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The brand is equally popular in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Little surprise then that in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (states known for spicy cuisine) it has a whopping 65-70% market share," he says. “It tingles, adds to the spicy food and not subtract from it.
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A Coca-Cola executive says that Thums Up’s taste has a “masala" feel to it. This was probably the biggest reason for the success of Thums Up. Importantly, however, its positioning sweet-spot (Taste The Thunder) was bolstered by an actually distinct-stronger, fizzier, and slightly spicier-taste that appealed to the Indian palate. Later, it featured actor Akshay Kumar as a parkour practitioner (Yamakasi). In the early ’80s, it had women surfing, yachting and skydiving in another commercial. It had a guy bungee-jumping to pick a bottle of Thums Up when the adventure sport was barely known. It created campaigns that were cool, edgy, quickly adopting what was new in popular culture. In terms of advertising, Thums Up stayed ahead of its time. “It is not incidental that the last word, Thunder, had a strong phonetic resemblance to the Hindi word for cold, which is thanda, which is the colloquial term in India for cold drinks in general," says Sinha. Wisely, it switched to a campaign that highlighted its distinct taste with the enduring line Taste The Thunder. But Parle quickly realized that it could not fight Pepsi and its deep pockets on a generic, undifferentiated platform.
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The initial communication campaign was built around the theme of Happy Days Are Here Again as an antidote to the feeling of loss in Coke’s absence. Over the years, consistency in Thums Up’s advertising also helped it to stay relevant. “It is also entirely possible that Thums Up received an additional boost through the resurgence of desi pride in the 1990s following liberalization, when desi became cool," he adds. An entire generation grew up on Thums Up in the absence of Coca-Cola. “This gave it a distinct identity and prevented it from being unfavourably compared to Coca-Cola as its poorer cousin," says Sinha, who worked briefly on Thril (from McDowell & Co.) during a stint at ad agency Lintas. To be sure, Thums Up never tried to become a Coca-Cola clone, either in taste or in name. But as we all know the script played out differently," says Samit Sinha, brand expert and managing partner, Alchemist Brand Consulting. I am sure that the folks in Coca-Cola’s Atlanta headquarters also thought the same. When Coke arrived, Indian marketers started writing the obituary for Thums Up, “believing that the India market would be reduced to a two-horse race between the two international giants in a matter of months. Pepsi, Coke’s traditional international rival, which it always considered its main competitor, was a distant number two. So when Coca-Cola re-entered the country in 1993 after an absence of 16 years, it had to contend with Thums Up, which dominated the Indian market with more than 80% share. Although Thums Up faced competitors such as Campa Cola, Double Seven and Thril, Chauhan’s brand enjoyed a massive distribution advantage in the country, thanks to its other two fizzy drinks-Limca and Gold Spot. The absence of Coke (there was no Pepsi at that time) created a vacuum in the market which Parle took advantage of. Ramesh Chauhan started Thums Up when Coca-Cola exited India in 1977. Looking where to buy Thums Up online in Canada? We offer home delivery everywhere in Canada.For starters, it enjoyed favourable circumstances in the initial years of its launch. Till date, Thums Up holds more than a third of the cola segment in India and continues to enjoy popularity amongst Indian households. This forced Coca-Cola to reinvest in the Thums Up brand through celebrities such as Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar and defining it as a male centered, adventurous brand. The local Indian Cola party converted to a cola war when the government opened its borders to foreign companies again in the early 90's. However, this war was short lived as The Coca Cola company bought Thums Up (85% market share at the time) to compete against Pepsi which had also started gaining prominence.ĭuring early years, Coca Cola wanted to discontinue Thums Up but soon realized that customers would rather move from Thums Up to competitor Pepsi rather than Coke. This left the Indian cola market virtually vacant & local players such as Parle (Thums Up), Pure Drinks (Campa Cola) & McDowell's (Crush) launched their own brands which took the market ablaze! In the late seventies, The Coca Cola company was forced to withdraw from India as new regulations required all foreign companies to sell 60% of equity to Indian owners.