Amul Brand

A PROJECT REPORT
ON
BRANDS AND BRANDING
OF AMUL
Submitted to University of Mumbai in
Partial fulfilment
Of the requirement of the Degree of
M.COM (BUSINESS MANAGEMENT) PART 1.
Under guidance of
PROF. S.N.CHITALE
SUBJECT
MARKETING STRATEGIES
AND PLANS
VPM S
K.G Joshi College of Arts
N.G Bedekar College of Commerce
Thane (W)
Academic Year: 2014-15
BYANAGHA AJIT PURANIK
Roll No.16

Amul Brand

DECLARATION

Amul Brand
I am ANAGHA AJIT PURANIK studying in MCOM Part-1 hereby
declare that I have done a project on reference to
BRANDING OF AMUL

BRFANDS AND

As required by the university rules, I state that

the work presented in this thesis is original in nature and to the

best my knowledge, has not been submitted so far to any other
university.
Whenever references have been made to the work of others, it
is clearly indicated in the sources of information in references.

Student
(ANAGHA AJIT PURANIK)

Place: Thane
DATE:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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Amul Brand
It gives me great pleasure to declare that my project on BANDS AND
BRANDING OF AMUL have been prepared purely from the point of view of
students requirements.
This project covers all the information pertaining to BRANDS AND
BRANDING . I had tried my best to write project in simple and lucid
manner. I have tried to avoid unnecessary discussions and details. At the
same time it provides all the necessary information. I feel that it would
be of immense help to the students as well as all others referring in
updating their knowledge.
I am indebted to our principal Dr. Mrs. Shakuntala A. Singh Madam for
giving us such an awesome opportunity. I am also thankful to our
coordinator Mr. D.M. Murdeshwar Sir and also librarian and my colleagues
for their valuable support, co-operation and encouragement in
completing my project.
Special thanks to Prof.S.N.CHITALE my internal guide for this project
for giving me expert guidance, full support and encouragement in
completing my project successfully.
I take this opportunity to thanks my parents for giving guidance and for
their patience and understanding me while I am busy with my project
work.
Lastly I am thankful to God for giving me strength, spirit and also his
blessings for completing my project successfully.

INDEX
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Amul Brand

SR.N
O
1.

CONTENTS

PAGE.NO
06

4.
5.
6.
7.

INTRODUCTION TO BRANDS
AND BRANDING
COMPANY PROFILE
AMULS JOURNEY TOWARDS
EXCELLENCE
STORY OF AMUL
DISTRIBUTION NETWORK
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
PRODUCTS OF AMUL

8.

ADVERTISING STRATEGIES

36

2.
3.

9.

COMMUNICATION MIX

10
15
17
22
25
27
44

10.

MARKETING

46

11

48

12

AMUL BRAND MARKETING

STRATEGIES
COMPETITORS

13

SWOT ANALYSIS

51

14

CONCLUSION

53

15

BIBLIOGRAPHY

54

49

Amul Brand

BRANDS AND BRANDING

INTRODUCTION

Brand is the "name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies
one seller's product distinct from those of other sellers."[1] Brands are used
in business, marketing, and advertising. Initially, livestock branding was
adopted to differentiate one person's cattle from another's by means of a
distinctive symbol burned into the animal's skin with a hotbranding iron. A
modern example of a brand is Coca-Cola which belongs to the Coca-Cola
Company.
In accounting, a brand defined as an intangible asset is often the most valuable
asset on a corporation's balance sheet. Brand owners manage their brands
carefully to create shareholder value, and brand valuation is an important
management technique that ascribes a money value to a brand, and allows
marketing investment to be managed (e.g.: prioritized across a portfolio of
brands) to maximize shareholder value. Although only acquired brands appear
on a company's balance sheet, the notion of putting a value on a brand forces
marketing leaders to be focused on long term stewardship of the brand and
managing for value.
The word "brand" is often used as a metonym referring to the company that is
strongly identified with a brand. A commodity brand is a brand associated with
a commodity.
The word "brand" derives from the Old Norse "brandr" meaning "to burn" recalling the practice of producers burning their mark (or brand) onto their
products.
The oldest generic brand, in continuous use in India since the Vedic period (ca.
1100 B.C.E to 500 B.C.E), is the herbal paste known asChyawanprash,
consumed for its purported health benefits and attributed to a revered rishi (or
seer) named Chyawan.This product was developed at Dhosi Hill, an extinct
volcano in northern India.
The Italians used brands in the form of watermarks on paper in the 13th
century. Blind Stamps, hallmarks and silver-makers' marks are all types of
brand.

Amul Brand
Although connected with the history of trademarksand including earlier
examples which could be deemed "protobrands" (such as the marketing puns of
the "Vesuvinum" wine jars found at Pompeii), brands in the field of massmarketing originated in the 19th century with the advent of
packaged goods. Industrialization moved the production of many household
items, such as soap, from local communities to centralized factories. When
shipping their items, the factories would literally brand their logo or insignia on
the barrels used, extending the meaning of "brand" to that of a trademark.
Careful brand management seeks to make the product or services relevant to
the target audience. Brands should be seen as more than the difference between
the actual cost of a product and its selling price they represent the sum of all
valuable qualities of a product to the consumer.
A widely known brand is said to have "brand recognition". When brand
recognition builds up to a point where a brand enjoys a critical mass of positive
sentiment in the marketplace, it is said to have achieved brand franchise. Brand
recognition is most successful when people can state a brand without being
explicitly exposed to the company's name, but rather through visual signifiers
like logos, slogans, and colors. For example, Disney successfully branded its
particular script font (originally created for Walt Disney's "signature" logo),
which it used in the logo for go.com.
Consumers may look on branding as an aspect of products or services, as it
often serves to denote a certain attractive quality or characteristic . From the
perspective of brand owners, branded products or services can command higher
prices. Where two products resemble each other, but one of the products has no
associated branding , people may often select the more expensive branded
product on the basis of the perceived quality of the brand or on the basis of the
reputation of the brand owner.

Brand awareness
Brand awareness refers to customers' ability to recall and recognize the brand
under different conditions and to link to the brand name, logo, jingles and so on
to certain associations in memory. It consists of both brand recognition and
brand recall. It helps the customers to understand to which product or service
category the particular brand belongs and what products and services sell under
the brand name. It also ensures that customers know which of their needs are
satisfied by the brand through its products (Keller). Brand awareness is of
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Amul Brand
critical importance in competitive situations, since customers will not consider a
brand if they are not aware of it.
Various levels of brand awareness require different levels and combinations of
brand recognition and recall:

Most companies aim for "Top-of-Mind". Top-of-mind awareness occurs

when a brand pops into a consumer's mind when asked to name brands in a
product category. For example, when someone is asked to name a type of
facial tissue, the common answer is "Kleenex", represents a top-of-mind
brand.

Aided awareness occurs when consumers see or read a list of brands,

and express familiarity with a particular brand only after they hear or see it
as a type of memory aide.

Strategic awareness occurs when a brand is not only top-of-mind to

consumers, but also has distinctive qualities which consumers perceive as
making it better than other brands in the particular market. The distinction(s)
that set a product apart from the competition is/are also known as the Unique
Selling Point or USP.

Marketing-mix modeling can help marketing leaders optimize how they spend
marketing budgets to maximize the impact on brand awareness or on sales.
Managing brands for value creation will often involve applying marketing-mix
modeling techniques in conjunction with brand valuation.

Brand elements
Brands typically comprise various elements, such as:

name: the word or words used to identify a company, product, service, or

concept
logo: the visual trademark that identifies a brand

tagline or catchphrase: "The Quicker Picker Upper" is associated with

Bounty paper towels

graphics: the "dynamic ribbon" is a trademarked part of Coca-Cola's

brand
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Amul Brand

shapes: the distinctive shapes of the Coca-Cola bottle and of the

Volkswagen Beetle are trademarked elements of those brands

colors: Owens-Corning is the only brand of fiberglass insulation that can

be pink.

sounds: a unique tune or set of notes can denote a brand. NBC's chimes
provide a famous example.

scents: the rose-jasmine-musk scent of Chanel No. 5 is trademarked

tastes: Kentucky Fried Chicken has trademarked its special recipe of

eleven herbs and spices for fried chicken

movements: Lamborghini has trademarked the upward motion of its car

doors

customer-relationship management

Amul Brand

COMPANY PROFILE
THE TASTE OF INDIA, AMUL comes from the Sanskrit word Amoolya,
means priceless. It was suggested by a quality control expert in Anand and it
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Amul Brand
was chosen because it was a perfect acronym for Anand Milk Union
Limited . AMUL was formed under the dairy cooperative movement in
India in 1946.
Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (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. AMUL is the
brand under this organization.
Amul is the largest food brand in India and world's Largest Pouched Milk
Brand with an annual turnover of US $1050 million (2006-07). Currently
Amul has 2.6 million producer members with milk collection average of
10.16 million litres per day. Besides India, Amul has entered overseas
markets such as Mauritius, UAE, USA, Bangladesh, Australia, China,
Singapore, Hong Kong and a few South African countries. Its bid to enter
Japanese market in 1994 had not succeeded, but now it has fresh plans of
flooding the Japanese markets .Other potential markets being considered
include Sri Lanka.
Dr Verghese Kurien, former chairman of the GCMMF, is recognised as
the man behind the success of Amul. On 10 Aug 2006 Parthi G Bhatol,
chairman of the Banaskantha Union, was elected chairman of GCMMF.

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Amul Brand

Company History
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 Co- operative Milk Marketing
Federation Ltd (GCMMF) which is a cooperative organization.

Location
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. For Amul Brand has
started the Revolution White of India which has helped to make the country the
biggest manufacturer of milk and its by products in the whole world. Amul has
around 2.6 million producer members and the total capacity for handling milk is
around 10.16 million liters every day. The brand's capacity for milk drying is
around 594 Mts. each day and its capacity for cattle feed manufacturing is about
2640 Mts. each day.

Product Portfolio
Amul is the biggest brand in the pouched milk sector in the world and in India it
is the biggest food brand. Amul's range of products includes milk, ghee, milk
powders, curd, ice cream, paneer, cream, chocolate, cheese, butter, and
shrikhand.

Brand Umbrella
The various brands of Amul's bread spreads are Amul Lite, Amul Butter, and
Delicious Table Margarine.
The Brand Amul's milk drinks are sold under various names such as Amul Kool,
Amul Kool Cafe, Kool Koko, Amul Kool Chocolate Milk, and Amul Masti
Spiced Buttermilk.
Amul's powder milk are sold under many names like Amulya Dairy Whitener,
Sugar Tea Coffee Whitener, Sugar Skimmed Milk Powder, and Amul Instant
Full Cream Milk Powder.
The brand's cheese are also sold under various names such as Gouda Cheese,
Amul Cheese Spreads, and Amul Emmental Cheese.
Amul Brand's desserts are sold under many names like Amul Basundi, Amul
Lassee, Gulab Jamun Mix, Amul Shrikhand, and Amul Ice Creams.

Business Markets
Amul exports its products to various countries such as USA, Australia,
Mauritius, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, UAE, and Bangladesh.

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Amul Brand

Awards
The Food Brand Amul has received various awards such as the Ramkrishna
Bajaj National Quality Award in 2003, Award International Cio 1000 for
Resourcefulness, and also the Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award in 1999.

Company Financials
The sales turnover of the Brand Amul :Sales Turnover Figures
Year
1999-00
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09

Rs (million)
22185
22588
23365
27457
28941
29225
37736
42778
52554
67113

US $ (in million)
493
500
500
575
616
672
850
1050
1325
1504

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 milkproducing 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.

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Amul Brand
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.
Amuls is Indias 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 its the
same .
In the mid 1950s 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
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Amul Brand
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
1956

Ice
cream
1996

Chocolates
1973

Shrikhand
1980

Fat Free
Nutrauamul Gulabjamun
Dessert
1973
1997
2002
Softy
Mix
2001

Fresh Milk
1956

Milk
Power
1958

Cheese
1962

Breadspread

Ghee
1956

UHT
Range
1980/99

Amulspray
1968

Cheese
Spread
1986

Amul
Butter
1956

Cow
Ghee
2002

Eclairs
2001

Gulabjamun Condensed
mix
Milk
1999
1996

Amul
WMP
1960

Paneer
1997

Amul Lite
1994

Amul
Shakti
2003

Kulfi Mix
Buttermilk
2001
1998

Amulya
1987

pizza
Cheese
1998

Margarine
2004

Chocozoo
2005

Laddoo
2004

fresh Curd
1999

Basundi
2005

Flavoured
Milk
2001

Khoa
2006

Fresh
Cream
2002

Amul IMF Emmental

1&2
Cheese
2001
1999
Instant
FCMP
2002

Frozen
Pizza
2002
Gouda
Cheese
2002
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Amul Brand
Kool Cafe
2005

AMULs Journey towards Excellence

AMULs 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
AMULs efforts was as follows:
1 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.
2 It also changed the supply chain paradigm in order to reduce the cost to the
consumer while increasing the return to the supplier.
3
4 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.
5 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.
6
7 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.

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Amul Brand

The story of Amul

Every day Amul collects 447,000 litres of milk from 2.12 million farmers (many
illiterate), converts the milk into branded, packaged products, and delivers
goods worth Rs 6 crore (Rs 60 million) to over 500,000 retail outlets across the
country.
Its supply chain is easily one of the most complicated in the world. How do
managers at Amul prevent the milk from souring?
Walk in to any Amul or Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation
(GCMMF) office, and you may or may not see a photograph of Mahatma
Gandhi [ Images ], but you will certainly see one particular photograph. It
shows a long line of Gujarati women waiting patiently for a union truck to come
and collect the milk they have brought in shining brass matkas.
The picture is always prominently displayed. The message is clear: never forget
your primary customer. If you don't, success is certain. The proof? A unique, Rs
2,200 crore (Rs 22 billion) enterprise.

Organisation structure
It all started in December 1946 with a group of farmers keen to free themselves
from intermediaries, gain access to markets and thereby ensure maximum
returns for their efforts.
Based in the village of Anand, the Kaira District Milk Cooperative Union
(better known as Amul) expanded exponentially. It joined hands with other milk
cooperatives, and the Gujarat network now covers 2.12 million farmers, 10,411
village level milk collection centers and fourteen district level plants (unions)
under the overall supervision of GCMMF.
There are similar federations in other states. Right from the beginning, there
was recognition that this initiative would directly benefit and transform small
farmers and contribute to the development of society.
Markets, then and even today, are primitive and poor in infrastructure. Amul and
GCMMF acknowledged that development and growth could not be left to
market forces and that proactive intervention was required. Two key
requirements were identified.

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Amul Brand
The first, that sustained growth for the long term would depend on matching
supply and demand. It would need heavy investment in the simultaneous
development of suppliers and consumers.
Second, that effective management of the network and commercial viability
would require professional managers and technocrats.
To implement their vision while retaining their focus on farmers, a hierarchical
network of cooperatives was developed, which today forms the robust supply
chain behind GCMMF's endeavors. The vast and complex supply chain
stretches from small suppliers to large fragmented markets.
Management of this network is made more complex by the fact that GCMMF is
directly responsible only for a small part of the chain, with a number of third
party players (distributors, retailers and logistics support providers) playing
large roles.
Managing this supply chain efficiently is critical as GCMMF's competitive
position is driven by low consumer prices supported by a low cost system.

Developing demand
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.

Introducing higher value products

Beginning with liquid milk, GCMMF enhanced the product mix through the
progressive addition of higher value products while maintaining the desired
growth in existing products.
Despite competition in the high value dairy product segments from firms such
as Hindustan Lever , Nestle and Britannia , GCMMF ensures that the product
mix and the sequence in which Amul introduces its products is consistent with
the core philosophy of providing milk at a basic, affordable price.

The 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

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Amul Brand
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.

Umbrella brand
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.
Amul's sub-brands include variants such as Amulspray, Amulspree, Amulya and
Nutramul. The edible oil products are grouped around Dhara and Lokdhara,
mineral water is sold under the Jal Dhara brand while fruit drinks bear the Safal
name.
By insisting on an umbrella brand, GCMMF not only skillfully avoided interunion conflicts but also created an opportunity for the union members to
cooperate in developing products.

Managing the supply chain

Even though the cooperative was formed to bring together farmers, it was
recognised that professional managers and technocrats would be required to
manage the network effectively and make it commercially viable.

Coordination
Given the large number of organisations and entities in the supply chain and
decentralised responsibility for various activities, effective coordination is
critical for efficiency and cost control. GCMMF and the unions play a major
role in this process and jointly achieve the desired degree of control.
Buy-in from the unions is assured as the plans are approved by GCMMF's
board. The board is drawn from the heads of all the unions, and the boards of
the unions comprise of farmers elected through village societies, thereby
creating a situation of interlocking control.
The federation handles the distribution of end products and coordination with
retailers and the dealers. The unions coordinate the supply side activities.
These include monitoring milk collection contractors, the supply of animal feed
and other supplies, provision of veterinary services, and educational activities.

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Amul Brand

Managing third party service providers

From the beginning, it was recognised that the unions' core activity lay in milk
processing and the production of dairy products. Accordingly, marketing efforts
(including brand development) were assumed by GCMMF. All other activities
were entrusted to third parties. These include logistics of milk collection,
distribution of dairy products, sale of products through dealers and retail stores,
provision of animal feed, and veterinary services.
It is worth noting that a number of these third parties are not in the organized
sector, and many are not professionally managed with little regard for quality
and service.
This is a particularly critical issue in the logistics and transport of a perishable
commodity where there are already weaknesses in the basic infrastructure.

Establishing best practices

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.
In developing these practices, the federation and the unions have adapted
successful models from around the world. It could be the implementation of
small group activities or quality circles at the federation. Or a TQM program at
the unions. Or housekeeping and good accounting practices at the village
society level.
More important, the network has been able to regularly roll out improvement
programs across to a large number of members and the implementation rate is
consistently high.
For example, every Friday, without fail, between 10.00 a.m. and 11.00 a.m., all
employees of GCMMF meet at the closest office, be it a department or a branch
or a depot to discuss their various quality concerns.
Each meeting 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 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 also the implementation of Just-in-Time in
finance to reduce the float.
Kaizens at the unions have helped improve the quality of milk in terms of
acidity and sour milk. (Undertaken by multi-disciplined teams, Kaizens are
highly focussed projects, reliant on a structured approach based on data
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Amul Brand
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.
The most impressive aspect of this large-scale roll out is that improvement
processes are turning the village societies into individual improvement centers.

Technology and e-initiatives

GCMMF's technology strategy is characterized by four distinct components:
new products, process technology, and complementary assets to enhance milk
production and e-commerce.
Few dairies of the world have the wide variety of products produced by the
GCMMF network. Village societies are encouraged through subsidies to install
chilling units. Automation in processing and packaging areas is common, as is
HACCP certification. Amul actively pursues developments in embryo transfer
and cattle breeding in order to improve cattle quality and increases in milk
yields.
GCMMF was one of the first FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) firms in
India to employ Internet technologies to implement 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 have better access to information on the output as well as support
services while providing a better planning tool to marketing personnel.
The author is Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and
Devnath Tripati, Editor of the Asian Journal of Operations Management.

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Amul Brand

Amul's Umbrella Branding and Distribution network strategy.

An umbrella brand is a brand that covers diverse kinds of products which

are more or less related. It applies also to any company that is identified
only by its brand and history. It is contrasted with individual branding in
which each product in a portfolio is given a unique identity and brand
name.

Amul has high brand equity and umbrella branding of Amul has helped
the company in bigger sense. Amulss brand name has helped its other
brands also like Mitahi made, Amul Ice creams, chocolates, Amul Kool
etc. So umbrella Brand, Amul is used to build and offer value to
customers in bigger sense. In literal sense, a company has high brand
equity if it has multi dimensions. Amul has explored various available
opportunities to reach to mass customers. It has opened a community on
public forums like orkut, sponsored events like Amul voice of India etc.
The brand value of Amul will surely help company to maintain the status
of largest food brand in India at least for sometime in future.

Amuls strategy of using umbrella branding has really paid off. Amuls
advertising and marketing spend has never exceeded 1% of its revenues.
Amuls creativesin the form of billboards or the Taste of India
campaignhave always managed to evoke a larger-than-life brand feel,
consistency and spirit of Indian culture in a contemporary way.

22

Amul Brand

Distribution Network

Consumers expect marketers to deliver products in the locations and

forms they require. To meet expectations of such demanding consumers,
alignments of our four Distribution Highways of Fresh, Chilled, Frozen
and Ambient products were already made by introducing Project DIL.
Subsequently, a major initiative was taken to enhance distribution
network to smaller towns. About 1200 distributors in small towns across
India were added during this initiative. Today about 3000 Distributors
ensure availability of our products across India, whether it is in Leh or
Lakshadweep, in Kutch or Arunachal. Simultaneously, to augment fresh
milk distribution in various markets of India, approximately 1400
exclusive Milk Distributors have been inducted.

23

Amul Brand

AMUL has the largest cold chain network in India (i.e. 18000
refrigerators) as compared to any other company. The chemical
components of milk are water, SNF and solids. Milk is very perishable
product so it has to be consumed within 24 hours. In order to avoid
wastage AMUL converts the milk in to SNF and milk solids by
evaporating the water, which comprises up to 60-70% of milk contents.
This is possible only if the distribution channel right from the producer to
the consumer is well organized. It will be surprising to know that AMUL
makes even the Sarpanch to eat pizza i.e. it supplies pizzas even to rural
market.
Last year, theye divided the retail market into 14 specific segments to
achieve further distribution efficiency. This year our focus was on
inducting distributors having expertise in servicing such specific market
segments. This initiative is yielding results by way of ensuring wider
availability of our product range.
The role of distributors in our business process has never been more
diverse or more important, as it is today. As a matter of fact, we consider
our Distributor to be the real Marketing Manager of our organization.
To enhance business performance of our Distributors, a workshop on
Marketing and Sales Management was designed in collaboration with a
premier business school. The objective of the entire initiative was to
upgrade the knowledge of our Distributors in terms of contemporary
Business Management Practices, so that they can perform well not only
as our business partner but also as Marketing Managers. During the year,
659 Distributors have undergone this programme in 39 locations. Cold
Storage is an extremely essential component in the Federations
distribution process. Unfortunately, availability of efficient cold storage
facilities is grossly inadequate in our country. To cope up with the
increasing need of suitable cold stores closer to our markets, we have
continued our endeavour of creating the Federations own cold stores this
year in various locations across the country. We now own 24 state-of- the
art cold rooms of different sizes.

24

Amul Brand
To get an exposure to our cooperative structure, our culture as well as
operational systems and processes, every year we invite our distributors,
major retailers and other business partners to Anand, for Amul Yatra. So
far, about 7000 Distributors and other business partners have participated
in this Amul Yatra.

Over recent years, the Federation has successfully introduced new

product lines. This year, in order to leverage their distribution network
strengths, to optimize market supervision expenditures, to achieve
increasing efficiency while keeping the distribution infrastructure lean,
focused and productive, the Federation amalgamated its different
distribution networks. Today, they operate an efficient distribution
infrastructure consisting of 46 sales offices, catering to 3,000 distributors
and five lac retailers. Almost every Federation stockist has visited Anand
to participate in a unique programme called 'Amul Yatra'. During this
programme, stockists are exposed to the Federation Philosophy, the
culture of Cooperation, as well as operational Systems and Processes. The
Federation has also invited distributor's salesmen from all over the
country to Anand for a training program focused on the Federation's
philosophy and developing their selling skills.

25

Amul Brand

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Amul has Competitive sustainable advantage (CSA) over its competitors.
Amuls CSA lies in its procurement part ,the ability to collect 447,000
litres of milk every day from 2.12 million farmers ,convert them into
goods worth Rs 6 crore and distribute them to 5,00,000 retailers across
country ,is not easy. No other dairy in India has such a sustainable
procurement network.
Managing the large scale supply chain of Amul which begins from milk
producer and ends with supply to customer from retailer is very critical
job. It requires lot of dedication and hard work from all members of the
corporation and also distributors and retailers across country
It is not that Amul had a successful campaign, many of its ads backfired.
One ad meant to target Marathi segment during Ganpati festival had to be
removed under political pressure. In another incident on advertisement in
which Amul girl was wearing Gandhi cap had to be again removed. In
one another incident Amul had aired an ad portraying Hussain as
Heroine addiction, for this Amul was taken to court.
Most of Amuls communication is based on latest happenings in the
country. That is why its ads are termed different from what is that of its
nearest rival, Mother dairy. Most of Mother dairy ads are directly targeted
to children where as Amuls ad are on current affairs, in which adults are
also involved.
The key to retaining their competitive advantage lies in keeping focused
on the basic business principles:
Be Customer-Driven
Adapt quickly to the changing environment.
Anticipate change and act today to meet tomorrow's challenges.
The Federation has invested substantially over the last few years in
improving the quality of its products and services, keeping in mind the
emerging challenges of globalization. In recognition of its
achievements in Quality Management Initiatives.

26

Amul Brand

Their core business is marketing branded food products to household

consumers. Their success has been grounded in two strengths : Distribution network, serving more than five lac retail outlets.
Superior product quality - 'Value for money'
The key to maintaining these two competitive advantages rests on their ability
to attract and retain the very best manpower. In this age of intensive
competition, only dedicated and committed professionals can successfully
manage their business.

27

Amul Brand

Amuls Products
Bread Spreads
Amul

Butter

Amul

Utterly Butterly Delicious

Delicious

Table

Lite

Low fat, low Cholesterol

Bread Spread

Margarine

The Delicious way to eat

healthy

Milk Drinks
Amul Kool Millk Shaake

Amul Kool

Amul Kool Cafe

Kool

Koko

A delight to Chocolate
Lovers.
Delicious
Chocolate taste

Nutramul

Energy

Drink

Amul Kool Chocolate Milk

A drink for Kids provides energy to suit the

needs of growing Kids

28

Amul Brand
Amul Kool Flavoured Bottled Milk

Amul Kool Flavoured Tetra Pack

Amul

Amul Kool Thandai

Masti

Spiced

Buttermilk

Amul introduces the Best

Thirst Quenching Drink

Powder Milk
Amul

Spray

Infant

Milk

Food

Amul Instant Full Cream Milk Powder

Still, Mother's Milk is Best

for your baby

A dairy in your home

Sagar

Sagar Tea Coffee Whitener

Skimmed

Milk

Powder

Which is especially useful

for diet preparations or for
use by people on low calorie
and high protein diet.
Amulya

Dairy

Whitener

The Richest, Purest Dairy

Whitener

Fresh Milk

29

Amul Brand
Amul

Fresh

Milk

Amul Gold Milk

This is the most hygienic

milk available in the market.
Pasteurised in state-of-theart processing plants and
pouch-packed
for
convenience.
Amul Taaza Double Toned Milk

Amul Lite Slim and Trim Milk

Amul Fresh Cream

Amul Shakti Toned Milk

Amul Calci+

Cheese
Amul Pasteurised Processed Cheese

Amul

100% Vegetarian Cheese

made from microbial rennet

Tasty Cheese Spreads in 3

great flavours..

Amul

Amul

Emmental

Cheese

The Great Swiss Cheese

from Amul, has a sweet-dry
flavour and hazelnut aroma

Cheese

Pizza

Mozzarella

Spreads

Cheese

Pizza cheese...makes great

tasting pizzas!

30

Amul Brand
Gouda Cheese

For Cooking
Amul

Sagar

Pure

Ghee

Cooking Butter

Made from fresh cream.

Has typical rich aroma and
granular texture. An ethnic
product made by dairies
with
decades
of
experience.

Amul

Malai

Paneer

Utterly Delicious Pizza

Ready to cook paneer to

make
your
favourite
recipes!

Mithai

Mate

Masti Dahi

Sweetened
Condensed
Milk - Free flowing and
smooth texture. White to
creamy color with a
pleasant taste.
Desserts
Amul

Ice

Creams

Amul

Shrikhand

Premium Ice Cream made

in various varieties and
flavours with dry fruits
and nuts.

A delicious treat, anytime.

Amul

Amul

Mithaee

Gulab

Pure
Khoya
Jamums...best
piping hot.

Jamuns

Gulab
served

Chocolates

The perfect gift

someone you love.

for

31

Amul Brand

Amul Lassee

Amul Basundi

Health Drink
Nutramul

Amul Shakti Health Food Drink

Malted Milk Food made

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

Available in KesarAlmond and Chocolate

flavours.

32

Amul Brand

8 Key information related to Amuls Products :

Butter
Launched 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...
Cheese
GCMMF 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 food
Amul launched ghee (clarified butter) and skimmed milk powder in 1955. Amul
Ghee was an instant success...
Milk and UHT Milk
Amul 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.
33

Amul Brand
SOUPS
Amul 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 wasnt much competition for there were not many
companies
in
India
that
sold
ready-to-use
soups.
Sodhi added, Soup is a milk product and thats 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.

34

Amul Brand

Amul Scooping Parlours

Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), custodian of the
Amul brand is India's largest food products marketing organisation. With its
wide product portfolio GCMMF today has a turnover in excess of Rs. 6700 Cr.
With a singular focus on marketing and distribution, GCMMF today reaches
consumers in all parts of the country.
A state level apex body of milk co-operatives in Gujarat, it has been an
endeavour of GCMMF to provide remunerative returns to the farmers and also
serve the interest of consumers by providing quality products which are good
value for money.
India a booming ice cream market up for grabs

Today ice creams are equally popular among children and grownups. Eating ice creams have become an occasion for celebration. In India alone,
the organised ice cream industry has a turnover of around Rs. 1000 Cr. and the
market is witnessing a booming growth rate of 12-15% annually.
Per capita consumption of ice creams in India is around 250 ml compared to 23
litres in the US, 18 litres in Australia, 14 litres in Sweden and 800 ml even in
neighbouring Pakistan. This presents a huge opportunity for organised players
in the ice cream industry.

Amul - The leader in Ice Creams

Since its launch in 1996, Amul Ice Creams have consistently combated
competition like Kwality Walls, Mother Dairy and other brands. The customers
have shown huge faith in the quality of Amul Ice Creams and today its the No.
1 ice cream brand of the country.
Nearly 4 times as large as its nearest competitor, it is now the only national
brand. Amul has been able to write such a success story because of the quality
of its products, economic pricing and the belief consumers have in the brand.

35

Amul Brand

Amul Ice Creams - Melting point for taste buds

While growing at a phenomenal pace, Amul has always taken

care to offer delectable flavours to all age groups across the society. Over the
years, Amul has added diverse flavours to its range of ice creams so that one can
have variety of choices.
Amul offers a selection of almost 220 products with flavours ranging from
exotic Honey Banana to Kesar Pista and many more. Apart from the delicious
individual novelties Amul also has ice creams for the health conscious. In
January 2007, Amul introduced Sugar Free & ProLife Probiotic Wellness Ice
Cream which was a first in India.
Amul Scooping Parlours

Seize the opportunity to partner with Indias leading Ice Cream

Brand Today people like to spend quality time with their family outside the
home. With increasing income they love to spoil themselves with a variety of
choices.
Keeping up with the latest trend Amul has started Ice Cream Scooping Parlours
across the country. One can enjoy world class ice creams, Sundaes, shakes and
other ice cream concoctions in a cozy and nice ambience at these parlors. Its
fun time for the entire family.
Currently Amul has Scooping Parlours across the country including Mumbai,
Chennai, Delhi, Bangaluru, Thane, Pune, Kolkata, Nagpur, Ahmedabad and
Coimbatore. Apart from these, there are more Amul Scooping Parlours coming
up in different parts of the country.
These Parlours have been well received by customers and are doing upbeat
business.

36

Amul Brand

ADVERTISEMENT STRATEGY FOLLOWED BY AMULTHE 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 interunion conflicts but also created an opportunity for the union members to
cooperate in developing products
UMBRELLA BRANDING Amuls 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.

37

Amul Brand

Amul introduces dairy products for the calorie conscious

For the calorie conscious and the weight conscious users of dairy products
there is some good news from the topmost brand in Indian dairy products
Amul. Its recent introductions include Amul Lite a low-calorie bread
spread and Amul Lite and Trim Milka long life skimmed milk with zero fat
content.
Amul Litelow-fat, low-calorie and low-cholesterol bread spreadis a
healthier substitute for other bread spreads such as butter and margarine which
have at least 26% more fat and calorie content.
The total fat content in Amul Lite is 59% as compared to 80% in butter
and margarine. And, the calorie content in 100 grams of Amul Lite is 531 as
compared to 720 calories in butter and margarine of equal quantity.
Being a low-fat, low-cholesterol bread spread, Amul Lite is particularly
suited to those for whom consumption of high cholesterol and high saturated fat
products are restricted.
Its low-fat and low-cholesterol content reduces chances of heart ailments as
it is low on saturated fat and high on PUFA, Omega-3 and Omega-6 fat contents
which help to maintain healthy cholesterol levels.
It is further fortified with Vitamin A and Vitamin D which help to improve
vision and healthy skin.
For a start, Amul Lite has been introduced in 200gms plastic containers
which cost Rs.32.00 each. The shelf life of Amul Lite is six months under
refrigerated conditions. Amul Lite is produced in ISO-9000 certified fullyautomated plant under strict hygienic conditions and it carries the AGMARK
quality certification.
Amul Lite Slim and Trim Milk is a fresh, long life skimmed milk
processed with Ultra High Temperature (UHT) technology which does not
involve use of any preservatives.
The UHT technology preserves maximum flavour, taste and nutritional
value of milk simultaneously ensuring zero microbial activation.
Protected from air and light through aseptic packaging system, Amul Lite
Slim and Trim Milk offers a shelf life of 6 months without refrigeration.
Amul Lite Slim and Trim Milk is rich in proteins, vitamins and minerals of
natural milk with zero fat and cholesterol content.
It is available in 1 liter, 500ml and 200ml tetra packs.
Amul is the brand name of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing
Federation Limited (GCMMF) which revolutionized the production and
distribution of diary products in India and became a model for development of
dairy cooperatives in India.

38

Amul Brand
The brand name has become so popular that today the cooperative is
recognized by its brand name. According to data provided by the cooperative,
the Amul milk processing plants have a handling capacity of 10.16 million
liters per day and the turnover of the cooperative for the year 2006-2007 was
42,778 million rupees or 1,050 million US dollars.
Amul has an amazing range of dairy products which include butter, bread
spread, a variety of cheese, sweets, fresh milk, fresh cream, ghee (clarified
butter), infant milk and milk food, milk powder, condensed milk, diary
whiteners, curd products, ice creams, chocolates, malted milk food (brown
beverage), flavoured milk, cold coffee and health beverage.
Amul is the largest exporter of Indian dairy products with a Trading
House status. It exports ghee, butter, curd products, sweets, brown beverage,
infant milk food, cheese, malai paneer and long life milk and fresh cream to the
United States of America, gulf countries and Singapore.
Recently, Amul embarked on a direct retailing venture by creating Amul
Utterly Delicious parlours in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Baroda, Delhi, Mumbai
and Surat.

39

Amul Brand

ADVERTISING
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 . its 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.

40

Amul Brand
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.

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 :
AMULs 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.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Outdoor media : hoardings/billboards

Broadcast Media : television
Non-broadcast Media : cinema
Print media : newspapers ,general interest magazines
Internet : independent websites ,portals

41

Amul Brand

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 mannerprimarily by playing with
words. The words can be in plain English or Hinglish. Mascot advertising
( will be dealt with just after this section)

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.

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.
42

Amul Brand
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.

43

Amul Brand

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. 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 Tvcs 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 .
44

Amul Brand

45

Amul Brand

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 its 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 ofcommunicating 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 market
To 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

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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.

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MARKETING :

DIRECT MARKETING
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:
"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 Unilevers 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,
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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!

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.

AWARDS:
AMUL VIDYA AWARDS 2010
Amuls vision is to see an educated, talented and strong youth in a developed
India of the future and thereby contribute towards nation building. We at Amul
believe that the sound education of its youth is the foundation of every state.
Hence it is the most basic constituent for a developing nation like ours. Towards
this philosophy, Amul Vidyashree & Vidyabhushan Awards have been instituted
to recognize the brilliance of the students across India as well as the quality of
education & guidance imparted by the schools they study in. The inception of
these awards dates back to 2004-05. Since last five years, GCMMF has
recognized 35,000 merit rankers from 30 central and state education boards pan
India.
Amul Vidyashree & Amul Vidyabhushan Awards consists of the following:
A Memento
A Certificate of excellence
A Gift hamper of books
DVD: Amul India Story

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Amul Brand Marketing Strategy.

Brand Strategy Umbrella Brands.Amuls Strategy Of Using Umbrella Branding
Has Really Paid Off Amuls Moralist For Single Umbrella Branding Dropped
Their Single Umbrella Brand Strategy In read more about Brand Strategy
Umbrella Brands
New Marketing Strategies By Amul Milk And Tata Tea Making Waves .Indias
Introduction To Convenience Packs Started Through Two Food Products Milk
And Tea
AMULs Best Practices Umbrella Brand Strategy The GCMMF Skillfully
Avoids Interunion Conflicts Through This Strategy By Giving Every Union And
Subbrand The Opportunity To read more about Amul
Marketing Practice Amul The Taste Of India Utterly Delicious Too.What I Like
Most About The Amul Brand Is That They Have Been Consistant Over The
Communication Campaign And Brand Strategy AMUL Has Positioned Itself As
Taste Of India.

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COMPETITORS
Amul vs. Nestle vs. Mother Dairy: Indian Grown Dairy Products
Difference between Amul, Nestle and Mother Dairy
India has the largest and fastest milk and milk products market in the world. If
the growth of this sector is extrapolated, it is observed that in the next ten years
production will increase to about three times todays numbers. India produces
milk with the lowest cost at around 40 cents per litre. Amul, Nestle, Britannia,
Mother Dairy are some of the major companies that produce milk and milk
products in India. However, factors such as lack of adequate amount of fodder
and unavailability of veterinary doctors have reduced the yield of milk per
animal. This article compares Indias three popular dairy organisations Amul,
Nestle and Mother Dairy.

Organisation
Nestle S.A. (Switzerland) runs its subsidiary in India with the name Nestle
India. It has setup seven factories throughout the country. Apart from India,
Nestle S.A. operates in eighty five other countries. Nestle originated in 1905
and is named after Henri Nestle. It grew rapidly during World War I. Amul is
based in Gujarat. Its basically Gujarat co-operative milk marketing federation
(GCMMF). It has won various national awards which includes the Rajiv Gandhi
National Quality Award and the Ramakrishna National Quality Award. Mother
Dairy is owned by National Dairy Development Board of India (NDDB). It was
established in 1974 and is an ISO certified organisation.

Products
Nestle offers its products in four categories viz. Milk products and nutrition,
prepared dishes and cooking aids, beverages, and chocolates and confectionary
products. Milkmaid, Nescafe, Maggie, everyday, Polo, Kit-Kat are some of its
very famous brands. It has a total of six thousand brands. Amul delivers milk,
butter, ghee, ice creams, cheese and so on. Its turnover was 67.11 billion Indian
Rupees in 2008-09. It has over 50 products on the Indian market. Mother Dairy,
on the other hand, in addition to its milk products, offers the Dhaara - range of
edible oils and Safal range of fresh fruit juices. It has around two hundred
thousand outlets across the India.

Production and Earnings

In 2009, Nestle recorded a net profit of CHF 10.43 billion. A major poriton of
this came from Europe and America, with 16% coming from Asia. Mother
Dairy markets around 2.8 million litres of milk everyday with a market share of
66% percent in the branded sector. It has its main market in Delhi, Hyderabad,
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Saurashtra and Mumbai. Amul has milk handling capacity of 11.2 million litres
per day and recorded a sales turnover of $1,504 million (US) in 2008-09.

Amul
Gujarat co-operative milk marketing federation (GCMMF) owns Amul.
Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award and Ramakrishna National Quality Award
winner. Amul delivers milk, butter, ghee, ice creams, cheese etc. and has over
50 products. Amul has milk handling capacity of 11.2 million litres per day.

Nestle
Nestle S.A. (Switzerland) runs its subsidiary in India with the name Nestle
India. It has a total of six thousand brands. In 2009 Nestle recorded a net profit
of CHF 10.43 billion, 16% of which was from Asia.

Mother Dairy
Mother dairy is owned by National Dairy Development Board of India
(NDDB).
It was established in 1974 and is an ISO certified organisation.
Also offers Dhaara - range of edible oils and Safal range of fresh fruit juices.
Mother dairy markets around 2.8 million litres of milk everyday.

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SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths:
Demand profile: Absolutely optimistic.
Margins: Quite reasonable, even on packed liquid milk.
Flexibility of product mix: Tremendous. With balancing equipment, you can
keep on adding to your product line.
Availability of raw material: Abundant. Presently, more than 80 per cent of milk
produced is flowing into the unorganized sector, which requires proper
channelization.
Technical manpower: Professionally-trained, technical human resource pool,
built over last 30 years.

Weaknesses:
Perishability: Pasteurization has overcome this weakness partially. UHT gives
milk long life. Surely, many new processes will follow to improve milk quality
and extend its shelf life.
Lack of control over yield: Theoretically, there is little control over milk yield.
However, increased awareness of developments like embryo transplant,
artificial insemination and properly managed animal husbandry practices,
coupled with higher income to rural milk producers should automatically lead to
improvement in milk yields.
Logistics of procurement: Woes of bad roads and inadequate transportation
facility make milk procurement problematic. But with the overall economic
improvement in India, these problems would also get solved.
Problematic distribution: Yes, all is not well with distribution. But then if ice
creams can be sold virtually at every nook and corner, why cant we sell other
dairy products too? Moreover, it is only a matter of time before we see the
emergence of a cold chain linking the producer to the refrigerator at the
consumers home!
Competition: With so many newcomers entering this industry, competition is
becoming tougher day by day. But then competition has to be faced as a ground
reality. The market is large enough for many to carve out their niche.

Opportunities:
"Failure is never final, and success never ending. Dr Kurien bears out this
statement perfectly. He entered the industry when there were only threats. He
met failure head-on, and now he clearly is an example of never ending
success! If dairy entrepreneurs are looking for opportunities in India, the
following areas must be tapped:

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Value addition: There is a phenomenal scope for innovations in product
development, packaging and presentation. Given below are potential areas of
value addition:
Steps should be taken to introduce value-added products like shrikhand, ice
creams, paneer, khoa, flavored milk, dairy sweets, etc. This will lead to a greater
presence and flexibility in the market place along with opportunities in the field
of brand building.
Addition of cultured products like yoghurt and cheese lend further strength both in terms of utilization of resources and presence in the market place.
A lateral view opens up opportunities in milk proteins through casein, caseinates
and other dietary proteins, further opening up export opportunities.
Yet another aspect can be the addition of infant foods, geriatric foods and
nutritionals.
Export potential: Efforts to exploit export potential are already on. Amul is
exporting to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, and the Middle East. Following
the new GATT treaty, opportunities will increase tremendously for the export of
agri-products in general and dairy products in particular.

Threats:
Milk vendors, the un-organized sector: Today milk vendors are occupying the
pride of place in the industry. Organized dissemination of information about the
harm that they are doing to producers and consumers should see a steady
decline in their importance.
The study of this SWOT analysis shows that the strengths and opportunities
far outweigh weaknesses and threats. Strengths and opportunities are
fundamental and weaknesses and threats are transitory. Any investment idea can
do well only when you have three essential ingredients: entrepreneurship (the
ability to take risks), innovative approach (in product lines and marketing) and
values (of quality/ethics).
The Indian dairy industry, following its delicensing, has been attracting a large
number of entrepreneurs. Their success in dairying depends on factors such as
an efficient yet economical procurement network, hygienic and cost-effective
processing facilities and innovativeness in the market place. All that needs to be
done is: to innovate, convert products into commercially exploitable ideas. All
the time keep reminding yourself: Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity, but
it was the man who invented the meter that really made the money!

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Conclusion
Thus this brings us to the end of MY project report. I hope that I 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. Amul brand management strategy
is effective with the help of affective advertisement of the utterly butterly girl,its a
longest advertisement and longest campaign since 1967, it was very affective as the
success is also reflected in the sales as the sales of Amul butter has jumped from
less than INR 1 million in 1967 to over INR 5 billion in 2007. Over the last forty
years, the basic structure of the campaign has remained the same with the Amul
girl holding out her favorite packet of butter. Amul sales doubles every year, the
biggest headache is its distribution & supply chain. Amul Umbrella Branding and
Direct Marketing gives a good platform to build and for the growth of the business
of amul.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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

www.Indiainfoline.com
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WWW.GOOGLE.COM.

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