Sylvester da Cunha

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Sylvester da Cunha
Born(1930-10-19)19 October 1930
Bombay, British India
Died21 June 2023(2023-06-21) (aged 92)
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
OccupationAdvertising professional
Known forCreation of the Amul girl campaign
SpouseNisha da Cunha
Children1
RelativesGerson da Cunha (brother)

Sylvester da Cunha (19 October 1930 – 21 June 2023) was an Indian advertising professional and theatre personality. He was most famously known for creating the Utterly Butterly advertising campaign and the Amul girl mascot for the Indian dairy cooperative Amul. He also served as a consultant to multinational agencies including the World Bank, UNICEF, and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development on various projects linked to food and nutrition.

Early life[edit]

Da Cunha was born on 19 October 1930 into a Bombay Goan family of Portuguese descent.[1][2] His family was originally from Bardez taluka in North Goa and later moved to the Mazagaon neighbourhood of Bombay (now Mumbai) where he grew up.[3] His brother Gerson da Cunha was also an advertising professional. His uncle José Gerson da Cunha, physician and historian, had written one of the first historical works documenting the origins of Bombay, somewhat aptly titled, The Origins of Bombay.[4] Da Cunha Sr. was also the family physician of the Aga Khan.[5][6] Da Cunha lost his father, in 1941, when he was 11.[7]

Da Cunha completed his Bachelor of Arts (honours) in economics from Bombay University and later studied mass communication at Princeton University as a Parvin fellow between 1964 and 1965.[8][9][10]

Career[edit]

Da Cunha started his advertising career in 1951 at L. A. Stronach Advertising, a British advertising agency. He worked in their London liaison office for three years before returning to India. On his trip back on the boat he was offered a job by John Kurien, a manager with the Birla group's Advertising and Sales Promotions (ASP) agency.[11][12][13] At ASP, da Cunha initially handled some of the Birla group's inhouse brands like Hindustan Motors and Century Rayon, before handling accounts including Life Insurance Corporation, Glaxo and Lakmé.[13]

Da Cunha was best known for his creation of the Utterly Butterly campaign for the Indian dairy cooperative Amul, which saw the introduction of the Amul girl. The campaign was created in 1966, by which time da Cunha was ASP's managing director, where he was given the task to create a mascot and help position Amul as a brand among mothers and children.[14] Da Cunha teamed up with illustrator and art director Eustace Fernandes to create the ads.[15][16]

The ads had a mischievous looking girl in a white dress with red polka-dots and blue hair, poking fun at major celebrities and newsmakers. They were noted for their news topical relevance and tongue-in-cheek wit and humour.[15][17] It was one of the longest running campaigns in India, and remained active at the time of da Cunha's death.[14] To create the central figure, da Cunha worked with over 712 babies' photographs before zeroing in on a photograph of 10-month-old Shoba Tharoor (later Shoba Tharoor Srinivasan) as the inspiration for the mascot. Tharoor was the younger sister of Indian politician Shashi Tharoor, and went on to become a children's author.[18] The campaign and the mascot was noted to have been in response to the incumbent market leader Polson butter, who had a similar mascot of a girl who was soft and well-mannered. This prompted da Cunha to model the Amul girl as a mischievous girl taking a dig at ongoing current events.[19]

Da Cunha later went on to found his own advertising company Da Cunha Associates in 1969, after spending 14 years at ASP.[15] He brought some of ASP's clients with him to Da Cunha Associates, including Amul. Some of the other major accounts of that time included Britannia biscuits, Lakmé, Nutramul and Tata Tea.[20][21][22] Da Cunha handed over creation of Amul's topical advertisements to his son Rahul in 1993.[23] The campaign holds the Guinness World Record for the longest running advertising campaign.[24]

Da Cunha was also involved in English language theatre in India. He was a founding member of the Theatre Group of Bombay.[11][25][26] He was among the first to combine Hindi and English language into plays, which was not common at the time. Some of his popular plays included I love Mumbai, It is not funny!, and Topsy-Turvy.[3] Many of his plays including Topsy-Turvy were satirical sketches on everyday life.[27] He also directed and acted in an adaptation of Vijay Tendulkar's Kamala.[28]

In the 1980s and 1990s, da Cunha was also part of various social development initiatives. During this time, he served as a population and nutritional consultant with the Information, Education, and Communication unit of the World Bank, traveling within India, and to various countries including Brazil, Turkey and Zambia.[29] He also served as a consultant to the UNICEF and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development on food and nutrition projects.[8][30]

Personal life[edit]

Da Cunha was married to Nisha da Cunha, an author and earlier an English professor at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai.[15][31] The couple had a son, Rahul da Cunha, also an advertising professional; Sylvester's brother, Gerson da Cunha, was also an advertising professional.[15] A 2018 article in the Hindustan Times described da Cunha as someone who "spoke Portuguese better than Konkani, wore suits, had a sprawling 500-year-old home in Arpora village, and even knew what feijoada was".[32]

Da Cunha died in Mumbai on 21 June 2023, at the age of 92.[33]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Gerson da Cunha, adman who wore many hats, dead". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  2. ^ INFA Press and Advertisers Year Book. INFA Publications. 1978. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  3. ^ a b Times, Navhind (23 June 2023). "Ad Guru departs | The Navhind Times". Archived from the original on 23 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  4. ^ Illustrated Weekly (7 June 1970). Illustrated Weekly Special Goa Issue.
  5. ^ "Goodbye, Gerson, the Bombay boy bows out". Free Press Journal. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  6. ^ Vaz, J. Clement (1997). Profiles of Eminent Goans, Past and Present. Concept Publishing Company. pp. 118–119. ISBN 978-81-7022-619-2. Archived from the original on 9 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  7. ^ NADAR, A. GANESH. "My uncle, Gerson da Cunha". Rediff. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  8. ^ a b Press and Advertisers Year Book. Infa Publications. 2002. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  9. ^ Infa Publications, New Delhi. Press And Advertisers Year Book.
  10. ^ The Indian & Eastern Engineer. 1973. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  11. ^ a b Padamsee, Alyque (14 October 2000). Double Life. Penguin UK. ISBN 978-93-5118-777-6. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  12. ^ Padamsee, Alyque (17 November 2018). "Alyque Padamsee: The secret of my double life in Indian advertising and theatre". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  13. ^ a b Doctor, Vikram. "Indian advertising's "Mad Men" years". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  14. ^ a b "Sylvester daCunha, the man behind the iconic Amul Girl passes away". Storyboard 18. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  15. ^ a b c d e "Who Is Sylvester daCunha? Man Behind Amul Girl Passes Away". BQ Prime. 22 June 2023. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  16. ^ "Sylvester daCunha, the man behind iconic Amul Girl campaign, dies". Hindustan Times. 21 June 2023. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  17. ^ "Meet Sylvester daCunha, The Man Behind The Iconic". India.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  18. ^ "How Sylvester daCunha picked the first-ever Amul baby". The Hindu Business Line. 22 June 2023. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  19. ^ "How Amul became an advertising ICON despite spending only 1% of sales on ads". buildd. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  20. ^ "Sylvester daCunha – One Of The Original Mad Men". Free Press Journal. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  21. ^ Sengupta, Subroto (1990). Brand positioning : strategies for competitive advantage. Internet Archive. New Delhi : Tata McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-462401-2.
  22. ^ Pillai, Yesudas S. (3 January 2023). "My biggest learning in a 30-minute meeting with late Shri R K Krishna Kumar (KK), Tata Group veteran: Yesudas S Pillai". MediaNews4U. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  23. ^ kavitha (5 August 2021). "Truly a ladies' Olympics, says da Cunha on Amul's tribute to women athletes". The Federal. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  24. ^ "Amul's 'Utterly Butterly' campaign creator Sylvester daCunha dead". The Indian Express. 22 June 2023. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  25. ^ Gāragī, Balawanta (1962). Theatre in India. Internet Archive. New York, Theatre Arts Books.
  26. ^ "Sylvie is now a star in the sky". Mid-day. 22 June 2023. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  27. ^ Consuming modernity : public culture in a South Asian world. Internet Archive. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press. 1995. ISBN 978-0-8166-2305-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  28. ^ "Flash back: In memory of". Mumbai Mirror. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  29. ^ Mazzarella, William (5 August 2003). Shoveling Smoke: Advertising and Globalization in Contemporary India. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-8519-6. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  30. ^ The Indian & Eastern Engineer. 1973. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  31. ^ "Nisha da Cunha weaves melancholy tales". India Today. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  32. ^ "Maska Maarke: Oh poie! Goan food is back with a bang". Hindustan Times. 8 June 2018. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  33. ^ "Sylvester daCunha: Tributes for creator of India's iconic Amul girl ad". BBC News. 22 June 2023. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
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