1.

Maggie - instant noodle, which was the leading Nestle brand, was banned in June
2015, due to high levels of lead
found in some lab reports. Though the ban got lifted in Nov 2015, yet Maggie had to
regain its market share of 70-80% back
again.
2. Suresh Narayanan, brought in as Chairman and Managing Director of Nestl�, had a
massive responsibility of bringing Maggie back on the shelves and recovering the
lost market share.
3. Nestl� India had come back, bringing the market share to just above 60% in the
eighteen months since the relaunch of Maggi.
4. Its the Chief Marketing Officer Radhakrishnan wanted to take a stock of
different actions taken by the company since the debacle, he began examining what
move was right, what wasn�t and what could�ve been done better. During the ban,
Nestle had run a campaign for consumers and for retailers. And what was the way
forward for the Maggi brand in India?
5. NESTL� India products - such as NESCAF�, MAGGI, MILKYBAR, KIT KAT, BAR-ONE,
MILKMAID and NESTEA and in recently introduced NESTL� Milk, NESTL� SLIM Milk,
NESTL� Dahi and NESTL� Jeera Raita.
6. Maggi Noodles, arrived in India in 1983 with an aim to offer a meal that could
be cooked easily by mothers and would make the kids happy as well.
7. Two minute - a term used by Indians to refer to as absolutely no time required-
that piqued the Indian consumers�
attention. An instant attraction was the Maggie's "two-minute noodles" advertising
campaign on Doordarshan with which Maggi launched itself.
8. The idea was liberating for Indian women who would normally spend hours in the
kitchen. Maggie noodles were easy and quick to cook with a great taste.
9. Maggie offered a promise of convinience and positioned itself for mother-child
indulgence.
11. Instant noodles is a 3800 crore market in India. Maggie has enjoyed the lead
position, with 90% market share. It went down to 75-80% by 2015 just before the ban
but still it was the market leader.
12. ITC's Yippe was the competitor. with 18-22% market share, though it increased
to 33% when Maggie noodles were banned.
13. Other competitors were - Top Ramen, Knorr Soupy Noodles, Ching's secret chinese
noodles and patanjali's instant noodles. Top Ramen enjoys 10% market share while
Patanjali which is more focussed on health of consumers enjoys 4% share.
14. Main reasons for Maggies success are - 1. They introduced intant noodles, 2.
Their ad campaign which helped to connect with the masses and 3. Their presence in
more than 3 million outlets before the ban.
15. Ad campaing chronology:
1. 1983 - Maggie Mom - who cared about her kids but also gave importance to
her work.
2. 2008 - Me and meri Maggie - Personal stories from Maggie eaters. One such
story was of a man who carried bowls of maggies to vehicles stranded in 2005 Mumbai
floods
3. Second decade of 21st century - staple of bachelors, college kids, young
professionals..Maggie kids all grown up.
16. After ban, demand fell from 5340 to 3260 million units.
17. Brand Development Story - 1983: Two minute noodle, fast to cook, good to eat,
ad focussed on hunger, and maggies as a tasty response. Homely feeling, mother's
pick, so good for kids.. Positioned as in between snack..Kids were target customer
as they were ready to experiment.. Ad was shown before prime time Doordarshan shows
like Hum log and Mahabharata..
18. 1990: Very similar - Mummy bhook lagi hai, bas do minute..
19. Early 2000: There was a change in communication - "Badi gazab ki bhook lagi,
maggies chahiye mujhe abhi.. positioned as favourite among slightly grown up
kids..teenagers and youngsters..
20. Later in 2000, positioned also as a healthy food, taste bhi health bhi.. In the
decade of 2000, Maggi came in various product varieties, thereby increasing its
customer base. These include Maggi Mania(Rice noodles), Maggi Vegetable Atta
Noodles, Sambhar Dal Atta Noodles, Chicken Noodles, among others. Cuppa Mania ..
travellers.. busy life schedule.. just add garam paani, carry on jaani..
21. Maggie sauce .. ghar ka swaad, maa ki yaad.. it was to replace chutney..It's
different.. was a hit among youngsters..
22. Ban contracted the total market size by 15%.
23. March 2014 - Authorities in the State of Uttar Pradesh informed Nestl� India
that MSG was detected in a sample of MAGGI Noodles that carried a "No added MSG"
claim on the pack.
24. January 2015 - April 2015 - Second sample was sent, 7th April 2015 - Calcutta
lab said it got lead above permissible levels and presence of MSG..
25. Nestl� India stated that although it did not add MSG to Maggi Noodles, the
product contained glutamate from hydrolysed
groundnut protein, onion powder and wheat flour, which could produce a positive
result in a test for MSG.
Nestl� India said it would remove the "No added MSG" claim on the pack � although
'factually correct and not in violation of regulations'.
26. June 2015 - Nestle India decided to stop selling Maggie, until situation with
Authorities is resolved. FSSAI issued an order which said:
� Recall of all nine variants of MAGGI Noodles from the market
� Halt of commercial activities related to the product, including sale and
production. Removal of the "No Added MSG" claim from product packs.
� Withdrawal / recall of MAGGI oats Noodles as it did not have 'Product Approval'
27. June 2015 - They went to the court against the FSSAI order, though they
complied with the order during court hearing..
- The FSSAI order was passed without giving Nestl� a proper hearing
- The government laboratories that tested MAGGI Noodles for lead � on behalf of the
FSSAI and some Indian state FDAs (food
and drug administration) - were not accredited for lead testing.
- Tests by Nestl� and an independent accredited laborator found MAGGI Noodles safe
to eat
- Tests by food standards authorities in six countries � USA, Canada, UK,
Australia, New Zealand and Singapore � also found Indian-made MAGGI Noodles safe
for consumption.
- MAGGI oats Noodles was launched when the FSSAI 'Product Approval' system was
under suspension.
28. Strong reaction is social media from June 5 2015 onwards..
29. During the ban, Maggie ran a campaign - we miss you too, kab wapas aayega
yaar..consumer at center piece, no celebrity
30. Relaunch - �Your Maggi is safe, and has always been' stated a front-page print
campaign in The Times of India, Delhi edition, dated October 19, 2015. four days
after the instant noodle brand cleared the ordered tests by the Bombay High Court.
31. Two days prior to Diwali, on Dhanteras in November 2015, stores across Mumbai
had a special display on Monday, right on their entry gate in bold letters: �We are
back�, �Maggi is back�.
32. Nestle India launched Maggi in 100 towns through 300-odd distributors at that
point. Prior to the ban, the company was selling Maggi through four million outlets
in 450 towns.19 Nestl� India claimed that it sold 45 million packs of the popular
snack within two weeks of its relaunch.
33. Snapdeal Flash Sale - They tied up with Snapdeal for home delivery of maggie.
Maggi was sold via unique "flash sale model" on e-commerce platform Snapdeal.
34. Maggi relaunched their flagship product in special �Welcome Kit�, which
contained 12 packs of Maggi, a 2016 Maggi calendar, a Maggi fridge magnet, Maggi
post cards and a �Welcome Back� letter. This special kit was only available on
Snapdeal.com. Maggi appeared to have made a comeback as 7,20,000 units, packed in
60,000 kits were sold out within the first 5 minutes on Snapdeal.com
35. Nestle announced the relaunch of Maggi at retail outlets across the country,
barring eight states where it was still banned. As the product was back on shelves,
Maggi ads with #LetYourMomKnow went on air prior to it. A message saying �Your
Maggi is safe, has always been� was on display at the end.
36. One ad showed a mother narrating a tale about her son tip-toeing at night to
cook Maggi. She let him cook, relieved that he won�t go to bed hungry. Still, she
wondered if she did the right thing when questions were raised about the product�s
safety. After Maggi cleared all the safety tests, she felt she had passed a test
too.
37. �The brief was simple: to keep it simple. Re-assure consumers that �Maggi is
safe and always has been�.
38. In February 2016, Nestl� India brought back Chicken Maggi noodles for which
they had a flash sale requiring pre-registration on Snapdeal. Gifts along with he
pack of 8 (for Rs 120) were promised. Nestle�s exclusive tie-up with Snapdeal was
in conformity to company�s strategy of innovation and higher advertisement
(specially digital) that
created buzz around the brand.
39. Ban costed them Rs 450 crore as it destroyed more than 30,000 tonnes of
Maggi.Nestl� India�s profit fell 60% from the year-ago period to Rs.124.2 crore on
account of lower sales. 17.2% decline in net sales for the year ended
December 2015, while net profit fell to Rs 563 crore, from Rs 1,185 crore in the
previous year.
40. The size of the instant noodles category shrunk by nearly half, to Rs 2,000
core for the full year ended January 2016
41. The controversy also led to the share of Maggi in the Indian instant noodles
market declining to 42% as of January 2016, down from a dominant 77% in January
2015.26 Meanwhile, ITC�s Yippee! capitalised on Maggi�s
absence to catapult to a 33% share.
� Nestle reported a 60 per cent decline in bottom line in the September 2015
quarter and for the three months that
ended in December 2015, Nestl� India reported a 44 per cent decline in net profit
� For the December 2015 quarter, revenue stood at Rs 1,946 crore, higher than what
it was in the three months ended September 2015, when net revenue was Rs 1,736
crore, but in line with June quarter revenues of Rs 1,934 crore.
Revenues in 2015 for Nestle India
Quarter Revenue
April � June �15 Rs 1934 crore
July-September �15 Rs 1736 crore
October-December �15 Rs 1946 crore

42. Nearly 30% of Nestle India's turnover (approximately Rs 9,000 crore) came from
Maggi, as of
June 2015. Maggi commanded 80.2% of the market for instant noodles in the quarter
to March 2015. Until November, Yippee gained from Maggi�s absence, with its market
share reaching close to 40%.By 31st December, 53 days after the relaunch, Maggi
recovered its market share to 33.3% from 0% on November 9th, according to Nielsen.
In January 2016, Maggi noodles had a 42% market share. In April 2016, regained more
than 50% share in India�s Rs.3800 crore noodles market.As of March 2016, Maggi was
available in 2 million stores compared to 3.8 million in the preban days.

43. In February, 2017, Maggi reported a market share of 60%. Nestle launched 35 new
products in
the six months to February 2017.

44. In June 2016, Nestle India rolled out the first sub-brand of its 2-minute
noodles Maggi under
the name Hot Heads. like peri peri, for example, are not for children. These are
for adults, and for those who like spicy food.

What Next?
45. It was April 2017 and it has been eighteen months since Maggi had been back on
the shelves. 2015 saw a market leader face a fiasco and manage to come back up and
gain 80% of its previous market share.

So the questions are: How good a job had Nestle done to recover from the Maggi ban?
What aspects of the brand had helped? Which actions with the consumer had worked?
Could using a celebrity to endorse the brand have worked better? What could Nestle
have done differently to protect and promote the Maggi brand, pre-ban, during the
ban and after the re-launch And what was the way forward for the Maggi brand in
India?

Nestle did not even respond the FDA warnings.

Nestle may have assumed that the government would be indifferent, that the media
would move on, and the controversy would die a natural death. They were wrong. The
startling findings of lead and MSG in Maggi was confirmed in April 2015, the
mainstream media picked up the issue, a month later, on May 20th.

There was a one month window for the food giant to get its act together.

They could�ve recalled the product voluntarily, and come clean saying that the
safety of Indians takes precedence over everything else.

But instead:

1) They blocked all lines of communication with consumers. For more than a
fortnight, barring a computer-generated statement, there was no word from Nestle.
Nearly all beat journalists, including myself, wrote and re-wrote to Nestle for a
more human, in-depth response, but Nestle was too arrogant for a 2-minute reply.

2) Their social media response was a disaster. Robotic replies, sharing heavy PDF
files in the name of responses; Nestle India�s social media damage control has been
a joke. Just look at the cookie-cutter responses in the photo below, clearly Nestle
India was unwilling to establish consumer connect.

3) Nestle stayed in denial. For a situation of this magnitude, the Nestle global
site does not even acknowledge the controversy in India.

Maggi is Nestle India�s mascot. It is baffling to think why the company will let it
boil in a soup.