Amul Final

Mradul Raj Pachouri 08BS0001794 Neha Shrivasta 08BS0001938 Shruti Chhabra 08BS0003193 Shashwatendra Singh 08BS0003097

Table of Contents ROLE OF AMUL AS A BRAND.......................................................................................3 Why is AMUL a Successful brand?..............................................................................4 BRAND EQUITY...........................................................................................................6 BUILDING A BRAND EQUITY........................................................................................8 1.

BRAND LOYALTY..............................................................................................10

2.

BRAND AWARENESS.......................................................................................10

3.

PERCEIVED QUALITY.......................................................................................12

4.

BRAND ASSOCIATIONS....................................................................................13

GROWING AND SUSTAINIG BRAND EQUITY..............................................................13 1.

BRAND EXTENSION.........................................................................................13

2.

SUBBRANDING................................................................................................14

MEASURING BRAND EQUITY –SOME MODELS & TECHNIQUIES.................................17 Young & Rubicam’s Brand Asset Valuator (BAV)......................................................18 Strategies over time to maximize Brand Equity.......................................................20 References...............................................................................................................26

ROLE OF AMUL AS A BRAND Brands provide multiple sensory stimuli to enhance customer recognition. For example, a brand can be visually recognizable from its packaging, logo, shape, etc. It can also be recognizable via sound, such as hearing the name on a radio advertisement or talking with someone who mentions the product. Customers who are frequent and enthusiastic purchasers of a particular brand are likely to become Brand Loyal. Cultivating brand loyalty among customers is the ultimate reward for successful marketers since these customers are far less likely to be enticed to switch to other brands compared to non-loyal customers. Well-developed and promoted brands like AMUL make product positioning efforts more effective. The result is that upon exposure to a brand (e.g., hearing it, seeing it) customers conjure up mental images or feelings of the benefits they receive from using that brand. The reverse is even better. When customers associate benefits with a particular brand, the brand may have attained a significant competitive advantage. AMUL has established a successful brand and has extended the brand by adding new products under the same “family” brand. Such branding allows AMUL to introduce new products more easily since the brand is already recognized within the market.

AMUL “The Taste of India” was born in 1946 and christened in 1955.Starting with milk and milk powder, the AMUL brand today covers a range of dairy products —from chocolates to cheese and ice-cream and, of course, butter-the

AMUL can lead to financial advantages through the concept of Brand Equity in which the brand itself becomes valuable. Such gains can be realized through the out-right sale of a brand or through licensing arrangements. If a brand’s value is to be judged by the ease with which it can be recalled, then AMUL’s marketing campaign wins hands down. AMUL’s utterly butterly campaign won many awards and accolades and entered Guinness World Records as the longest running campaign. AMUL was the first brand which used Chubby, sweet looking four year old girl to speak for the brand unlike conventional ads which used to feature only young sensational looking models to advertise and pull crowd.

But what’s kept the brand going all these years………………. For this, the kudos goes go the adaptable nature/strategy of AMUL towards “changing taste buds of their consumers”. From milk powder to cheese, from pro biotic ice-creams to energy

drinks, AMUL offers some qualitative product at affordable price. Even sometimes before the market is ready (Jaldhara-the packaged drinking water) & faced failures as well. The strategy of umbrella branding that also helped establish their brand firmly in people’s minds. The best part is that they did not spend more than 1% of their turnover for marketing, compared with 7-8% (spent) by most of the food and consumer product companies,” which can be seen ,that the same girl was used for advertising for a long time. Why is AMUL a Successful brand? Route through Villages With more than 70 per cent of the population residing in rural areas, no strategy could have been successful if it does not place adequate emphasis on rural India AMUL collected milk from villages and provided financial help to the villagers to have maximum output. They stressed on packaging and hired American firm for impressive packaging, like colours, graphics and adding nutritional value to its every product, including butter. For instance: Otherwise people only knew that, all that butter has is Fat and is not good for health or Cheese for that matter. But it was AMUL that educated people that there is more to cheese than FAT. It showed that cheese has only slightly higher fat than Cottage Cheese (Paneer) and only one third of Ghee. This increased the consumption of cheese in household, unlike earlier times when mothers used to avoid cheese due to fat. Efforts like this didn’t only increase the consumption of AMUL (products) but also got some feeling attached with it. Because of Amul, India became largest milk producing nation from deficit. AMUL has always cared for its employees, especially farmers; AMUL played active role in protecting farmers from economic exploitation, which was very much high in Europe. Also, GCMMF decided to set up AMUL Preferred Outlets across the country, so that the middleman does not make money at the expense of farmers or customers. This ways they built long term relationship with both customers and suppliers. What helped AMUL in building such long term relationship customers- in terms of Quality; Value for money & Availability.

Quality: No brand survives long if its quality does not equal or exceed what the buyer expects. In the case of a food product, this means that the brand must always represent the highest hygienic, bacteriological standards. It must taste good, and it must be good and AMUL has a very low record of sour milk or milk products due to its effective technology used in logistics. Value for money: If customer buys an AMUL product, he gets what he pays for, and more. They, have kept prices fair and done their best to ensure that retailers do not gain at the consumers or farmers’ expense. AMUL opened its own store-AMUL Preferred Outlet. Availability: A brand should be available when and where the customer wants it. There is no benefit achieved in creating a positive brand image, and then being unable to supply the customer who wants to buy it. In AMUL’s case, over the years they have built what is probably the nation’s finest distribution network reaching hundreds of cities and towns through a cold chain that not only ensures that products are available, but they reach the customer at the farthest end of the country with the same quality as one would find in Ahmedabad or Bangalore. Some more strategies being discussed in later in the project

Advantages to AMUL -Being a Strong Brand Brand extension- probability of accepting the new product is high Difficult for new entrant to come in the industry & make a significant place - Mother Dairy is able to make significant impact in the market but that is more because of better distribution network  Can command a premium price- First, the vision of AMUL is not produce profits for shareholders but returns to the farmers who invest in land and animals. Secondly, completion makes it difficult to have the premium as well  

"Brand equity is the unique set of real and/or perceived distinctions attached Cycle showing how the strong brand equity is to a brand by exploited customers…. Brand equity lives only in context the In the of heartsAMIUL and minds of with increase in sales, customers." - Brandt awareness increases in and Johnson

return profitability, which in turn provides more products & better infrastructure

BRAND EQUITY Brand equity is a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol that

add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or to that firm’s customers. The successful brand whose equity endures is a combination of category, consumers, action and competition. As Brand Line states- AMUL’s fundamental equity in the butter segment is unparalleled. Even if AMUL stops advertising for the next 11 years for its butter, it will still reign. The word of mouth on AMUL is terrific. The word of taste is terrific. So is the word of emotion. Generations have enjoyed this butter, and AMUL butter is quite like the friendly old quilt in the house. Today, there is no doubt that AMUL is a part of the world market. As everywhere else, the market trend in India is towards the growing importance of fresh products. The coming years will see increasing volumes being generated from fresh milk, Long Life Milk, curds and the like. Because their milk procurement and processing capacity is unparalleled in the country and the region and because they have a brand equity that is unsurpassed in the food business sector. AMUL must constantly create and update their competencies in these products so as lead, set and exceed market expectations.

BUILDING A BRAND EQUITY From the traditional branding point of view, the brand building process is best represented by the Brand Equity model (Brandt and Johnson, 1997) as following Figure:

There are also several other models and descriptions of the product or service branding process. While they may differ in approach, a common thread of understanding runs through all of them. We have therefore condensed them into something called the brand-building matrix.

Applying the major steps in the branding process (as explained by Brymer), we come up with the following: • •

•

The cooperation and involvement of representatives of governments, business, farmers and consumer. Determining and carrying out an image perception audit both nationally and internationally. Design a program to make the strategy tangible through improvement programs and campaigns Figure: The Brand-Building Matrix If we observe in context of AMUL, all the above three points got involved in the branding EXPERIENCE QUALITY • Customer perceptions • Tastes & levels of service • Customer service • Ingredients & raw materials used • Actions of sales & delivery people etc. etc. • Product/service durability • Brand evolution over the years, • Guarantees and warrantees changes to any aspect of the brand • Cutting edge technology must reflect the changing market demands IDENTITY COMMUNICATION • Strong & visible • PR & Advertising strategies • Memorable names • Quality letterheads & writing • Logos & colors materials. • Sponsorships • Internet presence • Packaging etc. • News Releases, sponsored press • Shelf position & display articles etc. • Vehicle displays and branding • Other verbal and non-verbal means • Corporate uniforms used in communicating process of AMUL. The daCunha Communications is the Agency that has given a face to brand AMUL. The daCunha Communications has been handling the campaign since its promoter Sylvester daCunha bagged the account in 1966. daCunha created the moppet and also inked the tag line ‘Utterly Butterly Delicious AMUL’ .In one of its first advertisements in late 1960s, the girl wearing a white apron was called ‘Taste Tube baby’ , referring to the developments in medical science. Since then, the AMUL girl has never looked back. The campaign has been able to reach this stage solely because of the relationship that the client and agency enjoy.

According to David A.Aaker, there are five categories of assets that underlie brand equity that are described as following:

Brand Loyalty Name Awareness Perceived Quality Brand Association

1. BRAND LOYALTY The brand loyalty of the customer base is often the core of a brand’s equity. If customers are indifferent to the brand and, in fact, buy with respect to price, convenience, and quality with little concern to the brand name, there is likely little equity. If on the other hand, they continue to purchase the brand even in the face of competitors with superior features, price, and convenience, substantial value exists in the brand and perhaps in its symbol and slogans. AMUL was founded on a sound business model: providing quality products to consumers at an affordable price. Their business model is often described as "value for money" and it has been adopted by a number of companies. While imitation may be flattery, most other organizations fail to understand that "value for money" is not just about low prices - it means offering the best quality products at the most reasonable price. As a cooperative, their faith requires that they safeguard the interest of two major stakeholders - the farmers - and the consumers whose loyalty is essential to their continued success. Hence, one fundamental rule they followed is: Stick to the core benefits of the brand. ‘Commonality of benefit is a must.’ The AMUL brand name is an integral part of their success since it communicates the core values of AMUL. 2. BRAND AWARENESS Brand recognition is the basic first step in the communication task. It usually is wasteful to communicate brand attributes until a name is establishes with which to associate the attributes. Figure: The Value of Brand Awareness

a. Anchor to which other associations can be attached The associations such as round eyed, chubby cheeked AMUL moppet, AMUL Logo, Quality, Taste, are linked to the AMUL’s name via products.

b. Familiarity-Liking

•

Recognition provides the brand with a sense of familiarity- and people like the familiar. This makes it a dominant brand, a brand that is usually at the “top of the mind” especially in case of Butter.

a. Signal of Substance/Commitment Name awareness can be a signal of presence, commitment, and substance, attributes which can be very important for consumers. The logic is that if a name is recognized, there must be a reason-such as: • AMUL has been in the business for a long time. AMUL stands for richness of milk and the Utterly Butterly AMUL values associated with AMUL Butter for over half a century gave AMUL Cheese instant place on the shelves. • The brand ‘AMUL’ is successful-used for different products. As mentioned earlier the AMUL brand name is an integral part of their success since it communicates the core values of AMUL.

1. PERCEIVED QUALITY Perceived quality can be defined as the customer’s perception if the overall quality or superiority of a product or service with respect to its intended purpose, relative to alternatives.

Differentiate/Position: AMUL is a household name in Indian homes, when one thinks of AMUL one reminds of AMUL butter with its polka dotted butter girl, famous for its longest running advertisement campaign “utterly butterly delicious AMUL” . Now the positioning of AMUL is “Taste of India” which is still consistent with previous campaign. Most of AMUL’s 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 AMUL’s ad are on current affairs, in which adults are also involved. Price: Another strategy of AMUL’s has been to position the ice-cream in the lower price range. The ice-cream’s value-for-money proposition was an important factor in its success. In their effort to ensure that all sections of their society are able to afford AMUL Butter, they have given special emphasis to low unit value packs, in their marketing effort. Channel Member Interest: The brand loyalty and commitment of their Wholesale Dealers and Retailers, is also something that makes it possible for their products to reach consumers in the remotest parts of our country. It has created value for everyone in value chain, be it customers or farmers. 2. BRAND ASSOCIATIONS Brand Association of AMUL with dairy products is very strong making new entrants difficult to break the mould and get into consumers mind and then the refrigerator. AMUL has become a generic brand. Other brands may be attempting to break the clutter which is very difficult. AMUL had virtually no competition in the cheese market for over a decade. And when Britannia entered this market AMUL’s share of the market fell almost by half says market analysts. The associations such as Round eyed, chubby cheeked AMUL moppet, AMUL Logo, Quality, Taste, are linked to the AMUL’s name via products. AMUL’s association with milk has also given it an edge in the ice-cream market. AMUL icecream – Real milk, Real ice-cream – rapidly climbed to number two position in just a short span of three years.

GROWING AND SUSTAINIG BRAND EQUITY 1. BRAND EXTENSION As the movement spread in the district, it was found that the Bombay Milk Scheme could not absorb the extra milk collected by the Kaira Union in winter, AMUL set up a plant to process

milk into products like butter and milk powder. It is taking steps both to deepen their market penetration as well as to accelerate its growth. ‘Sucessful brand extensions are those which focus on a trend, build upon and stay consistent with the overall equity of the core brand,’ says Professor Das Narayandas, Harvard Business school. Figure: Growing and Sustaining Brand Equity

AMUL has high brand equity and umbrella branding of AMUL has helped the company in bigger sense. AMULs’s brand name has helped its other brands also like Mitahi made, AMUL Ice creams, chocolates, AMUL Kool etc. , though AMUL is still struggling to make its mark with chocolates. 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. a. Product Development: 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. The use of a brand name established in one product class to enter another product class, have been the core of strategic growth for a variety of firms, especially during the past decade. Line Extension: Beginning with liquid milk, the product mix was enhanced slowly by progressive addition of higher value products while maintaining desired growth in existing products. AMUL has used the parent brand for launching new products that targets new market segment within the product category that AMUL already serves. Exception to this is Delicious Table Margarine does not use Brand AMUL Butter and AMUL lite in the Bread Spreads category. Category Extension: AMUL mostly uses the brand name AMUL to enter a different product category altogether or a name close to AMUL. For example: When AMUL forayed into Health drinks it named its product as NutrAMUL.

b. Market Development: The strategic thrust placed on opening AMUL Parlors since 2002 has

now started yielding the desired results. AMUL Parlors will enable them to •

•

Counter the potential threat from competitors. Increase the visibility of the AMUL brand in the retail market.

• •

Interface directly with consumers Provide an ideal platform to showcase their entire range of products.

1. SUBBRANDING

The network of AMUL 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, and mineral water is sold under the Jal Dhara brand ( Jaldhara failed & Dhara is now under Mother Dairy) • Fruit drinks bear the Safal name. ( Safal is now under Mother Dairy) • By insisting on an umbrella brand, GCMMF not only skillfully avoided inter-union conflicts but also created an opportunity for the union members to cooperate in developing products.

1. BRAND HIERARCHY

MEASURING BRAND EQUITY –SOME MODELS & TECHNIQUIES

Two understand how to design & implement a brand equity measurement & management system; first we need to take a look at the brand value chain as shown in the picture below.

Brand Value Chain is a means by which marketers can trace the value creation process for their brands to better understand the financial impact of marketing expenditure & investments; it offers a holistic integrated approach to understand how brands create value BVC works on several premises. Primarily, it assumes that value of the brand resides with the customers. In BVC, value creation happens at different stages explained below: Stages Theoretically AMUL Stage1 Firms investment in Annual expenditure in Marketing program marketing ( advertising, targeting actual or billboards, etc.), Parlors potential customer Stage 2 Associated marketing From “The taste of India” activity that effects to “Where is the doodh, customers mind set-what Dude?” customer know & feel about the brand “Indian-ness” attached to AMUL Stage 3 Mindset of the customer, Sales revenue of AMUL in turn produces brand performance in the place – how much customers pay , what price they pay Stage 4 Market capitalization, Returns to the farmers Stock price who invested in AMUL.

The ability to create value at different stages is depends on its qualitative aspects which is measured by the multipliers as shown in the figure above. According to BVC, source of brand equity arise from customer mindset. Therefore, measuring sources requires understanding what customers know, think, and feel about the brand. This basically focuses on to measure various aspects of Brand awareness & Brand Image that can lead to differential customer responses making up brand equity. Different conventional market research techniques can be used get consumer responses. For instance: Free Association where customers are asked several questions to find their association with the brand. In context of AMUL Stages Questions Stage 1 What does AMUL name mean to you? Or Tell me what comes to your mind when you think of AMUL butter/or any other product? Stage 2 What do you like best about AMUL? What do you dislike? What do you find unique about AMUL? How does it different from other brands? Stage3 Who uses AMUL? When & Where you use the AMUL? In the case of AMUL, the questions like above will give mixed responses as AMUL uses umbrella branding. The response of a customer who uses AMUL Butter Could be different from the person who uses AMUL Chocolates.

Young & Rubicam’s Brand Asset Valuator (BAV) There are many techniques organization uses to measure brand equity. The one which is globally renowned is Young & Rubicam’s Brand Asset Valuator (BAV). BAV measures brands on five fundamental measures; and grouped as shown BRAND STREGTH Differentiation: the degree to which a brand is seen different shows from others. Future Financial Energy: the brands ability to meet future customers needs Performance Relevance: measures how important the brand is to the customers

Esteem: measures how well the brand is liked Knowledge: measure how intimate & familiar consumers are

BRAND STATURE shows Current

with the brand.

Performance

Once the measurements are collected they are put in the Power Grid for analysis as shown below

Growing/Curiosity – iPod – Xbox – Crate & Barrel – New/Indifference – Blackberry – CompuServ

Leadership/Irresistibility – Coke – Microsoft – Sony Eroding/Fatigue – Honeywell – 7-Eleven

High BRAND STRENGTH

Low Low High BRAND STATURE

Strategies over time to maximize Brand Equity A journey of AMUL which stated with the rift between Polson & Tribhuvandas Patel and later had battles with Nestle over condensed milk & with Glaxo over baby food made AMUL enough experienced in the dairy industry. THE NAME: Picture this, a country that just got independent from the clutches of Britain & striving to find its own ground. In such days selection of the word “AMUL” itself had more ‘swadeshi’ element which connects every Indian. So selection of a brand name itself is a strategy which has significant impact in long

run. AMUL is not only able to provide association with people but also exhibit its core value –Quality, as Amoolya means "priceless" in Sanskrit, from which the name is taken.

Picture this, Bombay: Summer of 1967. A Charni Road flat. Mrs. Sheela Mane, a 28-year-old housewife is out in the balcony drying clothes. From her second floor flat she can see her neighbours on the road. There are other people too. The crowd seems to be growing larger by the minute. Unable to curb her curiosity Sheela Mane hurries down to see what all the commotion is about. She expects the worst but can see no signs of an accident. It is her four-year-old who draws her attention to the hoarding that has come up overnight.

That was the power AMUL hoardings, of drawing people out of their homes & eventually it became the favorite topic of discussion-& that gives AWARENESS, when people start talking about the brand, company doesn’t need to spend much. 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 manner…primarily by playing with words. The biggest reason for its success was its connection with the common man.

Some say the seeds of origin of AMUL lie in the conflict with Polson. One can see the same even in the creation of AMUL girl created by Sylvester daCunha back in 1966 has some resemblance with the Polson’s one.

Polson Butter Girl

Amul Butter Girl

However, AMUL girl is a great success & entered in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the longest running campaign ever. The hording were not only able to create awareness but also made strong association with the masses. It would be injustice if we don’t discuss famous tag line of ‘utterly butterly delicious’. Selection of such tagline reflects the taste element-making a psychological influence of getting delicious taste with AMUL butter. Since the tagline is introduced with AMUL girl, the cuteness in the tagline enhances the likeness of AMUL girl.

CHANGING WITH TIME: The campaigns of AMUL get changed with time as per the chnge in the environment which ultimately changes the brand image. For instance From “ the taste of india” to “AMUL uodh pita hai India “ to TV commercials with punch lines like ‘Hey Dude Where’s The Dudh?’ and ‘Chill Your Dill’ with changing attitude in the society.

The transition from an old to ‘young’ brand happened with remarkable ease. This adaptability to the changing environment is another reason for the success of AMUL BRAND & VISION Brand should have a vision in itself. AMUL is regarded as a brand that helps to build India, who contributes for the uplifting of the villagers & the brand is entirely oursIndian. The deed is good & everyone wants to be part of this, the thought of being a contributor is strong enough to that people buy AMUL’s product to achieve the feeling of contribution. The important point is this customer doesn’t have to change any particular habit or has to stretch her/him self for the same. Here comes the urge of being associated. Because of the action/image of the organization/brand, customer wants to get associated-who needs marketing!!! ASSOCIATION OF THE BRAND TO INCREASE INDIAN-ness AMUL has strong advantage of being considered as a hardcore Indian brand & well respected at the same time. Certain Strategies are made to enhance this image; For instance AMUL Surbhai:

Surabhi, once a widely known prime time television program,

which dealt with different cultural aspect of India got another sponsor equally associated with India i.e. AMUL. Through this, AMUL was reach to millions of people along its association with India. AMUL Voice of India could be another example on the same line.

PUBLICITY

hing of attractions in India

The contest to find Utterly Butterly Amul Girl & Amul Cheese Boy through AMUL Surabhi created wave. Marketing activities like this increased the awareness among people which contributes to increase the brand equity. Manathan (1976) movie produced by the milkmen associated with AMUL, showed the story of AMUL, in short, also spread the awareness.

1. Jaldhara: GCMMF effort to get into the packaged drinking water was ahead of its time and was not accepted by the people. However, that shows the capability of the organization to think ahead. Now, once again, GCMMF is coming up with packaged drinking water ‘Narmada Neer’ to capitalise on the sacred

status of Narmada River in Gujarat. 2. AMUL Pizza: Another failure on AMUL’s front where the

focus was on the consumption of the AMUL cheese. AMUL as brand is well associated with milk & milk products, but AMUL pizza was not accepted by people as it is not a milk product. However, later AMUL repositioned the pizza as Utterly Butterly Pizza.

Changing people’s perception towards Milk

with the times, humor and understanding the need of the hour of the people. Amul boardings are

FAILURES With all this success AMUL did face some failures:

Umberlla Branding 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.

TV commercials with punchlines like ‘Hey Dude Where’s The Dudh?’ and ‘Chill Your Dill’. The federation is trying to woo generation-Z that finds colas and fruit drinks trendier. AMUL’s new commercials aim at changing the perception of audiences towards milk and milk products. Having a strong customer base AMUL is trying to position milk and milk products in different light-fit and healthy consumers.

AMUL in Globe

AMUL products are now available in shelves across several countries including the US, China Australia, West Asian countries and those in Africa. However, any well known & well crafted marketing strategy has not been designed. Having won several awards at International level, AMUL has already got name in the market & currently covering the 0.4% of the share of the organized dairy market in the world.

o last too long or had to get a whole new look in order to stay in the market. It’s a mixture of keepi

Amul plans aggressive online play

One company that is Amul which looks set to unleash a revolution in the online world. Here there is no policy glitch, no threat of a Wal-Mart and no small kirana stores to reckon with. Sample this: Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation is studying the feasibility of starting an online store on Second Life, the virtual world owned by Linden Labs. GCMMF MD BM Vyas disclosed they are in talks with Trimensions, a metaverse development firm (creator of 3-D online environments) based in Gurgaon to find out whether it can take its product range online on Second Life, where it has already built an ice cream parlour. The parlour, which took about three months to create will be launched soon and will allow users to walk into, browse and access information about Amul products and processes. If the company decides to go ahead with selling products online, the initiative will put GCMMF at the forefront of the V-Commerce (virtual commerce) drive in India

Suggestive alternatives 1. CO- Branding

They could have used the Co-branding with some traditional chain of resorts like Chauki dhani, Apno

Rajasthan which can message among the

Amul Virtual Ice Cream Parlour

again send a positive customer that Amul

The success story of Amul says one thing to all the other ad campaigns that did not manag

is not a company but it is a social cause for people upliftment. People go to these places for peace and fun in their leisure time. Amul can get a image positioning will get a boost of culture as well as National Brand. They could have done Sponsoring of film related to social issues like Taare Zameen per & others which will again give a positive image building because Amul is a National Brand which is considered as a social responsible Brand. They could have branded themselves as Brand of Nation with association with Khaddi & could started efforts to Minimise the use of Plastics as much as possible etc. 2. Higher Margin to the distributor/Retailers

Doing this project we have also contacted major retailers and come to know that Amul is giving them a lower profit margin of around 9 % as compared to than that of Mother Dairy which offers 11% to retaliers. Amul should try to narrow down this gap because it will effect in distribution of Amul product in long run. Higher margines can be given by implementing ERP solutions as well waste reducing programs in the manufacturing unit which enable AUL to provide better margins to retailers and will lead to more parlors & distributors that means more awareness 3. Focusing on the quality of the brand rather than product-Care

Taker of Parks & Improving Quality of Life and by Contribution to the environment. 4.

Celebrating B'day of AMUL girl making this an annual event could be an interesting tactic.

5. Showing people using AMUL product of different states of India to

emphasize more on "INDIAN-ness". 6.

Campaigns like "Healthy India".

References The Amul India Story-by Ruth Heredia Finanical Express Brand Line www.hinduonthenet.com http://www.amul.com/

Contemporary Branding – ICFAI Press Marketing Management, Kotler P., Keller Kevin L. Strategic Brand Management, Keller K. Managing Brand Equity, Aaker D.