40 Years Of Maggi: Here's The Story Behind The 2 Min Revolution & The Woman Behind It

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40 Years Of Maggi: Here's The Story Behind The 2 Min Revolution & The Woman Behind It

Maggi, A simple snack that became an 'emotion' to Indians. It did not happen overnight, It took years and years of planning, marketing and execution to make this simple ready-to-cook snack an 'emotion' among Indians.

It all started in 1983, When India was a closed economy. It was then Nestle’s Maggi noodles had started in India.

It was the first ready-to-cook snack/meal that found its way into Indian kitchens and its journey to get there has certainly been a memorable one. At that time, There was no Chinese/Italian food eaten in Indian homes either.

But talking about Maggi without taking the name of the woman who actually revolutionised it would be a sin. Here's how a lady changed the dynamics of Maggi;

Sangeeta Talwar, The woman behind Two-Minute Revolution

She joined the company in 1979. She was responsible for the creation, launch, and establishment of a new category of food with the introduction of Maggi in the market.

She was the first female executive in the FMCG industry back in 1979, going on to become the Marketing Director and Executive Vice-President at Nestlé India, the CEO at Mattel India and then President at Tata Global Beverages.

She is the woman behind brands, products and campaigns that India recognises and cherishes the most – Maggi 2-minute noodles, Tata Tea’s Jaago Re campaign and Barbie.

Talwar spent a long time in Nestlé – 21 years – and did different jobs at the company. She was never in the same job for an endless period of time.

During her time at Nestle, she also introduced other brands like Polo, KitKat, Milo, Bar One and Maggi’s range of sauces.

How Maggi, The revolution happened:

She worked at Nestle for over two decades and was responsible for bringing the brand into Indian soil and into Indian kitchens.

She explains that the biggest challenge at the time, was fitting a product like Maggi into what she calls India’s ‘Dal chawal-Roti’ culture.

She also said, The advantage the product had was that there was no ‘quick cooing hot snacks’ in India before this. Snacks mostly included items like samosas, vadas, kachoris etc which could not be prepared at a moment’s notice.

“Our target audience for the product was kids. It made sense with what the brand stood for. It had an element of being fun, it was colourful and wholesome,” She said.

Though the children were the target audience, she was aware that the mother’s role was a gatekeeper was critical for this product’s success – and hence, the mother plays a critical role in most ads.

“Even in the situations portrayed, you had kids who were hungry and that was a huge challenge for us. We had to create a snack that caters to pan – Indian tastes. It has to cater to a South Indian’s taste as much as a Punjabi’s,” she says.

"To convince shopkeepers to take time off their busy day and hang up a net with maggi products in it, I got up on a stool myself and I showed them that if a woman in saree and high heels can do it, it’s easy and so can they,”

An effective way of reaching their TG – the kids – was to carry out promotional activities at schools, parks, and other places that children would frequent.

At Maggi, They stayed with the heartland of the brand which was kids, until a few generations passed through, and it became a brand adopted by parents, grandparents and children.

She also wrote a book, The 2 minute revolution: The art of growing businesses

Sangeeta Talwar had been toying with the idea of a book until June 2015. Amidst the rumble of the media surrounding Maggi, when Nestlé endured a terrible debacle in 48 hours through negative advocacy.

She saw a brand which had survived 30 years of consumer love and franchise suddenly go down the tubes.

“It suddenly shook me, no one’s really heard the true Maggi story.” About how it was put together, why it was launched, how it was presented and how it was made successful – the early years of Maggi. And Talwar want to tell the story of how a global brand acting locally found its way into the hearts and everyday lives of Indians across generations.

"I did it in my own time and space, I didn’t rush it. But then I thought that I should I not write just about one part of the journey, but also include a comprehensive understanding of business as well as leadership – in a way that isn’t pedantic. I wanted to do it experientially"

Be it the remotest village in AP or Khardungla, the highest motorable point of India, Maggi has found its place. Maggi indeed is an emotion.

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