The Utterly Lovable Amul
- Tribute from a raving fan , Sandeep Bangia
This article was published by the Economic Times Brand Equity dt 5th August 2020
The lockdown times have tested the fortitude of individuals, of families, of relationships, of organizations and of also brands. We’ve seen iconic organizations and brands fall by the wayside and succumb to the crisis at the first sign of distress. This says a lot about the character of the organizations and the brand. One of my favorite brands however Amul has not just survived but has also outdone itself on all counts. Amidst the COVID related lockdown, Amul has truly stamped its place in the hall of fame yet again and has endeared itself to the fans in these tough times. The brand has consolidated its dominance in a crisis like COVID.
Amul competes with different brands across categories even within the diary and milk products sector – brands like Cadbury’s, Nestle, Mother Diary, HUL and other titans. Amul is a leader in almost all these categories and has nothing to prove in terms of mere numbers - revenue, volumes, market-share etc, it’s already there. It also leads the category in the softer aspects of the brand with its honest, trustworthy, value for money positioning. No wonder that Amul regularly features in the line-up of the Top 10 most trusted brands in India. The tagline ‘Taste of India’ is an amazing unifying factor for the brand in some sense invokes a feeling of patriotism. Amul has a simple value proposition – Great value for money and great quality.
However, in challenging times like these, the brands’ resilience gets tested. So, once you have numbers in your bag and the consumers’ trust on your side, what do you do next - well you just cement your position to catapult yourself to the stratosphere. That’s a happy place where the only challenge to your position is your own limitation to growth and not another competitor.
And how do you do this – Communicate with your customers to enhance your appeal, engage with your audience to connect beyond the transaction, demonstrate compassion to form powerful bonding with the stakeholders and innovate to stay ahead for the market to follow. Amul has outshone itself in all these departments and how!
Communication to stay in touch: Amidst the COVID related lockdown, Amul has been one of the more visible brands. Amul rode on the popularity of the epic tele serials Ramayana & Mahabharat. They unleashed a campaign consisting of ads under the ‘Amul Classics’ tag which were a series of old advertisements. This was interspersed with the new ad-clips and new products. This ensured that the audience across the age spectrum was engaged. The older group connected with the classic ads through sheer nostalgia and the younger lot connected with the new slick ads.
Audience engagement: The Amul girl has been weaving her own magic during these days, appreciating working women who were Working from Home, mourning the loss of celebrities, reflecting the national anti-China sentiment in the wake of the Galvan valley standoff and so much more. However, what takes the cake (literally) is the hugely successful Amul FaceBook live program #SimpleHomemadeRecipes. This program which was initiated during the lockdown goes live for 4 times in a day. They invite chefs from popular restaurants, hotels, Bakeries, catering institutions and others to showcase their craft. The chefs use the wide range of Amul products to create Simple Homemade Recipes from the convenience of their home or hotel kitchens. Each capsule with #SimpleHomemadeRecipes is about 30minutes and is live – lending full credibility to the recipe and process. Amul also had these ‘Cook with the chef sessions’ where upto 1000 patrons from across the world prepared dishes along with the main Chef. Hats off to the Amul team for collaborating with over an astounding 2000 prominent chefs to engage over 750Mn viewers worldwide…all of this while the rest of the world was reeling under the impact of Lockdown. Dishes were meant to be simple and the viewers can make these as they watch too. Adding a stamp of trust to the brand which is amongst the most trustworthy brands in the world just reinforces the positioning. This is probably one of the best Digital Engagement campaigns I have witnessed and propels the brand several notches up. I have personally benefitted from #SimpleHomemadeRecipes program as my 10yr old twin daughters cooked up a few recipes and have now become adept with it.
Demonstrate Compassion: During lockdown, when other private milk companies stopped procuring from farmers, milk unions associated with Amul procured an extra 35 lakh litres of milk per day. This in turn helped the farmers and of course bumped up production for Amul. Such progressive measures are not just good for business, but also good for trust building amongst consumers and community as whole.
Innovate to stay ahead: Constant innovation is one of the qualities of a dominant brand. Stay relevant and contemporary is the mantra. Amul has a product range of over 300 products and if that was not enough, they have launched a few products in the last few weeks. Amul launched the Ginger and Tulsi variants of flavored milk in cans to add to the Haldi variant. This was meant to boost immunity and help in fighting COVID. Recently Amul has also launched Panchamrit (a blend of honey, sugar, curd, milk and ghee) for the temple going devotee as hygiene becomes pivotal amidst the pandemic.
To put this in perspective - launching a new product in the food category is not easy and to do that with the restrictions of lockdown bearing upon them - extremely creditable. The process normally involves, prototype creation, sensory evaluation, Nutritional assessment, customer evaluation, product aesthetics, Production planning, packaging designs, branding and finally the launch and sending to the shop shelves.
Amul, at over ₹ 52000cr is a formidable brand. What is even more creditable is that the brand was painstakingly built on the core values of trust, perseverance, compassion & value for money by folks who understood consumer behavior and acquired knowledge from the grassroots (not taught at Harvard). Amul aims be a mind-numbing ₹ 1Lakh cr brand in just the next 5 years and I wish them all the best for this lofty ambition.
Not that they need it, but they’ll will find raving fans like me celebrating at every milestone they cross in their journey towards establishing a truly Global Indian brand. Keep up the great work Amul !
