With Chinese New Year (CNY) approaching, brands have started to introduce new year packaging and marketing activities to welcome the year of the rooster.
M&M’s
As of 17 January 2017, M&M’s, the chocolate brand of Mars Inc, appeared to still be in the Christmas mood as its official Facebook page has not been updated for CNY 2017. On the ground, the M&M’s chocolates now come with the CNY packaging.
Mondelez
Mondelez Malaysia is celebrating CNY with cute figures of a happy extended family featuring the theme “Share the Joy of Cadbury this New Year.”
The star products for CNY 2017 are Cadbury Dairy MIlk and 5 Star in sharing pack.
Here is a picture of the in-store display of Mondelez in a supermarket.
Ferrero Rocher
Ferrero Rocher is synonymous with Valentine’s Day and festive celebrations such as Christmas and CNY. The gold colour wrapping symbolises wealth and injects a premium feel to the CNY hamper.
Socma Trading (M)
Socma Trading (M), the distributor of Tao Kae Noi, Supernut and Tai Sun, has a dedicated in-store stand for the Thailand’s Tao Kae Noi seaweed snack for CNY.
In 2015, Tao Kae Noi’s sales in Malaysia nose dived by17.38% year-on-year due to the implementation of the GST in April 2015.
Data above comes from Taokaenoi Food and Marketing 2015 annual report
Jack n Jill
URC’s Jack n Jill comes in a value pack for the festive season.
Heineken Malaysia (formerly Guinness Anchor Bhd) has made available Tiger Zero in Malaysia. The alcohol-free beverage is available at selected food service establishments including at Sanoook, a Thai-Japanese restaurant at Sunway Pyramid West (image below).
Tiger Zero was first made available in October-November 2016. As the beverage is currently on trial, there is no confirmation if Tiger Zero will be made available in other channels or join the existing portfolio on a permanent basis.
Higher excise duties in place since March 2016
On 1 March 2016, the Malaysian government raised the excise duties on beer and stout, the first in ten years, as part of the Excise Duties (Amendment) Order 2016. Beer and stout will now be calculated according to the alcohol value per litre of each product.
The new structure is RM175 per 100% volume per litre from RM7.40 per litre and 15% ad valorem tax. According to Hong Leong Bank Investment Research on 3 March 2016, “a standard can of beer is 320ml with circa 5% alcoholic content, translating into a duty hike of circa 28.3 sen/per can.”
Heineken exploring non- and low-alcoholic drinks
Heineken Malaysia Managing Director Hans Essaadi said the company is exploring opportunities with regards to low alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages. Speaking on 18 July 2016 during the group’s financial results briefing, Essaadi stressed “historically, we stayed away from the non-alcoholic segment, but with the revised excise tax in place and consumer trend that we are seeing, we need to explore.” Lower alcoholic beverages attract lower excise duties.
He mentioned new products from the non-alcoholic segment would only be realised in 2017, according to the The Edge Financial Daily. He also added that non-alcoholic Malta’s share of revenue is “relatively small”. Tiger Zero is probably the product he was referring to for debut in the non-alcohol segment in 2017.
Cider is another segment that Heineken wants to grow in Malaysia. Heineken’s Strongbow is the second largest player in the local cider market after Carlsberg’s Somerby.
In fact, Heineken has been focusing on lower-alcoholic beverages with Tiger Radler (2% ABV) and Strongbow (4.5% ABV) in the past in addition to Anglia Shandy (1% ABV). The alcohol-free, lightly carbonated malt beverage Malta was recently given a new look in 2016.
What Mini Me thinks
With the rise in the excise duties on beer, companies are accelerating their effort to grow their low- and non-alcoholic beverage revenue. This is in line with the new generation of millennials who are seen to be embracing the sober lifestyle. Products like ciders are effective in reaching out to younger and female drinkers who are looking for something lighter and sweeter.
As for alcohol-free beverages like Heineken 0.0% MAXX (selling in Indonesia as Bintang 0.0% Maxx) and Guinness Zero, they would probably work best by targeting young male adults who want the taste and aroma of hop.
Probably the Best Year of Golden Opportunities – CNY 2017
Carlsberg Malaysia, the brewer of Carlsberg, Asahi, Royal Stout and Somersby, has declared 2017 Chinese New Year as “Probably the Best Year of Golden Opportunities,” a continuation of its “Probably the Best Beer in the Word” global marketing campaign. Opportunity (机 ji) rhymes with the word rooster (鸡 ji). For 2017, the brewer “encourages consumers to see opportunities in all directions.”
Carlsberg CNY 2017 wrapper featuring the image of the golden rooster
Probably The Best Year – CNY 2016
In 2016, Carlsberg’s Chinese New Year tagline was “Probably The Best Year” (20一流). The Chinese character 流 liu rhymes with the word 六 liu or six. Back then, there were limited-edition collectible designs in each carton. But this year, Carlsberg has decided not to have collectible cans.
Focus on Carlsberg Smooth Draught
Carlsberg Malaysia CNY 2017 in-store display
The key focus for the CNY 2017 campaign is the new innovative product Carlsberg Smooth Draught. The draught beer, now available in both bottle and can, was first developed by Carlsberg Malaysia in cooperation with Carlsberg in Copenhagen. It was finally introduced in March 2016 after taking nine months to create it. Carlsberg Smooth Draught has an ABV of 4.8% compared with 5% for the green label, offering consumers with something light and refreshing.
“The main character of the beer is fruitiness and hoppiness, light maltiness, with citrus and floral notes,” said Carlsberg supply chain director David Bidau in an interview with The Star newspaper.
As a contrast to the CNY 2017 in-store display, the CNY 2016 in-store display focused on the flagship Carlsberg brand together with brands such as Asahi and Jolly under its stable.
Carlsberg Malaysia CNY 2016 in-store display
Get your shopping carts paid for at Aeon Big
on 7-8 and 14-15 January 2017, from 12pm to 3pm at selected Aeon Big outlets in Malaysia, shoppers can stand a chance to have their shopping carts paid for when they purchase above RM200 from Carlsberg Malaysia’s portfolio of brands.
Win smart phone or cash vouchers at Giant
Starting from 29 December 2016 until 12 February 2017, with every purchase of any Carlsberg Malaysia products worth RM 50 and above, consumers stand a chance to walk away with latest Smart Phone or Giant Cash Voucher of RM 100.
Somersby Twist of Luck
Twist and win egg-citing prizes upon purchase of 2 x 4-bottle pack or 2 x 6-can pack at participating outlets at Aeon, Aeon Big, Giant and Tesco on 7th, 8th, 14th, 15th, 21st and 22nd January 2017. Consumers can stand to win attractive prizes by capturing a ‘prosperous egg capsule’ from the Somersby vending machine.
Foodservice channels
From 3 January to 28 February 2017, consumers who have purchased three big bottles of Carlsberg or Carlsberg Smooth Draught in participating restaurants, coffee shops and food courts will receive a deck of playing cards and stand a chance to win prizes such as a Samsung Home Theatre System, Ogawa Handheld massager and more
What Mini Me thinks
Carlsberg Probably the Best Beer in the World marketing campaign has proven to be extremely versatile in adaptive itself to local celebratory events. The two consecutive years of Chinese New Year marketing using the Probably the Best tagline has strengthened the brand’s connection with local Chinese consumers.
January 14, 2017, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: ‘A great start to an amazing finish’ best describes the third edition of Café Malaysia. The event which was officially opened by Guest-of-Honour, Yang Berhormat Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri bin Abdul Aziz, Minister of Tourism and Culture, Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia on January 12, 2017, drew more than 11,000 trade and public visitors to the MATRADE Exhibition & Convention Centre.
The highly successful Café Malaysia series, first launched in 2015, is the largest gathering of the tea and coffee industries in Malaysia and one of the largest in Southeast Asia. This dynamic B2B platform is sought after by key decision makers as a sourcing destination for their café needs and to explore new collaborations and opportunities in a country where the number of specialty coffee drinkers has increased over the years.
This year, Café Malaysia 2017 hosted 138 exhibitors from 18 countries and welcomed more than 11,000 baristas, café and coffee purveyors, coffee roasters, equipment distributors and members of the public.
The 3-day exhibition introduced some of the latest innovations, developments and technologies at exclusive workshops, classes and demonstrations by industry experts on everything coffee and tea. Sasa Sestic, World Barista Champion 2015, spoke on ‘The Importance of Quality and Freshness of Green Beans in Our Cafes’ at the show’s inaugural Malaysia Coffee Forum. The Australian barista was joined by Henry Wilson, CEO and Founder of Perfect Daily Grind, who presented his thoughts on ‘Specialty Coffee: Building a Digital Brand’ and delved deeper into the rise of social media in building relationships with customers.
The crowds at Café Malaysia 2017 were also thrilled by the competitors of the three national championships, Malaysia National Barista Championship 2017 (MBC), Malaysia Latte Art Championship 2017 (MLAC) and Malaysia Brewers Cup Championship 2017 (MBrC). The winner from each respective national championship will represent Malaysia at the world coffee championships at Budapest, Hungary and Seoul, Korea.
Café Malaysia is organized by Conference and Exhibitions Management Services (CEMS) and is hosted by the Malaysia Specialty Coffee Association (MSCA). MSCA is a member of the ASEAN Coffee Federation (ACF). The event is supported by Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia and the Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau and endorsed by MATRADE.
Thailand’s Oishi Group Pcl, the leader in RTD tea, launched a new flavour Oishi Sakura-Strawberry Flavor green tea in December 2016. it also comes with the first first cold-activated bottle where the label changes to bright pink when it is cold to coincide with the colour of sakura. The colour changing effect is made possible with the use of the Thermochromic Shrink Label technology. The cold-activated bottle are only available in small quantity following the launch.
Growth in fruit tea segment
“In 2017, we anticipate the fruit green tea segment will continue to outshine the others with consistent growth. Oishi is confident that our product innovations, in this case, ‘Oishi Sakura-Strawberry Flavor’ green tea, will easily become one of the top flavors that helps accelerate the growth of the RTD tea market while reinforcing Oishi brand leadership,” said Mrs. Jesdakorn Ghosh, Senior Vice President – Marketing, Oishi Group Pcl.
The new Oishi Sakura-Strawberry Flavor green tea comes on the heels of another fruit tea launched in January 2016 – Kyoho grape flavoured green tea, which served to tap anticipated growth in the fruit tea market. Kyoho grape green tea was the first ever to include nata de coco and has become one of the company’s best-selling new products in 2016.
According to Ghosh, the Oishi Kyoho Grape with Nata de Coco green tea has been instrumental in the growth of the fruit green tea segment, which has reached THB 2,160 million baht in value in an overall market that is on the decline.
Image above comes from Ichitan Q2, 2016 Opportunities Day citing Nielsen data
The THB 2.16 billion figure is actually based on the projected sales of THB 14.4 billion for 2016 mentioned by Ghosh in January 2016 during the launch of Kyoho grape flavoured green tea. Back then, fruit tea was estimated to account for 15% of 2016 RTD tea revenue. Nevertheless, it does show the strong potential of green tea given its low base and its popularity with young consumers who are keen to experiment with flavours.
In 2015, the fruit tea market grew 18% year-on-year to THB 1.88 billion, said Ghosh.
The decline of the RTD tea market is attributed to sluggish economic growth on the backs of drought and lower farm product prices.
Ichitan jumps into the Kyoho grape bandwagon
Rival Ichitan is following where the money goes with Ichitan Chew Chew in July 2016. Ichitan Chew Chew is a fruit tea with coconut jelly focusing on consumers aged 15 to 25 years. It is available in 410ml in PET bottle.
Digital activation campaign
To create excitement about the product, Oishi has included a new feature to the Oishi mobile application. Users will feel the offering of graphical sakura flowers appearing to pop out of their mouth, ears and eyes.
The tea-with-jelly segment is expected to continue to be a growth hotspot for RTD tea as the overall market posted decline in both volume and value for the first time in 2016.
Café Malaysia 2017 opens its doors to Malaysia’s Largest Gathering – of the Coffee and Tea Industry players – of artisan baristas and latte artists – 138 exhibitors from 18 countries
January 12, 2017, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia: The coffee and tea industries gathered today at MATRADE Exhibition & Convention Centre to witness the official opening of Café Malaysia 2017. The occasion was graced by Guest-Of-Honour, Yang Berhormat Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri bin Abdul Aziz, Minister of Tourism and Culture, Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia.
Café Malaysia 2017 is the third edition of the highly successful Café Malaysia series first launched in 2015. The show, the largest gathering of the tea and coffee industries in Malaysia and one of the largest in Southeast Asia, serves as a dynamic B2B platform for key decision makers to source for their café needs and explore new collaborations and opportunities in a country where the number of specialty coffee drinkers has increased over the years. This growth is mirrored by a significant increase in the number of cafés in Malaysia, especially in Kuala Lumpur and key Malaysian towns.
The exhibition for the trade has certainly grown in numbers. The first edition in 2015 attracted 73 exhibitors from 14 countries and 8,015 visitors from 27 countries. Last year the show hosted 102 exhibitors from 13 countries and more than 10,000 trade and public visitors.
This year, Café Malaysia 2017 hosts 138 exhibitors from 18 countries and will welcome some 12,000 baristas, café and coffee purveyors, coffee roasters, equipment distributors and members of the public who are expected to converge at Malaysia’s largest coffee and tea event.
The 3-day exhibition will also be teeming with networking opportunities for the trade and fun-filled activities for the public on everything coffee and tea. Members of the trade will be introduced to the latest innovations, developments and technologies at exclusive workshops, classes and demonstrations and learn about the trends and techniques on everything coffee and tea from industry experts.
New to the show this year is the Malaysia Coffee Forum. Speakers include Sasa Sestic, World Barista Champion 2015. The Australian barista will be in town to speak on ‘The Importance of Quality and Freshness of Green Beans in Our Cafes’. Henry Wilson, CEO and Founder of Perfect Daily Grind, will also present his thoughts on ‘Specialty Coffee: Building a Digital Brand’ and delve deeper into the rise of social media in building relationships with customers.
Visitors to Café Malaysia 2017 will watch live, the three national coffee championships, namely Malaysia National Barista Championships, Malaysia Latte Art Championship and Malaysia Brewers Cup Championship. They will witness some of Malaysia’s best baristas contend for the national titles and the opportunities to represent Malaysia at the world coffee championships. The three competitions will see some of returning contestants from
last year, including Lucas Eng Boon Hong the Malaysia Latte Art Champion 2016.
Café Malaysia is organized by Conference and Exhibitions Management Services (CEMS) and is hosted by the Malaysia Specialty Coffee Association (MSCA). MSCA is a member of the ASEAN Coffee Federation (ACF). The event is supported by Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia and the Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau and endorsed by MATRADE.
Asian packet drinks are indispensable for Chinese New Year (CNY) in Malaysia. Consumers often buy them by the dozens usually in a pack of 24 units to entertain friends and relatives at home.
Stack ’em high
Piling the drinks high is how beverages including Asian drinks are displayed in-store during CNY to improve visibility and to catch the consumer’s attention.
Images above show Yeo’s Asian drinks at Giant hypermarket
Yeo’s gold pack
For CNY 2017, Yeo Hiap Seng (Yeo’s) has introduced a limited-edition gold pack for its flagship chrysanthemum tea. The punch line for this year’s CNY is “Yeo’s 饮 Yeo’s 旺,” which means the more you drink the more prosperous you will become. The word Yeo’s rhymes with the Chinese character 越 or more.
The company is giving away 1x Reunion Dinner worth RM888 + RM288 + Yeo’s Product as the grand prize for its #ShiokEat with #YeosMalaysia Instagram contest. The #ShiokEat contest runs from 14 November 2016 to 21 January 2017 covering three stages – HispterFood (Nov 2016), Christmas Scrumptious (Dec 2016) and CNY Chicken Feast (Jan 2017).
Yeo’s has a ‘Golden Chicken’ commercial for CNY 2017 to promote its chrysanthemum tea.
Marigold new packaging
Malaysia Milk’s Marigold UHT Asian drink is focusing on its ice lemon tea and chrysanthemum tea for its in-store display. The Marigold range was given a new look in 2016 and the range saw the addition of the new Longan Red Dates.
Grace Chan, the Hong Kong-born Canadian actress, television show host, and beauty pageant titleholder, was appointed by Marigold to be part of its Chinese New Year campaign for 2017.
Pokka concentrates on Honey Lemon & Green Tea
For Pokka, the focus is on two products – Honey Lemon and Green Tea for CNY 2017.
Drinho offers dining vouchers
Ace Canning’s Drinho, Umbro and Home Soy brands are offering dining vouchers worth RM 888 in partnership with Giant supermarket.
F&N works with Media Prima
In terms of packaging innovation, F&N does not have special-edition packaging for CNY 2017. The brand is, however, working with Media Prima, its key media partner, for on-the-ground marketing activities featuring “meet and greet” radio celebrities from One FM.
F&N has also produced TV commercials for the upcoming festive season. The full version saw each F&N product fitting in nicely and playing a key role from the preparation to CNY to the actual day itself. In the clip, the F&N chrysanthemum tea is shown to relieve internal heat usually after eating too much CNY cookies. The lowering down of the bodily heat is frequently used by marketers to promote Asian drinks.
The CNY 2017 appears more interesting and vibrant for Asian drinks compared to CNY 2016, which was the year when GST was introduced. Poor consumer sentiment was already evidenced during the lead up to the introduction of the GST in April 2016 resulting in subdued demand in 2016.
The announcements by Scotch Industrial Thailand Co and Cerebos Thailand Ltd in the first week of January 2017 have shed light on the size of the chicken essence market in Thailand. According to the Bangkok Post, the size of the chicken essence market in the country is around THB 9 billion (USD 252 million), equivalent to a per capita spend of THB 134 (2013 population: 67.1 million).
Cerebos, Scotch are key players
The key players are Cerebos Thailand with sales of THB 7 billion and Scotch Industrial Thailand with sales amounting to THB 1.06 billion in 2015. Their combined revenue from chicken essence is around THB 8.06 billion.
Data above shows is the revenue split for Scotch based on the projected 2017 sales mix
Two new distributors for Cerebos
The new year saw Cerebos appointing Sino-Pacific Trading Thailand and Durbell Co., Ltd. as its new distributors, replacing DKSH Thailand. Sino-Pacific will focus on the modern trade, while the Krating Daeng distributor Durbell will concentrate on the traditional trade. Cerebos will handle sales, marketing and product inventory. DKSH Thailand’s contract with Cerebos ended at the end of 2016.
Scotch appoints DKSH to improve traditional trade coverage
Scotch Industrial Thailand, meanwhile, has appointed DKSH Thailand to distribute its products locally and in Asia. DKSH brings its extensive distribution strength in the traditional trade to the new partnership with Scotch. At the moment, Scotch covers only 10,000 traditional outlets. DKSH will to improve the coverage to 100,000 traditional outlets in 2017.
Fake news is spreading on the social media like wild fire, thanks to the careless attitude of users who help to spread them around. The most recent example is the claim of HIV contamination in Thai canned foods. This was subsequently refuted by Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah as baseless.
Halal is a popular topic in Malaysia. It strikes fear and anger in consumers and companies when news start spreading alleging a particular brand or product in the market actually contains non-permissible ingredients.
The problem with fake news is they have a life on its own. Even after the authority or expert has confirmed the claim is not true, the false news will reappear again. This makes stamping out fake news difficult.
Spotting a fake news is easy. It is often very long winded and tends to cite an expert from a true or fictitious entity to improve the ‘credibility.’
With most Malaysians now getting their stories from social media, even 80% of students in the US cannot differentiate between a real story and a fake one.
It is time we have something similar to Slate’s new debunking tool to help stop the spread of fake news.
At the end of the day, it is the brands and category that will suffer in the long run. A consistent brand message and transparency is required to protect brands from the damages brought on by the fake news.
Mamee-Double Decker (M) has unveiled a limited-edition flavour for Chinese New Year in 2017 – Fiery Fried Chicken flavour. In 2016, it was the Seaweed Wasabi flavour.
This year, there is no auspicious Chinese character on the packaging unlike the case for the Seaweed Wasabi flavour in 2016. Instead, the rooster gets the centre stage to celebrate the year of the rooster.
Image from Lowyat.net
Festive season is always the good time to trial new flavours and bring some excitement to consumers.
Mister Potato given a brand new packaging in 2016 (image above)
Partners with The Chicken Rice Shop
The potato snack brand has also partnered with The Chicken Rice Shop to bring a new fiery taste experience to the chicken dishes at The Chicken Rice Shop, which is famous for its hahal-certified Hainanese chicken rice.
This is the in-store display of Mister Potato in a supermarket.
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In 2015, Tao Kae Noi’s sales in Malaysia nose dived by17.38% year-on-year due to the implementation of the GST in April 2015.
