PT Indofood is Anthony Salim’s ‘weapon’ to conquer the world of food marketing in Indonesia, with various brands produced from instant noodle to milk. However, Indomie has become one of his ultimate products since 1994 (before that, Indomie had been made by another company, PT Sanmaru Food Manufacturing, before acquired). Even with many competitors that apply aggressive promotions and marketing plans, Indomie still stands as the most popular instant noodle brand; so much that it now becomes generic word to refer on instant noodle. What is Anthony Salim’s secret in marketing his noodle?
Wide Varieties and Consistency
Anthony Salim’s key in keeping his customers to stay loyal to Indomie is by keeping the consistency of flavors. Even when various Indomie varieties have been made and packages have been changed several times, the flavors were kept the same like customers remembered years prior (this is especially for Indomie’s popular varieties, the ‘Kari Ayam’ or chicken curry flavor, and the fried noodle). Nowadays, a 30 year old customer can still remember the flavor of Indomie he ate when he was 10. This consistency makes the brand able to maintain loyal customer base while trying to get the new ones.
Anthony Salim also never stops creating new varieties for the brand. Besides the main flavors, his company also never stops innovating in flavor department, consistently keeping the favorite flavors and ditching flavors that do not get customers’ approval. Today, there are seven groups of Indomie types with numerous varieties such as noodle with broth, fried noodle, jumbo size noodle and the newest one: Taste of Asia. There are also specific diverse flavors based on traditional dishes in different provinces.
Aggressive Marketing and Distribution
Aggressive marketing has always become Indomie’s weapon to conquer market. Anthony Salim did not hesitate to build a lot of storages in many areas, including in villages, to distribute the products more quickly and aggressively to retail stores and even traditional markets. Also, the company keeps the price economical even with yearly inflation. Today, the price of each package is equal to just around 10 cent of US dollar.
In marketing efforts through media, Indomie also targets many viewers with different backgrounds and ages. There are campaigns for youth, family, regular campaign and special campaign for special occasions. Plus, Indofood also regularly holds events to make customers participate and feel involved, such as commercial jingle making competition for high school students and various other competitions.