IMC Activity Choose ONE brand (product or service) and describe each of the 6 co
ID: 400026 • Letter: I
Question
IMC Activity
Choose ONE brand (product or service) and describe each of the 6 components of the brand’s IMC Campaign (cover all 6 components for 1 brand)
Submit descriptions of examples of each component of the company’s campaign:
– Advertising – magazine, newspaper ads
– Public relations - editorials, newspaper articles
– Sales promotion – coupons
– Personal selling – point of purchase material
- Direct Marketing - mail, e-mail, mobile marketing
- Online Marketing - website, blogs, social media
Cite your sources.
Explanation / Answer
Here we will write about the IMC Activity of the company named “AMUL”.
About AMUL: Amul is the most successful Indian brands in the FMCG industry. Amul in the past years was known for creating white revolution in India and now it has made India the largest producer of milk and milk products all across the world.
Formed in 1946, the company is managed by the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd., which today markets its business with more than 750 employees with jointly 3.6 million milk producers in Gujarat alone. The credit goes to Dr. Verghese Kurien, founder-chairman of the GCMMF who brought White revolution to the country and served the country for more than 30 years and made Amul a great success.
Amul is the oldest dairy brand in India and has become a household name in India. The brand led the Indian dairy industry and ranked India number 1 on the global level. As the increasing population needs more dairy products, Amul and some other giants in the dairy industry like Verka, Sudha, Paras, Mother Dairy are fulfilling the daily needs of the people.
AMUL advertises regularly in all leading magazine, all major newspaper ads across India. 52 years and innumerable puns later, Amul's ads are still a dish to savour.
They have UNIQUE way of advertising by mean of a cartoon featuring a girl. The Amul girl was created when it was common for companies to come up with a mascot to help illiterate Indians easily recognise their products. It has been more than 50 years and innumerable puns later, Amul's ads are still a dish to savour. People wait for those.
Cartoons featuring everything from a pink and round-faced Donald Trump to cricket and Bollywood have been delighting Indians for half a century with pun-filled takes on the world's biggest news stories.
The colourful ads, which play on English and Hindi words, have been running for 52 years on billboards, newspapers and now most regularly on social media, striking a chord with educated, mainly urban Indians.
Almost every topic is cheekily covered: from political controversies to corruption scandals, sporting triumphs and failures, movie blockbusters and the lives of celebrities.
Deaths are dealt with more solemnly, in black and white.
You can see AMUL ads in on road side hoarding, leading newspaper like times of India, Economic Times, The Hindu, Business Today, etc.
The "Amul Girl" was conceived in an agency called Advertising and Sales Promotions led by Sylvester daCunha, soon after it was appointed by Dr Verghese Kurien, head of GCMMF and father of India’s "White Revolution" – the world’s biggest dairy development programme. The first Amul billboard was created by daCunha and art director Eustace Fernandes. In 1969, daCunha Communications was formed and the account moved to the new agency.
Now it is a regular feature on every billboard, newspaper/ magazines in India.
It’s not easy to establish yourself with a mark of brand, being unique in your own way is key to success.
Amul is the perfect example. It has been setting high standards for Indian advertising since it’s inception.
The Amul girl came into existence to compete with the Paulson Girl in 1915. Paulson was a butter and coffee brand. Later, the company placed a girl’s cartoon (Paulson Girl) in their advertisement. Amul wanted to come up with a better advertisement.
Utterly Butterly Delicious -Amul!
Whether it is on the TV, a newspaper or a hoarding, everywhere in Amul’s commercials, a ponytailed special girl wearing a frock came to be seen. This Amul mascot who lives in the center of Amul’s ads is now 51 years old. In the advertisements, the Amul mascot talks about every major issue in her words in a spontaneous manner. Whether it is IPL fixing, women empowerment, whether there are electoral issues or a recent surgical strike. She has a knack to turn even the most serious issues into witty one-liners.
Amul entered into an agreement with Advertising Agency Advertising and Sales Promotion (ASP) to create its advertisements in 1966. ASP Managing Director Sylvester Dakunha and art director Uates Farnadis wanted to do something that would attract all the homemakers of the country. Then Dr. Verghese Kurien, the then chairman of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Limited, gave the idea of creating a small cartoon. In October, the first advertisement for the Amul Girl sitting on a horse in Mumbai (Bombay) was released. People liked it very much.
It had instant popularity! These advertisements started focusing on the current issue in 1968. They wanted to increase its scope. When Hare Rama, Hare Krishna Movement started in Mumbai in 1969, Amul wrote in their advertisement, ‘Hari Amul, Hari Hari’ The meaning of Hari (hurry) in English means to ‘hurry up’ and in Hindi, it was addressing Lord Vishnu. People took this hands-on creativity very well. After its success, Amul bases its advertisements on every social and political issue.
There are mainly two major competitive advantages of Amul over other brands. First is the supply chain,the large numbers of dairy suppliers has given a tremendous strength and reliability to Amul’s supply chain. That’s how Amul produces such high volumes. The second competitive advantage is the wide product portfolio. That makes Amul possibly run Amul shops and also have its products present in retail.
Amul showcases immense creative advertising on almost every occasion. Mocking the political scenario or the judicial system, satirizing the loss of the Indian cricket team, Amul makes its way the best way. Amul speaks through its advertisements. Amul’s creative pictures say a thousand words!
Lately, Amul has started promoting new releases and spreading awareness about issues relating to the film world then. Amul maintains its watch on the government orders and has even been successful in being able to stop the government from selling alcohol from base card to high side!
Amul recently started an initiative of 24-hour ATM machines, or Any Time Milk machines, which is India’s first milk vending machine to help the masses. Milk pouches are kept in automatic dispensing machines below 4 degrees, containing 150 milk pouches of 300ml each. The machine is designed to sense only INR 10 currency notes which is the price of each pouch. These vending machines are anticipated to dispense other dairy products from the house of Amul in the near future. Each of these machines is operated by a differently-abled person to provide employment opportunities for all kinds of people in the organisation.
Amul always tried to provide their products at the best price. Its presence in every nook and corner has made it approachable in each house. They have not invested too much on Television advertisements. Rather they now prefer to use social media for their promotion and increase their presence. The brand actively uses two major social media platforms Facebook and Twitter. Recently it has used great graphics and videos for the Rio Olympics 2016.
Amul on Facebook has been able to attract more than 1 million fans with their winning content tool. Earlier they used banners, posters to promote their brand but with the social media coming in action, they leveraged it to their business and utilized it effectively. The whole business promotion revolves around the butter girl to create content which centered about the latest happenings. It presents the post in a very different way to attract the users and create buzz among the youth.
It also hosts various competitions on Facebook. It launched a campaign “Meme You” to send a message to their fans with a message to create meme to spread the message “Eat milk with every meal”.
However the content on twitter remains same as on their Facebook page, they have managed to get a huge twitter follower of around 55K. The brand has become able to surpass many namely Indian brands. Amul never leaves an occasion without tweeting with great interacting graphics and content.
The brand has always accepted the feedback from the customers and never left their customers with an unpleasant experience. They take their customers voice seriously and have accepted their mistakes on this social platform whenever required. This has made their presence on Twitter more reliable and respectable.
Without stepping in the hardcore marketing, Amul has made its way of success. It is now a household name in the Indian families with their wide range of dairy products. With many big players in the dairy industry, Amul is the only name which is on everyone’s lips for dairy products. It has contributed the most in making India number 1 in milk production. However with the change in time, Amul has not changed their trademark “Amul Girl” that seems to be lucky for the brands promotion and success. In their each and every promotional campaign, this “Amul Girl” can be seen. Using the “Amul Girl” on its social media platform, Amul has been able to attract more number of customers to their social media pages resulting in increase in their business.