In the midst of a lockdown, with screen time at its highest point, advertisers have been looking for the best way to jump into the conversation without coming off as insensitive to the times. An opportunity such as this one was a perfect way to do that.GCMMF announced it would sponsor the shows. It started out airing its current ads but as people switched on their television sets, soaked in the nostalgia and reported back on their social media timelines that they would have liked to see the old Amul ads, the brand’s marketing team tuned in. And soon, Amul began running its old ads, in keeping with the original date of broadcast of the shows (Ramayana and Mahabharata).
This was a masterstroke, say experts, executed at minimal incremental marketing cost that managed to grab the spotlight even as other brands were struggling to shake off the shadow of the virus. It does not matter that many of the ads promote products that are no longer part of GCMMF’s portfolio or that the messages in the ads may appear way out of date, all that matters is that brand has managed to keep itself visible and talked about.
“While consumers liked the old ads, many on social media sought for our retro-ads from the ‘90s. So we began doing that. This is how Amul has stayed modern and contemporary,” said GCMMF managing director, R S Sodhi, “A brand has to be with its customers even during difficult times. And this is being done in multiple ways. We are not taking undue advantage of our customers by raising prices. And we are spending maximum efforts on visibility at a time when our customers are mostly indoors and consuming media across formats,” said Sodhi. GCMMF has increased its spending on advertisement and branding activities for Amul by over 50 per cent during the lockdown according to several sources. Sodhi, however, is reluctant to put a number down.
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