Page 52 - DMGT509_RURAL MARKETING

Unit 2: Rural Marketing Environment

who stocked the ice-cream in deep freezers. Both AMUL and Hindustan Lever's (HUL) Notes
Kwality Walls claimed to be the largest selling ice-cream brands in the country. While
HUL quoted a market research study by AC Nielson, which put Kwality Walls at the No
1 spot, an independent study by Ahmedabad-based Consumer Education and Research
Society (CERS) ranked AMUL as No 1, followed by Kwality Walls (among four brands
including Vadilal and four loose samples) on various parameters of taste, melting quality,
weight, fat and sugar content. AMUL ice-cream was positioned as 'real ice-cream' made
from real milk cream, while HUL's Kwality Walls was made from vegetable oil and its
items were dubbed Frozen Deserts. There was also stiff competition from the other
cooperative, NDDB in the form of Mother Dairy Ice Creams. AMUL sold its Ice Cream in
New Delhi, country's biggest Ice Cream market, where its anti-compete agreement with
Mother Dairy had expired. AMUL had been sourcing its entire Ice Cream requirement for
the northern market (including Delhi) from its Gandhinagar plant.
AMUL introduced ready-to-use (just pour and heat) soups branded 'Masti' in tetra packs of
one litre. To begin with, they were introduced in two flavours, 'Hot 'n' Sour' and 'Tomato'.
Said Sodhi, "It was a test marketing drive in Gujarat and in a month or two it would be
introduced all over the country. And there wasn't much competition for there were not
many companies that sold ready-to-use soups. Soup is a milk product, and that's a secret.
You will come to know only when you consume it." Keeping the ingredients a closely
guarded secret, the company stated that one of the reasons to launch soups was to utilize
the already installed equipment for tetra packaging.

The retailing initiative included not only milk booths, but also restaurants. Amul had also
taken the initiative to set up 100 of its own brand retail parlors under the name 'Utterly
Delicious', an initiative which would give it a retail edge, compared to its competitors
such as HUL and Cadbury. Panigrahi estimated a 100 crore turnover in the three years
after launching the `Utterly Delicious' parlors. As an extension of this retail initiative,
Amul also test-launched a restaurant chain under the "Utterly Delicious" brand at Vashi in
Navi Mumbai. Amul wanted to open more of such eateries in Mumbai soon, which would
dish out ready-to-eat stuff like parathas, lassi, buttermilk, sandwiches and pizzas, using
ingredients from Amul and also vending the products already available under the Amul
franchise like soups, butter, ghee etc.; GCMMF also inaugurated an Amul Shoppe inside
Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) garden premises at Vishramnagar, a
short distance from Memnagar. Not leaving any stone unturned for a successful launch of
milk booths, GCMMF hired experts of the National Institute of Design (NID), to specially
design these eye-catching shops. The Amul project had another unique side to it too; the
shops would work to improve Ahmedabad's ecology and health. Said Vyas "Amul products
seek to maintain a high standard. We have done production, processing and marketing.
We have dealers but not many retailers. We would want Amul products to come face to
face with the masses. Probably, dearth of adequate retailers was one of the reasons for the
not so good performance of its frozen pizzas."
GCMMF's tussle with NDDB was over ownership of the Mother Dairy trademark. This
move would question the raison d'etre of NDDB's thrust into the realm of marketing, as it is
under the Mother Dairy brand that it had routed various businesses and achieved volumes
close to 1,000 crore. According to available information, GCMMF had applied for the
ownership of the Mother Dairy brand on August 1, 2000 with the Registrar of Trade
Marks, Government of India. Against this, the NDDB application made for the same was put
up only on August 14, 2000. And the 13-day lapse of time would prove to be a debilitating
one in this war of nerves between two of the premier names in dairy business in the
country.

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