The truth is not
known; the barking media has not left a single stone painted green to elucidate
the doubts in minds of the guardians of those thousands and lakhs of overgrown
children staying in hostels and studios surviving on Maggi for days converted
to years now; the nutritionist fraternity in the new age spornosexual cities
have revised their business expansion strategy in tapping the potential new
breed of clientele and the worst hit of all are the lane of tapris with an
annual turnover of over a crore serving the entire south campus in Delhi with
their menu plating comprising only of rampant Maggi delicacies !!!
The facebooks
and the twitters of course are seeing their timelines trending with the Nestle
employees going gaga over the irresponsible hue and cry made in the media over
the much debated and supposedly claimed false reports; the 27-28 year old
social media active generation flooding their thoughts on the clean record of
the brand for generations now are displaying all the loyalty to Maggi very much
in line with the all-time favourite tagline "Main aur meri Maggi" and the society conscious brand name
celebrities recording their withdrawal from any kind of association with Maggi
all over the social digitized media space to avoid any negative image building
in the public; indeed 2 minutes of debacle and the downfall of the product that
has truly been an integral part of the growing years in 90% of the Indian
households.
What could be
the comeback strategy for Nestle ???
Maggi, that
comprised of almost 20% of the Nestle turnover in India with around 8-9%
contribution to the top line is undoubtedly the market leader with approximately
60% share in the ready to cook market in India. The impact has really been huge.
·
Negative brand image now trans locating to other products
of Nestle ( reports of larvae being found in Nestle milk ), Nestle immediately
has to strategize on the PR front to stop immediate negative publicity
·
The entire Ready to cook market has shrunk due to rising consumer
doubts, competitors like Top Ramen, Yippie, Wi-Wi etc are fighting to grasp the
market share of Maggi and thus retain their current revenue lines even in the
momentarily declining market, also to establish their brand leadership once the
market has regained.
This of course has hit Maggi majorly but
there is a slight ray of hope as in the process of gaining the top spot, these
competitors are bound to play dirty games of negative brand building of each
other and thus losing confidence of the consumers by the created lose-lose
situation which will lead to Maggi regaining its trust in the consumers by
coming out clean with all the health regulations.
It is critical that Maggi deviates the
focus of its competitors while it is fighting its own battle of proving the
standards on the hygiene grounds and comes back strong to establish its
supremacy again in the ready to cook market
·
Maggi as a brand has always been known for its “easy and quick” perception, now Nestle
has to portray its efforts in the direction of “We care” and “Your health is
our priority” to regain the consumer confidence. This could be achieved by partnering
with audit teams and publishing their reports through their mouths both offline
and on media, not only for Maggi but for the entire product line of Nestle
·
TV campaign on taking ownership of the quality and showing
concern for the consumers as a part of “You & I, the perfect Maggi family”
is the need of the moment
·
Brand “Maggi” celebrity endorsement on “safety of consumers
and hygiene of product” should be done on an immediate basis, it is needed not
only for the entire market stability but also for Nestle as a company
PS - Maggi has
always been my personal favourite, a constant support of the times I was
staying out of home. I do wish it a comeback soon, provided my health and integrity
in quality is not at stake.
