MAGGI – A Project Report on Marketing Strategy
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We heartily thank our Project in-charge, whose
encouragement, guidance & support enabled us to develop an
understanding of the various marketing strategies. We are
thankful for sir’s contribution towards the execution of the
project
Our thanks and appreciations also go to our colleague in
developing the project and the people who have willingly
helped us out with their abilities
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Sr No Particulars Page No.
1 Executive Summary 4
2 Understanding the market & competition 5
3 STPD analysis 8
Initial Marketing Strategy - Maggi before the
4 10
controversy
5 The Controversy 12
Current Marketing Strategy - Maggi after the
6 14
controversy
7 References 20
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The report entitled ‘MAGGI – A project report on marketing strategy’ deals with
the study of Nestle as a brand which acquired Maggi in 1947 & launched it in India
in 1983 as an evening snack which became synonymous with noodles. This study
tries to analyses the marketing strategy of Maggi before & after the controversy &
how post dropping significant Market Share during the ban, they were able to
smoothly regain the Market share within a few months of re-launch.
The introduction provides the company background (Nestle), Maggi launch in
India, its competitors, their initial marketing strategy for Maggie, the controversy
that cost them their market share & position as market leaders and how they
adopted emotional marketing strategies to reconnect with Mothers & youngsters
to re-launch the product in the market
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1. Understanding The Market And Competition:
NESTLE – Brief History
The history of Nestlé began in Vevey, Switzerland, in1867 when founder Henri
Nestlé created one of the first infant foods in response to the need for a healthy
and affordable product
NESTLÉ's relationship with India dates back to 1912, when it began trading as The
NESTLÉ Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company (Export) Limited, importing and
selling finished products in the Indian market
After India's independence in 1947, the economic policies of the Indian
Government emphasised the need for local production. NESTLÉ responded to
India's aspirations by forming a company in India and set up its first factory in 1961
at Moga, Punjab, where the Government wanted NESTLÉ to develop the milk
economy
MAGGI – Brief History
Maggi is an international brand of seasonings, instant soups, and noodles that
originated in Switzerland. The brand was acquired by Nestlé in 1947. With the
launch of Maggi noodles, NIL created an entirely new food category - instant
noodles -in the Indian packaged food market. , NIL successfully managed to retain
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its leadership in the instant noodles category because of its first mover advantage
until the early 2000s.
Competition
Maggi noodles, which has been dominating the instant noodles market in India for
nearly three decades, is currently witnessing tough competition with a number of
new entrants such as Sunfeast Yippee!, Hindustan Unilever's (HUL) Knorr Soupy
Noodles, Top Ramen and Ching's Secret.
Patanjali Noodles
Patanajali launched instant noodles on 15 November 2015.
Yipee !
A popular noodle brand in India is Sunfeast Yippee!, which belongs to
the Indian conglomerate ITC. Yippee made its way into the Indian
market in the first decade of the 2000s and gradually made a
considerable presence. By the early 2010s, Yippee! had started giving
market leader Maggi some sort of competition. Yippee! noodles are
available in five different variants; namely, Classic Masala, Magic
Masala, Chinese Masala, Tricolor Pasta (Creamy Corn) and Tricolor
Pasta (Masala)
Top Ramen
Top Ramen, by Nissin, is another leading noodle brand in India. Nissin is
a Japanese company that introduced its first noodle product in 1958
but entered the Indian market 30 years later in 1988. It took a while for
Top Ramen to become one of the leading noodle brands in India.
Different variants of Top Ramen noodles in India include Atta Noodles,
Cup Noodles, Curry Veg Noodles, Oats Noodles, Scoopies Short Noodles
and Super Noodles
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Ching's Secret
Ching's Secret is another popular noodle brand in India. It is a product
of Capital Food Indian Limited. Another popular brand of noodles in
India produced by Capital Food India Limited is Smith & Jones. But
Ching's Secret is the more popular one and is giving stiff competition to
the top noodle brands in India. Ching's Secret offers a vast range of
products to its customers that include Schezwan Instant Noodles,
Singapore Curry Instant Noodles, Hot Garlic Instant Noodles, Egg Hakka
Noodles and Veg Hakka Noodles
Knorr Soupy Noodles
Knorr Soupy Noodles is a product of Hindustan Unilever and has turned
out to be a popular brand in India of late. Knorr is famous for its unique
range of soups in India and is the leading brand for the same but has
earned accolades for its unique combination of noodles and soup, that
is, Knorr Soupy Noodles. Knorr noodles range consists of Mast Masala
Soupy Noodles, Knorr Chinese Noodle Hot Spicy, Knorr Chinese Noodle
Schezwan, Chinese Noodles and Fried Rice
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2. STPD Analysis
SEGMENTATION
SEGMENTATION TARGETING POSITIONING DIFFERENTIATION
* Age * Small Children * Fast To Cook. * Taste
* Eating Habit * Teenagers Good to eat * Flavors
* Lifestyle of * Youth / College * 2-minute * Packaging –
families Students noodles available in diff sizes
* Office Goers * Taste bhi. * Variants
* Working Women Heath bhi * Ease of Availability
* Old People who
find it difficult to
cook
* People on the
move
* Health conscious
people – Aata
noodles
Market Segmentation divides the heterogeneous market into homogenous groups
of customers who share a similar set of needs/wants and could be satisfied by
specific products.
Maggi Brand have segmented the market on the basis of Age, Eating habit and
lifestyle of Urban Families.
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TARGETING
CHILDREN & TEENAGERS : Nestle targeted kids. They were the ones who were
ready to accept a tasty food, compared to older people who were still reluctant. It
appealed to kids because of two reasons - distinguished taste and two minutes
factor. Simple. There was not much competition around. It clicked. Kids who were
growing up at that stage would one day become their loyal customers, Nestle
knew that.
WORKING WOMEN : Nestle promoted working women concept in India during
1980s. This was a wonderful strategy to promote their own product. As
housewives moved to the offices, they earned more money but had lesser time. So
the idea of instant food was spreading
YOUTH & OFFICE GOERS: The Company also targeted this segment people
because they are the one who need refreshment time to time because of hectic
schedule and with what would take their minimal time. Keeping this aspect the
company introduced Cuppa Mania
POSITIONING
Positioned their product with the well-known slogan
“2 Minute noodles”
“Taste bhi health bhi”
“Fast to cook. Good to eat”
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3. INITIAL MARKETING STRATEGY – MAGGI BEFORE THE
CONTROVERSY
Using the nostalgia factor: Maggi has always made family-based
advertisements to attract its customers. Most of the ads centre around
mothers delighting their children with their favourite two-minute noodles
with a storyline of how the child was having a bad day at school or the child
growing up to use the mother’s special Maggi recipe to show her that she
still needs her. Either which way, the narrative revolving around the mother-
child duo (in most of the ads) strikes a chord with the users, who then
subconsciously start noting the family value the product manages to sell.
Nestle launched Maggi noodles with its captivating two-minute tagline way
back in 1982 when instant food was not popular in India. They targeted the
right segment for this which was the major factor in deciding its success.
Nestle marketed Maggi not as the main food item but as a snack in the
evening, that too for the kids. They knew they cannot compete in the main
food items. But the snacks market had a huge scope in India at that point of
time.
Nestle kept it simple. They didn't do many experiments with the taste part of
Maggi. They knew it was addictive.
They accepted the challenge when in the last few years, increasing concern
of health was getting prevalent among the Indians. Nestle just at the right
time, came up with the concept of Taste Bhi-Health Bhi...that kept them in
the market. Had any other product taken advantage of health factor, they
would have faced severe challenge.
More than anything else it's the Maggi Brand that Nestle has created. Players
like Top Ramen had existed even before Maggi. But Top Ramen could never
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connect to the common man as Maggi did (like Coke), despite the fact that
Top Ramen actually tastes nice. Bottomline is, marketing does matter.
2-minute tagline and Fast to Cook, Good to Eat helped Maggi to create a huge
customer base.
Taste Bhi Health Bhi Campaign concentrated on nutrition factor which is the
concern of mothers,
Also, the latest campaign starring Amitabh Bachchan made the consumer
connect to the product. It asks for customer's Maggi memories.
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4. THE CONTROVERSY
On June 5, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had ordered a
pan-India ban on the Nestle India's Maggie Noodle on the ground that these were
"unsafe and hazardous" for humans due to the presence of lead, allegedly beyond
permissible limits. The five-month ban was "one of the biggest crises" it Nestle has
faced in the 32-year history of the brand in the country.
The brand which had been enjoying over 75% of the market share since ages saw
the worst days in 2015 with a nationwide ban on its instant noodle product. The
entire market with sales of worth Rs 250-300 crore a month went down to 5-10%
during the Maggi controversy. However, it has now recovered to nearly 50% of the
original industry sales with Nestle being on a recovery management spree ever
since Maggi came back.
The instant noodles, which accounted for about 30% of Nestle India’s revenue in
2014, were pulled from the market, starting 5 June, after the country’s food
regulator, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), ordered the
company to withdraw all nine variants of Maggi, calling them unsafe and
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hazardous for human consumption. It cited excess lead content and traces
of monosodium glutamate, a flavor enhancer, as reasons.
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5. CURRENT MARKETING STRATEGY – MAGGI AFTER THE
CONTROVERSY
#WE MISS YOU TOO
Team Maggi begins its crisis management on the communication front with a
three-film campaign
"Kab wapas ayegaa yaar? Miss you."
"I miss you yaar. Come back, man."
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"Ab aa bhi jao. Miss you yaar."
The brand name was not uttered. At the end of each film, the Maggi logo appears
on the screen, along with the words #WeMissYouToo
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Keeping in touch through increased ad space
After the fiasco of the Maggi ban, its parent company Nestle decided to increase
its spending on television commercials, leading to a growth of its ad volume to
about 96 percent by September, 2015 — two months prior to the re-launch of the
famous noodles, according to various data estimates. The first print advertisement
that accompanied the announcement of the re-launch read — “Your Maggi is safe,
has always been.”
#MAGGI MOTHER
Quite naturally, the first ad after the Maggi re-launch was of a mother speaking
nostalgically about her child’s tryst with his favorite noodles, thus further adding
to the emotional value of the customer’s right there. # Letyourmomknow
The perfect medium for the launch
Along with increased spending on television ad space, Maggi was relentless in its
promotions of the upcoming re-launch on social media. Using the full force of its
high held presence on a platform like Facebook, which has about 261,433 likes on
it (on last count), and an 87,700 following on Twitter
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#NOTHING LIKE MAGGI
The series aims to bring back the memories of having Maggi after coming back
from school. After the Papa's cooking and Hostel video where the brand brushed
up the Maggi memories of couples and hostellers, who basically survive on the
snack item, it has now taken up the hungry siblings.
#WELCOME BACK MAGGI
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Making it exclusive
Like with everything else, consumers thrive on the feeling of owning a product or
service ‘exclusively’. Maggi played its cards smartly when it decided to take this
into account by making a deal with Snapdeal, which became the only platform
where Maggi packets were sold before its official comeback into the shelves of all
stores. This raised its demand by a roof and customers were trying to outbid each
other for the ownership of the packets, sometimes even paying more, before it
went out of stock. The company thus set the stage for Maggi’s official comeback
into the markets. The registrations for Maggi’s welcome kit (containing 12 packs of
Maggi, a 2016 Maggi calendar, a Maggi fridge magnet, Maggi post cards and a
‘Welcome Back’ letter) opened on 9 November, the sale began on 12 November
on Snapdeal
Last Mile Customer Connect
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On-ground activation to rapidly connect with not just consumers but also dhabas,
canteens and street vendors of Maggi noodles are the key today
Today Maggie has covered the Indian Market in such a way that even in the most
remote of all locations, be it any small village even in the most hilly regions, there
will always be some roadside shop selling Maggi
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REFERNCES
http://www.nestle-
ea.com/en/aboutus/history/history_detailed
https://www.nestle.in/aboutus/allaboutnestl%C3%A9
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggi
https://www.quora.com/Why-are-Nestle-Maggi-noodles-so-
popular-especially-in-India
http://business.mapsofindia.com/top-brands-india/top-noodle-
brands-in-india.html
https://www.scribd.com/document/252817930/Maggi-STP-pdf
http://www.slideshare.net/tinuupadhyay/marketing-project-
maggi
http://www.slideshare.net/parves190/maggi-noodles-8279990
https://yourstory.com/2016/09/marketing-lessons-maggi/
https://www.slideshare.net/probikersagar/brand-study-maggi
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