Brands Advertising War In Nigeria - Noodles

The noodle makers in Nigeria have given us some great and memorable adverts especially on radio and TV. The market has been dominated for a long while by Indomie and this product genre is one of those genres where one brand has so dominated the genre that it is now known for that brand. Other brands in this category include Omo for detergents, Coca Cola for carbonated drinks, Maggi for food seasoning, etc.

In spite of their dominance of this genre for so long, Dufil Prima Foods PLC, the makers of Indomie Noodles continued to invest in supporting the product that they made it so difficult for any other brand to break into the market. A number of products came to the market and either fizzled out or continued to struggle along. Kids, who the product is primarily targeted at associated its taste with that of the product. Every other taste did not make the cut.


They have invested so much in great adverts in the past, given away so much in samples and supported a lot of children's causes. The brand is so strong that when there was news about "killer Indomie", it had little effect on the sales of the product. The company gave interviews and gave away samples and after a while, Nigerians went back to their Indomie.

The taste of the Indomie has been so ingratiated in our tinges that Nigerians living abroad order for Indomie from Nigeria in spite of the plethora of noodles available wherever they are staying. My cousin's son who was born and bred in Netherlands came to Nigeria during one summer holidays and since then, that is the only present he expects from his father whenever he is coming back from Nigeria.

Indomie has had a long history of great adverts. Lately, Mimee, a brand of noodles made by May and Baker came up with a catchy advert which ended with "boom sha sha" and provided some competition for Indomie's catchy by-lines. That was in a period when the market was becoming busy with new products coming into the market.
Today, two noodle adverts are ruling the waves. The best for me is Indomie's "Mama too good o, e too good" and Honeywell Noodle's "Bam bam la la, bam bam, la la". The Indomie advert starts with a very fine lady in the market shopping for Indomie. She gets home & quickly cooks the noodles for the seven children who are already showing signs of hunger. She finally serves them & that brings a smile to their face & some mischief. Two of the kids are shown conspiring without talking. Thirty minutes after, shown by a fast moving minute hand on their clock, the lady comes back home to meet a very quiet house. 
She wonders where everyone went to till the kids suddenly appear from where they were hiding behind the two sofas in the house and starts dancing around the woman to the tune of Mama, you too good o! You too good. Mama, wey cook for us, you too much. E give us Indomie... The advert ends with all the kids giving the woman a group hug.

The interesting thing about this advert is the effective use of non-verbal communication. Apart from the song and the bye-line, the whole advert was rendered in non-verbal communication. The kids showed hunger while they were waiting for the food & joy was written all over their faces when the food was ready. The two conspirators showed the viewers that they were up to something & their mama clearly asked "where is everybody?" when she got back. The innocent bum-shaking dance by the small children however, was the high point of the advert.

Honeywell Noodles on the other hand has a guy that is dressed in bright colours dancing down the streets and inviting everyone to join him in enjoying Honeywell Noodles, Bam ba la la, bam BA la la. Kids start coming from all the houses and soon, he has a sizable number of kids streaming behind him & dancing to his unique steps danced with both hands and feet. The group ends up at a mobile kitchen where Honeywell Noodles is handed to all the kids.
The key attributes of a good advert is it's ability to capture and hold the attention of the target audience. These two adverts achieve that perfectly. I have heard of families where the kids wake up from sleep whenever the songs (especially Indomie) is playing. They join the song, & go back to sleep afterwards.
The noodles market in Nigeria is quite crowded with a couple of deep-pockets. There is Dangote Noodles, Golden Penny, Mimee, Cherry Noodles or so, etc. We wait to see who comes up with another great connection with the consumers.