Amul’s ‘Utterly Butterly’ campaign creator Sylvester daCunha dead
It was in 1966 when daCunha with inputs from 'Milkman of India' Dr Verghese Kurien conceived Amul's mascot — a girl with big eyes in a dress with red polka dots and matching ribbon in her hair, paired with red shoes.
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It was in 1966 when daCunha with inputs from 'Milkman of India' Dr Verghese Kurien conceived Amul's mascot Sylvester daCunha — the man behind the iconic ‘utterly butterly delicious’ girl mascot of Amul — passed away late on Tuesday in Mumbai. The doyen of advertising is survived by his wife Nisha and son Rahul daCunha.
“Very sorry to inform about the sad demise of Shri Sylvester daCunha, Chairman of daCunha Communications last night at Mumbai. A doyen of Indian advertising industry who was associated with Amul since 1960s. The Amul family joins in mourning this sad loss,” tweeted Amul managing director Jayen Mehta.
It was in 1966 when daCunha with inputs from ‘Milkman of India’ Dr Verghese Kurien conceived Amul’s mascot — a girl with big eyes in a dress with red polka dots and matching ribbon in her hair, paired with red shoes. It was brought to life by late illustrator and art director Eustace Fernandes.
daCunha wanted to create a mascot that could position itself among mothers and children, and therefore it was decided that a child would be the face of the brand. He also felt it was important to replace the tagline ‘Purely the Best’ with something more catchy. It was his wife Nisha who coined the term “utterly butterly delicious”.
Topped with tongue-in-cheek humour, it became the longest, continuously running advertisement campaign in a single character — the campaign celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016. The puns worked like a charm, and even if they ruffled a few feathers as it must have with ‘Radia-active’ or ‘Sanskriti Irani’ or ‘Phone Banega Karodpati’, it was usually forgiven.
Calling him a legend, Amul India GM Marketing, Pavan Singh, took to LinkedIn to pay his tributes. “This campaign scaled new heights, moved seamlessly from OOH to print, TV & then digital & social media, enhancing its reach and popularity across multiple generations.”
He was popular not only among his peers but among people from all walks of life, including politicians. “…In his memoirs, Dr V Kurien had acknowledged the creative genius of Sylvester daCunha who was a legend of Indian advertising,” tweeted senior Congress politician and Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh.
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