MY JOURNEY WITH MAGGI 2-MINUTE NOODLES

Mummy! Bhook Lagi!
Bas Do Minute!
Maggi! Maggi! Maggi!

My oldest memories with Maggi dates back to 1994-95, when I was studying in 1st Std.
My sister (who was in 3rd STD) and I would come back home from school at 4pm everyday – throw our bags on the couch and shout “MUMMY! BHOOK LAGI HAI!”
Our Mom knew what we wanted. She would take 2+1 minutes to serve us with Maggi. The extra 1 minute, to add her “mustard tadka” to add flavour. It’s the same tadka that she adds to Dal for dinner.

This scene was shown exactly in the same way in their TV and print ads those days. Instant gratification was the key! My sister and I wanted it. In the ad, the mom would quickly break the noodle cake into two equal halves and put it in the boiling water. When my sister and I used to peep into the kitchen and look at our mom doing the exact same gesture, we would be instantly reminded of the ad, and especially the loud crunch noise that accompanied the breaking of the noodle cake.

We would try to imitate everything in the ad- especially the slurping in of the single strand of noodle by making our lips round. Even though it was a noisy way to eat, we enjoyed it thoroughly! I still remember, we had a set of 2-toothed forks instead of the typical 3-toothed ones shown in the ad. There was only one 3-toothed fork in our house and my sister and I used to fight for it daily because we wanted to eat in the same style as the little girl in the ad.
6 units of the Maggi 4-in-1 pack was a part of my mom’s monthly grocery list. When I asked my mom why she made Maggi for us every day, she would say, “Tum logon ko itni bhook lagti thi, jaldi jaldi ban jaata tha”. Maggi was equally loved by mothers because it was quick to make. And ofcourse, we kids loved it because it was “Mmmmmm… TASTY!!” The tagline was perfect “Fast to Cook. Good to Eat”

My mom is a housewife. She was always at home when we came back from school. Maggi knew this and hence it made ads that touched our lives! The mom in the ads during 80’s and 90’s were housewives wearing sarees. They were just like my mom and I could very well identify with the little kids who would relish the noodles. The extra mustard tadka to the dish made my mom feel assured that she has contributed something to her daughters’ meal. Moms in those days had a need to put in all efforts into cooking, even if they use shortcuts to cook- they did not want to feel guilty about not doing anything special for their kids. This is also shown in Maggi ads where the mom cuts and adds vegetables to the dish.

As I grew older and entered primary school (5th Std), I had already learnt how to cook Maggi noodles. It was the first thing that I learnt to cook! I remember, once the Nestle team had visited our school and had a quiz competition. They were giving away maggi noodle single packs as free goodies. All of us made sure that we went back home and opened that very pack , cook it and eat it on the same day. We thought that the Maggi guys are directly giving it to us, it must be “special” maggi from the ad girl’s kitchen

But when I was in 6th Std, Maggi changed! It had a different texture and taste. I didn’t like the new taste and missed the old one. We started buying packs of other brands and tried to develop a taste for it. But nothing was like the old Maggi. We stopped eating noodles after a few months as we became fed up of other brands as well.

After a few months, I saw ads saying “YOUR FAVOURITE IS BACK”. But I was so horrified by the yucky new taste that I decided not to buy Maggi again. I thought they would have mixed both the tastes and made it more horrible. But luckily, I got to taste it at a friend’s house. I was so overjoyed with the taste that I asked for 1 more helping. That day, I went back home and told my sister, “Our Maggi is really back!” We bought the packs and started restarted our maggi relationship.

When I started college, Maggi had gradually transformed in its message. It was already popular among kids in the household. Now, they wanted to expand to other members of the family- the grandparents, father, and mother. As a teenage girl, I was growing health conscious. And there was a general wave of health consciousness all over the place. Maggi noticed this trend, and changed itself into “Taste Bhi. Health Bhi.” The new Dal-Atta noodles ads showcased Calcium and Protein components. These ads also showed grandfather and father eating the noodles. Maggi had now become a healthy family meal.

The mothers in the ads were looking more modern and were working women. The “Mania” ad did not show the mom as a housewife. The teenage boy comes from the shop with the noodle pack and cooks it himself. I could identify with the teenage boy this time, who was casual but yet independent. He cooked what we wanted, which was also healthy (rice).

Maggi has grown along with me, the ads have grown along with me. They seem to follow my life and show it the exact way on TV! Today, I sit and remember my good ol’ days with Maggi. They have captured that as well. The current campaign of Maggi is about “Remembering your good ol’ days with Maggi”. It has recently launched “MAIN AUR MERI MAGGI” campaign in commensuration of 25 years of Maggi in India.

This new campaign is interactive. Maggi is now cashing in on the memories people have with it. Licking waali Maggi.... Hostel waali Maggi.... Camping waali Maggi... Recently, there has been a slow decline in people’s connection with Maggi. This is because the departmental stores and supermarkets are stacked with 10 different brands of noodles. Maggi wants to remind everybody about the beautiful memories and relationship that everybody shares with the brand. All the new ads are now giving everybody another reason to love the brand.



Maggi will always be an iconic brand. It has now become more of a generic name for a dish – like “panipuri”. There is also an orkut community on “Maggi Lovers”. A brand that is so well-knit in our lives, it becomes impossible to imagine our life without it.

Some of Maggi’s old and new ads can be seen here:
http://www.maggi.in/merimaggitvc.aspx