The new Nestle Milo frozen confection, recently launched in Malaysia, is according to the Swiss food and beverage giant inspired by the “do-it-yourself Milo ice-cream from the childhood days.”Brands are increasingly drawing inspiration from what consumers are doing with their food. Companies do not need to go very far to search for inspiration. All they need to do is see what ordinary Malaysians are doing with their food. In Indonesia, the new Indomie instant noodle with milk is a good example of how a company borrows ideas from consumers to create something that is being practiced at home.
In the UK, Watch Me Think is a market research company focusing on “using videos taken by people at the place and in the moment of use” to understand how consumers consume the product in their home.
Sometimes street food culture is also a great source for new product inspiration. I have talked about how martabak or sweet pancake vendors in Indonesia are innovating by adding Nutella, Oreo and Kit Kat.
We can learn a lot by peering into the world of how consumers actually consume their food. Innovation can be as easy as producing something that matches what is being practiced already but with more added value and greater convenient.
Praktis, an Indonesian word translated as practical in English, is one of the packaging trends for food and beverage in Indonesia. The word practical has the meaning of convenience and easy to use.
Indomilk UHT 1L milk now comes with an improved closure with better protection against slipping . The existing 1L format features only a lid.
An innovation by Frisian Flag in 2015 in the condensed milk space was the new can with lid. All you need to do is “klik”, “tarik (pull)” and “tuang (pour).”
Kino’s Cap Kaki Tiga herbal drink, traditionally used to cool down the body, introduced a new on-the-go pack in 350ml PET bottle at the end of 2015.
The new 350ml format offers better grip but is priced at a premium on a per volume basis compared with the existing 200ml and 500ml format.
These examples show how Indonesian brands are “praktis-ing” their packaging to move up the value chain (premiumisation) and to create a new opportunity for brand engagement.
Central Sugars Refinery (CSR) has unveiled stevia sugar on 21 January 2016. The marketing message is “Be Sweet But Not Too Sweet. ”
Here is the official description:
“A little help goes a long way. Let’s make the world a better place with daily acts of kindness. Introducing our Premium Lower Calorie Sugar, a sweetener specially formulated to offer a healthy dose of sweetness. Made from stevia-blended sugar. it is the ideal option for cutting calories without losing the sweetness”
My interpretation is the small act of kindess to yourself is to consume stevia-blended sugar to replace natural sugar. This will prevent you from ended up as the old man on the wheelchair who is probably suffering from diabetes.
The CSR Natural Brown Sugar 1KG is selling at a price of RM 3.48 at Cold Storage, while the new CSR Low Calorie Sugar 500g sells at a premium price of RM 7.69. The stevia is from PureCircle, a company based in Malaysia.
I personally does not like the aftertaste of stevia. There might be a long term trend of using stevia as a sweetener in beverages like in the Western markets where Sprite in the UK now uses stevia, but at the moment stevia usage in Malaysia is still low. By the way, Sprite sales in the UK slumped following the switch to stevia, reported the Grocer.
Suntory Beverage & Food is celebrating 2016 Chinese New Year with the new Ribena Lightly Sparkling Blackcurrant drink.
Ribena wants consumers to celebrate CNY with a bang and have a sparkling year ahead. The hashtag is #ReleaseTheGoodness. In the latest TVC, the opening of each soda can tab evokes the sound of firecracker exploding – bang!
Here is the ad in Singapore. The Ribena cans can be turned into a firecracker.
A brief overview of Ribena’s product portfolio in Malaysia. Still a look of room to grow for this versatile drink especially with the flavour extension into non blackcurrant.
The quest is on to find who can produce the best Teh Tarik that has the consistent and authentic taste. It has to be prepared easily too. In case you are wondering what Teh Tarik is all about. Here is Wikipedia’s explanation:
It is hot milk tea beverage which can be commonly found in restaurants, outdoor stalls and kopitiams in Malaysia. Its name is derived from the pouring process of ‘pulling’ the drink during preparation.
The two contenders are Lipton and Wonda.
First, let me introduce Lipton
Lipton Teh Tarik ad – April 2015
“Can a master of teh tarik outdo himself? Can he make the perfect teh tarik for 100 people? Watch to find out!”
Here is an Lipton ad showing how a butler, also the master of teh tarik, strives for perfection to prepare instant teh tarik that can be easily prepared for 100 people.
Next comes the Wonda ad – January 2016
“Made with carefully selected premium coffee beans to serve up your favorite local taste which is simply irresistible!”
This guy pours teh tarik from a hot air balloon with another person on the ground catching it. Each attempt ended up in failure because it was simply too high. The idea was the higher you ‘pulled’ the tea, the better the taste will become. After all the futile attempts, the aviator with the moustache, always the hairy guy in Permanis ad, returned to the ground. He was served a can of the new Wonda Teh Tarik and to his amazement, it was good! The message is you don’t need to go all the way of pulling the tea from a hot air balloon because you can easily get the best teh tarik from Wonda Teh Tarik, which “tastes like just brewed.”
The centrepiece of the campaign is “tarik-ing.” Here is a jacket wrap ad on The Star – 26 January 2016 featuring a mini teh tarik for readers to ‘practice’ their tarik-ing skill.
The main message of the Lipton and Wonda ads is we can produce the perfect Teh Tarik that rivals the teh tarik at mamak stall. Driving the message of authenticity in taste is key to convert consumers to the ready-to-drink format, which is set to grow as consumers opt for convenience.
Dua Kelinci Krip Krip Tortilla chip is set to be introduced in Indonesia soon. I bought several packs at Trade Expo Indonesia 2015 and I like the taste. Krip Krip has a good texture and the real taste of tortilla. The corn flavour is rather artificial though. The price is cheap too at IDR 1,000 for a pack of 17g.
In Malaysia, the leading tortilla chips in the market are Mondelez’s Chacho’s and Mission Foods. The cheapest is Chacho’s but the taste is no where near the original tortilla. Mission Foods is more expensive but the taste is good.
Dua Kelinci is already exporting peanut snacks and wafer (Deka) to Malaysia. Perhaps the company can consider adding tortilla chips as one of the newest products for Malaysia.
Chinese New Year marketing is all about symbolism and appearing auspicious. Here is a look at the 2016 CNY marketing by the leading FMCG companies in Malaysia. This year, F&N’s 100Plus and Coca-Cola have renewed their contest to win the coveted title of best designed can of the year. Personally, I believe the award should go to Coca-Cola for its auspicious greetings and symbolism.
According to Hype Malaysia, the auspicious message and symbols on the 8 Coca-Cola Chinese New Year cans are:
Abundance In Wealth (财源滚滚) – Pineapples, Coins, Ingots
Prosperity In Business (生意兴隆) – Double Gold Fish, Water
Academic Success (学业有成) – Brush, Ink, Paper Scroll
Smooth Sailing Career (事业顺利) – Sail Boat
Flourish In Love (情场得意) – A pair of Magpies
Peace In The Family (合家平安) – Gourd, Stone Lions
100Plus opts for the auspicious creative Prosperity 福 and Happiness 喜 gold cans by blending in the Chinese words into the 100Plus logo like what Google always does with Google Doodle.
Below are the CNY designs of Coca-Cola and 100Plus in 2015 . The 100Plus Prosperity 福 can is repeated in 2016 but is now more accessible. Previously, the limited edition, not-for-sale design was only available when you buy in bulk.
In 2016, apart from the limited-edition design, F&N’sDrink for Gold campaign is offering gold wafer, gold coins and limited-edition gold plated 100Plus miniature cans.
As usual, Coca-Cola “share a Coke” campaign in 2016 comes with the personalised can activities.
Pepsi’s Chinese New Year marketing “Refresh your Greetings” concentrates on getting the auspicious greetings right. The greeting associated with Pepsi is 欢乐百事 (huan le bai shi), literally known as happiness from 100 things, while 7-Up is 七喜临门 (qi xi lin men) or seven happy things coming to your doorstep. Noticed the Chinese name of Pepsi bai shi (百事) rhymes with Pepsi.
Pepsi goes one step further by personalising the greeting. On the http://www.pepsigreetings.my/ website, you can pick the greeting featuring the character of your surname. Even if your surname is one of the least well known such as 谭 (tan), you will still get some pretty interesting greeting choices.
Carlsberg Malaysia goes for the 100Plus and Coca-Cola limited-edition can approach. Here is the official description of the 2016 Chinese New Year campaign:
Year of the Monkey, just another prosperous year? As a beer brand that strives to deliver the finest in everything it does, Carlsberg proposed a toast to Lunar New Year 2016 being “Probably The Best Year” (20一流–堪称最佳新年). Playing on the Mandarin and Cantonese pronunciation of the number ‘16’ [Yī Liú] with the Chinese character “一流”, refers to excellence, top notch or simply the best.
Bringing to life the CNY campaign tagline – “Probably The Best Year” (20一流), Carlsberg, for the first time ever launched seven limited edition designs with the seven icons across its cans and big bottles available nationwide during this festive period. Definitely collectable items! It’s also a meaningful way to share a drink which bestows best wishes to family and friends.
Yeo’s take of its CNY campaign is playing with words to deliver the prosperity and auspicious message. Yeo’s rhymes with the Chinese word 越 (yue) or more. The resulting meaning is Drink (饮) more, prosper (旺) more. Of course, there are prizes up for grab.
The best name for a CNY campaign is still Tesco’s Ong Mali (Ong 旺 in Hokkien means prosperity), while Mali is the Chinese’s mispronunciation of mari, which is come in Malay. The meaning of Ong Mali is “Prosperity comes.”
Here is a transcript of the latest TVC by Goodday Milk as part of the product’s new packaging design.
Cow: Skip the ad, don’t skip the ad Cow: Skip the ad, don’t skip the ad
Introducing the Goodday Milk with a fresh new milk Cow: Excuse me, is this a milk ad?
Yes, why? Cow: Where is the cow? Cut! Malaysia’s favourite pasteurised milk Cow: This is cow’s milk right? Why am I not in this ad?
Not again!
Goodday Milk, as fresh as it gets
So, “Why no cow in this ad”, asked Dee Dee the cow.
“You might’ve seen me trying to sneak into Goodday Milk’s latest advertisement. Luckily, Goodday Milk promised to feature me in their next advertisement if I can get 10,000 votes by end of Jan, so please vote for me everybody! I love y’all!”
As of 23 January 2015
The latest creative print and social media marketing campaign is aimed get consumers accustomed to the Dee Dee character as the face for Goodday Milk. The Goodday brand has been devoid of any interesting marketing in the past and this is changing following the revamped of the spartan packaging.
Dee Dee wants to be in the ad – photo by the author
Dee Dee is everywhere. It was in Bukit Bintang to generate the votes she needed to feature on the ad. The cow was also at Masjid Jamek and KL Sentral getting all the attention she wanted.
Dee Dee Facebook page
There was a last minute appeal on The Star newspaper on 22 January 2016 where ‘Help Dee Dee’ was on the front page! There were Dee Dee’s footprint everywhere on the newspaper asking readers to vote for her.
The Star – 22 Jan 2016
It is interesting to see how well Dee Dee is connecting with consumers going forward and not confusing them with another cow character by F&N Magnolia.
It has been a while since I provide an update on MyKuali. The bowl noodle version has entered the petromart (petrol station convenience store) channel in Malaysia. It makes perfect sense to have a presence in petromart, which accounts for a fair share of F&B spending.
Petron Malaysia had 251 Treats Mart nationwide as of 31 Dec 2014. Image by the author
Malaysian motorists spend a lot of their time on the road, no thanks to the poor public infrastructure and the annual increase of over 600,000 new cars on the road, thus worsening the congestion. Private car ownership is approaching the level of United States, Australia and Canada. Each day, the author spends around 2.5 hours on the road just to commute to work. Tired of being stuck on the traffic, petromart is the place to fill up the gas tank, go for a toilet break, withdraw the money from the ATM and purchase on-the-go food for in between meal snacking. This makes petromart an ideal channel for instant noodle.
Petron Treats – MyKuali pack and bowl noodles
Compared with other instant noodles, MyKuali has the biggest per serving size but its price is also the highest. Consistent with the premium positioning, MyKuali instant noodles fetches a premium price at RM 4.1 for bowl noodle (up to RM 2.7 for competitor cup noodle brands) and RM 8-9 for pack (up to RM 5.8 for competitor brands). The MyKuali bowl range comprises Penang Red Tom Yum Goong Rice Vermicelli Soup, Penang Hokkien Prawn Rice Vermicelli Soup and MyKuali White Curry Rice Vermicelli Soup.
The convenience store channel is likely to be the next port of call for MyKuali to fuel growth in Malaysia but this is subject to whether the company is willing to pay for the high listing fees. MyKuali cup noodle is already available at 7-Eleven in Singapore.
The joint venture of Malaysia’s Mamee Double Decker and Japan’s DyDo Drinco has recently introduced two new variants of Cool Tea – Chrysanthemum and Green Tea. The new Green Tea strangely tastes like Indonesia’s Sosro Teh Botol. Teh Botol is an acquired taste due to its strong jasmine smell. This raises the question is MameeBev Cool Tea Herbal Tea + Green Tea targeting Indonesians living and working in Malaysia who are accustomed to the taste of Teh Botol? There are more than 1 million Indonesians in Malaysia at any given time with some estimating it at 2.5 million.
