PT Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur Tbk (ICBP), the maker of Indomie, unveiled its latest Mi Goreng Aceh on 28 January 2018 at Blang Padang in Aceh. The new instant noodle with the taste of Aceh is being distributed in Aceh and Medan in northern Sumatra and in several other districts, reported Kompas.com. The price per 90g pack is IDR 2,500.
We have seen a similar launching of regional taste in Malaysia by the largest instant noodle company Nestle. The Maggi 2-in-1 Mi Kolo + Sup was launched in 2015 catering to consumers in East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak) and Brunei.
Indomie Mi Goreng Aceh and Maggi Mi Kolo are products that celebrate the culinary richness of the local community with exclusive products exclusively for the local consumers.
Slashing the sugar content is what beverage giant F&N and other players are continuing to do with their existing beverages in Singapore. The cutting down on sugar was set in motion by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong‘s call to reduce sugar content in drinks during the National Day Rally speech in August 2017.
In early 2018, F&N introduced its two latest sugar-free Orange Zero Sugar and Sarsi Zero Sugar in time for Chinese New Year. The zero sugar range is sweetened with acesulfame-K and sucralose.
Also available is the new F&N Healthier Choice Variety Pack containing 24 cans of Orange Zero, Sarsi Zero, F&N Seasons Ice Lemon Tea (Reduced Sugar) and F&N Seasons White Chrysanthemum Tea (Reduced Sugar).
All the no/low-sugar drinks above with the exception of F&N Seasons White Chrysanthemum Tea (Reduced Sugar) are only available in Singapore.
F&N also has the zero sugar version of F&N Seasons White Chrysanthemum Tea (250ml).
In a bid to reduce sugar, companies are substituting sugar with sugar alternatives. In the case of F&N Orange Zero Sugar and Sarsi Zero Sugar, the drinks contain artificial sweeteners acesulfame-K and sucralose. The Straits Times reported restaurant chain Tung Lok has incorporated allulose in yusheng and niangao (rice cake), both are Chinese New Year classics. Nestle Singapore has also started using sugar alternatives but did not provide further details.
Ya Kun Kaya Toast, on the other hand, is not embracing sugar alternatives claiming “the consistency and taste would be affected,” reported Straits Times. Instead, the Singapore chain, best known for its kaya toast and coffee, is encouraging consumers to opt for low-sugar beverages.
Any drastic reduction in sugar within a short period of time may not work as it should be done gradually for consumers to get accustomed to the low-sugar taste. So far, beverage companies in Singapore have done an excellent job in lowering their sugar count.
Photographed by the author – Pokka Natsbee Honey Lemon Juice Drink with lower sugar
Coffee-Mate is a non-dairy creamer manufactured by Nestlé known to make the coffee richer, smoother and creamier. In Thailand, Nestle is elevating this experience with the new Coffee-Mate Milky, the world’s first dairy coffee enhancer.
According to the press release, “Nestle Coffee-Mate Milky contains high-quality imported milk from New Zealand and the US to offer coffee lovers a perfect combination of uniquely delicious “Real Milky Taste and Right Creaminess,” delighting you with the “Nice Milky Aroma & Smoothest Taste” with no cholesterol and no trans fat.” In addition, this product is “100% imported from South Korea, to fit the milky coffee taste profile preferred by the new generation.”
Nestle Coffee-Mate Milky is available in an 80 gram pack for THB 37 and in a 360 gram pack for THB 109 at leading retail outlets including Big C, Tops, Tesco, Foodland, CJ-Express, The Mall, 7-Eleven, Family Mart and Maxvalu.
The fully-integrated marketing campaign saw actor Gunn Svastiwat Na Ayutthaya appointed as brand ambassador visiting South Korea to feature in the “Love at First Sip” TV commercial.
What Mini Me thinks
Coffee-Mate Milky offers a new experience to young consumers and healthier option for health-conscious coffee drinkers with the use of real milk instead of non-dairy ingredients.
Nestle has introduced an all-new limited-edition Maggi Imperial Oyster Sauce along with the ‘Maggi Lebih Masak, Lebih Wang Wang’ campaign to spread happiness and prosperity during Chinese New Year.
According to the press release, “Maggi has developed nine new recipes featuring nine popular Chinese dishes such as ‘5 Blessings Fish Maw Soup’, ‘Golden Dumpling of Abundance’ and ‘Prosperous Sweet & Sour Pineapple Chicken’.
All these recipes feature the brand’s all-new limited-edition Maggi Imperial Oyster Sauce. Made with a unique blend of oyster extract and scallop flavour, this lusciously thick, sweet and salty sauce promises to infuse dishes with superior taste and a distinctive mouth-watering aroma. These latest recipes are available on the Maggi website while recipe videos are available on the Maggi Youtube channel.”
More recipes can be viewed at the Ho Chak show on 8TV.
During this campaign, a whopping total of over RM 238,888 will be up for grabs, with a Grand Prize of RM 38,888 each for three lucky winners through this year’s campaign 50 Weekly Prize winners will also take home ang pao cash prizes worth RM 288.
The 500ml Maggi Imperial Oyster Sauce is priced at RM 7.85 at Shopee and 11 Street. The price of the usual Maggi Oyster Sauce (500ml) is RM 5.66 at 11 Street (normal price RM 6.61).
Maggi also has the Chinese New Year culinary set at Nestle’s official store at 11 Street featuring essential culinary sauces and seasoning for your festive cooking needs.
The Quaker oat brand of Pepsico (Malaysia) is collaborating with the food delivery companies to develop menus incorporating Quaker oats. The partnership with Mammam, the provider of halal certified Asian meals delivered on-demand, sees the creation of three Quaker oat meals – Tom Yum Fried Rolled Oats, Oats Stuffed Grilled Chicken Breasts and Oats Omelette Sandwich.
Image from Mammam
The three delicious dishes are described by Quaker as “perfect for your balanced diet plan this Lunar New Year.”
Kurin X Quaker
The collaboration with Kurin, the provider of health food on-the-go, on the other hand sees the launching of Kurin x Quaker guilt-free snacks. The snacks comprise Blueberry, Cranberry & Chia Seeds, Raw Cocoa, Walnut & Chia Seeds, Medjool Date, Almond & Chia Seeds and Gluten-Free Protein Brownies.
Image from Kurin
Chicken Rice Shop X Etika and Mamee
We have seen other brands collaborating with the foodservice industry players. In December 2017, Etika Group of Companies (Etika) worked with The Chicken Rice Shop (TCRS) to unveil Salted Egg ABC into TCRS menu. The ais kacang dessert featured Dairy Champ condensed milk.
Image from The Chicken Rice Shop
The halal chicken rice chain previously partnered with Mamee-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd in January 2017 to come up with the limited edition Ayam Rangup Berapi. The chicken rice dish was coated with Mister Potato Crisps Fiery Fried Chicken flavour.
What Mini Me thinks
Food manufacturers are finding ways to reach out to more consumers and one approach is to collaborate with foodservice operators to create co-branded products. Such approach exposes consumers to new ways of consuming their familiar food, thus creating more excitement for the brands.
With Chinese New Year approaching, food and drinks marketers have been busy launching creative marketing and post-of-sale display to entice Malaysian shoppers to open up their wallet to spend after a muted CNY in 2017.
Nestle’s Kit Kat is offering consumers with limited edition Kit Kat jumbo mugs, limited edition Kit Kat travel tins to discover cities with your taste buds and limited edition Kit Kat Pink for Valentine’s Day.
Hershey’s and M&M’s are promoting their iconic chocolate products.
As usual, Ferrero Rocher’s chocolate wrapped in gold adds value to the Chinese New Year hamper.
At Pringles, the potato crisps is concentrating on its original (red) and sour cream & onion (green) crisps but apparently all of them are still in their Christmas design.
Similar to last year, OldTown is celebrating the Chinese New Year with golden packaging. The gold pack is designed to tell a tale of sincerity through the symbol of birds as a herald of continuous prosperity.
Power Root’s Ah Huat presents a very mainland Chinese approach to CNY marketing in the form of a prosperity gift pack. Rice cracker maker Want Want has done this a lot in China. This year, Ah Huat collaborated with the paid digital satellite radio and television service provider Astro, which introduced a mobile game app for the first time in Malaysia. Fans are able to unlock limited edition game items when using special Ah Huat QR codes that can be found on Ah Huat Prosperity Gift Packs.
Instant coffee maker Super Malaysia’s Super Prosperity Box comes with a limited edition airtight container.
Image from Super Malaysia Facebook page
Quaker Malaysia’s Chinese New Year Gift Box comes together with either Quaker Instant Oatmeal or Quaker Oats For Rice. There’s also a festive recipe on the back of the pack to inspire you to cook up an Oatsome reunion dinner feast.
Sunquick is focusing on Sunquick RTD juice for CNY. Cordial is mainly aimed at the Malay market. for CNY, it is offering 3 exciting flavours in one limited edition pack perfect for gifting and sharing. The message is “Happiness blossoms when you share the joy.”
Pokka Malaysia has the tagline “The taste of new beginnings” featuring Singapore’s MediaCorp artiste Vivian Lai. The focus this year is on promoting the new Kiyo Kyoho Grape Juice Drink.
Ace Canning’s Drinho is promoting its range of Asian drinks that were given a new packaging in late 2017. The The God of Prosperity Choy San Yeh is visiting several outlets to offer Chinese New Year deals on Drinho beverages.
F&N is offering the Keep cool with F&N Seasons of Huat campaign offering the chance to walk away with a grand prize of RM 888 and weekly prizes of 3x crates of F&N beverages with every purchase of 1 carton of F&N Seasons.
Yeo’s is giving away RM 888,888 worth of cash prizes with the purchase of any Yeo’s/Cintan products worth RM 18 & above to win.
May Prosperity keep POP-ping this Chinese New Year with Spritzer Pop.
F&N’s 100 Plus is stacked up high to improve visibility with the gold bowl topping the display.
Coca-Cola features the limited edition designs and a chance to win an exclusive gold can.
Carlsberg Malaysia is promoting its Carlsberg Smooth Draught and its iconic Carlsberg in green can.
Heineken Malaysia Berhad focuses on its Malaysia number 1 beer claim and wishes Tiger beer drinkers “May your year overflow with prosperity and togetherness.”
With the purchase of 3 cartons of participating brands, consumers can get a limited edition Tiger mahjong sets at RM 99.
We take this opportunity to wish all Minime Insights readers a Happy Chinese New Year and Gong Xi Fa Cai !!
To demonstrate the authenticity of the strawberry juice, the Shin Sen Strawberry Juice in Thailand comes with three real strawberries in each 250ml bottle.
We have seen similar strawberry drinks or powdered strawberry drink with strawberry bits but this is one that features the whole fruit.
Shin Sen Strawberry Juice is priced at THB 35 per bottle and was spotted at 7-Eleven Thailand in November 2017.
Co-Ro A/S, one of the world’s leading providers of fruit-based soft drinks and concentrates, introduced its Sunquick ready-to-drink (RTD) juices in Myanmar in the second half of 2017. The Sunquick RTD was first released in Malaysia in the fourth quarter of 2016 targeting at on-the-go occasion and children.
This made-in-Malaysia drink is sold individually in 125ml pack at City Express convenience store in Yangon for MMK 250 (USD 0.19 or RM 0.74).
Sunquick at City Express convenience store in Yangon. Photographed by the author
The company is also employing the same strategy used in Malaysia to bundle the RTD drinks with Sunquick cordial.
Bundling of Sunquick cordial with RTD juice. Photographed by the author
Heaven and Earth, the RTD tea brand of Coca-Cola in Singapore and Malaysia, is now in Myanmar. Launched in November 2017, the range comprises Ice Tea with Lemon, Green Tea with Honey and Herbal Drink. The packaging size is 350ml in PET bottle.
Here is the TVC:
Heaven and Earth is available at City Mart, Ocean and selected small vendors equipped with the Coca-Cola chiller.
Photographed by the author at City Mart
Convenience stores not carrying Heaven and Earth
Based on a random survey of a few convenience stores in Yangon, Heaven and Earth RTD tea was relatively absence from the leading convenience chains in the city.
However, the outdoor advertisement of Heaven and Earth RTD tea could already be widely seen in quite a number of smaller vendors.
Photographed by the author
Two Oishi RTD tea (Green Tea Original and Green Tea Genmai) and one herbal tea from Jia Duo Bao were available in the City Express convenience store, while the Oishi RTD tea, VeVe Gold Green Tea and Lemon Iced Tea and Zeno Lemon Black Tea were found in a “Grab & Go” or “G & G,” a convenience store chain operated by Capital Diamond Star Group. Itoen was spotted at 1 Stop Mart.
Photographed by the author at Grab and Go
The sum up, the key players in the RTD tea markets in Myanmar are Oishi, VeVe Beverages, Zeno and now Coca-Cola (Heaven and Earth). The price per bottle is between MMK 450 (USD 0.34) to MMK 500. There are also a few other brands with a presence in the market including Indonesia’s Sinar Sosro (Fruit Tree), F&N and Yeo’s.
The taste profile is sweet and the packaging sizes for the PET bottles are 350ml – VeVe Gold, Heaven and Earth and 380ml – Zeno and Oishi. So far, there are no family pack and can format for RTD tea. The popular flavours are green tea and ice lemon tea.
Thai RTD tea marker Ichitan did mention it plans to begin marketing activities in Myanmar in August 2017 as reported by The Nation but Ichitan products have yet to be spotted in Yangon.
In line with the sugar-reduction theme, Pepsi-Cola (Thai) Trading Co., Ltd. has unveiled the Asian-inspired Lipton Mango and Pandan Flavoured Green Tea Drink in February 2018, according to the press release. The drink contains 45% less sugar and comes with the Healthier Choice logo. The sugar content is less than 6g per 100ml. It comes in two sizes: 300 ml at THB 12 baht (USD 0.38) and 445 ml at THB 18.
Tuangporn Siriwatwitoon, Pepsi-Cola (Thai) group product manager Lipton Ice Tea, said despite the 8.5% decline of the RTD tea market in Thailand to THB 13.7 billion in 2017, Lipton Ice Tea was the only major player achieving a 40% growth in sales, reported the Nation.
The success is attributed to the launch of the Lipton Food Buddy campaign, proactive channel expansion and pack-price strategy.
Competitive landscape
Lipton is still a relatively small player in the Thai RTD market but is gaining share. According to Ichitan’s nine-month 2017 presentation citing Nielsen, Oishi had the biggest brand share at 39.2%, followed by Ichitan 23.1%, YenYen (Ichitan) at 10.7%, Jubjai (Oishi) at 5.1% and others at 21.9%. Within one year, Oishi and Others (including Lipton) have wrested away market share from Ichitan.
Thailand is the first market for Lipton Mango and Pandan Flavoured Green Tea Drink. The drink will be launched in other markets including Malaysia. The drink has already been certified halal by the Malaysian halal certifying body JAKIM.
Pokka Malaysia has the tagline “The taste of new beginnings” featuring Singapore’s MediaCorp artiste Vivian Lai. The focus this year is on promoting the new Kiyo Kyoho Grape Juice Drink.
Coca-Cola features the limited edition designs and a chance to win an exclusive gold can.
