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Bentong ginger trending

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Mini Me Insights
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Ginger is currently trending among the Chinese community in Malaysia. It is no ordinary ginger we are talking about, it is the ginger grown on the hillside in Bentong in the state of Pahang. Ginger is marketed as good for health and is used during confinement, relieve menstrual pain, muscle pain, arthritis and upper respiratory tract infection.

Bentong ginger is sold in various forms with powder being the most common. Companies behind the Bentong ginger are now actively marketing their products. Several ginger companies were seen displaying their products at the recently concluded Tastefully Food & Beverage Expo 2015 at Mid Valley KL. The demand for Bentong ginger has also benefited Taiwanese companies. Taiwan is famous for its 姜母茶 ginger tea. It comes in a cube and is prepared by adding hot water. Some of the Bentong ginger is sold in a similar fashion.

Provenance is becoming a key trend in Malaysia’s FMCG scene. We have witnessed the success of Ipoh white coffee. Now, we are seeing Bentong ginger tea going on the same route.

From pH 8.5 to pH 9+: Indonesian packaged water moves up the pH scale

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Mini Me Insights
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The battle ground for the Indonesian packaged water market has moved beyond oxygenated water to alkaline water. Proponents of alkaline water claim water with a higher pH level can neutralise body acid, help with dieting, detoxification, skin dehydration and is a good source of antioxidant.

Total 8+ commercial

According to the Total 8+ commercial, regardless of what food you consumed, once you have eaten oily food and high acidic food, all you need to do is to neutralise the acid in the body with a bottle of Total 8+ water made with Japanese technology.

Eat anything and neutralise with Total 8+

The advertisement ends with the female pushing the ordinary packaged water aside and encourage the audience to start replacing their water with alkaline water.

To strengthen the health credential of Total 8+, the company PT Tirtamas Lestari even has an “Ask the Expert” session featuring a health expert who will be talking about the benefits of drinking alkaline water.

The marketing message of Total 8+ is very clear, the alkaline water neutralises the body acid to bring balance to your body. Consumers can continue with their guilt-free eating as long as they end their food eating frenzy with a bottle of Total 8+.

Now, there is a new packaged water by PT TST Indonesia with an even higher pH level – 9! The packaged water also contains low total dissolved solid (TDS).

Alkaline water does appeal to office workers and health-conscious people who treat the high pH water as a solution for their health problem. To improve the health credential, Gold’s Gym Indonesia has been made a partner of Total 8+. Vending machines dispensing Total 8+ as well as Pocari Sweawt  are available inside the gym. Would brands move up the ante with a pH 10 water? Probably as similar packaged water with pH 10 is already available abroad.

In neighbouring Malaysia, the alkaline water fad is still confined to alkaline water machine and has not yet made its way to the packaged water segment.

Update as of 14 October 2015

New Pristine ionised mineral water with a pH of 8+ by PT Super Wahana Tehno, a 50-50 joint venture between Sinar Mas and Japan’s Nihon Trim. The ad features the Japanese actress Ayaka Komatsu as the brand ambassador. Ayaka was known as Sailor Venus in Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon.

Online exclusivity: Nescafe launches decaffeinated coffee on Tesco Malaysia online store

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Mini Me Insights
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Companies are going for exclusively with their new product launch. In Malaysia, the new Nescafe Mountain Wash decaffeinated coffee has now been launched exclusively on Tesco online. It is not known if the new coffee will be made available in brick-and-mortar stores in the near future. Is the Nescafe-Tesco online collaboration heralding something new for FMCG players?

In India, new products ranging from Coke Zero to Xiaomi Redmi 2 smartphone are being launched exclusively on e-commerce sites such as Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal before being made available on the street. Coca-Cola sold 100,000 cans within 13 days of being sold on Amazon. The zero-sugar beverage was available exclusively on Amazon for two weeks prior going into mass retail.

India’s leading biscuit company Britannia Industries had an exclusive tie-up with Amazon to launch Good Day Chunkies, a super-premium chocolate chip cookie, at the end of 2014. Rival Parle may be following the same footstep with plans to sell its premium range of biscuits online.

One common theme why companies are launching their products online is e-commerce is emerging as an important distribution channel. Selling online and collaborating with e-commerce partners will provide FMCG companies additional insights about the new generation of consumers who will change the way they shop.

Greek Yogurt: Indonesia’s Heavenly Blush taps into Greek yogurt fab, launches Yo! for kids

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Mini Me Insights
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Image from Heavenly Blush Twitter site

PT Heavenly Nutrition Indonesia has belatedly joined the Greek spoonable yogurt movement. Five flavours were introduced to coincide with Ramadan, a smart way to position Greek yogurt as a food to break fast.

The Heavenly Blush Greek yogurt comes with fruit on the side. The yogurt is targeted at 20-25-year-olds from Class A and B social economic status who are busy and need something filling, said Heavenly Blush Marketing Director Ivonne Aryanti.

Heavenly Blush Greek Yogurt. Image taken from Adinda Savitri Indiraswari.
Side view. Image taken from the Thoughts in Tiffany Blue blog

All five variants are flavoured yogurt with no natural/plain flavour, which shows the popularity of flavoured yogurt in the Indonesian market. As a comparison with Malaysia, Nestle introduced its Greek Style Yogurt in April 2013 with only three flavours – Strawberry Field and Peach Harvest as well as the Natural flavour.

Yo!

Apart from Greek yogurt, Heavenly Blush also launched a new drinkable yogurt for kids for 4-11 years old. Yo! is positioned as a yogurt drink to promote the consumption of fruit and vegetables among young children.

Butter: QSR Trading launches new butter More

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Mini Me Insights
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QSR Trading Sdn Bhd has introduced a new butter. It is called More Butter comprising the salted and unsalted variants. The company is the owner of the rights of manufacture and imports. The product contains minimum 82% milkfat, energy 3,80kJ/750kcal, carbohydrate 1g per 100g, protein 0.5g per 100g and total fat 82g per 100g.

According to Auric Pacific Group Ltd chief creative officer Michelle Lim, SCS butter is the number one butter brand in Malaysia with approximately 500 tonnes of butter sold to homes and businesses in 2014. There are over 20 butter brands in the country. With the rise in baking hobbyists and festive cookie needs, the market for butter is expected to grow and there is still room for the new More butter.

Coconut water: Karta showcases pineapple, cucumber flavour coconut water

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Mini Me Insights
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Karta displayed three variants of its coconut water at MIFB 2015, the 16th Malaysian International Food & Beverage Trade Fair, in June 2015. The original flavour is already in the market. The two new flavours are pineapple and cucumber but they have not been launched in Malaysia.

Flavour extension is one method used by brands to continue to keep consumers engaged. Coconut water is versatile. Its health beneficial properties are increasingly being recognised, making coconut water a good base for further new product development. The Malaysian packaged coconut water market will however for the time being continue to focus on getting consumers to acquire a taste for packaged coconut water.

Passion fruit, pink guava, pineapple and mango flavoured coconut water in foreign markets

Aquarius isotonic drink now comes in fountain option

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Mini Me Insights
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Even though Aquarius istonic has yet to reached most retail establishments in Malaysia, Coca-Cola has discreetly made Aquarius available as part of its fountain offering through 7-Eleven. The addition of Aquarius has enriched the existing Coca-Cola fountain lineup.

A look at Raya festive marketing by Coca-Cola, F&N and PepsiCo

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Mini Me Insights
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As Hari Raya is just one day away (17 July 2015), here is a recap of the festive marketing by the leading beverage companies in Malaysia – Coca-Cola, F&N and PepsiCo.

Coca-Cola – Share a coke and limited-edition bicycle

Coca-Cola is giving away limited-edition Coca-Cola bicycle, a continuation of the focus on limited-edition collectibles.

Like the Chinese New Year campaign where auspicious words are printed on the packaging, the Raya “Share a Coke” campaign features Raya greetings and names of friends or family members whom one would share a Coke with.

The other marketing campaign is personalisingthe Coca-Cola can with the chosen names. This campaign was held at selected venues in the country.

F&N – RM 1 million house

F&N is giving away lucrative prizes. The main prize is a new house worth RM 1 million. Other prizes include Toyota Innova, Nissan Almera, home theatre system and prize money. Property and car are the two things Malaysians are working hard, day and night, to accumulate. However, only a lucky few will win.Apart from prizes, Revive has introduced the limited-edition berry flavour to capitalise on Malay consumer preference for Fanta as well as syrups with vibrant colours.

PepsiCo – Donation

PepsiCo festive marketing is all about donating to the needy. During Chinese New Year, proceeds from the donation was channeled to Chinese schools. For Hari Raya, with the purchase of either a 1.5L bottle of Revive or a Pepsi, RM 0.10 will be donated to those in need.

The verdict

F&N contest is very attractive but not all consumers can win the prizes due to the limited number of prizes available. Coca-Cola’s festive campaign is more participatory eg share a coke and personalised can and therefore more interactive. PepsiCo’s charity drive is noble but the benefits to consumers are limited.

7-Eleven promoting private label chips but no South Korean honey butter chips

By
Mini Me Insights
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After working to improve its hot food and ready meal offerings, 7-Eleven Malaysia is directing its effort to private label (PL) snacks. As with all 7-Eleven PL snacks, the packaging always come with a large white space to create less noise. The made-in-Malaysia range includes sour cream and onion, BBQ, original and hot and spicy. Each pack weighs 60g.

The convenience store is doing a promotion for the new snacks. For every pack of 7-Select chips, you will get one bottle of Aktif drinking water 500ml for free. The price for the snack-chip combo is RM 3.70. I am not sure how much the chip is priced individually but as a PL product, it should be priced lower than branded potato snacks.

Promotional item of the month. This is what you see when you first step into the store.

But 7-Select chips are not getting the best shelf space

7-Eleven has also introduced South Korean snacks in 80 outlets. It claims to be exclusively imported from South Korea. Did i see honey butter chips in the picture? The one that has created a hysteria in South Korea? Unfortunately not.

So, where is my honey butter chips?

Dairy Farm distributes World O’ Noodle Mi Goreng in regional push

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Mini Me Insights
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World Noodle Mi Goreng (fried noodle), the taste of Indonesia, is the new range of instant noodle now available at Cold Storage, a high-end grocery chain operated by Singapore-listed Dairy Farm International. The new product reminds me of MyKuali fourth instant noodle franchise Spicy Fried Noodle, which slated to make its debut in July 2015.

As a private label product, World O’ Noodle is priced at the lowest end of the price range, just slightly ahead of Mi Sedaap.

The World O’ Noodle range consists of Perisa Bawang Putih (garlic flavour) and Perisa Asli (original flavour). It comes in a pack of five each weighing 80g. Indonesia’s PT. Surya Pratista Hutama, the maker of Best Wok instant noodle, is the manufacturer of World Noodle. This product is distributed throughout the Dairy Farm International supermarkets in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The choice of Mi Goreng is obvious. Indonesian fried noodle is popular in the region including in Hong Kong and Taiwan, thanks to the famous Indomie by Indonesia’s Indofood. With the high awareness of Mi Goreng, companies will not find it difficult to sell this product in the regional market but the challenge is how it can compete with the leading brands.

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