AMUL Ads- The Taste of Advertising

World’s Largest Distribution Network, Most Trusted Brand in Food & Beverages Sector, India’s Top Brand; yes, you guessed it right, it’s AMUL.

It all began in December 1946, in Gujarat, at a then small place known as Anand. Started as a dairy co-operative movement, a brain child of Dr Verghese Kurien; Amul has now grown into one of the biggest food brands in the world. Amul products are today available in more than 40 countries including USA, Japan, China and the Gulf.    

It is not only the milk production by Amul that is astonishing, but equally significant is the build-up of Amul as a Brand, that has been achieved over the years; through simple and imaginative advertising. Created in 1966 by Sylvester daCunha, the “Amul baby”, a girl in polka dotted dress; has been Amul’s mascot throughout. Initially the mascot was used only for Amul butter, with the tagline “Utterly butterly delicious Amul”. Over the years, the mascot has been used on all Amul products; though the advertising campaign is primarily for Amul butter.

                 

 The advertisements by Amul have always been well-liked by the people. The political and social comments, made through their advertisements, have been acclaimed by the masses. Highlights of Amul’s advertising campaigns can be considered to be:-

1)                  Hoardings Only: Amul advertisements are seen only on billboards and outdoor hoardings. These hoardings are selected in the prime locations of every city to catch the attention of maximum passers by. Every week a new ad is put up on the hoarding, and many people actually look forward to these ads. Amul has seldom used other media for its advertisements. Recently, newspapers have been used in some cities for Amul ads.

2)                  Simplicity:  Amul ads are very simple to understand. Mostly, the idea is expressed in only one sentence or phrase. The implied meaning of the tagline is easily grasped by the reader.

3)                  Humor:     The manner of the message in all the Amul ads has a light, happy mood attached to it. Even the most serious of issues are addressed in a very humorous way, which find easy connectivity (acceptability) with the audience. In fact, Amul ads can be surely regarded as great works of satire across all walks of life.

4)                  Continuity: The structure and format of the ad is the same always. The “Amul baby”, always in the ad, represents the masses and their sentiments. This continuity gives the campaign a cohesive look.

5)                  Adaptability: The ads modify/adapt the original tag line “Utterly butterly delicious Amul”, to suit the context of the ad. The theme of the modified tag line is such that it still goes well with various characteristics of butter.

AMUL ads, surely know, the “taste of India”.

           

'Ad'-ing value to brands

Advertisements on television have always been fascinating. They make audiences sit up and notice the product. We still remember certain ads which were aired many years ago. Like the Cadbury Dairy Milk ad, where the girl comes dancing on to the cricket field; and the Fevikwik ad in which a guy puts a stick in water and catches 4-5 fishes in one attempt.

In the past few years, we are witnessing a trend where a comprehensive ad campaign is being launched on television to market a product. Multiple ads, which promote the campaign line, are aired on television. These ads show multiple instances to prove the campaign line true and ensure that it remains in the minds of audiences, for a longer duration of time. The most popular of these campaigns has been the Vodafone’s ZooZoo campaign. Launched for the first time in April 2009, the campaign has been voted as the best ad campaign in many surveys.

The above discussed trend in television advertising seems to have gained significant popularity, in the past year or so. Many brands in different sectors like telecom, beverages, automobiles etc. have implemented ad campaigns on these lines. While most of these campaigns have been popular, some have not struck the right note with the audiences. Let us have a look at some of the campaigns, which have been highly appreciated by the audiences.

(a)               Brand: Maruti Suzuki. Tag line- “kitna deti hai?” The campaign successfully targeted the Indian mentality of “a country obsessed with mileage”. Instances of people asking mileage for space rockets, cruise liners and even military tanks were shown.

(b)               Brand: Tata Docomo. Tag line- “Keep it Simple, silly.” The campaign has Ranbir Kapoor as the brand ambassador, posing as a stand up comedian. The different services offered by the mobile service provider were shown through stand up performances given by Ranbir Kapoor.

(c)               Brand: Pepsi. Tag Line- “Change the Game.” The campaign was launched just before the 2011 Cricket World Cup and was on air for the complete duration of the tournament. The innovations in cricket like Helicopter Shot by MS Dhoni, Palti Hit by Kevin Pietersen etc were linked to Pepsi’s tag line of Change the Game.

(d)               Brand: Ceat. Tag Line- “When the streets are filled with idiots…” The campaign advertised for bike tyres with better grip by Ceat. It showed different instances on Indian roads, when the rider has to put sudden breaks, to avoid accidents; which, is a regular occurrence. Instances like manhole left open on the road, kid walking out on the road while mother is busy with shopping etc are shown.

(e)               Brand: Airtel. Tag Line- “Har ek friend jaroori hota hai…” The campaign advertised for its special plans and rates by relating it to different situations in which youngsters are caught up, and how a different friend helps in each of those problems; like the Kanjoos friend (friend gives missed call to cops) and Lifesaver friend (waiter at a restaurant acts as a lifesaver by reducing bill)

Many more campaigns have come up, similar to the above mentioned campaigns. The Idea Cellular 3G campaign, the Idea Cellular “Get Idea” campaign for mobile number portability, Vodafone’s “Happy to Help” campaign are a few examples. All of them have had an impact on the audiences and connected with them.

A tale of two City(s)

In August 2008, a year after Barclay's became the title sponsors for the English Premier League, the football league was renamed as the "Barclay's Premier League", or the BPL; as it is more popularly known. In the same year, two clubs started a new journey in the league, namely, Manchester City and Stoke City.

Manchester City had just been taken over by the Abu Dhabi United Group, which promised huge cash-inflow into the club coffers. On the other hand, Stoke City had just been promoted from the 1st division of English football. Manchester City have spent around ₤400 million in the last 3 seasons to move to the top of the league, while Stoke City have quietly made their way to the top half of the table. The two teams seem to be completely disconnected, but a closer view reflects on how these two teams have provided; two significantly different models in building a football club.

Manchester City, have splurged the cash to get the best players from different European leagues, in its attempt to reach the pinnacle of BPL. The owners have broken all records in the transfer markets, year-after-year, to assemble a squad which boasts of the cream of European football. Robinho, Carlos Tevez, David Silva, Sergio Aguero, being just a few names from this star studded line up. The depth in the squad is highlighted by the fact that in the Carling Cup 2011 quarter-final against Arsenal, when Manager Roberto Mancini decided to rest 10 first team players; even the second-string team had players who could walk into their respective national teams, on any given day.

While it is admirable to have so many stars in one team, it can be argued that Manchester City is trying to cover up for a weak academy structure. The club can rarely boast of a single player in the first-choice team, on a regular basis, who has graduated from the club's academy. Also, with so much money being offered, players have started throwing tantrums at the manager; which we can never imagine happening to Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger.

On the other hand, Stoke City has taken steady steps since being promoted to the top flight of English football in 2008. Manager Tony Pulis has built a squad which has many players coming in from the club's academy and a few signings to strengthen the squad. The club signings have been very moderate, ₤60 million, since 2008. The club seems to have a realistic plan in place, to reach the pinnacle of English football and challenge the Big Four. While the club tried to avoid relegation in its first season, it built its squad to earn a place in the top half of the Premier League. Last year, the club qualified for the Europa League by finishing 8^th in the league table. The club has built a strong culture and has established its supremacy at its home ground. The Britannia Stadium is a fortress of Stoke City, where even the teams like Arsenal and Manchester United have had tough outings. Simultaneously, the club has improved its away form also.

In an interesting match up, Manchester City and Stoke City came face-to-face in the final of FA Cup in 2010-11 season. Though Manchester City ran out 1-0 winners to lift the trophy, the spirit and effort shown by Stoke City in this match, made it a hard earned win for Manchester City. A team valued at billions was challenged by a team built over years of hard work and planning.

Both the models of building football clubs, have met with success as of now. While Manchester City are at the top of the Premier League standings in the 2011-12 season till now, Stoke City have qualified for the knock out stages of Europa League; and continue to be in the top half of the Premier League table. It's in the long run, that we'll see, which school of thought, pays higher and lasting dividends.

Facebook is not free!!

           From now on, Facebook will not be free; and don’t be surprised about it. With many governments across the world deciding to regulate content on social networking websites, the ‘free’-dom of expression on Facebook and other similar websites; will cease to exist.

                               

            With Indian government deciding to follow in the footsteps, similar to that of China and Pakistan, the ideas and thoughts of an individual will be blocked from social networking websites; if the content is found to be offensive. The government says that content will be regulated in order to avoid, offending the sensibilities of people and communities.

           

            The fact of the matter is, ‘offensive content’ is an extremely subjective interpretation. While no opposition party in any democracy would oppose people expressing anti-government or anti-minister views on Facebook; the same content would be classified as ‘offensive’, by the government.  At the same time, Facebook posts and pictures upholding the slapping of a politician by a common man would be hailed as offensive by all the politicians across party lines; because it will ‘hurt’ the sensibilities of “political community”.

            Also, it is difficult to comprehend, how does the government expect the website owners to regulate the content. One of the virtues of this new medium is its viral nature. When things happen real-time, it is bound to happen that an “offensive” thought is “liked” by many users before it is blocked by the website owners. By then, the user has been able to successfully get his/her idea across to like-minded people. The government has also said that heavy fines will be levied on websites which publish objectionable content. It means, that a medium which provides a platform for free speech to the people, will be reprimanded for not actually supporting, but only airing the “offensive” views.

It is observed that the medium of social networking, like other resources, is often abused by its users. In that case, there should be self introspection and regulation by the users of the medium; but it definitely doesn’t call for the regulation of content by the government. It will almost be like the government penalizing a newspaper editor for his strong editorial views regarding a government policy or decision.

           Just like the government expects restrain from people, in expressing their views on Facebook and other websites; it should understand that the people are also bound to expect “something” from the government, its ministers and its other representatives. So, should we come up with a ‘code of conduct’ for the government and impose heavy fines on offenders. Why not?