58 years ago, Nissin introduced instant noodles to Brazil through their flagship Miojo brand. Positioned as a quick, easy and tasty meal, its penetration boomed. In the 80’s, Miojo had become a kind of “Heinz Ketchup”, a brand everyone had in their pantries.

People asked for, bought, and prepared Miojo, not instant noodles. Brazilians made it synonymous with the category. Nissin reached 65% market share in the early 2000’s, of which the lion’s share was the Miojo brand. At that time, Miojo was the category’s undisputed king.

But as competitors entered the market, share began to decline, reaching just 36% by 2018. Miojo was still the Heinz of instant noodles but risked becoming a Kodak; a brand that once defined a category but couldn’t adapt to a changing society. Our brief was to reverse the sales decline, avoiding a fate worse than Kodak. Or Atari. Or even Blockbuster.

If Miojo is an open invitation to go weird, we decided to formalize this invitation. So, we created the "Just Add Weirdness" platform. More than a communications idea, this represented a completely new mindset for the business. We would not just embrace the craziest ways of using Miojo, we would accelerate them and use them to create cultural currency.

We started bold: with Nissin's President, himself, issuing a formal apology, recognizing that Brazilians knew best how to enjoy Miojo. It was a hit, giving us permission to be more disruptive still.

We introduced weird product innovations such as sweet Miojo, turned our pack into a conversation starter and proposed strange new servings. And, for 4.5 years straight, we released a new execution every week, all designed to create maximum social buzz and keep Miojo at the forefront of youth culture. Was it worth it? Our results say yes!