In 2022, Nestle expanded its Milo RTD dairy and dairy alternatives range in Vietnam with the Mindvibe variant. The peppermint-flavoured malt drink targeted younger Vietnamese consumers (Gen Z) with a formulation that included ingredients claimed to boost mental cognition, such as green tea, taurine, zinc, and B vitamins.
In August this year, Nestle relaunch Milo Mindvibe to ‘Milo Dynamind’ to communicate the product’s brain-boosting functionality more lucidly to consumers. Additionally, the term nootropics is printed boldly on the front label of the product packaging to drive home the point. The nootropic tag can attract the 57% of Vietnamese consumers who find product attributes that are good for mental wellness an essential feature when making a purchase, according to recent GlobalData consumer survey.
Nestle is clearly positioning the product as a drink that restores brain focus and a person’s energy levels after long study sessions or exercise routines. Accordingly, the packaging design features a sketch of a young skateboarder, another signal that the drink targets young and active consumers.
Nestle has also released 3 short TV commercials and social media advertisements to promote the new brand. In HCMC, the marketing campaign highlighted on the dangers of people being distracted while on heavy traffic road as such Milo Dynamind could help to keep the brain stay awake and focus.
GlobalData forecast that Vietnam’s flavoured drinks consumption will cross 1 billion litres by 2028 with a CAGR of 4.7% over the next 5 years (2023-2028). This is attributed to the growing health and wellness trend accelerated by the pandemic.
Nestle hopes that the rebranding and the new campaign will give it an edge over its rivals in Vietnam namely Vinamilk and FrieslandCampina.
Milo positioning itself as healthy ‘0-sucrose’ malt drink in China
In a related development in China, Nestle has introduced to its consumers its Milo 0-sucrose added version, which still has the delicious taste but yet healthier as it employs Nestle’s breakthrough sugar reduction technology.
The new Milo RTD series utilises an enzymatic process to convert maltose in Milo’s raw malt extract to isomaltooligosaccharides, reducing the sugar in the malt extract by up to 30% without compromising the unique taste and texture of Milo products . Consumers can not only enjoy the sweet and delicious taste of Milo, but also reduce their sugar intake.
Nestle Chief Technology Officer Stefan Palzer said, “Currently, the application of sugar reduction technology is an important priority in our future product development, and we will continue to accelerate the promotion of this technology globally, especially exploring the application of this technology in different product forms and categories.”
The sugar reduction technology has been successfully piloted in Nestle’s cocoa and malt-based beverages in Southeast Asia. Since 2021, more than 200,000 tonnes of cocoa and malt-based beverages have been successfully applied with this technology. In the future, Nestle China will apply this innovative technology to more dairy product categories and launch more healthier and nutritious products for the Chinese market.
