MAGGI NOODLES: Making a Nation Slurp Jove home cooked food. A majority of Indians stil ‘home. However, the impact of urbanization and glo- fs slowly but steadily changing all of this. Smaller families with dual income are becoming the norm. al increase in the number of working women 1 cities like Dethi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai Supplementing these changes are a stable rise in ta income of an average Indian, constantly evolv- » practices and increasing levels of affluence and {in India’s vast middle income group. Itis quite Nestle brought in Maggi as an after schoo! snack product in the early 1980s, Maggi was a quick to eat product that played (on the “2 minutes” cooking time as its most important value proposition. Unlike traditional Indian snacks like Dosa, Poh Pooris, etc. “Maggi instant noodles’ was very easy to cook an¢ almast ‘instant’ to prepare. It came in various delicious flavours like Masala, Tomato, Curry, Chicken, etc. which were quite familiar to the Indian taste-buds, It also offered an option of adding sliced vegetables and eggs into Maggi, enhancing moth ers’ involvement in the process of cooking it and fulilling their ‘maternal instincts. Maggi encouraged this by printing recipes on the package. The harried lifestyle of the working mothers had brought forth a fundamental shift in the cooking habits in the kitchen. ‘The market was ready for precooked and easy to make meals. The contemporary mother did less and less of the cooking while ‘more and more work was being thrust upon the food! processors. These changes ensured that Maggi found a place in the shopping lists of thousands of mothers who wanted to give their children something to eat as soon as they asked for it It saved them time and energy, Moreover, the children loved the taste of Maggi, This ‘made the home makers of India embrace the concept of instant noodles open heartedlyAs the Indian consumers were modernizing day by there was increasing awareness about the ill effects of ins foods. There was a lot of criticism about instant noodles in eral and ‘Maggi’ in particular in the press. Researchers 4 tioned the health element in instant products such as Mc Research proved that it contained high levels of potent harmful substances such as sodium and fat and very low qu tities of fiber which was essential for the growth of child: Some reports stated that high levels of sodium, fat and ca hydrates could cause life threatening issues such as cardiac blood pressure related problems. This caused further pan’: the minds of the consumers and it was once again smart m. keting by Nestle that saved the day. Maggi asked its customers to write their “Maggi momen! and “Maggi stories” to it and printed them on its packaging a token of Nestlé’s gratitude to them. Customers welcome this gesture. In addition to this, Nestle made a big push int the rural markets and strengthened its distribution channels i" rural regions. The strategy to ensure that Maggi was available in shops of all sizes-from kirana stores to super markets, aeMaggi Stall at the Chennai Airport. a master stroke by Nestle. In tune with the expectations of the consumers in villages, Maggi released smaller single service pouches at easily affordable price points of 25 and 210 that were a massive hit. It also opened stalls at certain select airports to sell Maggi product range ~ noodles and soups to the hungry passengers waiting for their flights. It expanded their already wide audi- ence from hundreds of millions in rural India who were expe encing growing disposable income and increased consumption to the hungry passengers at the airports. The marketers at Nestle understood the changes in con- sumer expectations once more and developed a host of new Products to address their concerns. In 2005, they came up with “atta noodles’ in a fresh green packaging and “rice noodle ma- nia”. Their new slogan, “Taste Bhi, Health Bhi”, meaning, “Taste also, Health also” was created to answer their critique and to emphasize on the health benefits of the product. At the same time Maggi repositioned itself as a ‘healthy-to- eat’ product by focusing more on atta noodles. Considering the