Noodle News: newspaper tie-ins, heat therapy, tomatoes

Written by: Rebecca Milner on June 23, 2008 at 12:49 am | In Fashion & Lifestyle Trends, Marketing & Ad Trends |

Noodles, like beverages or snack foods, undergo constant reinvention in order to one-up the competition. With collaborations being the name of the current game, food manufacturer Kinrei has made an unlikely alliance with the popular Sunday Mainichi Weekly tabloid magazine.

The packaged cold noodles, Hakodate Flavor Salt Ramen, boasts of a broth made of kelp from the southern Hokkaido waters and 100% natural salt from the northern Okhotsk Sea among the ingredients. The soup was created by researching ramen and its production in the Hakodate region, the port town in southern Hokkaido famed for its ramen. An article about this process appears in the June 22 edition of the Sunday Mainichi Weekly, in addition to receiving the approval of the magazine staff.

Meanwhile, Nangatanien takes the niche route in offering “Cold Proof” cup noodle series that targets women who are sensitive to the cold with copious amounts of body warming ginger. New flavors for summer include the tempting Ginger Hot and Sour Vermicelli, Ginger Dan Dan Vermicelli, Ginger Coconut Curry Noodles, and Ginger Pork Soup Noodles.

Ms. Cold Proof, the character on the female friendly pink and black package, gets a seasonal change of clothes as well.

Another recent strategy is using local flavors, such as the Tomato Noodle series created from the Ichikai Commerce Association.

Ichikai, a town in Tochigi Prefecture, is an area known for growing plump, juicy tomatoes. The series includes ramen, udon, and yaki soba (all of which have a slightly reddish color and tangy tomato taste) and is intended as a souvenir for visitors to the region.

Considering the diverse packaged noodle options, we wonder how long one can go eating them everyday without repeating a flavor. There must be someone on the internet doing this, we just haven’t found him or her yet.

Tags: FMCG, Localization, Publishing, ramen
Category: Fashion & Lifestyle Trends, Marketing & Ad Trends
Other categories: Technology & Gadget Trends, Press coverage