By Nathaniel Udoh
Experts in brand management have noted that a good brand should possess verifiable evidences. These are: Fulfilling on its brand promise, keeping to good quality, maintaining its credibility, bonding strongly with its target consumers, and product availability etc. These, to a large extent, could be said of Maggi Star.
Brand History: Maggi Star was launched into the Nigerian market in 1966. Its Agbara factory was opened in 1981 and the Maggi Chicken variant was introduced same year. In line with connecting with its consumers, the first Maggi Cooking Competition was held in 1985. It started its woman’s forum in 1996 and launched the star logo in 2003. Over the years, it has adopted different communication strap lines, “Maggi…the secret of good cooking” was used in the 80s. “Maggi and me…the secret of goodness” was for the 90s, and “Every woman is a star!” followed from 2015 downwards. Today, its communication strap line is “Maggi cook the difference.” The brand had adopted different branding and repackaging strategies over the years. Maggi Star product was also re-launched -fortifying it with iron. These have shown efforts by the brand to remain relevant to the consumers despite the presence of competing brands such Knorr Cube, Chicken Flavor, Gino Max, Ajinomoto, Terra Cube etc.
A lot of people often ask: How is the ‘Maggi Star’ brand able to withstand the highly competitive seasoning market and the turbulent economic situation in Nigeria since independence till date? Accordingly, below are the reasons:
Focus on Women and their Homes: ‘Maggi Star’ brand has focused on making everywoman enjoy every of her meal. This is explained through various activities of the Star Maggi brand targeted at women such as the woman’s forum in 1996 and more. Star Maggi has consistently engaged consumers most especially women in a bid to meeting their needs and understanding their aspirations of cooking good meals for their husbands and homes. The brand’s consumer engagement platforms for women are some of the most outstanding in the country today. From Maggi Cooking Competition to ‘Women’s Forum.’ The brand has always been meeting the cooking needs of everywoman and every home to enjoy a good meal.
Consistent Brand Communications: The brand has been very consistent in its communication activities which emphasizes “the secrets of good cooking.” No matter the change in marketing strategy-bringing joy and pleasure to consumers through good cooking has always been the brand message. This strategic communication process has made the brand young and fresh despite the fact that it has been around from 1966. Maggi Star has one of the best media communications strap lines.
Rebranding and Repositioning Activities: Maggi Star has continued to stay ahead of other brands in the market through the rebranding and reposition of the brand. The brand is noted for innovations and has been leading in the market through the introduction of different ideas such as Maggi Cooking Competition and Women’s forum. This has made the brand the toast for women and every household for more than 50 years now.
Product Taste: This has continued to attract the attention of every woman and every household in Nigeria. For instance, to continue to maintain the unique taste of the brand, Maggi Star passes series of quality control checks before it leaves the factory into the eager hands of consumers. Consumers have come to trust Maggi Star brand because of its consistent quality and taste over the years. The brand has maintained the culture of being manufactured under top quality standards since 1966 till date.
Strong distribution network: The brand has put in place very strong distribution network across the entire nation. This has encouraged product availability and made it to be within the reach of every consumers in Nigeria despite location over the years.
Brand innovations: This has also played a very strong support of consistency for this brand over the years. Maggi Star brand has always taken the lead in responding to consumer needs which has contributed to the brand’s soaring brand equity.
Brand Consumer Engagement: Brand consumer engagement is also a reason for the consistent nature of this brand. Maggi Star has consistently engaged consumers most especially women in a bid to meeting their needs and understanding their aspirations of cooking good meals for their husbands and homes. As earlier mentioned, the brand’s consumer engagement platforms for women are some of the most outstanding in the country today. From Maggi Cooking Competition to Women’s Forum aimed at making everywoman and every home to enjoy a good meal. Maggi Star was there when Nigeria became a republican nation in 1963. Maggi Star was there when Nigeria hosted and won the African Cup of Nations in 1980. Maggi Star was there when Nigeria won its first Olympic Gold Medal in 1996. Maggi Star was there for us to celebrate the transition from military rule to civilian rule in 1999. Maggi Star will still be present with us in the years to come to give our women more secrets of good cooking. For maintaining an unbroken record of 57 years of a house hold name in seasoning cubes in Nigeria, Maggi Star is our brand personality of the week.
