Team Sponsorships: Amul's Jayen Mehta on Reaching the Young Audience

“We wanted to associate our brand with a sport. There were two ways before us: Advertising sponsorships and Team sponsorships. Today in an era when media is highly fragmented, team sponsorships work very well. So an Amul logo displayedon the USA team’s jersey is visible on television, digital and in print,” says Jayen Mehta, Managing Director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF).

“Secondly, unlike a spot in television which is only for a targetedaudience restricted to a region or a country, the team jersey is visible across various continents. But this is an easy way to reach out to a younger audience. For a brand like ours, this is a good association. This helps peripheral brand building and awareness for other products,” Mehta told businessline recently.

In the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup played in India, Amul sponsored Afghanistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka. In 2011, the Amul brand associated itself with cricket when it sponsored the Netherlands team. After that, the brand also sponsored teams like New Zealand

Amul’s move to sponsor the USA cricket team comes immediately after the Indian dairy brand launched its range of fresh milk in the United States in March 2024. GCMMF has tiedup with the Michigan Milk Producers Association for selling fresh milk in the East Coast and Midwest markets of the US. When asked how the fresh initiative in the United States was progressing, Mehta said, “It has picked up. We are doing good.”

Apart from Amul, the Karnataka Milk Federation is also sponsoring the jerseys of Scotland and Ireland during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The logo of the Nandini brand is displayed on the attire of both teams.

Meanwhile, Amul, which has positioned itself as one of the largest probiotic brands in the world, has seen a 50 per cent growth in the sales of its probiotic buttermilk this summer. “This summer, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) has sold 50 per cent more buttermilk than it did last year.

We are processing an estimated 45-50 lakh litres of buttermilk every day and all of it is probiotic. The average is around 30-35 lakh litres. We are the world’s largest probiotic brand,” Jayen Mehta of GCMMF said.

Probiotics are live beneficial cultures that when administered in adequate amounts confer a beneficial health effect on the human host. They are known not only for aiding digestion but improving overall gut health and the immune system. Amul which has been selling probiotic buttermilk at ₹30 per litre also launched “Tadka Chass” earlier this year.