SYLVESTER DACUNHA: 1930-2023 - The Amul Girl loses her creator

Amul Girl creator Sylvester da Cunha made real-time marketing the art of tossing chucklesome lines into the social flow - a thing much before social media made it mainstream

- ALOKANANDA CHAKRABORTY

INDIAN ADVERTISING HAS just lost one of its greatest. Sylvester daCunha, founder of daCunha Communication and the creator of Amul's iconic Utterly Butterly Delicious advertising campaign, died on Tuesday night in Mumbai.

As the blue-haired noseless girl went on to position the humble butter as a household staple, her maker, da Cunha, made realtime marketing - the art of tossing chucklesome lines into the social flow- a thing much before social media made it mainstream.

So it would not be a tort if the name Sylvester daCunha is the first and the only one that comes to mind when one thinks of the Amul Girl. "The Amul Girl is the longest-running advertising campaign in the world with a single character, about a topic, and it doesn't require the client's approval to be released in the media. This has never happened in the history of advertising anywhere in the world," says Jayen Mehta, managing director, Amul. "It's possible because he built the respect and trust of the client. That credit goes to that man and he'll be forever remembered for that."