The Maggi Brand in IndiaPresented by Group: 8

Anoop DigantaMansiRichardRituRubySoniaSuparna

Agenda• Case briefing• The Maggi’s Path• Maggi takes the Health Route• Competition• Competitive Strategy• AD/Promotion Strategy• The Growth Factors• Maggi’s Life Cycle• STP Analysis• SWOT Analysis• Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model• Answers to the given questions

Case Briefing

• The case talks about the various phases in the PLC of Maggi noodles and the brand.

• It focuses on the various measures taken by NIL to position Maggi time and again (i.e. repositioning) in the minds of Indian consumers.

• It also discusses the various extension of Maggi brand.

• The case further talks about NIL’s quest to reposition Maggi as a health product.

• Finally it ends with an outlook wherein it talks about Maggi’s future competitors.

The Maggi’s path…

• Nestlé India Ltd. (NIL), the Indian subsidiary of the global FMCG major, Nestlé SA, introduced the Maggi brand in India in 1982.

• With the launch of Maggi noodles, NIL created an entirely new food category - instant noodles - in the Indian packaged food market and became a popular snack food product in India.

• Being the first-mover, NIL successfully managed to retain its leadership in the instant noodles category even until the early 2000s.

• In 2005, NIL started offering a range of new 'healthy' products under the Maggi brand, in a bid to attract health-conscious consumers.

Maggi takes the Health Route

• In May 2006, Nestlé India Ltd. (NIL), launched a new instant noodles product called Maggi Dal Atta Noodles (Dal Atta Noodles) under the popular Maggi brand.

• The Dal Atta Noodles were made of whole wheat and contained pulses, and positioned as a 'healthy‘ instant noodles.

• NIL offered a variety of culinary products such as instant noodles, soups, sauces and ketchups, cooking aids (seasonings), etc., under the Maggi brand.

Competition

• During 1990s, the sales of Maggi noodles declined, and this was attributed partly to the growing popularity of Top Ramen.

Competitive Strategy

• NIL changed the formulation of Maggi noodles in 1997. However, this proved to be a mistake, as consumers did not like the taste of the new noodles.

• In March 1999, NIL reintroduced the old formulation of the noodles, after which the sales revived.

• NIL also introduced several other products like soups and cooking aids under the Maggi brand.

• In the early 2000s, Maggi was the leader in the branded instant noodles segment, and the company faced little serious competition in this segment.

Competitive Strategy

• NIL also adopted the same strategy for the Maggi brand with the launch of the Maggi Vegetable Atta Noodles (Vegetable Atta Noodles) in 2005.

• The Dal Atta Noodles were another variant of Maggi's healthy instant noodles. proved to be a mistake, as consumers did not like the taste of the new noodles.

• In March 1999, NIL reintroduced the old formulation of the noodles, after which the sales revived.

• Again Maggi introduced smaller packs at lower price points looking at the ‘value for money’ concept of the Indian consumer.

AD/Promotion Strategy

• Through its ads, NIL positioned Maggi as a 'fun' food for kids which mothers could prepare easily. Tag lines of Maggi from their various ads: -– ‘Mummy, bhookh lagi hai’ (Mom, I'm hungry),– ‘Bas 2-Minute’ (Only 2 minutes)– ‘Fast to Cook Good to Eat’– ‘Health Bhi, taste Bhi’– ‘Its Different’

The Growth Factors

• The demand for convenience food was increasing in India in the early 2000s.

• The survey also revealed that the market for branded food products was growing at a healthy rate of around 15 percent in the early 2000s.

• The changing lifestyles and eating habits of Indian consumers and the increasing purchasing power of the growing middle income group were thought to be the reasons behind this growth.

Maggi’s Life Cycle

STP Analysis

• Segmentation:– Age– Life Style– Eating habits of urban families

• Targeting:– Kids– Office Goers– Working women

STP Analysis

• Positioning:– Easy to cook, Good to Eat– 2-minute Noodles

SWOT Analysis

• Strength– Market leader in their segment– Strong brand loyal consumer base– wide range of distribution channel– Product according to the need of Indian consumer– innovative product

• Weakness– Product dependent on single flavour– Not so much presence in rural market

SWOT Analysis

• Opportunity– Increasing number of working youth– Product has been acceptable in youth

category– Shift to rural market

• Threat– Price war with competitors– Strong presence of regional competitors

Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model

• New Entrants: No potential threat of new entrants for maggi noodles

• Suppliers: Distributors, Raw materials suppliers

• Indusrty Competitors: Top Ramen

• Buyers: Customer’s mind set, Brand Image

• Substitutes: Chowmeen, Fast food, Pasta

Q1> List out the brands of NIL in India and develop a brand portfolio by analyzing their growth rate and market share in each of their product market situation.

Milk Products and Nutrition

Beverages

Prepared Dishes and Cooking Aids

Chocolates & Confectionery

Q2> Analyze the Brand Life Cycle of brand ‘Maggi’ and enlist the various branding strategies adopted by NIL to keep it alive.

• Brand Life Cycle – Explained in the Case

• Branding strategies adopted by NIL:– Promotional campaigns in schools– Advertising strategies like ‘Its Different’, ‘Bas

2-Minute’, ‘Health Bhi, taste Bhi’ etc which caught the heart and imagination of Indian consumer

– Availability in different pack sizes– New product innovations

– Organizing contests, games and industrial visits for school kids to further strengthen the brand image

– Invite Housewives to send new innovative recipes made from Maggi and introduce rewards for the same

– NIL's promotions positioned the noodles as a 'convenience product', for mothers and as a 'fun' product for children

– NIL aggressively promoted Maggi noodles through several schemes like: -

• distributing free samples• giving gifts on the return of empty packs• NIL's advertising too played a great role in

communicating the benefits of the product to target consumers

Q3> How is Brand Extension different from Multi-brand strategy. Explain the difference in the light of the given case.

• Brand extension is using the leverage of a well known brand name in one category to launch a new product in a different category.

• Brand Extension Strategies are frequently undertaken by the companies when they launch any new product. The companies try to reap benefit out of their established Brand Name and Brand Equity.

• Brand Extension Strategy refers to the strategy in which a company uses the same Brand Name in order to promote products of different category.

• It is commonly found that, a company which has already established its brand name in the market for a specific product category, uses the same Brand Name at the time of launching a new product of different category.

• In this case, the new product easily develops an acceptance range as the customers are already familiar with the Brand Name.

• Example: NIL used the brand extension strategy and offered a variety of culinary products such as instant noodles, soups, sauces and ketchups, cooking aids (seasonings), etc., under the ‘Maggi’ brand name

• Multi-brand strategy: Marketing of two or more similar and competing products by the same firm under different and unrelated brands.

• While these brands eat into each others' sales, multi-brand strategy does have some advantages as a means of:-– obtaining greater shelf space and leaving little for

competitors' products– saturating a market by filling all price and quality gaps– catering to brand-switchers—users who like to

experiment with different brands– keeping the firm's managers on their toes by

generating internal competition

Q4> “NIL has repositioned Maggi from time to time”. Critically assess the repositioning strategy of NIL and suggest what will do as a brand manager of Maggi in the present scenario

• NIL introduced the Maggi brand to Indian consumers when it launched Maggi 2 Minute Noodles, an instant food product, in 1982

• At that time, Indian consumers were rather conservative in their food habits, preferring to eat traditional Indian dishes rather than canned or packaged food

• In fact, NIL was trying to create an entirely new food category, instant noodles, in India

• Initially, the company targeted working women on the premise that Maggi noodles were fast to cook and hence offered convenience

• However, this approach failed as was evident from the fact that the sales of Maggi noodles were not picking up despite heavy media advertising

• To get to the root of the problem, NIL conducted a research, which revealed that it was children who liked the taste of Maggi noodles and who were the largest consumers of the product

• After this, NIL shifted its focus from working women and targeted children and their mothers through its marketing

• NIL's promotions positioned the noodles as a 'convenience product', for mothers and as a 'fun' product for children

• The noodles' tagline, 'Fast to Cook Good to Eat' was also in keeping with this positioning

• With time, NIL has also changed the tagline of Maggi from ‘Bas 2-minutes’ to ‘Health Bhi, Taste Bhi’, and this has hit the Indian Comsumers.

Suggestion from our side as Brand manager

• Focus more on the core brand i.e. Maggi 2 minutes noodles.

• Spend on R&D and promote as health product. • Enter the rural market• Increase the distribution channel• Introduce innovative products with different

brand name – i.e. go for multi-branding strategy.• Give combi offers like a kit kat

Any Questions

What an Answer

Its Different !!!