By Princewill Ekwujuru
Since Unilever Nigeria Plc took over the manufacturing and sale of Knorr seasoning from Cadbury Nigeria Plc in December 2005, there’s been a clear battle line drawn between Nestle Nigeria Plc, producers of Maggi seasoning and Unilever.

Today, Knorr is rattling Maggi in the menu recipe of many Nigerian homes for top spot in the seasoning market.
Virtually, in almost every meal served in the restaurants or in any social gathering, be it stew, vegetable soup, jollof rice, fried rice, beans porridge, moi moi, you will not miss the taste of these seasonings.

While preparing any meal, you would definitely use one of these seasonings; Knorr, Maggi, Royco, Doyin, Jumbo, Suppy or the Monosodium Glutamates  (MSGs); A-One, Vedan, Ajino Moto, Sasa, Tasty King or  the latest in the market, Onga.

However, one question that pops up is which of these brands could pass for the market leader or the most popular in the market?

Before now, Maggi had occupied a big space in the hearts of consumers as a result of its marketing communication activities, which has endeared the brand to consumers.

Most popular is it’s annual “Cook for Mama” competition, and recently, its Maggi Million and More Promo that produced 13 millionaires in 13 weeks, as well as some advertising materials churned out by Nestle to further entrench the brand’s relevance in the market.

Knorr is not left out in the fray, as it deployed the Cook ‘n’ Win promotion, where winners received cars as prizes.

Whilst introducing the Power of Meal Times campaign project which saw the company organise family picnics, as a way of preaching meal times bonding, likewise the use of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) concept to push her messages.

Meanwhile, Vanguard investigation showed from a recent random survey in Lagos, Abuja, some parts of the North, East, and South-South, that Maggi controls about  43 per cent of the market compared to Knorr’s 41 per cent.

The result revealed that Maggi, the oldest in the market, is facing a serious challenge in the leadership position, despite being the first to come into the market.

Consequently, reports showed that knowing the right brand(s) has helped many married women to either win the hearts of their husbands or lose customers in their restaurants.

The survey which was carried out mostly among women in the age bracket of 21 -45, and restaurants was designed to find out the flavour, taste, aroma, salt level, price and promotional activities of the brands.

Probing further into public acceptance and perception of the brands, it was noticed that both seasonings are readily available at supermarkets, open markets and street shops, and well packaged too, which respondents say they liked.

The survey also revealed that the double Knorr sells for N10:00, while Maggi of the same size goes for same price.

However, 45 per cent of the respondents said the price of Knorr was worth the value offered by the product, While 55 per cent said the price was on the high side compared to Maggi On taste, 60 per cent preferred Knorr taste for its salt level, against Maggi’s 40 per cent.

While Knorr is working assiduously to outwit Maggi, one area Knorr has not got it right in the perception of customers, is in advertising and promotional activities.

Accordingly, respondents said Knorr lags behind looking at the way and manner Maggi is going about its promotional engagements..

However, 60 per cent of respondents admit they are aware and could easily recall Maggi’s marketing communication tools on television, radio, billboards, posters, magazines, internet and directional signs and other below-the-line platforms, as well promotional items, compared to 40 per cent respondents who recall Knorr’s promotional activities.

Some respondents interviewed in the survey like Mrs. Josephine Ikechi, a house wife in Lagos, said she switched over to Knorr from Maggi due to the salty nature of Maggi, She said Maggi, when used to prepare a dish makes her miscalculate the amount of salt to add to her cooking.

In Abuja, Miss. Victoria Okehi said Knorr is the seasoning she uses in her restaurant business, and said it adds more pleasant taste and aroma to her cooking when compared to Maggi.

For Mrs. Felicia Oti, a retailer at Alaba Suru market in Lagos said, more customers buy Maggi as she sells two cartons daily compared to half a carton of Knorr.

In the struggle for a larger market share, both seasonings have deployed various tools which include advertisement, pricing, personal selling, activations, distribution network, value addition, quality control and sales promotional activities.

However, below is the seasoning advertising exposure by media types as conducted by Vanguard:

Maggi, in the television advertising exposure recorded 22 per cent, in radio it had 11 per cent, in the Press it had 5 per cent and Out-Of-Home; OOH (Billboards), it recorded 19 per cent; while Knorr had 18 per cent in television advertisement, radio 9 per cent, in the Press it recorded 5 per cent and the OOH it had 17 per cent.

Onga, the latest seasoning from the stable of Promasidor Nigeria, recorded 10 per cent in television. In radio it had 2 per cent, in the Press it recorded 2 per cent and the OOH it had 11 per cent