Amul went against the stream and became the most unique case study of the pandemic. When all other brands freezed their marketing activities to conserve cash, Amul went all in.
The strategy was well thought as Amul having a large portfolio was led by its milk and milk based product line. And the supply chain was unaffected in this sector. While the competitors pulled out of market, Amul didn't change any of its advertising budget. But they revised the strategy.
Since most channels were having a dry spell, they gave the lowest rates possible. Amul invested across genres in TV.. Kids, GEC, News, everything. The BARC numbers of the lockdown actually proved that Indians watched more TV then ever.
The most interesting case is the sponsorship of Ramayan and Mahabharat on DD. They diverted all of their IPL spending on the shows and deployed retro ads from 1970s to 1990s. It is a branding exercise that will give returns for a long time. In quantitative terms, AMUL chief R. S. Sodhi claims that they got 3x value as compared to IPL.
Apart from that, AMUL touched a nationalist nerve among the audience who in times of a global crisis were looking upto PM Modi's nationalistic call of 'Vocal for Local'. 'Humara cold drink' ad is a direct attack on beverage giants Pepsi and Cocacola.