Adman Sylvester daCunha

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A brief biography

June 22, 2023: The Times of India

Adman Sylvester daCunha, aka Sylvie was one of the minds that created the iconic Amul girl campaign in 1966.


It was to topple a rival brand’s village belle mascot off the minds and larders of ’60s homemakers that Sylvester — then head of an ad agency called Advertising and Sales Promotion (ASP) — conceived the fringe-sporting little girl dressed in a frock with red polka dots and matching ribbons and shoes along with art director Eustace Fernandes. “We wanted to do away with the usual farm images and look at food as fun,” Sylvester had told TOI in an interview recalling the time the Anand-based Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF) decided to give their account to ASP. ‘Thoroughbread’ read the tag line of the first hoarding that showed her astride a horse. Later, when he started Da Cunha Associates, Sylvester took the Amul account with him. That’s when the nameless, noseless, rosy-cheeked moppet started doling out trademark puns on everything from sports to politics, remaining relevant for decades spanning sterilisation to demonetisation. “As an icon, she’s contemporary, she changes everyday with the world,” Sylvester had once told TOIabout his creation when the Amul girl coveted an entry in the Guinness Book of Records at age 38 for being the longest running outdoor campaign. “Along with the legendary Dr Verghese Kurien, it was Mr Sylvester daCunha who had initiated our immortal, iconic topical campaign in 1966, which is one of longest continuously running advertising campaigns in the world,” read the eulogy posted on LinkedIn by Pavan Singh, Amul’s general marketing manager. 
Sylvester once told Singh that he had designed his famous Amul Cheese boy, brand mascot of Amul Cheese in late ’90s-early 2000s, keeping Singh’s image in mind. “I will always cherish memories of my interactions with him. His advertising acumen, his gentle, fatherly nature, his amazing wit & sense of humour are etched in my memory,” posted Singh who had worked with Sylvester for three decades.