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"The Amul girl is far cuter than an Amul boy. She has far greater appeal," says Rahul DaCunha, Managing Director and Creative Head, DaCunha Communications, the advertising agency behind the popular hoardings.
"We are 50 years young!!," that`s what the hoarding for the Amul girl at 50 be like. The Amul campaign has been telling stories of India through the hoardings, captivating Indians of all ages. The key character in this saga is the little girl in polka dots, who literally helped Amul butter win over an entire nation and became the country`s darling.
Her makers feel that the trademark blue hair bun and polka dotted dress really worked for the brand. "Amitabh Bachchan had a very interesting quote to the frequently-asked question: Why has the Amul girl`s hair bun and dress remained the same? He said, `If it ain`t broken, don’t fix it.` In other words, the blue hair bun and the polka dress have really worked for the brand. There is no need for change," DaCunha told PTI.
To commemorate 50 years of the advertising by DaCunha Communications, HarperCollins India has come out with a book "Amul`s India" celebrating the Amul girl`s journey through the eyes of prominent writers, public figures and the subjects of the hoardings themselves.
It contains a series of vignettes, creating a patchwork quilt of essays, snippets and selections of classic hoardings and offers an inside peek into the back story of the creation of the ads.
DaCunha says there has been no instance when there was a difference in opinion on an ad between DaCunha Communications and Amul. "Our clients at Amul have always been extremely supportive - there has never been a difference of opinion. "We also stay away from political parties that are too fascist or right wing," he says.
Ask him if he were to keep a name for the Amul girl, what would that have been, he replies, "Diya". And for his most favourite Amul ad, he says "I have two favourite Amul ads - When Bombay`s main VT station was renamed, our line said `VICTORIA TERMINATED`. And then for the recent Mamata Banerjee cartoon controversy, we said "KOLKARTOON`."
DaCunha took over the campaign in 1993 from his Sylvester and along with copywriter Manish Trivedi and Jayant Rane, art director from the 80s, has been at the helm of things.
According to DaCunha, the Amul ad is targeted at five different India`s – "Bombay, where our campaign took off from and where we have the most loyal consumers; Maya Desh, the area comprising Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh; South India; Facebook/Twitter; and the rest of the country.
"The Onida devil died away, the Liril girl did not live long and we don`t really know how long the Air India maharaja will live. But innovation, in the Amul girl`s case, was never really needed. We never had to really play on the way she looked. Because along the way, she became the country`s darling."
