If there is one thing Malaysians love doing ‘round the clock, it’s eating and for years, they have grown up nibbling on Mamee-Double Decker snacks and convenience foods. The company’s brands continue to stand strong today, attracting new consumers throughout the nation and beyond. Taken from Malaysia’s Most Valuable Brands 2007 and Mamee Double-Decker is ranked 29th.
Break Time, Malaysian Style
For some of us, it came with the breadman’s welcome honking in the middle of an afternoon cartoon slot. For others, it is that long-ago TV commercial of a boy being lured downstairs for a midnight snack. For others still, it’s a catchy jingle that starts off with “Double Decker, Double Decker…” What’s your Mamee-Double Decker memory?
Food, Glorious Snack Food
The brand’s most memorable mascot is, of course, the blue Mamee Monster who adorns every packet of the beloved snack to this day. That unique item — crispy seasoned noodles in handy little yellow packs — was the first of its kind and a tough act to follow. Wannabes have come and gone while Mamee Monster remains the only notable brand of ready-to-eat instant noodle snacks in the market. The second part of Mamee-Double Decker’s corporate brand name derives from another early product by the company, a prawn cracker snack with shiny red packaging and an appetising seafood flavour. That product, too, has survived till now and currently comes in a host of other variants as well. Today, the Mamee-Double Decker range has expanded tremendously from its initial namesake products. The children of those old enough to remember Mamee-Double Decker’s arrival on the Malaysian snack food scene are now digging into product brands such as Mister Potato, Nutrigen, Corntos, Mamee Sllrrrp! and Cheers. Other brands that have established themselves in Malaysian homes include Nicolet Swiss herbal candy, Diamond Spring mineral water and IQ3 cultured drink. True to the brand’s origins, however, the Mamee-Double Decker range of products continues to focus on snack and convenience food or beverages. In short, Mamee-Double Decker specialises in drinks, snacks, confectionery and chilled products that are designed to be portable, tasty pick-me-ups.
Reaching New Markets at Home
While Mamee instant noodles have been in the Malaysian market for a long time, its positioning was not clear cut. As with two other leading instant noodle brands, Mamee’s came in generic yellow packets that offered little by way of packaging differentiation. Meanwhile, the instant noodle market was deemed matured with a growth rate of five percent. In 2005, the company decided to reinvigorate the categories by stirring things up and exploring ideas for its instant noodle products. The company created a new range of fast-cooking noodles to address an underserved market segment. For this new target market, Mamee zoomed in on young people from 15 to 24 years of age, “who are constantly on the look out for convenience, satisfaction and image suited to their lifestyle.” And so the new range of Mamee Sllrrrp! was born.
Innovative advertising was developed to create greater engagement with consumers. Through a campaign themed “Satisfaction with every Mamee Sllrrrp!”, the Mamee-Double Decker marketing team designed a new product with a novel means to capture the target audience’s attention: Brand Ambassadors were featured on Mamee Sllrrrp! packaging — making Mamee-Double Decker the first instant noodles producer in Malaysia to employ such endorsement. In a joint branding endorsement campaign with Maestro Talent, Mamee appointed local celebrities Mawi, Amylea and Felix to introduce new Mamee Sllrrrp! to the nation. It was an inspired move.
Overnight, an entire generation began paying attention to a brand they thought they had long left behind at the playground. Mamee Sllrrrp! roadshows and participation in events such as TV3’s Jom Heboh Karnival helped drive on-site sales and create brand awareness among the public. Other celebrities such as Aznil, Faizal, Adam and Farah joined the Brand Ambassador line-up and further widened the campaign’s impact. Thus has the marketing team successfully reinvigorated the Mamee brand among the youth market. The company’s management attributes much of its 53 percent growth in 2006 to this innovative marketing strategy. Despite the successful launch of Mamee Sllrrrp!, however, the management of Mamee-Double Decker acknowledges that endorsements are but a short-term tactic. New strategies are required to maintain the brand’s forward momentum in the long run.
Taking on the World
Mamee-Double Decker (M) Berhad is listed on the Bursa Malaysia Main Board with a market capitalisation of rm160 million. The company operates five plants in Malaysia and another two overseas in China and Myanmar. Its China subsidiary, Mamee-Double Decker Foods (Suzhou) Co Ltd has yet to break even, but the company remains confident of eventually turning it around. Today, Mamee-Double Decker products are sold in over 80 countries across five continents. Ultimately, Mamee-Double Decker is targetting to increase export to 40 percent of its revenue in the next five years, from 28 percent in late 2005.
Its R&D department is manned by 13 full-time staff and plays a crucial role in product improvement and new product development to achieve the company’s export objectives. Mamee-Double Decker factories have received prestigious industry certifications such as ISO 9002, ISO 9001 and HACCP, while the company’s flagship brands such as Mister Potato Crisps and Nutrigen Liteyo have been honoured with local accolades. In 2004, its subsidiary, Pacific Food Products Sdn Bhd was awarded a Brand Promotion Grant of rm2 million by MATRADE to promote the Mamee brand in the export market.
In the future, Mamee-Double Decker plans to emphasise and invest heavily in marketing and branding while it outsources manufacturing operations to achieve greater production capacity. For the financial year ended 31 December 2006, the company registered a rm349.13 million in turnover, up 13 percent from rm308.93 million in 2005. Its pre-tax profit was 16 percent higher at rm29.71 million against rm25.52 million previously.
Emerging Threats, Evolving Trends 2007 has been a challenging year for fast food franchises and other producers of processed foods. As the government tightens the regulations on fast food advertising, Mamee-Double Decker awaits further instructions from Malaysia’s Information Ministry. If its leading product, instant noodles, is to be classified as a “fast food”, the brand may be faced with an advertising ban and forced to explore alternative promotional channels once the mass media options are closed to it. However, this move towards greater health consciousness and nutritional awareness has been a gradual trend.
As such, Mamee-Double-Decker has already taken significant steps in recent years to diversify its product range and develop more functional food and “healthy” snack options for its customers. The most notable examples of this are its yoghurt drinks, fortified fruit-flavoured beverages and cereal bars. While sinfully delicious snacks will probably never go out of style, Mamee-Double Decker takes no chances by expanding its selection of in-betweenmeal options for consumers. This adaptability — as well as and the brand’s knack for identifying the unmet cravings of Malaysian taste buds — has carried Mamee-Double Decker through more than a few challenges. Only time will tell how the company’s brands are going to evolve for the challenges ahead, but one thing’s for sure — the Malaysian childhood experience would not be complete without them!
“With an export market of over 80 countries, we hope that our products serve well as credible Malaysian brand ambassadors in the international FMCG field. We believe in innovation and we adapt quickly to market changes. The key to our success is ‘to always listen to our consumers and to get involved with them.”
Datuk Pang Tee Chew, Managing Director, Mamee-Double Decker