Instant Noodle market in India Noodles are a commodity which is consumed by everyone, right from kids and teenagers

to retirees. In fact, India consumes a little less than 90,000 tones of noodles every year. A decade ago the word noodles was synonymous with Nestls Maggi. Twoand-a-half decades since its launch, 2 minute Maggi Noodles is the numero uno brand in the Indian market. Overall, the instant noodle market in India is worth over INR 1,300-crore (USD 260 million) and is growing at a phenomenal rate of over 17-20% per year, according to Data monitor estimates. Inspired by the success of Maggi, a number of F&B manufacturers ventured into this market. Among the prominent names are Top Ramen Smoodles and Cup Noodles manufactured by Indo-Nissin Ltd, Ching's Instant Noodles, AA Nutritions Yummy, and Wai-Wai, owned by the Chaudhary Group from Nepal and India. In the early 80s, the conservative and typical food consumption era, the concept of ready-to-cook food was alien to the Indian market. People were skeptical to experiment with food especially food meant for their children. Despite the unfavorable circumstances, Maggi took the challenge and launched itself in 1983. The brands appropriate realization of target segment, effective positioning and effective promotion and sales made Maggi the most-loved noodle brand in India. Maggi enjoys a market share of over 70% today, despite the presence of a

number of other brands. In 2005, the Maggi brand was worth USD 3.7 billion in comparison to USD 1.7 billion recorded in 2003. In 2005, Maggi was the highest Indian spender in the Sales Promotion department in the Noodles Category. For much time since its launch, Nestls Maggi Noodles was the only kingpin in the noodle market. However, in the recent past two well-known FMCG players in the country Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) introduced their own brands of instant food noodles and have managed to put their foot into this segment. Today, Knorr from HUL and Foodles from GSK have become well identified noodle brands besides Maggi Noodles and Nissins Top Ramen. New investments by HUL and GSK are paying off now. Individually, they hold 5% and 2% respectively of the noodles market share. Interestingly, GSK plans to capture 10% of the organized noodles market within a year. The newest entrant in this sector, ITC, seems to be sending strong competitive vibes to HUL and GSK as well as Maggi. ITC plans to launch noodles under the Sunfeast brand name. GSK, HUL and ITCs entry into noodles will heat up the competition for Maggi, which is already facing traction from retailers private labels like Tasty Treat from Future Group and Feasters from Aditya Birla Retail. According to data provided by Nielson Co., Maggis share of instant noodles, on an all-India basis, across urban markets, has slipped consistently between December 09 (90.7%) and July 10 (86.5%).

Some of the Major Companies producing Noodles in India:

Nestle (Maggi) Nissin (Top Ramen) Capital Foods Ltd (Chings Secret) Future Group (Tasty Treat) Aditya Birla Retail (Feasters) GlaxoSmithKline (Horlicks Foodles) Hindustan Unilever (Knorr) ITC (Sunfeast)

Maggis new Investments To cope with the increasing competition from the new entrants, Nestle India is investing INR 950 crore (USD 210.9 million) to set up two units to manufacture instant noodles and infant foods in Karnataka and Haryana. The unit in Karnataka will be up and running in the first quarter of next calendar year, while the Haryana unit is expected to commence its commercial production by the end of the next calendar year. With three other units based in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa, a fifth facility is expected to be set up in a yet undisclosed location to manufacture instant noodles; this will be put up for approval in the next two months. Nestle also announced plans to set up its first Research and Development Centre in India which will primarily focus on developing products specifically aimed at the domestic market.

This R&D centre is valued at INR 230 crore (USD 51 million) and will be based in Manesar, Haryana. With increasing competition in the Indian noodles market, it is very difficult to say whether Maggi can sustain its popularity over the coming years. The new entrants have launched their own brands of noodles which have already started hampering Maggis hold on the Indian market. It will be interesting to see how Maggi combats the competition with the big Indian conglomerates/new entrants earmarking ambitious plans and high commitments. About Nestle India & Maggi Noodles Nestl India is a subsidiary of Nestl S.A. of Switzerland. With seven factories and a large number of co-packers, Nestl India is a vibrant Company that provides consumers in India with products of global standards and is committed to long-term sustainable growth and shareholder satisfaction. The Company insists on honesty, integrity and fairness in all aspects of its business and expects the same in its relationships. This has earned it the trust and respect of every strata of society that it comes in contact with and is acknowledged amongst India's 'Most Respected Companies' and amongst the 'Top Wealth Creators of India'.

Maggi Noodles is one of the largest & most loved snack food brands that define the Instant Noodles category in India. Maggi has recently launched two new flavors in the short space of two months Thrillin Curry & Tricky Tomato Noodles. Blending Emotions with ingredients, the two new flavors deliver strongly on Taste Bhi Health Bhi. It is now available in 5 delectable flavours: Masala, Chicken, Tricky Tomato, Thrillin Curryand Romantic Capsica. Maggi noodles are a brand of instant noodles manufactured by Nestl. The brand is popular in Australia, India, South Africa, Brazil, Nepal, New Zealand, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka,Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Maggi noodles are part of the Maggi family, a Nestl brand of instant soups, stocks, and noodles. Maggi Brand in India 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. NIL aggressively promoted Maggi noodles through several schemes like distributing free samples, giving gifts on the return of empty packs, etc. NIL's advertising too played a great role in communicating the benefits of the product to target consumers. Through its ads, NIL positioned Maggi as a 'fun' food for kids which mothers could prepare easily. Taglines like 'Mummy, bhookh lagi hai' (Mom, I'm hungry), 'Bas 2-Minute,' (Only 2 minutes) and 'Fast to Cook Good to Eat' effectively communicated the product's benefits to target consumers.

These ads had become so popular that the tagline 'Bas 2-Minute' immediately reminded Indian consumers of Maggi noodles even several years after the ads were taken off the TV. Maggi's first product extension was Maggi instant soups launched in 1988. With the launch of Maggi soups, NIL had become a pioneer in the organized packaged soup market in India. In July 2001, Maggi replaced Nescaf (NIL's coffee products brand) as the company's core brand. Nescaf had been NIL's core brand since 1998. Commenting on the shift, Carlo Donati (Donati), chairman and managing director, NIL, said, "The focused approach on Nescaf, which was the company's flagship brand over the last few years, has yielded rich dividends and we plan to replicate the same in case of Maggi as well."A ccording to Donati, the new focus for the Maggi brand was to provide 'the much needed impetus' for the culinary segment as it had been lagging behind some of NIL's other product segments like milk and milk products and coffee products.. in the early 2000s, the Nestl Group had been taking measures to transform itself into a 'health and wellness' company. The company had also set up new research and development facilities with a view to improving the attributes of the existing Nestl products to make them healthier, and to develop new health and wellness products. Since the early 2000s, the Nestl Group had been introducing 'health and wellness' products all over the

world. In India, NIL introduced new 'healthier' weaning and milk products in 2004. In March 2005, the Maggi brand too took to the health route with the launch of Vegetable Atta Noodles. NIL made use of the group's extensive research and development facilities in developing this new 'healthy' product. According to NIL, Vegetable Atta Noodles were healthier as they were made of whole wheat flour instead of maida (refined wheat) and also because they contained real vegetables According to the FICCI 'Food and Beverage Survey' published in February 2006, health foods, health food supplements, convenience foods and branded foods were the 'rapidly rising' segments of the food and beverage industry. 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. Even though the demand for convenience food was increasing in India in the early 2000s, analysts said that most of the Indian consumers were still conservative in their food habits, and gave importance to the perceived health benefits of traditional food. Therefore, it remained to be seen whether products like Maggi Atta Noodles, despite their 'health' focus, would prevail in the long run.

Marketing strategies of Maggi Nestle aspired to create a Maggi kitchen. It observed a burgeoning craze for Chinese food & easy to cook meals. The product targeted towards middle class of metros & tier-1 cities. Maggi was positioned an easy to cook meal in India. Target customers were children and youth. 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. The first marketing strategy was through TV commercials, Promotional campaigns & the various tag lines used to promote the product. 360 Marketing Strategy To maintain the image of the brand Maggi, NIL has adopted the 360 degree marketing strategy. They promoted the product as a health product. Initially NIL aggressively promoted Maggi noodles through several schemes like distributing free samples, giving gifts on the return of empty packs, etc. the company has spent a huge amount of money in communicating the products benefit to the target consumers. They have spent the huge amount on various small events for the kids and on advertisement of the Maggi like electronic and print advertising. Advertisements

NIL has use the celebrity endorsement strategy to endorse Maggi noodles in order to strengthen the brands image. Celebrity was endorsed in the advertisement because India is a country where people are star-struck by film stars and brand communication messages delivered by celebrities and famous personalities generate a higher appeal, attention and recall than those executed by non-celebrities. Nestle Maggi as a Leader Strategies Maggi was the first noodles product in India and it was accepted by majority of its target market which at the time of launch lay in the urban cities of India but with time Maggi has substantially used different strategies to expand its existing market space and by doing so it has kept challengers like Top Ramens Smoodles at bay and maintained its position as market leader. Strong Customer Relations: The campaign designed by Nestl for Maggis silver jubilee hopes to work on the brands strong consumer connect through television, the Internet and print. The jingle gets a prominent play in the television campaign. Nestl, Indias largest food products company, has decided not to litter the sky with hoardings on the occasion. Instead, the ads will play on nostalgia. Consumers who

first sampled the brand as kids now run households. The campaign seeks to strengthen the association. Thus, customers were invited to share their Maggi moments with the company. If the company likes the way you prepare Maggi, you could find your photo on Maggi packs. Good Packaging and Strong Dealer Vendor Relations: Convenience was the unique selling proposition of Maggi when it was launched 25 years ago. For the first time, consumers got something that was hygienically packed and convenient to prepare. It was also the first fusion experiment on food in India. Continuous process innovation:

Instant noodles was an entirely new category in the country, but it was given an Indian twist. Maggi came in four variants: Masala, chicken, sweet & sour and capsicum. Of these, only two have survived masala and chicken which sells largely in the eastern states. Masala continues to be the flagship flavour. In the days that followed, it experimented with more variants, like a garlic- and onion-free one for Gujarat. Some of these still exist, others were discontinued. The turning point came in 2005, when Nestl came out with Maggi atta (whole-wheat flour) instant noodles. All over the country, atta is considered healthier than maida or refined flour

which the company was using from day one. This helped the company take the health platform, though Nestl General Manager (food business) Shivani Hegde insists that the product never ran the danger of being classified junk food. It was then that it added the tagline, health bhi, taste bhi (health as well as taste).

Repositioning as a healthier snack: That was also the time when Nestl was repositioning itself worldwide as a health and wellness company. At the grassroots level, Maggi started associating with quiz contests and other such events connected to mental and physical wellbeing. This positioning gave Nestl the platform to launch more products under the Maggi brand. It already had Maggi soups, sauces and coconut milk in the market, but given the strong equity of the brand, Nestl could now extend it to newer categories. Thus, it recently came out with fried masala paste. In 2008, two brand extensions Maggi Bhuna Masala and Maggi Cuppa Mania Instant Noodles. Price Incentives The company is taking no chances and is extending its distribution reach to smaller towns and cities. Maggi happens to be Nestls most widely distributed brand in the country. Through independent channels, it reaches those villages where the company has no presence. This is also the time that Maggis

value-for-money pack priced at Rs 5 is expected to come handy. (The regular pack comes for Rs 10.)

Capturing New Customer Base : Maggi realised that one of the reasons for a low market share in Gujarat was that most of gujaratis do not eat garlic and Onions so for Gujarat Maggi has come up with a special product which is devoid of onions and garlic and marketed it as Jain Maggi. This helped them gain a completely unconquered market of Jain Noodle eaters. Brand Retention: To sustain the image of the brand, Nestle had adopted the 360 degree marketing strategy. They promoted themselves as a health product. They promoted the product with whom the consumers can play with, according to their taste. They also gave the opportunity of posting the recipe to the women. They also had organized the various small events for the kids. They have spent the huge amount on the advertising of the Maggi like electronic and print advertising Distribution Strategy: Maggi distribution strategy is a 3 chain system i.e. Nestle Distributor Retailer

Nestle: It has decentralized Manufacturing where each plant operates on its own requirement of production. There is no monolithic or centralized approach in the production process. It follows two types of distribution paths. The first one being traditional (Kirana Stores) in which the stock of Maggi is available to almost all the small Kirana stores for the consumers. The second one is the institutional food outlets in which the stock is available with every food malls like big bazaar, Apna Bazaar, Reliance food outlets. So by making the product available everywhere, Nestle tries to reach to its customers easily. Distributor: Nestle offers 6% margin for distributors. The distributor has to pay in advance to Nestle but he has to give the stock to the retailers on credit. Here they try to target small and big shops both so that they can cater and reach to every kind of customers from various strata of the society. Retailer: Retailer gets 10% margin from distributor and 15% margin for new & promotional products. Nestle also has brought various area space for different promotional purposes. For promotional purposes, Nestle does the sampling both wet and dry sampling at these promotional places.

Competitive Strategy: To beat the competition from Top Ramen and others in this segment, Nestle did the following things:

(1) (2) (3)

Nestle introduced Maggi in new packs with different contests for the customers. It came up with innovative products like Maggi Pasta in two different flavors Masala & cheese Macroni. It also focused on its advertising strategies by introducing new ones in order to keep in touch with customers so that the image of the product does not get washed away.

(4)

It made its product affordable by introducing small Maggi pack of Rs.5.

These competitive strategies are overlapping as the company has always thought of different kind of strategies keeping in mind its competitors. Though other brands came up with something similar to Maggi, but they had temporary effects on consumers mind as consumers switched to the Maggi brand for its taste.

SITUATION ANALYSIS Nestls Maggie noodles is the leading brand in the instant noodles segment in India, enjoying a market share of 79.3%. The brand has grown to an estimated Rs 200 crore & contributes to around 10% of Nestle Indias top line. Being the pioneer in the noodles market has given it a first movers advantage over other brands. Maggi has regularly come up with new flavours and has recently launched two variants- Vegetable Atta and Dal Atta noodles, catering to the increasing demand for healthy snacks

Market Summary TARGET MARKETS Primary target: Children (<16) Nestle plans to widen its target audience by launching new variants Vegetable and Dal atta noodles for health conscious people.

MARKET DEMOGRAPHICS

Demographics: Region: urban, semi-urban, rural (recent) Occupation: Housewives, working professionals, self-employed Sex : Unisex Income: 1,20,000 p.a. upwards Social class: Middle and upwards Family life cycle: Young, single, married with children.

Behavioural: Occasions: Regular, Everyday user-urban, rural-depends on the temporal aspects of the consumers life(varied usage in terms of time of time of day, week, month, year) User status: first time user-rural, potential users-semi-urban, heavy users-urban Usage rate: Heavy user-urban, light-rural, medium-semi-urban Loyalty status: hard core and shifting loyals

Buyer-Readiness Stage: rural-some are aware, semiurban:some intend to buy(aware, informed),urban: informed(some desire,some intend to buy) Attitude toward product: Enthusiastic, positive

Psychographics: Lifestyle: Hard pressed for time BUSINESS STRATEGY The Companys strategy is guided by several fundamental principles. Nestles existing products grow through innovation and renovation while maintaining a balance in geographic activities and product lines. Long term potential is never sacrificed for short term performance. The Companys priority is to bring the best and most relevant products to people, wherever they are, whatever their needs, throughout their lives. Nestl's corporate objective is to be the world's largest and best branded food manufacturer, whilst ensuring that the Nestl name is synonymous with products of the highest quality. In recent years, the company has pursued a policy of expansion and diversification through acquisition and divestment to achieve a more balanced structure to the business. Nestl describes itself as a food, nutrition, health, and wellness company. Recently they created Nestl Nutrition, a global business organization designed to strengthen the focus on their core nutrition business. They believe strengthening their leadership in this market is the key element of their corporate strategy. This market is characterized as one in which the

consumers primary motivation for a purchase is the claims made by the product based on nutritional content.

LIFESTYLE & PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & INNOVATION Nestle introduced the Maggi brand to Indian consumers as an instant food product. 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, Nestle was trying to create an entirely new food category, instant noodles, in India, which was fast to cook and hence offered convenience. When the sales started picking up and consumers were fond of Maggi, Nestl decided to change the formulation of Maggi noodles. The purpose was not only to infuse fresh life into the brand, but also to save money through this new formulation. The company used new noodleprocessing technology, so that it could air-dry instead of oil-fry the noodles. The tastemakers manufacturing process was also altered. In July 1999, Maggi the brand, was promoted as the biggest brand in Nestls portfolio of brands in India. Nestl believed that Maggi had immense potential as it was a very flexible brand under which regional variants could be introduced to meet various market needs. With reasonable price points and innovative products, Maggi emerged as a top brand and a major growth driver for the company. In the early 2000s, the Nestle group had been taking measures to transform itself into a health & wellness company. The company had also set up new research and development facilities with a view to improving the attributes of the existing Nestle products to make them healthier, and to develop new health & wellness

products. In March 2005, the Maggi brand too took to the health route with the launch of Vegetable Atta Noodles. They made use of the groups extensive research and development facilities in developing this new healthy product. Nestle, however stress up on innovation has always been a part of its culture and the new launches have nothing to do specifically with what competition is doing. Food, Nestle India, says over the years Maggi has focused on understanding the consumers changing lifestyles and innovated and renovated to create delight in every day meals and bring happiness to everyday family moments. This is Maggis DNA. The new launches will only grow the market further.

MAGGI TO THE INDIAN MARKET & WHY THE SPECIFIC BRAND POSITIONING? Nestle wanted to explore the potential for such an instant food among the Indian market. It took several years and lot of money for Nestle to establish its Noodles brand in India. Now it enjoys around 50% market share in this segment which is valued at around 250 crores. Maggi has faced lot of hurdles in its journey in India. 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. BRAND STORY Launched in 5 flavours initially Masala, chicken, Capsicum, sweet & sour, and Lasagne Maggi had to fight hard to be accepted by Indian consumers with their hard-to-change eating habits. The packaged food market was very small at this time; Nestle had to promote noodles as a concept, before it could promote Maggi as a brand. It therefore devised a two-pronged strategy to attract mothers on the convenience plank and lure kids on the fun plank. Gradually, the market for instant noodles began to grow. The company also decided to focus on promotions to increase the brand awareness. In the initial years, Nestle promotional activities for Maggi included schemes offering gifts (such as toys and utensils) in return for empty noodles pack. According to analysts the focus on promotion turned out to be the single largest factor responsible for Maggis rapid acceptance. Nestle\s Managers utilized promotions as measured to meet their sales target. Gradually, sales promotion became a crutch for Maggi noodles sales. Later many of the Maggis extensions also made considerable use of promotional schemes. The focus of all Maggis extensions was more on below the line activities rather than direct communication. In addition to promotional activities, Maggi

associated itself with main stream television programme and advertised heavily on kids programme and channels. After its advertisements with taglines like mummi bhookh lagi hai,bas do minute and fast to cook good to eat Maggis popularity became highly attributed to its extremely high appeal to children. As a result, Maggis annual growth reportedly touched 15% during its initial years. MAGGIS BRAND EXTENSION In 1998, Nestle launched Maggis first brand extension, Maggi soup. At this stage, there was no organized packaged soup market in India. Nestle planned to create a market for packaged soup as it felt the category had a lot of potential. However, according to analyst, the company had introduced soups only to cash in on the Maggis brand name, and was never very serious about the segment. However, the product failed to generate the desired sales volume and Nestle was forced to withdraw it. At the end of the year, Maggi noodles were generating sales volume of around 5000 tons and remained a loss making proposition for Nestle. To boost sales, Nestle decided to reduce the price of Maggi noodles. This was made possible by using thinner and cheaper packaging material, the company also introduced money saver multi packs in the form of 2-in-1 pack and 4-in-1 packs. As a result volume increased phenomenally. In order to stretch Maggis brand to include Indian ethnic foods the company launched pickles under the year 1995. The company reportedly saw a lot of untapped potential in the market for ready to use south Indian market.

NEW RANGE OF PRODUCTS

 Maggi 2 minute Noodles Maggi Vegetable Atta Noodles Maggi Dal Atta Noodles Maggi Rice Noodles Mania Maggi Sauces Maggi Pizzza Mazza Maggi Healthy Soups Maggi Healthy Soup - Sanjeevni BRAND RETENTION To sustain the image of the brand, Nestle had adopted the 360 degree marketing strategy. They promoted themselves as a health product. They promoted the product with whom the consumers can play with, according to their taste. They also gave the opportunity of posting the recipe to the women. They also had organized the various small events for the kids. They have spent the huge amount on the advertising of the Maggi like electronic and print advertising

Current market of Maggi Two and a half decades since its launch, the "2-minute Maggi noodles" still dominates the instant noodles market in India. This Nestle brand's runaway success can be regarded quite a feat, especially in a country where most packaged products struggle to make their presence felt.

Even today, Maggi enjoys a market share of over 70%, despite the presence of a number of other brands. This decade old dominance, however, is set to be shaken up. According to Datamonitor estimates, the instant noodle market in India is worth over Rs 1,300-crore and is growing at a phenomenal rate of over 17-20% per year Even though there are a few new competitors in the market they are still struggling to get a brand recall in the minds of Indian public because for us Maggie is synonymous with noodles Maggi Brand of products sustained recession in 2000 and 2001 in India by introducing economy packets. Segmentation Apart from the traditional positioning for kids, manufacturers are now targeting the adult consumers as well by leveraging on the convenience aspect which has become more important given the changing employment patterns The major headings under segmentation are : Age Lifestyle of youth It is based on lifestyle and habits of urban families depending on their consumption per week, type of flavor sold etc. Maggi introduced various types of the brand noodles depending upon the taste of its consumers. For e.g. it introduced Maggi masala as a basic product, then Maggi noodles tomato flavor for kids, Veg Atta noodles for health conscious people and Maggi chicken flavor for non-veg lovers

To cater for the health conscious like 'No MSG', 'Less Salt', and 'No Trans fat'. Flour based noodle variation marketed by the

name "Vegetable Atta Noodles" has been introduced in India (Atta flour is used in preparing most forms of wheat based breads in India) and caters to health conscious buyers wary of the refined flour used in the regular Maggi noodles. This move helps the brand in India as suburban mothers, who feed the noodles to children as an afterschool snack, are the primary customers of the brand. Recently, a line of rice noodles and whole wheat with pulses, carrots, beans, and onions has also been introduced in India. In fact, "Maggi" has become a well-known brand for instant noodles in India and Malaysia. Positioning Initially Nestle tried to position the Noodles in the platform of convenience targeting the working women. At that time, Indian consumers were rather conservative in their food habits, preferring to eat traditional Indian dishes rather than canned or packaged food. But it found that the sales are not picking up despite heavy promotion .Research then showed that Kids were the largest consumers of the brand. Realizing this, NIL shifted its focus from working women to children and their mothers and repositioned the brand towards the kids using. Sales promotions and smart advertising. NIL aggressively promoted Maggi with taglines such as Mummy Bhook Lagi, Bas 2Minute, Fast to cook, good to eat and through several schemes of free samples, gifts on return of empty packs, etc. Later was observed that people of all age group started liking Maggi. Positioned itself as a Fast to cook, goodto eat snack Maggi has to deal with the negative perception of it being unhealthy in an increasingly health conscious market, a major threat in the current scenario With statements such as 2 min noodles, easy to cook and good to eat, they create their own position in the market, and their tagline is the most effective way to get the positioning done. It has made

various tag lines famous in the minds of children like Mummy bhook lagi, bas do min, etc. Targeting Apart from the traditional positioning for kids, manufacturers are now targeting the adult consumers as well by leveraging on the convenience aspect which has become more important given the changing employment patterns. Now Indians are the largest eaters of Maggi Noodles in the world. In 2005 Nestle made a very smart move. It knew that although kids love noodles, the parents were bothered about the health aspect of Noodles which was made of Maida. Hence Maggi launched Maggi Atta Noodles with the baseline " taste bhi health bhi" .Reports suggest that after 10 months of the launch , the product has been well received by Indian consumers. Maggi noodles are an example of a brand that knows the customer and willing to learn from the mistakes. Kids Youth Working professionals Office goers Health conscious ppl Differentiation Magi has differentiated itself with its competitors on the basis of the flavors they offer and the special taste also the attractive packaging plays an important role in differentiating itself from the cluttered market of instant noodles