Why Nestle’s Maggi Instant Noodles Remains Undefeated in India since 1983
Their marketing campaigns made history with unimaginable sales — 264 billion tonnes in 2019
If “Xerox” is for Photocopiers, “Colgate” is for Toothpaste, then “Maggi” is for Noodles. — Economic Times, 2003
My earliest memories of Maggi are fighting over it with my sister.
We could only have it once a week (it was a rule), and we had a system where, if one of us prepared it, the other had to divide it into two and a half portions—one for each of us, and the other half for our mother. We took alternate turns (to separate and cook) and always fought about who needed to do it next.
We got so particular about our portions that we used the same plates to measure the weight. What if one of us got more than the other? No way!
I don’t even recall how we came up with this system, but looking back, Maggi has always filled my heart with fond memories.
But after I grew up and became more aware of what’s healthy and unhealthy, I became curious about how Maggi became India’s favorite snack. How did a Swiss company create such a firm footing in a country with the world’s second-largest population? Why do people gorge on it even though they know it’s not healthy? How did a Noodle brand become such an intricate part of our lives?
Disclaimer: This article is only a case study about a brand’s marketing strategy. I am not in any way trying to promote or sell the brand here.
History of Maggi
In 1983, Nestle introduced Maggi in India as the first instant noodles in the country. While it did induce curiosity in our people’s minds, the company’s entry into the Indian market stumbled for the first few years.
However, everything changed once they modified their advertising strategy.
Traditionally, Indians are obsessed with having rice or wheat during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So, Maggi was not able to enter the primary meals market at all.
India was also undergoing vast industrial developments and reforms at that time. Women had barely begun to enter the working class to support their families and raise their financial status in society. While this was a progressive change, women still felt guilty for not being able to “provide” for their kids. All the other Indian snacks took time to prepare, time which these modern mothers did not have.
Nestle thus, found the perfect time to promote their product — the evening snacks market, where kids come hungry from school, expecting something fun to eat.
Another point to consider here is that Indians historically prefer to eat at home, and we hold the food cooked by our mothers in very high regard. Homemade food is thus respected and considered to be a cut above outside food.
Maggi used this golden opportunity of tradition and guilt of working mothers, thus providing a “2-minute yummy snack” as a solution. Maggi mom became a popular term, where women could be the “loving and caring mothers” that society expected them to be and earn for their families.
They became the first Indian brand to connect to a working mother’s plight and campaign aggressively to stir those emotions.
Successful Brand Cues
- Maggi, from the beginning, used yellow and red in their marketing strategy, sharp cues which induce hunger in people.
- They fiercely campaigned for the “2-minute Maggi noodles” and “Maggi Mom,” which is still the company’s trademark.
- It also helped to have a catchy jingle, “Maggi — Maggi — Maggi” (I can hear all you Indians singing with me), cute children, and an ideal mother in a saree in the advertisements. Their ads portrayed an everyday scene of a typical middle-class home, making the consumers relate to the problem/solution scenario straight away.
- The company was bang-on on their price point. Even today, one block of Maggi costs only Rs 12 ($0.16), which is perfect for everyday use.
- Maggi released many flavors specifically targeted for the Indian market (veg and non-veg), calling out to the taste buds of millions of Indians.
Even though it is a Swiss product, Maggi was the perfect example of using a nation’s cultural psychology to market its product. An existing market with their parent company Nestle probably helped create a brand legacy and rise to the top rapidly (it had 90% of India’s instant noodle market share within the first 20 years). It also became the biggest brand in Nestle India’s portfolio — 1500 crore INR ($234 Million).
Everything was going great for this brand until the Indian Government banned it for five months.
How Addictive Was Maggi?
Everything was working out exceedingly well until the summer of 2015, April to be exact.
India’s Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) announced they found higher than the permissible lead concentration in Maggi, along with Monosodium Glutamate (MSG). The lead found was seven times higher than the acceptable amount, thus causing addiction among consumers.
The Indian Government sued Nestle for 640 crore rupees (USD 87,879,040 to be exact) due to unfair trade practices. And after a public outcry, Maggi got banned from Indian shelves in June 2015.
Nestle faced the worst crisis in the company’s history during that year and a half of the ban. The company had to destroy $77 million worth of product — 37,000 tonnes of noodles. From commanding 80% of the noodle market of India in 2015, it went to 0% in just a month.
Twitter, of course, exploded. #MaggiBan, #MaggiInASoup tags became trending overnight. Below are some of my favorites!
Maggi Made It’s Way Out Of The Hot Soup
Nestle fought against the ban throughout, insisting on the safety of their product. Then after various court-mandated tests and a clean chit from three accredited laboratories, the snack was deemed fit for consumption. Finally, Maggi was back in stores in November 2015, right before Diwali, after five months of being banned.
Their first comeback was with the “Masala” taste (a combination of spices), which quickly sold out in the market because of their partnership with Snapdeal — an online shopping brand.
“I feel happy to be able to give back to them their familiar taste during the auspicious and festive Diwali season.” — Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and MD of Nestle India.
By 2018, Maggi already attained 60% of the instant noodle market share. There were a couple of reasons for its swift comeback.
First, kids were nostalgic for their favorite snack. Maggi utilized their fond memories for their classic “Me and Meri Maggi” (Me and My Maggi) campaign to celebrate 25 years of their success in India. They asked consumers to submit “Maggi videos” that got featured in their advertisements and blogs. Can you guess the number of responses? 30,000! Yeah, I was surprised when I saw the stats too.
The second was the optimal use of Facebook and Twitter, which were booming in 2015. They maintained their connection with customers even when the product was off the market. During those months, Maggi kept releasing videos saying “We miss you too” and used the #WeMissYouToo on Twitter to keep the connection going. They also optimally used the emotional connection the youngsters had with the snack to pull the right strings.
By 2019, Maggi had surpassed their sales before the ban and sold 264,000 million tonnes of Maggi products.
Lessons From Maggi’s Brand Management
The brand is still going strong in the Indian subcontinent, with sales shooting up by 25% because of lockdown in 2020. While researching about the brand for this article, I learned so much from their campaigns and brand management, which I would like to summarize here:
- Even though Maggi is a Swiss company, they made sure to touch the pain point of millions of Indian women who were short on time.
- They have not changed their prominent flavor, branding, and logo over the last half a century to induce nostalgia in millennial kids. They have experimented with additional flavors and products, though.
- Their ads always have been genuine and touched the emotional front of any consumer.
- Maggi always stayed in contact with their consumers, even during the ban. They took frequent feedback and changed as needed.
Even though Maggi has many competitors in the instant noodles market, no one could beat them because of their firm foothold in the Indian subcontinent. As an avid noodles consumer, I have seen other brands flop or not do as well over the years. And I don’t think any other company used such an ideal marketing campaign in India.
No wonder there’s only one Maggi.
