Will Maggi Bounce Back?

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In the weeks it took for the issue to spread to social media and grew into a full blown crisis, Nestle appears to have done nothing. They didn’t respond at all. Considering Nestle is an MNC and has been through enough rough situations it should have had a response mechanism for facing such crisis. They were thinking that as long as they didn’t do anything and draw more attention to it, the crisis will resolve on its own. They didn’t understand the power of the social media until the issue became out of control. Even then Nestle continued to look the other way. If it reacted, it was through impersonal and template based automated responses to consumers who keyed in the words Maggi.

Nestlé’s first lines of defence was a four page PDF sheet of a highly technical explanation of MSG and lead, with no company logo on the document. They started posting at social media sites on 21st May and then there was no posts till 1st June. Consumers interpreted this silence in whatever way they choose. They took the meaning as that Nestle is admitting its guilt and shared many posts which put Nestle in the wrong way. If Nestle had not kept silent and interacted with the consumers in the timely manner giving them assurances or providing them with necessary information, they would not have lost all the trust of their customers.

When some controversy happens consumers wait for some clarity, and when they don’t get it they become angry. And the competitors of Nestle was able to use this for their advantage. It’s hard to say of all the posts that’s shared in the social media which all were started by them.

In the digital era, a day late is like being a month late and in Nestlé’s case it was weeks late. And during those time enough conversations would have happened in the Indian homes which is not good news for the brand. Maggi’s main consumers being children that mothers provided with utmost trust, what about the reassurances to these mothers? And their response was just some press statement and few tweets.

Another one of the mistakes they made is that when pressures started building up they took a U-turn from denying in one day to recalling their products the other day without much explanation. This made them loose the trust of their consumers completely.

Nestle may or may not be at fault but there were no evidence provided by the company. The leadership didn’t come out in the open and provided any statement, in a way it didn’t provide any human face as taking responsibility. What they did was some press release and some automated response. There have been many instances like the Air Asia crash where a response from the people in charge made a lot of differences.

Nestle being a quiet company it’s understandable that they were taking one step at a time. But Nestle didn’t have a social media strategy. Most brand don’t spare any expenses when crafting a message over film or print. And there have been enough meltdowns in the social media that most brands understand the importance of having a good social media strategy for everything they put it out there for the consumers. This strategy is usually about communicating openly, accepting and apologising if necessary, giving company a face and finding loyalists to have an open discussion with them of the issue. This will help the company to converts these loyalists as a first line of defence at the time of need.

Way Forward

Nestle first should stop being in the denial mode. After so many months still denying anything will damage the brand more. Instead they should accept it and move forward. Reassure the customer through some forum and answer all their questions. They should completely rework the product to make it compliant. It should also completely redesign their packaging as well, making a complete break from the past.

After all the redesigning Nestle should initiate a strong ad campaign to convince the consumers its value and quality. The campaigning should be done through all the media possible, especially social media. Also they should reassure their consumers about timely tests done and publish the reports through their sites. Its main buyers being mothers it will take a while for them to build that trust back again.

One of the main issue Nestle will face is the loss of retail shelf space to its competitors. Nestle will have a hard time to buy back the shelf space from the major retailers. Initially they should bring out the Maggi in select places and see how the customers are responding to it. Only once the retailers know the reaction of the customers does Nestle have a bargaining power in buying back the self-space.

Most importantly they should learn from their mistakes and have a good a crisis management strategy set out. After all the situation got worse because they didn’t know that in the age of digital media a small rough patch can turn into a big crisis if not acted in a timely manner.

To establish Maggi in the Indian market again Nestle will have a difficult path ahead. Consumers will be vary enough even to try the product. But just like any other brand Maggi also have some loyalists still out there. Though the chance of being market leader gain is very low for some years at least. It will take time but Maggi will be able to come back to Indian market.

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