Summary of the work

Indomie is Indonesia's most beloved noodle brand, a category leader with rich portfolio, strong nationwide presence, and an established brand heritage. However, almost every year during Ramadan, Indomie experiences sales dip because it has to face several challenges: 1. Indomie is not perceived as typical Ramadan food. Ramadan is more associated with rich tasting, traditional home-cooked meals, fried snacks, sweet beverages and desserts. 2. The media landscape in Ramadan is particularly cluttered because this is the period when brands make a bigger media investment (Nielsen AdEx, 2019). As a result, it’s very easy for any brand’s communication to get lost in the crowd. 3. Unprecedented situation of the COVID-19 Pandemic added to the uncertainty surrounding the Ramadan month and all brand campaigns, including Indomie. Solutions: Indomie understood that in order to overcome the challenges, it can no longer rely on the same approach used before. Therefore, they need to patent a new way to get people’s attention during festive season. We found the solution through Ramadan cultural nuances. One of the customs that is unique in Indonesia are food establishments covering their stores and hiding their food to respect fasting Muslims. By putting curtains on their doors and window displays, passing Muslims can’t see the people eating or serving food inside. Sitting in the polar opposite is brands and mass media that glorify food irrespective of fasting hours, and this is where we see opportunity for Indomie. To not show the product in advertisements amongst food brands is almost unheard of. It’s risky and uncomfortable to many marketers. So while the others decided to conform to the default advertising Ramadan theme, we braced ourselves and took this cultural insight to the next level. Execution: With this strong insight and an understanding of what was necessary to overcome the challenge, we arrived at an idea that would not only help broadcast conversations but also consumer participation, symbolized by this simple image of an empty plate. The empty plate represents Indomie’s respect and support for fasting Muslims across Indonesia. In a period where food brands usually compete in showing appetizing shots of their product, this gesture by large brands like Indomie is unique and sympathetic. We kicked off the campaign with a simple act of introducing the empty plate on the product packaging that was distributed across the country. With a simple line that states ‘Have a good fast’. Then, we kept the momentum going with a nationwide television spot. At first, it looks like a regular Indomie commercial. But after a while, we will see that the actor is seen mimicking the act of cooking and eating Indomie - minus the actual image of the noodles. Once Muslims have broken fast, the same commercial is again shown - but this time with the noodle food shot that everyone is familiar with. The same technique is also delivered in our online ads. However, online people are redirected to e-commerce sites where they could order a special version of the empty plate packaging.