PRODUCT AND BRAND MANAGEMENT T E R M PA P E R P R O P O S A L

A STUDY OF

MAGGI BRAND EXTENSION AND REPOSITIONING

S U B M I T T E D I N PA R T I A L FULFILLMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF B A C H A L E R O F B U S I N E S S A D M I N I S T R AT I O N (2010)

G U I D E D B Y: Mrs. GARIMA SHAH S U B M I T T E D B Y: S H I VA N G A N I K E S H A R W A N I BBA - VI SEM R O L L N O - 8 2 11 4 8

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We hereby regard our sincere thanks to Mrs Garima shah ,Disha College Raipur under whose guidance this project was undertaken.

We would like to thank our friends for their generous support and the respondents who gave their valuable piece of time for participating in the survey to complete the study.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.04 INTRODUCTION...05 MAGGI BRAND IN INDIA.05 BRAND STORY..06 PRODUCT VARIENTS..10 MARKET SHARE....11 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY....12 OBJECTIVE.12 RESEARCH PLAN..12

10. DATA COLLECTION PLAN13 11. METHODOLOGY..13 12. SURVEY RESULT.14 13. SWOT ANALYSIS OF MAGGI BRAND.19 14. STPD ANALYSIS OF MAGGI BRAND...20 15. CUSTOMER-BASED BRAND EQUITY PYRAMID (CBBE)....21 16. BRAND PRISM OF MAGGI..22 17. CONCLUSION.23 18. RECOMMENDATION.23 19. FUTURE PLAN.24 20. LIMITATION......24 21. APPENDIX-1(QUESTIONAIRE)...25

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The report entitled A study of Maggi Brand Repositioning and Extension deals with the study of Maggi brand that was launched in India in the year 1983, by Nestle India Limited, which became synonymous with noodles. This research paper tries to find a solution to a real life problem of Maggi to launch its products as a Healthy Product. The introduction provides the company background, operational & other important information provided by the company which would assist in taking the decision for the right brand extension strategy for Maggi.

INTRODUCTION
The industrial revolution in Switzerland in the late 1800s created factory jobs for women, who were therefore left with very little time to prepare meals. This wide spread problem grew to be an object of intense study by the Swiss Public Welfare Society. As a part of its activities, the Society asked Julius Maggi miller to create a vegetable food product that would be quick to prepare and easy to digest. Born on October 9, 1846 in Frauenfeld, Switzerland, Julius Michael Johannes Maggi was the oldest son of an immigrant from Italy who took Swiss citizenship. Julius Maggi became a miller and took on the reputation as an inventive and capable businessman. In 1863, Julius Maggi came up with a formula to bring added taste to meals. Soon after he was commissioned by the Swiss Public Welfare Society, he came up with two instant pea soups and a bean soup - the first launch of the Maggi brand of instant foods in 1882 - 83. Towards the end of the century, Maggi & Company was producing not just powdered soups, but bouillon cubes, sauces and other flavourings. The Maggi Company merged with Nestl in 1947. Today, Maggi is a leading culinary brand and part of the NESTL family of fine foods and beverages. Under the Maggi brand, which is today known world wide for quality and innovation, Nestle offers a whole range of products, such as packaged soups, frozen meals, prepared sauces and flavourings. A subsidiary of Nestle SA, a Switzerland based FMACG Co. Founded in 1866 by Henri Nestle. 1st manufacturing plant in India in 1962 Initial products condensed milk, infant foods. Other products added under different brands like Nescafe, Milkmaid, Maggi etc.

MAGGI BRAND IN INDIA

Maggi Comes to India teething troubles Maggi noodles was launched in India in the early1980s. Carlo M. Donati, the present Chairman and Managing Director of Nestle India Ltd, brought the instant noodle brand to India during his short stint here in the early eighties. At that time, there was no direct competition. The first competition came from the ready-toeat snack segment which included snacks like samosas, biscuits or maybe peanuts, that were usually the bought out type. The second competition came from the homemade snacks like pakoras or sandwiches. So there were no specific buy and make snack! Moreover both competitors had certain drawbacks in comparison. Snacks like samosas are usually bought out, and outside food is generally considered unhygienic and unhealthy. The other competitor, homemade snacks overcame both these problems but had the disadvantage of extended preparation time at home. Maggi was positioned as the only hygienic home made snack! Despite this, Nestl faced difficulties with their sales after the initial phase. The reason being, the positioning of the product with the wrong target group. Nestle had positioned Maggi as a convenience food product aimed at the target group of working women who hardly found any time for cooking. Unfortunately this could not hold the product for very long. In the course of many market researches and surveys, the firm found that children were the biggest consumers of Maggi noodles. Quickly they repositioned it towards the kids segment with various tools of sales promotion like colour pencils, sketch pens, fun books, Maggi clubs which worked wonders for the brand. Why the specific Brand positioning? Maggi was positioned as 2-minute noodles with a punch line that said Fast to cook! Good to eat! And this gave the implied understanding to the consumer that it was a between meals snack. The company could have easily positioned the product as a meal, either lunch or dinner. But, it chose not to do so, because the Indian consumer mindset did not accept anything other than rice or roti as a meal. Hence trying to substitute it with noodles would have been futile. The firm did not position it as a ready-to-eat meal either, as the housewife prefers to make a meal for her kids rather than buy it for them. And if she can make it in two minutes with very little effort, then obviously its a hit with her! Whats more, if kids also love the taste, the product is as good as sold! So the 2-minute funda coupled with the yummy taste worked! Nestle India Ltd. (NIL) the Indian subsidiary of the global FMCG major, Nestl SA, introduced Maggi brand in India in 1982. Maggi is the iconic brand of Nestle. With the launch of Maggi noodles, NIL created an entirely new food category Instant Noodles in the Indian packaged food market. Being the first mover, NIL successfully managed to retain its leadership in the instant noodles category even until the early 2000s. It has now become a generic name for noodles. Maggi in India is best known for its flagship product of instant noodles with its various desi sub-segments such as the traditional dal atta , veg atta and rice noodles along with their various variants, Curry, Masala, Tomato, Chicken in the traditional and Shahi Pulao, Lemon Masala and Chilly Chow in the rice noodle segments.

1.1 Preparation Maggi noodles take around 2 minutes to cook, hence the name "2 minute noodles". The Maggi noodle cake and seasoning is added into boiling water for two minutes and it is ready for consumption. Egg, seaweed or lemon can also be added to the noodles for a better flavour. 1.2 Flavours and Variety Maggi is available in many large assortments of different flavours. They are:
Original Flavour Chicken Curry (there is also a much healthier version of this flavour found in supermarkets) Kari Letup (Extremely Spicy Curry) in Malaysia Laksa Lemak (discontinued) Tom yam Chicken & Corn Beef Oriental Masala Prawn Dal Sambar ( whole wheat noodles ) Asam Laksa Cheese Pizza (only in Saudi Arabia, was available for a period of time in Australia.) Sup Tulang (bone soup) (in Malaysia) Chatpata Tomato Stronger Chicken Vegetable Atta Noodles ( whole wheat noodles ) Shahi Pulao ( rice noodles ) Chilly Chow ( rice noodles ) Lemon Masala ( rice noodles) Mi Goreng Char Mee Mi Goreng Kicap Bawang Mi Goreng Pluz Asli Mi Goreng Asli Pedas.

Maggi noodles also produces cup noodles known as "Hot Bowl".

1.3 Trivia
The "mee maggi" nickname also served as the inspiration title for the Singaporean situation comedy/fantasy series "Maggi & Me," which debuted in July 2006. The term "maggi mee" is so popular in Malaysia and Singapore that many other brands of instant noodles are collectively known as Maggi Mee.

1.4 Reputation and Competition In countries like Australia and New Zealand, due to a large South-East Asian influence, instant noodles tend to be eaten by a large area of the populace, especially those in low income households. As such, there is a large amount of competition in the market. While Maggi is arguably the most popular of all noodle brands (and tends to get its own section in supermarkets), it also has a reputation for being too dull and tasteless. Its main competitors tend to be Mi Goreng noodles, which are significantly cheaper and spicier, as well as products from Trident, Nissin Foods and Nong Shim. Most standard supermarkets in Australia stock a large range of both instant and freeze dried ramen which, thanks to proximity, are all directly imported from countries like Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan. Asian supermarkets have even larger ranges, including flavours not stocked in traditional stores

BRAND STORY
Launched in 5 flavors initially Masala, chicken, Capsicum, sweet & sour, and Lasagna 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 awreness. 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 analysits the focus on promotion turned out to be the single largest factor responisible 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. In 1993, Sweet Maggi, the first variant of Maggi noddles was launched. The company supported the launch with a huge advertisement outlay that amounted to 75% of the total yearly expenditure on the Maggi brand. 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 was generating sales volume of around 5000 tonns 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 cheapeer packaging material, the company also introduced money saver multi packes in the form of 2-in-1 pack and 4-in-1 packs. As a result volume increases phenomenally to 9700 tonnes in 1994 and further to 13000 tonnes in 1995. Maggis euphoroia was, however, short lived, as sales stagnated in 1995 at the previous years level. With soup business being threatned by a new entrant Knorr soups launched in 1995, offering 10 flavors against Maggis 4 the company started rethinking its strategies towards the soup market. In order to stretch Maggis brand to include Indian ethenic foods the company tied up with a Pune based chordia foods to launch pickles under the year 1995. The company also tied up with Indian foods fermentation (IFF), a Chennai based food company to market popular south Indian food preparation such as sambher, dosa, vada and spices in consumer packs in Dec 1995. The company reportedly saw a lot of untabbed potential in the market for ready to use south Indian market. In 1996, products from these two ventures received lukewarm response from the market; sales were rather poor in the regions in which they were aunched. Analysts attributed the failure of these Maggi extensions to the fact that Nestl seemed to be particularly bad at dealing with traditional Indian product categories. Maggi noodles performed badly in 1996. Despite slow sales in the previous two years, Nestl had set a sales target of 25,000 tonnes for the year. However, Maggi couldnt cross even 14,000 tonnes. Adding to the company woes was the failure of Maggi Tonites Special, a range of cooking sauces aimed at providing restaurant-like-taste to food cooked at home. The range included offerings such as Butter Chicken gravy and tomato sauce for pizzas. Understanding these failures, and buoyed by the fact that the Maggi brand finally broke even in 1997, Nestl continued to explore new options for leveraging on the brand equity of Maggi noodles. The company realized that the kids who had grown up on Maggi noodles had become teenagers by the late 1990s. As they associated the product with their childhood, they seemed to be moving away from it. To lure back these customers and to explore new product avenues, Nestl launched Maggi Macaroni in July 1997. According to analysts, Maggi Macaroni was launched partly to deal with the growing popularity of competing noodles brand Top Ramen. Maggi Macaroni was made available in three flavors, Tomato,

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Chicken, and Masala. The company expected to repeat the success of Maggi noodles with Maggi Macaroni. As with most of its product launches, Maggi Macaronis launch was backed by a multi-media advertisement campaign including radio, television, outdoors and print media with the tagline, Tum Roz Baby. The products pricing, however, proved to be a major hurdle. A 75-gm Maggi Macaroni pack was priced at Rs 11, while a 100-gm noodles pack was available at Rs 9. According to analysts, Nestl failed to justify this price-value anomaly to customers, who failed to see any noted value addition in Maggi Macaroni (packaging and flavor variants were similar to those of Maggi noodles). In addition, customers failed to see any significant difference between Maggi Macaroni and the much cheaper macaroni that was sold by the unorganized sector players. The biggest problem however was the taste of the new product. Since macaroni is thicker than noodles, Maggi Macaroni did not absorb the tastemaker well and consequently did not taste very good. The interest generated by the novelty of the product soon died out and sales began tapering off. Eventually, Nestl had to withdraw Maggi Macaroni completely from the market. Nestl had not even recovered from Macaronis dismal performance, when it learnt to its horror that Knorr had dethroned Maggi as the leader in the soup segment (end of 1997). The only saving grace for Maggi seemed to its ketchups and sauces, which were turning out to the rare successful extensions of Maggi. These products were supported by a popular advertisement campaign for the Maggi Hot & Sweet sauce brand. These humorous advertisements, featuring actors Pankaj Kapoor and Javed Jafri, used the tagline, Its different. However, during mid-1997, HLL began promoting its Kissan range of sauces aggressively and launched various innovative variants in the category. Nestl responded with a higher thrust on advertising and different size packs at different price points. Though Kissan gained market share over the next few years, Maggi was able to hold on to its own market share. Meanwhile the operational costs of Maggi noodles had increased considerably, forcing the company to increase the retail price. By early 1997, the price of a single pack had reached Rs 10. Volumes were still languishing between 13,00014,000 tonnes.

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Pricing and Product Development: It was at this point in time that 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 noodle-processing technology, so that it could air-dry instead of oil-fry the noodles. The tastemakers manufacturing process was also altered. As a result of the above initiatives, costs reportedly came down by 12-14%. To cook the new product, consumers had to add two cups of water instead of one-and-a-half cups. The taste of the noodles was significantly different from what it used to be. The customer backlash that followed the launch of the new noodles took Nestl by surprise. With volumes declining and customer complaints increasing, the company began to work on plans to relaunch old Maggi to win back customers. In addition, in 1998, Nestl began working out a strategy to regain Maggis position in the soup segment. To counter the Knorr threat, the company relaunched Maggi soups under the Maggi Rich brand in May 1998. The soups were not only thicker in consistency than those produced earlier, the pricing was also kept competitive and the packaging was made much more attractive. However, Knorr took Nestl by surprise by launching one-serving soup sachets priced as low as Rs 4. HLL too launched two-serving sachets of Kissan soup priced at Rs 7. As Maggi did not have any offerings in this price-range, it lost a huge portion of its market share to Knorr. The relaunch prompted market observers to compare Nestls move with US soft drinks major Coca-Colas New Coke fiasco. However, the company disagreed, Its a hard-5 nosed strategy, that mixes nostalgia with the consumers voiced preference for the product it has been bred and rought up on. The reintroduction is Nestls acknowledgement of the loyalty of the Indian mother and the child to the original product. By May 1999, Nestls decision to bring back the old Maggi seemed to have paid off. Two months after the relaunch, the monthly average sales of Maggi noodles n the northern region rose 50% in comparison to the previous year. In July 1999, Maggi the brand, was promoted as the biggest brand in Nestls portfolio of brands in India, overtaking brands such as Nestum and Cerelac. 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. Company sources claimed that with reasonable price points and innovative products, Maggi could emerge as a top brand and a major growth driver for the company. To further support the brand, Nestl carried out various promotional activities as well. These included the August 1999 Fun-Dooz campaign and Jungle Jackpot campaigns. 6 As a result of the above initiatives, Nestl claimed to have cornered an 81% market share of the 20,000 tonnes noodles market by the end of 1999. Nestl sources claimed that Maggi noodles outsold the competition four times over and that more than four Maggi noodle cakes were consumed every second in the country.

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PRODUCT VARIENTS
The product mix of Maggi is divided into various categories defined below. The company has launched various products under each category as mentioned below.

1. Noodles Maggi 2-Minute Noodle ( Masala , Chicken, Curry and Tomato) Maggi Dal Atta Noodles ( Sambhar taste) Vegetable Atta Maggi Noodles Maggi Rice Noodles (Lemon Masala, Chilly Chow and Shahi Pulao) Maggi Cuppa mania (Masala yo, Chilli chow yo) 2. Sauces Teekha masala Tomoto chatpat Imli khata mitha Tomato ketchup Hot and sweet Tomato pudina Ginger, Garlic & Coriander Maggi Oriental Chilli Garlic Ginger, Garlic & Coriander 3. Maggi Pichko 4. Soups Healthy Chef Style - Cream Mushroom - Sweet Sour Tomato Noodles - Tangy Tomato Vegetables Home Style - Creamy Chicken - Mixed Vegetable - Rich Tomato Chinese Style - Chinese Hot Sour Chicken - Chinese Sweet Corn Chicken - Chinese Sweet Corn Vegetables - Chinese Hot & Sour Vegetables

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5.Maggi soup sanjivni Amla Badam Spinach Dal Tomato

6. Maggi bhuna masala Bhuna masala for gravy dishes Bhuna masala for vegetable dal

7.Maggi magic cubes Chicken Vegetarian masala

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8)

Messages Maggi Noodles

MAGGI 2-MINUTE Noodles "Taste Bhi Health Bhi Chaska Taste ka, Health Rice ka MAGGI RICE NOODLE MANIA comes as another unique TASTE BHI HEALTH BHIoffering from the house of MAGGI. MAGGI Vegetable Atta Noodles, an offering that exemplifies "Taste Bhi Health Bhi". Just add garam paani Carry on jaani

9)

Promotion

Nestle also followed up these launches with Its different ad campaigns. Nestle was focusing their ads based on children's taste and health. In addition to promotional activities, Maggi associated itself with main stream television programme and advertised heavily on kids programme and channels. Maggi is now targeting its products at the entire family and not only kids. Maggi was a sponsor for Hum Log, a popular television show on Doordarshan, Indias sole channel in 1984. Maggi was They came up with their popular character of Pankaj and Javed to communicate with target audienceNestl carried out various promotional activities as well. These included the August 1999 Fun-Dooz campaign and Jungle Jackpot campaign.

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Maggi has recently launched MAIN AUR MERI MAGGI campaign in commensuration of 25 years of Maggi in India.

Promotion Print Advertisements Some advertisements in the print media were used to highlight the convenience factor of Maggi.

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Maggi introduced this advertisement in various magazines in 2003 to celebrate 20 years of its product in India.

POSITIONING

TAGLINES

CONVENIENCE PRODUCT

FAST TO COOK GOOD TO EAT

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INSTANT FOOD

FUN FOOD

BAS 2 MINUTES,JUST ADD GARAM PANI.CARRY ON JANNI MUMMY BHOOKH LAGI HAI

HEALTH AND WELLNESS FOOD

TASTE BHI HEALTH BHI

INDIANIZED FLAVORS OF SAUCES

ENJOY THE DIFFERENCE

10).Maggi Noodles or Retailers sales promotion initiatives

Maggi was distributed free in schools and offices to promote trial Return gifts on empty packs Maggi fun book and stickers with funky animal facts. Inviting housewives to send new innovative recipes made from maggi. Organizing contests, games industrial visit for school kids. Recently they came up with a contest relating to stating their emotional connection with maggi. Thus, customers will be 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. A new website called www.meandmerimaggi.com is also in the works Using attractive advertising campaign for sustaining their image.

Organized retails SP
7% discounts on 6 piece pack (56 MRP), 5 rupee discount on 8 piece pack( 78 MRP). These are promotional schemes given by retailer itself not by NIL. Company is coming up with schemes like giving one soup pack with 8 piece pack.

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In Past company has promotional schemes like 4 piece pack with that of 36 instead of 40.

Public Relation
The Maggi Club - the children under 14 were invited by press advertisements and distribution of leaflets to become a member of maggi club by sending logos cut from 5 empty maggi wrappers. Maggi projected it as maggi clubbers are fun lovers and intended to use it as reference group. Benefits offered to maggi-clubbers are various games like Snap safari game, Cap and mask sets, travel India game, Disney today comic. To obtain each gift the member has to send 5 wrappers as purchase proof. Some special privileges were given to regular members time to time like, discounted tickets of Appu Ghar. Organized Maggi school quizzes and sketchingRecently, again, they have started Maggi fan club. This time it is operating online and they are providing user name and password.

PRICE
1. Differentiated packaging 2. Lower price point strategy Millipack for Rs.5 Targetting the lower middle class as well as those who want to consume in lesser quantity. Inflation effect on volume than price - Reduction of 100gm pack to 95gm, keeping price as Rs. 10 only Multi packs at cheaper price per noodles Healthier products at higher price. Differentiated packaging

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MAGGIE CHOCOLATES:in 1976 when Quincy Market first opened its doors as the famous food colonnade.

At the time, founder John Kerry was practicing law, which he found to be quite predictable and very boring. So this chocolate lover and his friend and business partner K. Dunn Gifford opened the bakery and named it after their mothers, featuring family recipes. In 1982, Lt. Governor Kerry bought his partners shares of the business and sold them to Stanley and Linda Klein. A few years later, he sold his own shares to the Kleins. Even though Senator Kerry is no longer at Kilvert & Forbes, we hear that he still loves chocolate! The Kleins owned and operated Kilvert & Forbes until July 2003, when the ice cream girls in Quincy Market decided to expand their dessert repertoire. Even though Carol Troxell and Sara Youngelson, owners of Steves Ice Cream and

PLACE :-

Wide distribution network. Limited penetration in rural areas. The company has a complex supply chain process. Realignment of Nestles internal structure and creation of specific business unit for culinary in 2006 To compete with the modern formats of retail trade, two new business divisions - channel and category sales development, and national key accounts management organisation in 2007.

1. Target hawkers/roadside eating joints 2. Kiryana stores

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SWOT Analysis of Maggi as Brand Strengths

Established Family Brand Strong Global Corporate Brand ( NIL ) Specialization in food processing category marketing and distribution in Urban market Presence of other product segments of food category : Dairy Products, Chocolate, Infant foods Pioneer and Leader so 1st mover advantage in Noodles, Sauce, Ketchups and Soup market. Nestle symbolization of warm, family & shelter. GOOD COMMUNICATION STRATEGY PRICING STRATEGY IN RECESSION

Weakness
Generic Brand to Noodles in India Low rural market presence constraints Uniform Brand for all food category Brand Proliferation

Opportunities
Growing package and canned food market in India by 15% annually.penetration through vending machine,changing tasets and preferences of the youth High brand awareness of Indian consumer Other product category like Biscuits, Chips and Ready to Eat Market still unexplored. Opportunity to be substitute to other snacks category of food products.

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Threats

Competitors with long history in product category Internationally like, Heinz Sauce and ketchups of Heinz Indian, Top Ramen in Noodle and Knorr Soups. Single product focused competitors like Heinz sauce and Wai Wai Noodles. Less Entry Barriers in the Market segment for product category ITCs strong base in Indian Market. Substitute Product to Product Segment.

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STPD ANALYSIS :-

SEGMENTATION
segmented the market on the basis of lifestyle and habits of URBAN FAMILIES

TARGETING
mainly targeted the Kids, Youth, Office Goers & Working Woman convenience-savvy time misers who would like to get something instant and be over with it quickly.

POSITIONING
has positioned itself in the SNACKS category Maggi have developed its brand image of instant food products with positioning statements such as 2 minutes noodles and Easy to cook, good to eat.

DIFFERENTIATION:
Taste , flavors ,packaging Maggi have launched wide varieties of products in different flavours which can attract larger set of customers. Maggi products are also available in different sizes catering to different customer needs

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MARKET SHARE

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:-

Euromonitor International's Noodles in India market report offers a comprehensive guide to the size and shape of the market at a national level. It provides the latest retail sales data, allowing you to identify the sectors driving growth. It identifies the leading companies, the leading brands and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market - be they new product developments, packaging innovations, economic/lifestyle influences, distribution or pricing issues. Forecasts illustrate how the market is set to change. Buy online to access strategic market analysis and an interactive statistical database of volume and value market sizes, company and brand shares, distribution and pricing data.

OBJECTIVES
To understand the influence of Maggi as a brand on consumers mind set. Sources of Brand equity of Maggi like Brand awareness, Brand image, Brand association, Brand recall To understand the Brand performance of Maggi products. To understand Brand Imagery, Brand Quality perceived by customers, Brand credibility, consideration, superiority and feelings. Brand Extension of Maggi in terms of product diversity. Analyse the repositioning of Maggi brand as a Healthy product and the consumers perseverance towards the same.

RESEARCH PLAN
Research Design: The research will be carried out in the form of a survey which will be done in areas near to Delhi (NCR region). The population has been segmented on the basis of salary Group and Age Group.

Sample Design: The target population for our study is households. The sample will be selected by a simple random sampling method .

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Sample Size: The sampling unit is 150 which are divided as follows: Number of respondents Age-group Monthly Household Income Survey Locations 150 10 - 45 25000 - 75000 INR Delhi, Faridabad,Gurgoan,Noida,Greater Noida 25K 40K 30 10 - 25 50 - 40K 60K 50 25 - 35 50 - 60K 75K 70 35 45 50 -

Salary Group No income Number of Respondents Age Group Number of Respondents

DATA COLLECTION PLAN

Data Gathering: This study involves data collection (primary research) from different households in four different areas Delhi, Faridabad, Gurgoan, and Noida. Literature Review The research conducted as a part of our study would include Primary as well as Secondary research. Primary research would include a survey that would be conducted in selected localities of Delhi and nearby areas where the responses of consumers would be recorded through a designed questionair.Secondary research would include various aspects of Brand management through Internet , Journals, company reports , expert views etc.

METHOLODOGY
The research will be carried out in the form of a survey. This will include primary research in addition to secondary research as stated below. The survey research method will be descriptive research design. Each respondent will be interviewed through a Questionnaire. The sample will be selected by a simple random sampling method. The survey will address the following information area:

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Information Areas: The objective as spelt out can be elaborated into specific information areas to be studied. How do customers perceive Maggi as a stable brand, their perception of noodles and how do they associate themselves with Maggi? Are the consumers aware of Maggi Brand or they associate noodles with some other brand? Do they consider noodle as a healthy product or they are aware of the companys strategy of repositioning it to a healthy product by the launch of some of the new products? Which product from the entire basket of Maggi products do the consumers consider as the best selling product for Maggi and to which the consumers frequently buy? Are the consumers willing to accept Maggi brand extensions to some other products like chocolate, juices, chips etc?

SURVEY RESULTS:
1. Brand Associations: Sources of Brand equity like brand association of Maggi as a Brand was found highest with the age group of 10-25 and the product category associated with it was the noodles category ( see exhibit 1). Consumers in the age segment of 10-25 could easily relate Maggi to noodles. In the income wise category the brand association was highest with the income group of 25k40k were more than 40 respondents associated Maggi with noodles ( see exhibit 2). The implications from the findings discussed above seem that Maggi has good brand association in terms of noodles. Consumers presume Maggi as Noodles and the companys philosophy of projecting the brand as noodles brand seem to be viable in this regard.

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Exhibit 1

Exhibit 2

2. Brand Recall: From the Exhibit 3 & 4 given below it seems a clear trend that Maggi has a good brand recall as compared to its competitors like Top Ramen, Surya noodles etc. Consumers could easily associate Maggi with noodles. In the Age wise category, the respondents of the age group of 25-45 were highly cautious of Maggi brand and seemed to be consuming Maggi more as compared to other age segments.

Exhibit 3

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In the gender wise category the companys strategy of positioning of Maggi brand for working women seems to be adaptive and gaining shape as women respondents had a brand recall more than male.

Exhibit 3

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3. Brand Awareness: From the responses of the respondents in the conducted survey it was evident than Maggis Brand awareness was very high in terms of noodles were around 65 %of the respondents associated maggi as noodles and only 20 % of the respondents knew ,Maggi as a Ketchup, 9% as soup etc.

The trend indicated that Maggis brand extension strategy to increase its basket has not been quite successful in other food segments .This might be because of the larger share of market captured by the competitors hence Maggi has a high potential in markets like ketchup, soups etc.

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4. Repositioning Maggi as a healthy product: The companys strategy to reposition Maggi as a Healthy product was not found conducive as per the survey results. The survey showed that consumers did not perceived Maggi as a healthy product with 53% of them consumed Maggis traditional products as compared to the rest who consumed other variants of Maggis brand that were positioned as Healthy products.

From the pie chart given below it can be clearly seen that Maggi is still perceived as a non healthy products by the consumers and in spite of the efforts to position Maggi as a healthy product by the company the brand is still perceived as a ready to eat food brand that has a high market share in the noodle category in India.

Perception of Maggi Noodles

As a Healthy Product 40%

As a non Healthy Product 60%

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SWOT ANALYSIS OF MAGGI BRAND:-

The SWOT analysis of Maggi brand clearly indicates the strengths of Maggi as a Brand in Indian market. The Brand was found to be a leader in its category of Noodles, with strong customer loyalty. Intensive distribution of Maggi as a Brand was seen in urban areas of the country. The major threats of the brand as shown in the figure below indicates that Maggi has made several attempts to revamp itself as a Healthy Product but till date its perseverance towards the tag line is low by the consumers. The brand is in the growth stage of product life cycle with a strong inclination towards the maturity stage.

STRENGTH Market leader in their segment Strong brand loyal consumer base Wide range of distribution channel Product according to the need of Indian consumer Innovative Product

WEAKNESS Product are dependent on each other Not so much presence in rural market

SWOT ANALYSIS

OPPORTUNITY Increasing number of working youth Product has been acceptable in youth category Shift to rural market Changing preference of consumer towards Chinese food and fast food. Can foray into other food markets with its strong Brand name

THREAT Price war with competitors. Strong presence of regional competitors Consumers dont perceive it as a Healthy Product

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strengths Established Family Brand Strong Global Corporate Brand ( NIL ) Specialization in food processing category marketing and distribution in Urban market Presence of other product segments of food category : Dairy Products, Chocolate, Infant foods Pioneer and Leader so 1st mover advantage in Noodles, Sauce, Ketchups and Soup market. Nestle symbolization of warm, family & shelter. GOOD COMMUNICATION STRATEGY PRICING STRATEGY IN RECESSION

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Weakness Generic Brand to Noodles in India Low rural market presence constraints Uniform Brand for all food category Brand Proliferation

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Opportunities Growing package and canned food market in India by 15% annually.penetration through vending machine,changing tasets and preferences of the youth High brand awareness of Indian consumer Other product category like Biscuits, Chips and Ready to Eat Market still unexplored. Opportunity to be substitute to other snacks category of food products.

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Threats Competitors with long history in product category Internationally like, Heinz Sauce and ketchups of Heinz Indian, Top Ramen in Noodle and Knorr Soups. Single product focused competitors like Heinz sauce and Wai Wai Noodles. Less Entry Barriers in the Market segment for product category ITCs strong base in Indian Market. Substitute Product to Product Segment.

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STPD ANALYSIS OF MAGGI BRAND

Segmentation: Market Segmentation divides the heterogenous market into homogenous groups of customers who share a similar set of needs/wants and could be satisfied by specific products. Maggi Brand have segmented the market on the basis of lifestyle and habits of URBAN FAMILIES. Target: Market Targeting refers to evaluating and deciding from amongst the various alternatives, which segment can be satisfied best by the company. The Maggi Brand have mainly targeted the Kids, Youth, Office Goers & Working Woman which falls into the category of convenience-savvy time misers who would like to get something instant and be over with it quickly. Positioning: Market Positioning is the act of designing the companys offerings and image to occupy a distinctive place in the minds of the target market. The goal of positioning is to locate the brand in the minds of consumers to maximise the potential benefit to the firm. Maggi has positioned itself in the SNACKS category and not in the meal category since Indians do not consider noodles as a proper food item. Therefore Maggi have developed its brand image of instant food products with positioning statements such as 2 minutes noodles and Easy to cook, good to eat. Differentiations: Points-of-difference (PODs) are attributes or benefits consumers strongly associate with a brand, positively evaluate and believe they could not find to the same extent with a competitive brand. The Maggi Brand have also differentiated its brand image from its competitors in terms of taste, flavours and packaging. Maggi have launched wide varieties of products in different flavours which can attract larger set of customers. Maggi products are also available in different sizes catering to different customer needs.

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CUSTOMER BASED BRAND EQUITY PYRAMID (CBBE) Maggis customer based brand equity pyramid seems to be equally strong on left hand side and right hand side, it is also strong from bottom to top enjoying the highest brand awareness of any fast food noodle brand in India as well as repeat purchase rate and high customer loyality.

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BRAND PRISM OF MAGGI

BRAND PRISM OF MAGGI

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CUSTOMER FEEDBACK:seen the title and are u laughing? ofcourse yaar, isnt it true? variety is spice of life and so variety is my spice to make maggie my way! I came back today morning to UK from India and since I was not there for a month, nothing was there at home and fortunately or unfortunately no shops were open [ was a damn cold day abt -9] so had to resort to maggie ! Who wants to eat maggie after 30 days of ghar ka khaana? so the necessity and heres my innovation! And one more biiiiig reason being, DIs comment on my previous post.. DI hope this helps! What you need :

Ofocurse Maggie Tadka ingridients seasoning ingridients for vegetable counter part peas, carrots and potatoes

How to do:

Take a pan, heat 1/2tsp of oil and add tadka ingridients and wait for the mustard seeds to pop. [on low flame] Add and boil 1 and half cups of water [i like it a little watery u can put 1 and 1/4ths also if u want it dry!] Add the maggie noodles to the boiling water [ break the noodles into 2 pieces and then break each piece vertically, this gives the looong noodle shape to end product] After 2mins add the masala packet. cook for 2 more mins on medium flame and thats it done! Serve hot with tomato ketchup if you need!

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Variation With Vegetable

If you want to make this with vegetables,cook vegetables till they are medium cooked! [ microwave cut vegetables for about 4mins] Along with tadka in first step, add the vegetables , salt and chilli powder and continue with the next step. Photo Updated on -20 Jan 09

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CONCLUSION:-

The food processing business in India is at a nascent stage. Currently, only about 10% of the output is processed and consumed in packaged form thus highlighting huge potential for expansion and growth. Traditionally, Indians believe in consuming fresh stuff rather then packaged or frozen, but the trend is changing and the new fast food generation is slowly changing. Riding on the success of noodles, Nestle India, tried to make extensions of the Maggi brand to a number of products like, sauces, ketchups, pickles, soups, tastemakers and macaroni in the mid-1990s. Unfortunately, the macaroni and pickles didnt pick up as expected. The soups and sauces did somewhat fine, gathering considerable sales volumes and have a satisfactory presence even today. Maggi Noodles itself faced a bit of difficulty with respect to taste, and nearly lost its position in the minds of Indian consumers in the late 1990s. When Nestle changed the formulation of its tastemaker, the ominous packet that came along with Maggi Noodles, a major chunk of consumers were put-off and sales started dropping. Also, Maggis competitor TopRamen took advantage of the situation and started a parallel aggressive campaign to eat into Maggis market share. But the company quickly realised this and went back into making the original formula coupled with a free sampling campaign. This helped Maggi to win back its lost consumers and pushed up its sales volumes again! Maggi Today The year 2008 saw India leading in world wide Maggi sales. The brand has grown to an estimated value of Rs 160-170 crore and contributes at least 89% to Nestle Indias top line. All the same, some FMCG analysts feel that the brand has not done much to expand the noodles category. Even after 25 years of its launch, the size of the instant noodles market is yet quite small at Rs 300 crore. But yes, the parent company, Nestle India Limited has certainly encouraged the brand to enter into other culinary products.

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RECOMMENDATION
After the conducted study following recommendations could be sited for Maggi Brand. - To gain maximum leverage in terms of profit the company should pay emphasis on segments with age groups 25-35 and above .Advertising is the key to success. Targeting these segments will not only enhance the companys profit margins but also it will leverage the brand image of Maggi.

- The company should advertise its products by depicting attributes related to Health like Nutrition values, % of Vitamins, Proteins etc.This would help in customers perceiving the product as Healthy.

- Foray into other food products like chips, chocolates etc under its sole brand name would not only help in Brand extension but will also enhance Maggis market share.

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FUTURE PLANS

- Nestl Indias objective is to manufacture and market the companys products in such a way so as to create value that can be sustained over the long term for consumers, shareholders, employees and business partners. - Maggis aims to create value for consumers that can be sustained over the long term by offering a wide variety of high quality, safe food products at affordable prices. - The company continuously focuses its efforts to better understand the changing lifestyles of modern India and anticipate consumer needs in order to provide convenience, taste, nutrition and wellness through its product offerings.

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LIMITATIONS:
The present study is confined to a minimal sample size and may not reflect the opinion or response of the entire population in general. The results of our study are entirely confined to the responses of the Delhi consumers and might deviate in terms of actual population as a whole.Recomendations given after the study are entirely dependent on the survey and the secondary analysis done in the report.

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APPENDEX 1

QUESTIONAIRE
When you fill in this questionnaire please use a pen and mark () on the best response. Q-1 what product would you associate with the tag line mentioned below? Its different. .. Dont be a noodle, be a snoodle. 2 minute noodles/ Bas 2 minute. Jitna tasty, utna healthy.. Mummy bhook lagi Try it with a twist .. Hearty soups warm you from inside .. Fast to cook, Good to eat Q-2 What comes first in your mind when you hear the word Maggi ? Noodles Fast food Snacks None of these Q-3 what is the brand that comes to your mind when we say the word noodles? Maggi Top Ramen Surya Noodles Anil Noodles Q-4 Rank the following Maggi products w.r.t. frequency of purchase with 1 being the highest rank RANK Noodles Ketchup Soup Pickles Cubes _________ _________ _________ _________ _________

Q-4 With what products would you associate the brand Maggi? Ketchup Noodles Soup Masala

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Q-5 On a scale of 1 to 5 rate Maggi on the following parameters Taste ____________ Variety/Flavours ____________ Hygiene/Purity ____________ Availability ____________ Packaging (SKUs) ____________

Q6 Rank the categories which Maggi should look in future in order of your importance : Chocolates Salted Potato Chips Fruit Juices Processed foods(Ready to use pastes, masalas) Others ( Please mention) _____________ _____________ _____________ ____________ _____________

Q-7 how do you rate Maggi brand in terms of following parameters: Expertise (Competent, Innovative, Market leader) Trustworthiness (Dependable and keep customers interest in mind) Liability ( Fun ,interesting) None of these

Q-8 How do you perceive Maggi products? Good for health. Ready to eat. Junk food Tasty / Fun eating Q-9 Which Maggi products in noodles category do you regularly buy? (Repositioning awareness) Maggi masala Maggi vegetable atta noodles Maggi dal atta noodles Maggi rice noodles mania Others Q-10 Do you perceive Maggi noodles as a healthy product? Yes No Q-11 If No then your suggestions for improvement as a healthy product? ________________________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

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1.5 Maggie Bibliography

Alice Fantastic Akashic Books

Flamethrower Three Rivers Press Read Chapter One

WEBSITE VISITED:GOOGLE SEARCHING FOR FINDING THE DETAILS OF MAGGIE . (WWW.GOOGLE.COM).

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Profile Sheet Age Sex Profession Monthly Income Marital Status

: : : : :

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