Sylvester daCunha, the man behind the creation of the iconic mascot of the brand Amul, has passed away.
The Amul girl and its advertising, which are iconic, memorable, witty, and continue to evoke nostalgia, are considered one of the most successful concepts in the field of Indian advertising.
daCunha, who was the manager at Advertising and Sales Promotion Company (ASP), was very keen on developing a symbol for the brand that would serve as its face and resonate with mothers and children.
‘Purely the Best’, which was earlier the tagline of Amul butter, was also a key area that daCunha wanted to bring a change. It is here, his wife Nisha suggested ‘Utterly Amul’, and daCunha added the word ‘Butterly’. Hence, the tagline stood as ‘Utterly Butterly Amul’.
Speaking of the mascot, daCunha had made up his mind that a child would be the face of the brand. He explained his visualisation to art director, visualiser and cartoonist, late Eustace Fernandes.
In 1966, a child with big cherubic eyes, dressed in a red polka dotted frock paired with matching ribbons and red shoes was born. She was first featured on lamp-post boards in Mumbai where her line was, “Give us this day our daily bread: with Amul Butter.”
daCunha, who started daCunha Communications in 1969, it is today one of the oldest and longest running Indie agencies which keeps daCunha’s tradition alive by continuing with Amul’s topical campaigns.
Storyboard18 got in touch with the former managing director of GCMMF (Amul), R S Sodhi and the creative consultant at daCunha Communications, Manish Jhaveri where they shared their experiences of being associated with the late adman.
Learnings from the veteran adman
Sodhi: It was in 1980 when the former managing director of Amul first met the late veteran adman as an MBA student at a function in IRMA (Institute of Rural Management). In 1982, he joined Amul and till 1993, Sodhi looked after the brand’s topical campaigns in the cities of Jaipur and Ahmedabad.
It was in 1993 when he became the group product manager that he began to look into the advertising and brand building of Amul. He would have monthly conversations with the late daCunha.
The key things that he has learnt from him is that creativity, media selection and consistency are the three most important aspects for creating a brand.
Fondly remembering daCunha, Sodhi mentioned, “He is responsible for creating the world’s longest running campaign, and has built India’s biggest brand through top of the mind campaigns without spending a bagful of money. If I give you an example of Maruti, in your mind, a car will come. If you say Amul, the campaign comes to mind. This is called creativity and media selection.”
He shares a personal anecdote. “I remember, whenever I used to travel and meet people, be it at the airport, or train, or at any party and say that I am working with Amul, 90 percent would say, “Mr Sodhi! Your Amul butter topical campaign is superb.”
Jhaveri: He was very gregarious, generous, witty and treated everybody equally. He was very warm and friendly with everybody. I was one of the juniors at the agency (daCunha Communications) during that period. He took me to the Royal Bombay Yacht Club a couple of times. He wouldn’t brainstorm at the agency. He would say, “Let’s go to the club.” This would be a very different advertising agency scenario. He had a sharp wit, and when I last met him, his wit was at its sharpest.
Memorable conversations with Amul girl’s creator
Sodhi: It was interesting to talk to him about how consistency is built, what are the problems brands face, what are the controversies they get entangled in and how can they be overcome.
Jhaveri: He left a very deep impact on all those whose lives he touched. There are so many memories and it is very difficult to pinpoint. But, those club outings were great fun.
Invaluable contributions to advertising
Sodhi: What he has given to the Industry is that you can create a brand without deep pockets.
Jhaveri: He was the person whose personality came out in the whole idea and creation of Amul girl, followed by the tone of voice it would adopt. The fact that the mascot was created almost 60 years ago, with very few changes, we are still able to maintain it, and it talks about how an idea can evolve.