Amul brings back its ads from the 1990s

While the whole country is riding on the wave of nostalgia with reruns of 'Ramayan' and 'Mahabharat' on Doordarshan (DD), brands are also trying to bring the ‘old is gold’ adage back. With the mood of the hour being retro shows and ads, the Gujarat-based dairy brand Amul has also jumped into the scene. The brand has initiated rerun of its old ads – from 1980s and '90s – alongside popular shows like 'Ramayan' and 'Mahabharat'.

This idea came to life when people, who'd started watching the reruns of these two shows, took to social media to express their desire to watch old Amul ads. So, the brand decided to roll out some of its old ads that were run when 'Ramayan' and 'Mahabharat' were originally telecast on DD.

Jayen Mehta, senior general manager, planning and marketing, Amul, told afaqs!, “We are the presenting sponsor of 'Ramayan' and 'Mahabharat' on Doordarshan. These shows have notched record viewership and have really caught the imagination of the audiences - both young and old.”

Speaking of scheduling of the ads between the two shows, he explains, “Since there were two episodes of one hour each of both shows (four episodes per day), we scheduled all our current TVCs (48 creatives) by rotation, so that even if one person sees all four episodes every day, the same ad will not be repeated for two full days. And if one watches only an episode per day, he/she will be exposed to the same ad creative only after eight days.”

Mehta says this has helped to build a good reach without exposing the same creative multiple times to the same audience. BARC data proves there is a high (83 per cent) rollover from one episode to another, proving the stickiness of the shows, and also confirming that the ad scheduling strategy by rotation was right.

Based on feedback in the first week of telecast, Mehta says, “We realised that the nostalgia of these epic shows was building up. We started receiving feedback that if Amul showcased the ads of the original 'Ramayan' and 'Mahabharat' telecast era, it would add to the charm of the show. We immediately started converting yesteryear TVCs in (classic) Amul format and planned the release on April 5, as the retro mood Sunday.”

On April 5, the brand released the Amul Topical on Ramayan in 1987 in all editions of the Times of India (TOI), and Amul Topical on Mahabharat in 1989 in all editions of the Hindustan Times, with a message to the viewers to watch all classic ads of '90s era on that day's shows of 'Ramayan' and 'Mahabharat'. The entire TVC playlist that day was classic ads.

“The TVCs were posted on our social media handles after their TV release, which led to more conversations during the day. The results were beyond our expectations. Amul was trending on Twitter throughout the day, organically, thanks to all the conversations around the ad campaign,” Mehta adds.

He also said, “We started scheduling one classic ad in every episode and continued with the retro theme on subsequent Sundays – April 12 and then 19. The 59-plus classic ads released so far are on our Twitter timeline, as well as YouTube channel.”

The brand plans to continue this classic ad campaign till the shows run on DD, i.e., May 11.