Anand Milk Union Limited (AMUL) is an Indian dairy state government cooperative society situated in Anand, Gujarat.
The Amul cooperative was established on December 19, 1946, in response to the underhand practises of small-town traders and agents toward marginal milk producers.
The co-operative union began with just two village dairy co-operative societies and has now grown to be India’s largest food product marketing organisation, thanks to the Founder Chairman Tribhuvandas Patel and manager Dr Verghese Kurien.
Dr Kurien initiated “Operation Flood”, also known as the “White Revolution” a program with the objective of increasing milk production while both increasing rural incomes and keeping prices within reach for customers through the expansion of the cooperative movement.
Amul went on to become the world's top producer of milk and dairy products. Amul's top product line includes milk, cheese, paneer, yoghurt, milk-flavoured drinks, milk powders, ghee, butter, and milk chocolates. Amul cooperative's group had a turnover of Rs 61,000 Cr in FY22 and is the world's seventh-largest dairy organisation.
Beginning of Amul’s Advertising
Amul hired Sylvester da Cunha, the general director of an advertising firm, to produce an ad campaign for Amul Butter in 1966.
The Amul Girl was created by the art director Eustace Fernandes, her initial advertisement characterised the product as "utterly butterly delicious."
The very first billboard ad featuring the Amul girl mascot received an overwhelming response from viewers of all age groups.
Typically, Amul’s commercial would be about current events, ranging from politics to sports. The Amul girl would be tailored to that environment, with a snappy one-liner in her opinion that certainly struck a nerve with the audience.
Amul has been featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for holding the world's longest advertising campaign.
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Branding- The Umbrella way
The goal of a brand in marketing is to create trust and loyalty with its customers. A strong brand purpose establishes an identity for the company and differentiates the company from competitors.
Amul’s marketing strategy is Umbrella branding wherein it markets all of its products from milk, cheese, and ice creams to chocolates under a single brand name. The marketing strategy of Amul to use Umbrella branding helps it to focus on promoting a single brand rather than running multiple campaigns for different products.
For a company to successfully adopt the umbrella model, it must have consistent branding characteristics.
The Amul Girl and her famous phrase, 'The Taste of India' has been the brand's consistent tagline. The brand did not change every year or even in a couple of years and has stayed intact ever since it was created.
This has helped Amul's success of one product within an umbrella brand translate into public goodwill for the other new products. Amul was able to keep its marketing and advertising costs within just 1% of the total revenue.
Amul Low-Cost Pricing Strategy
Amul has consistently met the demands of all social economic groups without sacrificing the quality of its products.
Most Amul products like milk, ghee, cheese, and butter, which are consumed regularly and cover a huge market segment, are offered at prices lower than the competitors.
Since Amul has a diverse portfolio of products and has consumers across all age groups Amul was able to sustain itself despite offering a lower price for the daily use products.
Amul follows a low pricing strategy for daily-use products and uses competitive pricing for expensive dairy products. Amul started with daily-use products like milk and followed it with the addition of higher-value dairy products at regular intervals.
Amul competes with other brands in the high-value dairy product section but ensures it maintains its strong position in low-value daily-use products.
The cost of transportation, storage and distribution has increased over the years but considering its value for the average Indian consumer, Amul products are still priced at an affordable rate.
Amul’s Digital Marketing Strategy
Amul has forayed into digital marketing and established its presence with quirky campaigns similar to that of its billboard ad campaigns. To spread awareness and establish a connection with their audience, they have dabbled in social media and digital platforms.
They began a digital shift in 2014 when they unveiled their first ad campaign on YouTube. Following that, they have actively entered into social media and digital platforms to raise awareness and communicate with their audience in real time.
The Amul TV channel on YouTube produces cooking video content with a #simplehomemaderecipes tagline engaging an active community of 493K subscribers.
On Instagram, the brand has 409K followers and actively posts about current affairs with the Amul girl theme and produces reels of cooking videos to keep their customers engaged.
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The brand’s Twitter handle is quite active with 360K followers wherein “The Amul Girl” shares her takes on all current affairs with snappy one-liners.
The Amul girl and its motto, Taste of India, remain their original identities in digital marketing campaigns too.
Amul’s take on ChatGPT… the AI that answers questions conversationally!
Marketing Mix of Amul
A marketing mix refers to a comprehensive marketing plan with a focus on multiple areas as opposed to fixating on one message.
A company's marketing mix defines how it distinguishes itself from the competition using the combination of products, pricing, places and promotions.
These four elements are commonly referred to as the “four Ps” and have a strong dependency between them.
Products
Amul is a well-known dairy product brand with a wide range of dairy products in its product line. Amul's product tree includes milk, cheese, paneer, yoghurt, milk-flavoured drinks, milk powders, ghee, butter, mithai mates and many more.
Although many companies provide dairy products, none compare to Amul's extensive selection. Amul continues to engage in research and development, and as a result, seeks to deliver varied products for different customer groups. Indian families now associate Amul with all things dairy, which may be identified by the Amul logo.
Pricing
Amul's pricing strategy combines competitive and low-cost pricing. For frequently used dairy products like milk, ghee, and curd, Amul is following a low-cost strategy where they sell these goods for less than their competitors do.
Amul has a competitive pricing strategy for high-value dairy products keeping the costs in line with those of its competitors.
Promotion
Amul is one of the few companies that has had successful marketing from the beginning. The Amul girl, which was designed by Eustace Fernandes, was a notable and entertaining advertising character.
Current events are regularly included by Amul in their advertising, in a humorous way that captures the viewers ’ attention.
Amul is one of the few companies to have the longest-running and most successful ad campaigns. Amul never spends more than 1% of its revenue on promotion since it might affect product pricing.
Place
Amul uses two different channels to produce its products and distribute them to customers.
- Acquisition Channel
Amul collects milk directly from the villages and rural co-operative organisations, which is subsequently sent to industrial facilities to create various products.
2. Distribution Channel
Amul's wide network of distributors aids in the efficient distribution of its goods throughout the nation.
The products are transported to business depots, from which point they are distributed to wholesale sellers, and eventually to independent retailers.
Amul's extensive distribution network, which reaches nearly every region of our nation, is one of the main reasons it can dominate in a market that is so unstable and crowded with competitors.
Even though the final product distribution involves a lot of transportation, Amul consistently manages to ship its goods to all regions of India.
Focusing on a marketing mix helps organizations make strategic decisions when launching new products or upgrading existing products.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
- What is the full form of Amul?
Amul stands for Anand Milk Union Limited (AMUL), a cooperative brand managed by Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF).
2. What is the target market of Amul?
Amul targets consumers from all age groups, from toddlers to late 70s, and all income groups.
3. What’s the pricing strategy of Amul?
Amul adopted a low-price strategy to make their products affordable and guarantee value to the consumer.
4. Which advertising is used by Amul?
Amul adopted Umbrella Branding as it's primary strategy where all of its products from milk, cheese, and ice creams to chocolates under a single brand name.
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