The two minute magic of Maggi

A few days back, I was driving down listening to a radio spot quiz, where two participants answer a question and the winner is decided by how many of the ten pre-recorded respondents answered the same as the contestants. On the face of it, this seems like a very ordinary game; but if studied well, it has insights much to the order of a market trend spotting conducted through a research. So the question was: ‘What is the first thing people learn to prepare in a kitchen?’ The contestants chose option which even by my opinion are very basic- bread butter and tea. But what came from the respondents was pretty stunning. While an omelette and dal-rice stood as two individuals; the remaining eight unanimously voted for Maggi.

It is a formality to mention that the name Maggi is synonymous with ready-to-cook noodles in India and has stormed into the 5^th position (and a first time in the Top 10) as per the recent Brand Equity Most Trusted Brands in India list for 2014. (http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-10-22/news/55318723_1_trusted-brands-survey-brand-equity-dettol) What is worth noticing is that Maggi is leagues ahead of other Nestle brands like Kit Kat (61), Milk Chocolate (72) or even Nescafe (95).

The trust factor is something built upon time and for Maggi- it has been a journey that started over 25 years ago, when it was introduced to kids like myself as an instant snack option. The communication was done apt to position it in that space showing kids in school uniforms swinging across on gates and urging their mom’s for a quick snack. Apart building that connect of an after school snack- the concept of noodles was alien to the Indians palette. Not to forget the, it was seeking to intrude the traditional Indian kitchen space enriched by pulses and cereals with a white flour (Maida) based product.

But the mid-80’s was a time actually witnessing a lot of fresh ideas and changes coming through with the middle class eager to latch on to any new product the market was willing to offer. It was the youth making its way into the driver’s seat and Maggi latched on to this wave. A stall serving Maggi at a college festival was often seen attracting the maximum crowd and at a point in time when the red cart serving Chinese food (or Chow mein in Northern India) was yet to become a familiar sight, masala noodles were gaining rapid popularity. Collect 5 empty packs of Maggi and redeem it for one pack free was a craze for the 5 to 25 age group.

Typically in the mid-80 and 90’s; time, place and nutrition wrote some of the unwritten rules of the Indian food: omelette bread, sandwich, poha-upma, idli- dosa, poori-bhajji were the staple breakfast foods, lunch or dinner was rice and roti’s with vegetables and daal. This used to be a kind of predefined food regimen rigorously followed across homes, office canteens and hostel mess and movement of breakfast items into lunch or dinner was equal to gastric blasphemy. Eating out was considered both expensive and unhealthy. The concept of packaged food or fun food was yet to develop and was mostly limited to biscuits.

It is difficult to establish when Maggi managed to break these rules and changed our food habits, but there can be some reasons sighted to know why it happened. Though technically, Maggi noodles do take more than 2-minutes to get ready, it was possibly the first instant food available in India with a long shelf-life, no oil and a spicy taste to suit the Indian palette. Secondly, how difficult was it to boil water, break the cake into four pieces and add a taste maker for a perfect little snack? By itself, one pack of Maggi was filling enough for one person. While the nutritional value was still being debated, the consumers innovated to fill this void. Adding vegetables like tomato, onions, peas, capsicum, cheese and even eggs to the basic Maggi, we had a new dish added to the dining table. Leaving back some excess water meant the noodles were also soupy.

Maggi also triggered a new phase of satisfaction. Dual income parents chose Maggi over any other street food as their children went home after school.  Students found it as an affordable option to restaurant menu. A Maggi stall at any IIT or other residential college campus is usually the place running well past mess hours into the night. For those at home, cooking Maggi with friends over a sleepover for midnight hunger pangs was like an unwritten rule. Till about two years back, the Maggi stall at the Chennai Airport was a popular choice of an economic and filling snack. With smaller packaging at an affordable price, it has also percolated into the rural pockets in India.

On a personal level, a few packs subconsciously enter my bags for a tour beyond 3 days in India or abroad. Not to mention, me and my friend had a Maggi on Vagator beach in Goa. While he championed it as the food that kept him going while reporting about the environmental disaster in Uttaranchal last year, I take a bow for mastering the art to make noodles in a hot water kettle.

As a product, Maggi in Indian is a winner, but not without failures like the New Maggi (aping Top Ramen’s flat noodles), Dal and Atta noodles or the tomato flavouring taste maker. But there has been no stiff competitor who has challenged Maggi in the market in a bid to take over the lead. So even the complete with a foon and hot water dispensers at the retail outlets idea in 1989 by Bisca (Parle) , or the later ones like Nissin Foods' Top Ramen (flat and with veggies added), GSK's Foodles, Sunfeast's Yippie (round shaped cake), Ching's range of noodles, Knorr's Soupy Noodles, Future Group's Tasty Treat, the cup noodles Wai Wai are still nowhere even close to the Maggi legacy. It still enjoys 70% market share of a market it has built and ruled for over 25 years. (http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-10-29/news/55559123_1_maggi-knorr-soupy-noodles-wai-wai)

One thing is for sure, if there is a brand today in India which has carved out a category, changed consumer habits in doing so and is still unchallenged in its leadership position; it deserves its space in the sphere of trust as a brand. Maggi- the magic woven over years but just in two minutes in our kitchens.