New Delhi, Oct 7: Nestle India has decided to leverage its parent company's association with Walt Disney as a part of its `ab sab kuch pehle jaisa' strategy to bring back fun and excitement to its noodles brand Maggi.Starting October 29, 1999 Maggi plans to go wild surfing on tree-tops, skating over forked branches and swinging from one slippery vine to another in the company of young Tarzan.
The association, which has been the in the offing for a few months now, will involve Nestle's exclusive sponsorship of Walt Disney Pictures' ``Tarzan''--an animated film based on Edgar Rice Burroughs adventure classic ``Tarzan of the Apes''. In addition, Maggi will advertise the movie nationally and run a special promotional television commercial across channels.
Simultaneously, the food company will launch a special Tarzan pack of Maggi noodles and an on-pack ``Jungle Jackpot'' contest. The MaggiTarz packs, the special 200 gram double pack of the noodles designed for the contest, will be available on the shelves in the first week of November.
A Nestle spokesperson said that the animated movie is scheduled to open in theatres in eight metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Calcutta, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad in October '99. The screening of the movie is expected to last till the end of the year.
The Maggi-Tarzan promotion succeeds the "Fun-Dooz" promotions and contest launched mid-August, the first of the initiatives set rolling by the company after the relaunch of Maggi 2-minute noodles. While Fun-Dooz was all about ringing in magic and excitement into the brand, Tarzan packs and contests are designed to send children into a tizzy--or drive even a sober child insane or plain wild, said the Nestle spokesperson.
Incidentally, Fun-Dooz was available on the 400 gram or four-cake packs of masala Maggi noddles. The Maggi Jungle Jackpot contest will run till mid-December.
But why is Nestle associating Maggi with Tarzan and not popular Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck?
``Those characters do not convey a feeling of bonding between a mother and child, the feelings Maggi noodles has been associated with. Tarzan, the movie is about mother ape's love for a human child, the human child's reaching out to his adopted family, the legendary romance between Jane and Tarzan and the return of sense and sensibility in a jungle of emotions,'' the spokesperson explained.
The Walt Disney adaptation of the Tarzan story examines the relationships of young Tarzan and a mother ape, unlike the other Tarzan movies which have focussed on the romance between Tarzan and Jane, and Tarzan's self discovery.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.