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Alpecin making a mark for itself in Malaysia hair care

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Mini Me Insights
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Alpecin is a new caffeine anti-hair fall shampoo that is making a mark for itself in Malaysia with its novel concept of using caffeine to tackle hair loss problem. There are many brands in the market aiming at promoting or preventing hair loss but nothing grabs the attention as coffee. Forget about the difficult sounding name Alpecin, now consumers will remember only caffeine shampoo and the red and white logo with strange sounding name written on it.

Alpecin is distributed by DKSH and is available at Guardian. Lazada and other B2C e-commerce sites are also selling the product online.
The brand is even featured on the BFM business station. Questions asked, can we get the same benefit from drinking coffee?

The brand is also promoting itself through advertorial on local newspapers. Here is an example in a Chinese-language daily. With strong marketing, Alpecin is increasing brand awareness and consumer interest through demonstrated science-based evidence, the “Germany’s no 1 male hair care” credential and last but not least the use of the novel active caffeine ingredient.

Jaya Grocer imposing substantial hike on US imported products, implication for US exports to Malaysia

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Mini Me Insights
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With the ringgit falling off the cliff, importers are feeling the heat and sooner or later have to passed on higher prices to consumers and this may have a detrimental impact on sales. Trendcell, the operator of premium supermarket chain Jaya Grocer in Malaysia, has announced a “substantial” price hike “on all US brands of imported products” including spreads, drinks and cereals.

As the ringgit is still holding up well against the euro and Australian dollar, companies are less pressured to increase prices on imports from the European Union and Australia. However, this is not the same for imported products from the US (see details below), China (food and non-food), the UK (foodstuff) and South Korea (foodstuff and cosmetics).

Now, a closer look at what Malaysia imports from the US to see what will be impacted by the rise in the US currency. Food and kindred products (USD 219.7 million) will be impacted the most, followed by agricultural products (USD 200.8 million). The implication from the weakening ringgit for importers is they will have to look for other cheaper sources of products and the key beneficiaries will likely to be Australia and New Zealand, which have the advantage in tariff and geographical proximity.

Promoting Iced Nescafe through BTL activity

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Mini Me Insights
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At Aeon Big Cheras Selatan, August 2015

It seems ordinary but this is one way Nescafe uses BTL marketing to promote its instant coffee in Malaysia.  The message is simple, you can use the Nescafe instant coffee to make Nescafe Ais (Iced Nescafe). Hey, who does not know how to make iced coffee. What Nescafe wants you to know is instant Nescafe can be enjoyed cold too. Such BTL activity creates an effective opportunity to promote Nescafe instant coffee and to acquire new users.

So What’s your Frappe?

Fernleaf CalciYum popsicle yogurt engaging young consumers

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Mini Me Insights
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How to ensure your child eats yogurt? Fonterra Fernleaf CalciYum yogurt for kids has added some fun element to its CalciYum yogurt in Malaysia. Some of us are already making yogurt popsicle at home. Now, CalciYum wants to engage young consumers to make their popsicle using CalciYum yogurt. Adding to the appeal are 32 collectible popsicle sticks to collect. Shifting from consumption to experience does help strengthen consumer attachment to the brand, thus laying the foundation for further consumer engagement.

F&N Farmhouse moves into UHT segment

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Mini Me Insights
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In Malaysia, the F&N’s Farmhouse range of 100% Australian fresh milk now comes in UHT, which marks the brand’s extension into the UHT space. The new Farmhouse long-life UHT milk provides consumers with a more upmarket alternative to the existing F&N Magnolia UHT sterilised milk but slightly cheaper than other imported 100% Australian fresh milk.

On par with its premium image as a 100% Australian milk, the new Farmhouse UHT comes with the tagline “Any fresher, you’d have to go down under.” The UHT range consists of fresh milk and low fat milk.

As an imported milk, the price is more premium compared to its local competitors. Consumers receive the assurance of knowing the milk comes from Australia. It also gives them a bit of savings of few at least RM 0.50 if they buy Farmhouse UHT instead of Pauls, Pura or Country Goodness.

Carbonated Soft Drink: Est now widely available in traditional trade, foodservice channels

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Mini Me Insights
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Phase one penetration of Est carbonated soft drink into the sundry shop and the foodservice channels in Malaysia is proceeding well. Est posters and the actual products can now be easily seen in these premises.

F&N Beverages Marketing Malaysia Sdn Bhd engaged in product sampling activity in conjunction with the Balik Kampung road safety campaign organised in partnership with the Automotive Association of Malaysia (AAM) and Touch ‘n Go. A total of 200,000 cans of free Est were given to motorists in July 2015. myCola is officially dead and has now been replaced by Est.

Unlike Coca-Cola’s strategy of engaging consumers at the modern retail channel eg 7-Eleven convenience store with RM 1 promotion and sampling at modern supermarkets and hypermarkets, F&N is generating demand through the peripherals to gauge consumer response. There is a possibility Est will only move into the modern retail outlets in the later stage once strong demand is seen or will it remain outside of the modern retail channel?
At the moment, it appears Est is using the same approach of myCola where it avoided the modern retail channel, which tends to charge a high listing fee. The question is will Est be able to compete with Coca-Cola’s preemptive move of placing RM 1 PET bottle drink in the traditional trade channel. In the convenience store channel, Coca-Cola has the 250ml slim can priced at RM 1.50 at 7-Eleven for those looking for an affordable drink or portion control. The normal 325ml can is priced at RM 2.15.

Another development:

F&N’s Oishi RTD tea will now come in the 300ml tin format. The existing product is sold in 380ml PET.

Instant noodle: New Otentiq Cheezy curry, mushroom from Carjen

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Mini Me Insights
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Cheese-based instant noodle has become a new innovation in the Malaysian instant noodle scene. The new Otentiq range offers consumers something different from the current instant noodle fads of white curry noodle and Korean ramyun by offering the “best of both worlds” – Asia (curry/mushroom) and Europe (cheese). The CarJen Food Otentiq range comes with the Cheezy Mushroom and Cheezy Curry flavours. The 4x100g instant noodle claims to use high quality cheddar cheese and is free from trans fat and cholesterol. If one feels the cheddar cheese content is too little, they can top up with other cheese.

The Otentiq range is positioned as a premium instant noodle on par with MyKuali. However, the product does not command good shelf presence, located on the the lowest shelf, at the Giant supermarket at South City Plaza. MyKuali equally does not have a good shelf space, located on the top shelf, but its strong brand means if consumers are really after MyKuali, getting prime shelf space doe not make sense since it will incur higher placement cost.

As for the Carjen Nyonya Curry Laksa, this instant noodle can now be found at Giant supermarket. Previously, as far as I am aware, the Nyonya Curry Laksa was only available in foreign market ie Taiwan. I did mention in one of the earlier blog posts, being on the list of The Ramen Rater means presents the brand with a good opportunity to tap the domestic market. Now, Carjen Nyonya Curry Laksa is available in hypermarket and the packaging now comes with with Ramen Rater #4 best in the world credential.

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

By
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.

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