1980s can also be proudly called as "Utterly Butterly" & "Sabki Pasand" Era! This decade saw the emergence of Indian creativity & advertising industry coming of age.
Two brands, namely Amul & Nirma ruled the roost. Their promotions literally made every Indian proud and infused a new energy & thought process in to the minds of youth on how to catch the eyeballs in a competitive market.
Amul, one of the leading Indian brand even today rejected the global trend of using celebrities in advertisement campaigns, thus coming up with something different, special & unimaginable topical & humorous ads in those days!
The little chubby Amul girl cartoon, who was the mascot for promotion of Amul butter was an out of the box creativity. Amul girl wearing a white and blue polka dot frock became a massive hit. The credit for this goes to cartoon artist Kumar Morey and script writer Bharat Dabholkar had been involved with sketching the Amul ads.
Amul's topical ads are known for their witty and sometimes risky approach to current events, often using the Amul girl as a mascot to comment on social and political issues.
The 'utterly butterly' delicious Amul topical ads became a series and were published on billboards, TVs & newspapers too. Some of the most controversial Amul ads include "Indian Airlines Won't Fly Without Amul" during the Airlines strike and the one commenting on the Naxalite uprising in West Bengal, and one depicting the Amul butter girl wearing a Gandhi cap triggering a bit of controversy.
However, its very important to make a note here that the Amul management never interfered in the making of the ads, and DaCunha Communications ( Advertising agency of Brand Amul) did not need their approval before putting up the ads.
Thus the Amul's Impact on the campaign's ability to tap into the pulse of the nation and reflect its sentiments with wit and satire earned Amul a unique place in Indian culture.
The Amul Topical campaign holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-running advertising campaign too.
In the 70s and 80s, detergent market was monopolised by FMCG giant brands like Surf and Tide. Another Indian brand in the advertising industry that caught the minds of masses was Nirma.
Enter Nirma washing powder, and everything changed. The Nirma ad jingle started with a distinct "Washing Powder Nirma" jingle… which continued for decades by jingling into millions of hearts. The Nirma advertisement turned the tables, thanks to the detergent powder developed by a former lab assistant Karsanbhai Patel, the founder of Nirma washing powder.
Nirma has grown from a one-person, one-room organisation to a massive corporation because of its founder Patel's sheer grit and determination. Nirma used the strategy of targeting the majority of the people who fell in the middle and lower class. Its strategy was to penetrate deep and spread far into the countryside, covering every household.
The advertising agency behind the iconic "Washing Powder Nirma" campaign was Purnima Advertising Agency. The jingle for the Nirma ad was written by Vinod Sharma, who also wrote the jingle for Vicco Vajradanti toothpaste, and the music was composed by Vedpal.
The first Nirma ad was not visual but the jingle " Washing Powder Nirma" which was broadcasted on All India Radio at the beginning of 1975 and was adapted to television in 1982.
Unlike other TV ads that ran for a few seconds, the strategy to create the brand recall paid off! The Nirma ads were surprisingly & unusually loooong! The speciality of Nirma ad jingle was it created 3 brand slogans, namely… "Washing Powder Nirma" "Sabki Pasand Nirma" & "Hema, Rekha, Jaya aur Sushma". The ad with the same tune was tweaked by adding different actresses and scenarios to keep up with the times.
During 80s, Black & White televisions dominated the Indian market. The initial Nirma ad appeared in black-and-white on Doordarshan & when colour TVs took over, the Nirma ad was filmed in color, though the theme song remained the same.