Insight
MAGGI is synonymous with cooking aids and is a trusted brand in the region. As its product and service offer has grown, MAGGI evolved from an important cooking ingredient into the woman’s trusted partner in the kitchen.
In many households across the region, a woman’s success is defined within the four walls of her kitchen. As market leaders, the brand wanted to challenge these norms that have long-since surrounded Arab women. It wanted to help women break out of the shackles of the kitchen and influence change in their lives.
Strategy
MEC listened to housewives and uncovered one undeniable truth – women in the region are changing. New desires, new ambitions, new ways of seeing things and yet, for all their cravings for new experiences, they lacked the confidence to just try. Routine is safe, new takes courage.
MAGGI® believes that by NOT trying new things, women are missing out on ideas and experiences that can enrich their lives. It needed to give them a powerful motivation to try.
So MEC launched MAGGI® Diaries - a cultural and culinary journey of four ordinary housewives around the Middle East. The mission was to inspire all women to unlock their potential and make a difference in their lives and the lives of people around them.
Execution
Through MAGGI Diaries, the ambassadors discovered the profound difference they could make in one’s life. They were laughing, crying, bonding, discovering, creating and inspiring in the most beautiful and natural of settings. MAGGI did not want nor did it try to influence them. They had the full freedom to say, initiate and create whatever they wanted on the spot.
MAGGI Diaries was a testament to all other women in the region that by daring to try something new, they are in fact discovering who they are.
MAGGI Diaries was revealed to the audience through teaser promos across a custom made YouTube channel, Facebook and TV, showing them the captivating new journey our ambassadors were going to embark on with MAGGI. MEC enticed the audience with sneak peeks of side stories, recipes and personal revelations of the ambassadors on this culinary and cultural journey across the Middle East.
The agency chronicled the journey in an online series hosted on a first-of-its-kind immersive YouTube channel. Collaborating with Google, it designed features aimed specifically to draw women to follow and interact with the ambassadors throughout their journey, from any social platform, from the comfort of their homes.
MEC launched MAGGI Diaries on April 13, 2014. For 11 weeks through an integrated digital campaign it invited women to join the journey while showing them the “power of new”. MEC also ran TV trailers and employed OOH assets in priority markets for even more visibility. With events like Taste of Dubai and HawaWorld in KSA, it further connected the ambassadors with many other women to share their experiences and revelations.
Results
The results exceeded all expectations. It had an outstanding increase of 500 base points in KSA and 600 base points in UAE increasing market share by 7% and 6% respectively.
MAGGI® Diaries had almost 11 million views, propelling the MAGGI YouTube channel to be the 2nd fastest growing FMCG channel in MENA and gain 11,000 new subscribers (an increase of over 10x). View-through rate was 39% and there were 978,000 Earned views.
On Facebook MAGGI dominated the consumer’s attention and engagement with an engagement rate of 21%. The brand gained over 108,000 new fans, an increase of 38%. MAGGI saw a 400% growth on Instagram since launch while Twitter had an engagement of 9% with 14,959 new followers. Additionally, there was a 2.5x increase in search volume for MAGGI during the period of the campaign.
PR coverage valued in at $319,000.
Perhaps the most gratifying result of all was the impact MAGGI Diaries had on consumers in the Middle East. The brand was approached countless times on its various social platforms by women from all over the region asking to be part in future MAGGI Diaries.
MAGGI® was established as an “informative” (score of 53%) and “believable” (score of 46%) brand that “inspires me” (score of 58%) to break out of the routine. (IPSOS Brand Health Tracker)
MAGGI® Diaries has become a Google MENA and Nestlé global best practice. It is being rolled out across 13 markets over the next 2 years.