter in the country. The export market includes the Middle East, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the United States of America; countries that have a large Indian population, and the neighbouring countries of Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal.

Conclusion

Thus this brings us to the end of our project report. I hope that we have been able to bring forth the point for which we had undertaken the project. They had put much efforts on their creativity. Amul is one of the successful business houses and other companies should learn from Amul that how to do their business in a corporately socially responsible manner. Amul has proved a point , Amul uses only 1 percent of its turnover for promotions .This shows that it is not always necessary to spend millions on promotion when you have creativity.

video of al productsfinal amul\amul all produ c ts new .mpg

BIBLIOGRAPHY

www.amul.comwww.amul.tv.comwww.wikipedia.comwww.icmr.comwww.businessline.comwww.rediffnews.com