Amul’s Sweet Marketing Play – Lessons Beyond the Obvious

Marketing always excited me because it is the only subject in management that is live, dynamic, and happening right in front of you. It’s always “in your face”. Brands are constantly talking to us, and it’s up to us to decode what they are really saying. 

Every day, we are dished out hundreds of live case studies. We have the lens to see them. Yesterday, when I picked up the Times of India, this full-page Amul Mithai advertisement instantly struck me. I decided to use it in my classroom session the same day. 

The question I posed to my students was simple yet powerful: “How much do you think this advertisement would have cost across all editions of TOI in India?”

The students’ jaws dropped when I revealed the figure – upwards of ₹3 crores! That’s when I told them why brands like a local Karachi Bakery would never think of advertising at this scale. Naturally, the next discussion was “Why such a big advertisement?”

Students came up with some good responses:

• It’s seasonal.
• Amul wants to highlight its presence in the sweets business.
• The brand wants to showcase its portfolio.
• Perhaps they are pushing online ordering.
• Or maybe they wanted to launch new SKUs.

All valid, but in my view, these answers were “seeing the trees but missing the forest.” The critical thinking was still surface level. Here’s how I see it:

 The Bigger Marketing Picture

1. A tectonic shift in sweet consumption: Amul is signalling the change in consumer behavior. For a country that once prided itself on having sweets for every occasion, consumption habits are evolving rapidly.

2. The ‘F-word’ of nutrition Sugar: Sweets are suddenly seen as the villain. With India on its way to becoming the diabetes capital of the world, consumers are cutting down or switching away.

3. From bulk to bite-sized: Ten years ago, a festival meant at least 5–8 kgs of sweets at home. Today, very few make sweets at home, and even when gifted, they’re either re-gifted (the infamous Soan Papdi loop!) or handed over to house help.

4. Quality over quantity: Indians are gravitating towards premium sweets. They don’t want 2 kgs of generic laddoo; they want a few pieces of Kaju Katli.

5. Smart price psychology: One student, Lahari, made a sharp observation: the ad makes Kaju Katli look affordable at Rs 230 for 200 grams. But when you scale it up , it’s  Rs 1150 per kg! Smart price framing. Why haven’t local mithai shops done this? Because they stick to the traditional “Rs/kg” display which feels unaffordable and pushes customers away.

6. Transparency vs. bundling: Local shops often sell ₹400–500/kg packs but fill them with cheap options like boondi laddoo, jalebi, or Rava sweets. Milk and khoa based sweets are minimized. With Amul, you know exactly what you’re buying a curated, premium range.

7. Convenience + Gifting appeal: The pack sizes are attractive, hygienic, and perfect for gifting. Small, manageable packs ensure there’s no guilt or wastage. Consumers perceive these as indulgent yet responsible purchases.

Why this ad works This is not just an ad – it’s a strategic brand play. Amul is:

• Repositioning mithai as modern, hygienic, and aspirational.
• Using price packaging strategy to make indulgence look affordable.
• Leveraging consumer psychology by shifting the focus from per kg to per 200 grams.
• Tapping into gifting economics where presentation matters as much as product.

In essence, Amul is telling us: “Mithai is not dead; it just needs to be reimagined.” As a marketing teacher, I see this campaign as a masterclass in consumer insight mining, price framing, and product portfolio communication. All in all – a brilliant move by AMUL. 

Keywords: 

Amul Mithai, Amul advertising, Amul sweets, marketing strategy, consumer insights, Indian sweets market, festive marketing, brand positioning, advertising cost India, Times of India ad, packaging strategy, pricing psychology, gifting trends, mithai consumption shift, premium sweets, quality vs quantity, sugar-free sweets, Indian consumer behavior, brand communication, FMCG marketing.

We Just Crossed the 11,00,000 Readers Mark!

 Our blog has just crossed the 11,00,000 readers milestone! 🎉

What makes this moment special is the speed of the last leg. The journey from 10,00,000 to 11,00,000 readers took only 81 days, which means we are now averaging 1,282 readers per day.

To put things in perspective:

The journey from 0 to 10,00,000 readers took 15 years at an average of just 183 readers per day.

Clearly, perseverance pays off. If you stay consistent and keep at it, results eventually follow. There is, however, a bittersweet side to this milestone. In the past 120 days alone, we’ve had 1,20,000 readers, and interestingly, 70% of them came from the USA, Brazil, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Singapore.

Only 2% of our readers are from India — a little disappointing, but I guess that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Still, every reader counts, and this milestone is a reminder that persistence, patience, and passion always bring rewards. 

Keywords: Blog growth journey, 1.1 million readers milestone, Blogging perseverance, Global blog audience, Blog success story, Readers from USA Brazil Hong Kong Vietnam Singapore, Indian blog readership, Consistency in blogging

Brilliant innovation - Eyebrow pencil

 

The simplest of the problems can lead to the  greatest of the innovations.  As children we used pencils a lot. The only problem or problems was the sharpening the pencil and the protecting the nip part from breaking. of course we had a chakmar (Sharpener for the uninitiated) but it was borrowed and was never returned.  We struggled our entire childhood without a solution. 

But a solution was invented and what a brilliant solution it was!!. 

The eyebrow pencil makers came out with a solution. They designed the cap of the pencil to be a sharpener. What a breath taking solution to a complex problem. Three issues were tackled at a time. The pencil could be sharpener, the nip would not get cut or broken and third the eye brow pencil as it was sheathed would not smudge and spoil the ladies handbag. 10 out of 10. 

Opportunities are just waiting behind the curtain called the problem. Open the curtain and Voila there could be a opportunity of a life time.

From Rs 5000 to Rs 50: The Wild Spectrum of Impulse Buying

How Impulsive is Impulse?

Ever wondered why you’ll happily blow up  Rs 5000 on a movie night but still grumble about paying Rs 50 extra on BookMyShow? That’s impulse. It’s weird, it’s emotional, and it makes no sense until you realize it’s less about your bank balance and more about your brain’s wiring.

Marketing folks always talk about impulse purchases. But what is impulse buying really? Buying without thinking? Buying without guilt? Most people link impulse buying to purchasing power with the presence or absence of cash. In simple words, the level of poverty.

But honestly, I feel there’s a level of emotional impulsiveness that is more personality-driven. Take watching movies as an example.

 

• For Gen Z, going to a multiplex with a friend and spending ₹5000/- can be impulsive.
• Even booking tickets on BookMyShow and paying that “extra” ₹50/- convenience fee is impulsive!
• Someone else might cap it at ₹2500/- in a smaller multiplex.
• A cautious family could happily finish it off at Rs 500/- in a single-screen theatre.
• The true family man might say “Wait! My whole family will watch it for Rs 149/- when it streams on Amazon.”
• And the super-disciplined type? They’ll impulsively jump when it’s available for just ₹50/- during an Independence Day deal.

So impulsiveness can swing all the way from  Rs 5000/- to Rs 50/-. And trust me, this has nothing to do with salary or purchasing power. It’s about perceived value, urgency, FOMO, curiosity, and that emotional itch to experience it right now. Impulse is less about your wallet and more about your wiring!

 

Keywords: impulse buying psychology, emotional impulsiveness in consumers, FOMO and consumer decisions, Gen Z spending habits India, multiplex vs single screen movie experience, BookMyShow ticket booking behavior,  Amazon Prime movie rental deals, perceived value in consumer behavior, cash vs emotional spending power,  psychology of spending without thinking, why people make impulsive purchases,  impulse buying examples in India, entertainment spending patterns Gen Z, difference between need and impulse buying,  consumer psychology behind small extra charges,  Rs 50 vs  Rs 5000 impulse decisions explained!!

Flipping the Script: The Inspiring Long Tail Lesson from Aamir Khan

All management professionals talk about the famous 80:20 principle or the Pareto Law, where the focus is on serving the 20% of customers who give 80% of the business. The usual assumption? Leave the remaining 80% of the customers alone or serve them at a minimal level.

But what if the story could be flipped? What if we could fit square pegs into round holes by thinking differently? Years ago, Dr. Kota my ex-colleague, dear friend, my research scholar, and now B-School professor gifted me a brilliant book – The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More written  Chris Anderson.

Dr. Kota, like me, loves to read, and this book was a true eye-opener. It challenges our default way of thinking. Chris persuasively argues that even though the market is cluttered with 80% customers the market size is still 20%. And the beauty is that not many competitors in that market and there is less focus too. companies can operate in stealth or under the radar mode. Amazon and Netflix are perfect examples, they thrive by serving niche markets with vast selections, catering to diverse tastes that the mainstream ignores.

The Indian Cinema Parallel: Take Indian cinema. Almost 99% of movies won’t cross ₹10 crores in theatrical business. Yet, 1,500 to 2,000 films are made every year. Can the script be flipped? Aamir Khan seems to think so. His film Sitaare Zameen Par reportedly did a solid ₹293 crores at the box office. But here’s the twist – Aamir refused to sell the OTT rights to the big streaming platforms.

Why? Because while Indian cinema is widely watched, only 2–3% of India’s 1.4 billion people go to theatres. In comparison, a staggering 491 million people in India are actively engaging with YouTube content. That means theatrical releases are the long tail of the real market!

Beating the OTT Game: OTT platforms usually operate in two ways – they either buy the film outright or stream it on a pay-per-view basis. But the real viewership numbers are murky. They only publicize their “top 10” lists, and their algorithms are laughable.

Netflix, for instance, counts a two-minute watch as having “watched” a movie. By that logic, I “watched” at least 730 movies last year (two movies per day)! And if a film underperforms, the data vanishes into a digital Fort Knox. Aamir Khan was done with these games. He announced he wouldn’t stream his movie on any OTT platform. Instead, he went direct-to-audience: pay-per-view on YouTube at ₹100 for multiple views within 48 hours.

Let us do some back of the envelope calculations. Even if five people watched together, that’s just ₹20 a head cheaper than a half-litre water bottle in a multiplex.

The Math That Changes Everything

Let’s assume only 1% of the 491 million Indian YouTube audience watched the film, 49.1 lakh views ×  Rs 100 =  Rs 49 crores.

If 5% watched that would be Rs 245 crores , almost the same as the theatrical gross, but with far higher margins.

Aamir pushed the envelope further, from 15th to 17th August, he is offering the film at  Rs 50. If 10% of that YouTube audience watches at this price (4.91 crores people), that’s another Rs 245 crores. Add the two figures and you’re looking at ₹500 crores, double the theatrical revenue  and likely with almost 100% margins.

The Takeaway:  Don’t just be a follower. Be an innovator. Be a disruptor. Chart your own path and become the role model others follow. Aamir Khan’s move is not just about selling a movie differently – it’s a masterclass in turning the long tail into the main act.

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