Amul: A company that works as a family

 

What is the biggest asset of an organisation? It is the brand and its value, said Mr. RS Sodhi, MD Gujarat Co-operative milk marketing federation, responsible for Amul. During the conversation with Mr Anant Rangaswami at ZEE Melt 2020, an annual marketing, advertising and communication event that was held on 3^rd and 4^th September this year in the virtual platform. A jolly person, Mr. Sodhi guided us through the way Amul works and the beliefs and principles it follows.

Mr Sodhi started by saying that businesses are like family. A lot of them are passed on from generation to generation. Amul is also a family. They have debates, they have disagreements, but at the end of the day they all come together, as a family does on the dining table for dinner. All the stakeholders that they have are also a part of their family. Answering a question of Mr Anant, he said that the media and brand custodians we have are there with them since the mid-80s. They started working with the father and now they have the son working. He even added that Amul values creativity and values their work hence does not believe cost-cutting in that.

On being questioned about the importance of having continuity in the relationship with your key stakeholder, he said it is all about consistency of business objective, consistency to give the best quality product and value for money helps them maintain lifelong relationships with stakeholders. This is achieved by them because the owners are the same, the trade partners are the same, the distributors are the same and the people working with them are the same.

He mentions that brands are not built on advertising and hence they don’t spend much on it, like the other FMCG who go from 10%-15%. “You don't need to come with a new campaign every year. Make one great campaign and continue that for years. Consumers will love and remember it.” For example, from Amul, he mentioned Amul butter’s utterly butterly delicious that has been running for more than 50 years now.

My personal favourite is Amul’s topical advertisement that they release every day across the nation based on the mood of the nation.

Mr Anant asks him how does Amul manage to sell in competition to these MNCs with large pockets. He answers it by stating the mindset of a consumer, which majorly comprises of the middle class. He says a consumer needs a product of the best quality available and the affordability, and then it chooses a brand it can trust. The other aspects come later to it. Amul provides all of that and hence, we are the market leaders.

I personally found a lot of it quite amazing, and how the co-operative functions are amazing as well. I do agree that it has built a tremendous trust and I hope they maintain the quality and value for money.