IT’S 25 YEARS FOR THE AMUL BOYS
For a quarter-century, three men have brought the brand’s polka-dotted mascot to life on billboards, in print ads and on social media. See how they’ve been buttering up a new generation
Last month, Facebook reminded Rahul da Cunha that he, copywriter Manish Jhaveri and artist Jayant Rane had been working on the Amul girl topical ads for 25 years. They didn’t exchange hugs. They haven’t even met in several months. And yet, the fruits of their collective labour have been on outdoor, print and online ads as often as five times a week.
You can’t have missed the ads. Amul’s mascot, a little girl in a polka-dot dress, long lashes, blue hair and ribbon, has been part of the butter brand’s campaign since 1966. Over the decades, in short, witty taglines, she’s commented on India’s major milestones and preoccupations. She’s cracked in-jokes in public. She’s made the news cool.
Da Cunha, Jhaveri and Rane say they’ve collaborated for so long, they don’t need to be in the same room to get work done. The magic now happens, often overnight, on WhatsApp, and quick phone calls.
The ads’ template is simple: The headline comments on the news, the tagline connects the subject to butter, the illustration brings it all together. “The genius is the concept,” says Kunal Vijayakar, food writer and former adman, who worked with Da Cunha’s father Sylvester as a visualiser and copywriter in 1988. He remembers hiring Jhaveri, then a “floppy-haired” graduate. “I remember how all of us would have suggestions for the ads, and what an honour it was to be a part of it,” Vijayakar says.
There’s nothing like it anywhere in the world. When Amul tweeted birthday wishes to the Prime Minister last year, Narendra Modi replied thanking the brand for its humour. And even as brands increasingly respond to current events to ‘newsjack’ their campaigns, the little Amul girl stands taller than the rest.
Here’s how they do it.
THE CREATIVE GENIUS
Rahul da Cunha took over the Amul topical
advertisements from his father Sylvester, in 1994.
“The Amul topicals are part of my bloodstream; I think about them day and night,” he says. “When my dad worked on them, he’d do one billboard a month. Now we do as many as five a week, across platforms.”
But 25 years with the same team means they’ve smoothed the process down to a point where it’s all done virtually. “I can text an idea to Manish and I know exactly what he’ll be thinking,” says da Cunha.
To convey the general national sentiment in each ad, timing is key. “On Monday, we look at the topics India is thinking about and decide what’s hot, what can hold and what is likely to change over the coming days. Our news comes from the papers; the reactions and trends come from social media.”
So much has changed in 25 years. In the mid-1990s, no one obsessed over pop culture or football. “Now religion and politics have mixed, politicians are public figures, we have Facebook. Brand communication has changed. You’re nothing if you don’t engage with consumers.”
The Amul girl has lasted because she’s adapted to what is relevant, and is never malicious. “India is now so polarised, it’s actually easier to know what to avoid,” da Cunha says. “Politics has become divisive, and brands have become the unifier.”
The big challenge is always to stay relevant to the young. “I don’t want people to tell me, ‘Oh, the Amul girl! My dad loves those ads.’”
THE ARTIST
Jayant Rane, 59, has hand-painted the topicals for more than 30 years.
“I can’t tell you how the years have passed. I can tell you that I love my job,” he says. “News changes, but the Amul ad format is the same.”
He’s a freelancer, but has no other clients. “This job is a waiting game – an idea can come at any time and must be sketched quickly,” he says.
He doesn’t need to commute to the office any more. “Rahul sir sends an idea over WhatsApp, with the treatment it needs, and references. I pencil-sketch three or four options – different angles, looks, and reactions.”
The tough part comes next. Every ad
is painted by hand. “It’s just faster. I can’t be selecting brush tools on Photoshop. Plus, Rahul sir is always in a rush: ‘Chalo na yaar!’”
Until recently, no one beyond Rane’s friends and family knew he was the man behind the ads. “Someone saw me sketch and said, ‘You know the Amul ads? You should follow that style.’ At that point I’d been drawing them for 20 years!”
It’s a good team, Rane adds. “They’ve not been angry with me in 25 years. I’ll be 60 next year but freelancers don’t retire and artists never do. In any case, I don’t think Rahul sir will let me,” he says.
THE COPYWRITER
Manish Jhaveri, an architecture graduate, loved Amul ads growing up. “In 1990, I walked into the agency office, not knowing a damn thing about how agencies work. They were nice enough to let me in,” he says. New Zealand was playing India and he told the creative guys he didn’t care for their tagline and suggested one. “They saw me out.”
Jhaveri did apply five years later and got hired. “I found my voice in the third month or so,” he says.
Working on an Amul topical calls for unusual writing skills. “A lot of copywriters are pompous. They’re married to their words, so it’s hard to move forward. With Amul, you can’t obsess over a tagline for long, the turnaround is so quick.”
Jhaveri calls the Amul ads ‘Twitter before Twitter’: “quick takes on current affairs.
In 1995, when PV Narasimha Rao, Sonia Gandhi and VP Singh had a leadership tussle, my tagline was Party, Patni, Ya Woh. It was our first Hindi, colloquial one, shaping the flavour of the ads to come. We do ads that respond to tragedy. They’re the hardest.”