Maggi returns, but the road ahead will not be easy

Maggi Noodles is back. Will it ever be able to regain its lost glory? The marketing gurus are confident that Maggi will surely bounce back, but the return they say, would be a lot more difficult.

Nestle India , the makers of Maggi Noodles, has recently put out an emotional television campaign where a mother talks about Maggi Noodles being safe. An emotional television campaign is not enough, points out Raghu Vishwanath, MD of brand valuation company, Vertebrand. "To rebuild confidence, Nestle has to directly engage with consumers."

The company, says, Vishwanath, has to device tools such as a feedback form in every packet of Maggi Noodles or create a toll free number, through which people could voice their opinion. The consumer engagement, he says, could also be taken a step forward by taking initiatives such as a free health check-up for kids at schools.

"This will create confidence in the minds of the consumers that here is a brand that cares for them."

Apart from consumer engagement, brand Maggi will also need to strengthen its activations at the various retail stores like never before.

"The fact that Maggi has been away from the market for a while, its competitors have started taking their shelf space. Therefore, it's important that Maggi is extremely aggressive with its retail activation," observes Peshwa Acharya, Former Chief Marketing Officer at Reliance Retail and Founder of www.thinkasconsumer.com (a growth accelerator for start-ups).

The Maggi return story will be played predominantly at the retail point, agrees Brand Specialist and CEO Of Harish Bijoor Consults, Harish Bijoor.

"The brand needs to focus on activation across its key constituencies - school, colleges, young mothers, in that order." The biggest learning for Nestle (which has always been an extremely closed organisation) out of this entire episode surely is to always be in conversation with its target audience, admit its mistakes and quickly take corrective action. The cliched 'MNC arrogance' certainly has no room in India.