A Study of Maggi Brand Extension and Repositioning

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.

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 Nestle in 1947. Today, Maggi is a leading culinary brand and part of the NESTLE 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 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-to-eat 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, Nestle 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