THE CASE OF BAN OF NESTLE MAGGI IN INDIA.

History of Maggi:
The MAGGI brand was initially originated in Switzerland in 1884. It was
formed with a purpose by Swiss entrepreneur Julius Maggi who had the vision
to make food with good taste and nutritious and should be accessible to busy
and working families especially for women who are working and do not get
time to prepare healthy food. Initially, he invented a powdered pea and bean
soup, to provide nutritious and easy to cook food.
Maggi instant noodles are very popular in India, Pakistan, Singapore and some
other countries as well. Currently, in India, Maggi noodles carry a green dot,
which means they are specifically formulated to serve vegetarian only in India.
And apart from noodles, Maggi has sauces and soups available in various
flavour and also products like Maggi Cuppa Mania, Maggi Masala and Maggi
Magic Cubes are quite popular and well adapted by Indians.

Reason for ban of Maggi:

Maggi instant noodles came under the scanner for two main reasons. The
first was the aforementioned violation of the regulations for adding lead
and MSG into the product. As against the maximum limit of 2.50 parts per
million (ppm), the amount of lead detected in the Maggi samples was
much higher at 17.2 ppm. The second offence was mentioning 'No added
MSG' on the packaging, which is an act of mislabelling. Also, it launched
'Maggi Oats Masala Noodles' without meeting the appropriate norms of
standardisation. On June 5, 2015, a nationwide ban was imposed on Maggi
by FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India).
Prior to the ban, Maggi owned nearly 80% of the market share in the
instant noodles segment. In the blink of an eye, its share declined to zero.
 Maggi was losing not only its market share but also credibility. A three-
decade long relationship was at stake. It was time to act before it was too
late.
“Nestle lost more than Rs 500 crore over the ban, which
forced it to destroy more than 37,000 tonnes of Maggi
noodles”.
How did nestle tackled the above issues:
ADVERTISEMENT: Nestle, the maker of Maggie noodles, in an
advertisement (published in the Economic Times) said: “Your Maggie Noodles'
safety has been confirmed and reaffirmed many times through rigorous testing
by laboratories accredited by NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing
and Calibration Laboratories)”. We do not add lead to Maggi noodles in any
form at any stage. In the ad, nestle said that "lead occurs naturally in the Earth's
crust”.

Version 2.0: Sitting in his glass-walled cabin at the five-storey Nestle

building in Gurgaon overlooking the expressway to Delhi, Narayanan sounds
confident: “We are reconstructing the demolished house. “Enter new categories,
build a balanced portfolio to reduce dependence on a single product, focus on
health and nutrition, increase penetration in top towns, beef up advertising, and,
most importantly, communicate much more with the consumers directly.

Simplifying organizational structure: Ever since it emerged from

the crisis, Nestle India has been trying to get rid of its complexities in its
operational structure here. It has set a target to cut down layers to help reduce
30-40% of process time by cutting down the number of meetings and
interventions by “half", besides ensuring empowerment in decision-making.
Strong marketing strategies:
1. Miss you campaign: Maggi came up with the three ads on all the
platforms like television ads, YouTube ads, social media ads. That was-

“Kab vapas Ayega yaar? Miss you”

“I miss you yaar. come back, man:

and” Abb aa Bhi Jao, miss you yaar”

These ads were run by Nestle, 2 months before the relaunch of Maggi on the
store and people go crazy again. In the whole 40-sec ads brand name was not
uttered and at last one thing appear on the screen “We miss you too”.

2. Mothers Maggi: Maggi marketing strategies are very consistent in terms

of content and design. Quite expected, after the launch of Maggi in the
general stores. The first ad launch but Maggi was of mothers speaking
nostalgically about how she used to make Maggi for her children for the
last 10 years and had not faced any problem. The objective of these ads
 was fulfilled, the objective was to recreate the trust with the brand, with
some nostalgic touch.
3. Hashtag: In marketing, nothing is better than the mouth publicity.
Maggie’s marketing strategies start creating an advertisement on
television and social media to make most use of hashtags on social media.
Maggie uses two hashtags
#nothinglikemaggi
#welcomebackmaggi
Through the advertisement, Nestle wants people to share their stories on
Instagram and Facebook using these hashtags. That was how Maggi’s
marketing strategies use Mouth publicity and Hashtags as a growth tool.

4. Making a product exclusive: Like with everything else, a

consumer is having a separate fan base for exclusive products. Maggie
uses the same marketing strategy. Maggi plays a smart card and makes a
tie-up with the Sapdeal. Maggi’s product will only be exclusively
available on Snapdeal for 1 month.

By this move what will happen is people will start having a feeling of
urgency to buy the product and will make a purchase which will be more
than sufficient for them. Not only that according to the records on
Snapdeal, but Maggi was also sold on the price of 150% more than the
actual. This Magi set an official stage for the Maggi to come back and
that works really well for them.

Conclusion:
And now by using all the strategies and exclusive ideas
Today Maggie has covered the Indian market in such a way that
whether it is a small town or an urban area. You will find a Maggi
point in every city.

Done by,
A. Harini thrisha.