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Thums Up
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Thums Up | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Type | Cola |
| Manufacturer | The Coca-Cola Company |
| Country of Origin |  India |
| Introduced | 1977 |
| Related products | Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Campa Cola |
Thums Up is a carbonated soft drink (cola) that is very popular in India, where its bold "thumbs up" logo is common. It is similar in flavor to other colas but has a unique taste reminiscent of betel nut. Introduced in 1977 to offset the expulsion of The Coca-Cola Company and other foreign companies from India, Thums Up, Limca, and Campa Cola gained nationwide acceptance. The brand was bought out by Coca-Cola who later re-launched it to fight against Pepsi after unsuccessful attempts at brand killing.
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During late 1970s, the American cola giant Coca-Cola was shown the door by the Indian government. Following this, the Parle brothers, Ramesh Chauvan and Rajesh Chauvan, floated Parle soft drinks with Thums Up as their flagship drink along with Limca (lime flavour) and Gold Spot (orange flavored). Thums Up was basically a cola drink, but the company never claimed as such, and it tasted a bit stronger than regular Coke. During the same time, the owners of Coca-Cola’s bottling plant, Pure Drinks Ltd., launched Campa Cola and Campa Orange, both of which had a higher dose of carbon dioxide.
The Thums Up logo was a clipart of a red thumbs-up sign with a slanted white serif typeface. This would later be modified by Coca-Cola with blue strokes and a more modern-looking typeface. This was mainly done to reduce the dominant red color in their signage.
Its famous caption until the early `80s was, “Happy days are here again”, coined by then famous copywriter Vasant Kumar, whose father was spiritual philosopher U. G. Krishnamurti. Later it was changed to "Taste the thunder!"
Interestingly there is talk that the Thums-up logo was devised from a hill near Manmad railway station in Maharastra, the peak looked like a thumbs up sign and in same angle and shape that were in Thumsup bottle logo, so parle brothers decided to use it as their logo for their flag ship brand.
Thums Up enjoyed a near monopoly with a much stronger market share often overshadowing it other rivals like Campa cola, Double seven and Dukes, but there were many small regional players had their own market. It even withstood liquor giant United Breweries Group (makers of Kingfisher Beer) Mcdowell's Crush, which was another Cola drink and one more Double Cola.
It was one of the major advertisers throughout the 80’s. In mid-80’s it had a brief threat from a newcomer Double cola which suddenly disappeared within a few years.
In 1990, when Indian government opened the market to multinationals, Pepsi was the first to come in. Thums Up went up against the international giant for an intense onslaught with neither side giving any quarter. With Pepsi roping in major Indian movie stars like Juhi Chawla, to thwart the Indian brand, Thums Up increased its spending in the Cricket sponsorship. Then the capacity went from 250ml to 300ml aptly names MahaCola. This nickname gained popularity in smaller towns where people would ask for "Maha Cola" instead of Thums Up. The consumers were divided where some felt the Pepsi’s mild taste was rather bland.
In 1993 Coca-Cola re-entered India after prolonged absences from 1977 to 1993. But Coca-Cola’s entry , made things even more complicated and the fight became a three-way battle. That same year, in a move that baffled many, Parle sold out to Coke for a meagre US$ 60 million (considering the Market share it had). Some assumed Parle had lost the appetite for a fight against the two largest cola brands; others surmised that the international brands seemingly endless cash reserves psyched-out Parle. Either way, it was now Coca-Cola’s, and Coke has a habit of killing brands in its portfolio that might overshadow it. Coca-Cola soon introduced its cola in Tins which was all India rage, with Thums Up introduced along side albeit minuscule numbers. Later Coca-Cola started pulling out the Thums Up brand which at that time still had more than 30% market share.
Still, despite its strong overall equity, the brand was losing its popularity among the core cola drinking age group of 12 to 25 year olds, the Cartoon network generation, partly due to nil advertising and Coca-Cola’s initial brand killing efforts.
Coca-Cola apparently did try to kill Thums Up, but soon realized that Pepsi would benefit more than Coke if Thums Up was withdrawn from the market. Instead, Coke decided to use Thums Up to attack Pepsi. The Coca-Cola Company by this time had about 60.5% share of the Indian soft-drink market [1] but much to its dismay found out that if it takes out Thums Up, it would remain with only 28.72% of the market (according to a report by NGO Finance&Trade in India), hence again dusted out the Thums Up brand and re-launched targeting the 30 to 45 year olds (probably its old fans who were peeved by both Pepsi and Coke).
The brand was re-positioned as a “manly” drink, drawing on its strong taste qualities. Known to be a strong drink with more power packed into it than other colas, it was a favourite in Rum based Cocktails and the byword “rum and Thums Up.” Hence Thums Up kick-started an aggressive campaign directly attacking Pepsi’s television advertisement, focussing on the strength of the drink hoping that the depiction of “adult” drink would appeal to young consumers. “Grow up to Thums Up” was a successful campaign. The brand’s market share and equity soared northwards. The brand was unshakeable and Coca-Cola’s declaration that Thums Up was India’s premier cola brand in terms of market share did not surprise many.
Other campaigns from Thums Up’s build on the “strength” of its cola and build associations as a macho drink. Ads showing the Thums Up man riding through the desert in search of a cantina that sells Thums Up rather than drink another cola stick in the minds of many Indians and caught the imagination of youngsters who want to be seen as men.
From a brand that was virtually unchallenged to a brand that was stifled, Thums Up stormed back after a near death experience. The brand proves that its strength lies not just in its taste but also in its performance. The grown up tag is an enduring one and will probably counter Pepsi for a while to come.
Thums Up had the equity to take on Pepsi and soon an all out war was on. In 2001 Thums Up took the battle to Pepsi by openly challenging it to a blind taste test. The aggressive move was intimidating and unexpected, turning the tables on Pepsi, which was now at the receiving end of a taste challenge. The results from the challenge were in dispute from both ends but the battle of the mind was won by Thums Up, whose advertising overshadowed the question of accuracy.
Thums Up was one of the major sponsors in the Cricket Matches. In early 80’s it came out with several postcards featuring Sunil Gavaskar and Imran Khan. Parle’s southern bottler was a major sponsor in the Indian motorsport scene in 80’s, to several Indian track drivers in Sholavaram races and also to several regional Car and Bike rallies. Today old Thums Up souvenirs and stickers have become collectibles. Also, now Indian super celebrity Akshay Kumar is usually advertising the drink, Thums Up.
- Thums Up @ Coca-Cola India's website
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- Product Reviews[4]