5 things to
learn from Maggi Comeback
Nestle’s
Maggi “2 minute noodles” has a fan following which can give a movie star in
India run for its money. It has been ruling the taste buds of India for nearly
32 years and its recent comeback attempt whether successful or not is bound to
become case studies in B schools across the world.
The past
events (read: allegations for excess quantity of chemicals like mono sodium
glutamate or MSG etc and subsequent sample testing of Maggi Noodles in various
labs across India ) leading to large scale recall and blemishing of one of the
iconic brands in Indian FMCG market. It also had a domino effect on other
noodle brands as well.
Lets look at
5 things which corporate can learn from Nestle’s Welcome back campaign for
Maggi
1)
Transparency - Many strategists had criticized the
slow response by Nestle team to Maggi controversy. But Nestle did the right thing by supporting
the government in its inquiry and resorting to legal course of action to
challenge the ban of product. As a part of Welcome back campaign , Nestle is
sharing the results of the tests conducted by various labs as directed by Honorable Bombay High Court. It will be able to garner public support and build a
positive reputation among consumers showcasing that “Meri Maggi” is safe.
Honesty and transparency is trait respected by consumers irrespective of the
product.
2)
Brand
loyalty pays even in tough times-
Building a strong brand loyalty is every marketer’s dream. Strong brand loyalty
also translates into strong emotional attachment and ultimately defines the
brand equity. Nestle has cemented its position by targeting this very aspect of
Maggi. Nestle picked up the threads from its marketing campaigns couple of years
back where consumers were encouraged to share their own recipes by using Maggi
noodles/products as one of the ingredients. This leveraging upon past brand equity
can amplify the effectiveness of come back campaigns.
3)
Purpose
brand can impact the umbrella brand too– Nestle sells lots of products under its umbrella brand “Maggi”
like noodles , ketchup, pasta , taste maker, etc. The noodle controversy may impact the sales of
other products too under the brand name Maggi. Even negative publicity, viral
jokes , discussion on online forum highlighted Umbrella brand Maggi rather than
purpose brand noodles. Nestle crisis management team will have to work extra
hard to clean up the externalities generated by purpose brand on the umbrella
brand.
4)
Right
medium to target consumer-
Welcome back campaign released by Nestle is going viral on social media. Nestle’s
target consumer include kids, mothers, teenagers , students, bachelors, young
working professionals living away from home. This segment is also highly
inclined towards social media, so the use of Face book (Maggi has nearly 2.8
Million likes on its face book page), twitter and other social media platform
may help in getting the message across the right audience. It can also provide
agility to the campaign.
5)
Use
of disruptive & innovative approach- Nestle being a powerhouse in FMCG sector with robust
supply chain, could have tried to go solo with welcome back campaign. However, it
leveraged upon the reach and popularity of
online market place “Snapdeal” to sell Maggi 2 minute noodles in specially designed
pack of 12, loaded with small gift items like Calendar for year 2016, refrigerator
magnet sticker using already popular flash sale model for online sales. As per
the news reports , approximately 60,000 packs of special welcome back box were
sold out in 5 minutes!! Flash sales model provide much needed consumer data at
much faster rate as compared to traditional gathering of sales figures from POS
data. The data from flash sale can act
as sample for pilot projects as the buying behaviour of consumer and depth of
penetration of internet act as barriers. None the less, this approach can provide
inputs to make necessary positive tweaks. Further more ,Nestle is also using
omni-channel approach to make maximum impact for the campaign. It won’t be a
surprise if Nestle comes up with a contest as a part of its image rebuilding
exercise to offer free guided tours to few selected consumers of Maggi 2 minute
noodles to its manufacturing facilities and use their testimonials as part of
already ongoing viral social media posts.
Whether
“Welcome Back “ campaign will be able to successfully restore the lost glory of
Maggi and “2 minute noodles” and ring in the cash registers for Nestle , only
time will tell but it will be a great learning lesson for brand strategist and
social media marketing enthusiasts.
Disclaimer: -
This article represents views of author based on his own experience and data
available in public domain. Nestle , 2 minute noodles , Maggi, Snapdeal,
Facebook etc. are brand names of their respective owners.
