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Abstract
Campa Cola was a drink created by the Pure Drinks Group, owned by Mohan Singh in the 1970s. Pure Drinks Group were the pioneer in the Indian soft drink industry when they introduced Coca-Cola into India in 1949 and were the sole manufacturer and distributor of Coca-Cola till the 1970s when the drink industry was nationalised for Indian interests. The Pure Drinks Group and Campa Beverages Pvt. Ltd. virtually dominated the entire Indian soft drink industry for about 15 years. Then they started Campa Cola during the absence of foreign competition. The brand's slogan was "The Great Indian Taste", an appeal to nationalism. It subsequently marketed an orange flavoured drink called 'Campa Orange', with the logo "Campa" on its bottles. During the 1980s, Campa Orange and Rush were the two main orange soft drinks in India, with large bottling plants in Mumbai (Worli) and Delhi. Following the return of foreign corporations to the soft drink market in the 1990s, the popularity of Campa Cola declined. In 20002001, its bottling plant and offices in Delhi were closed. In 2009 a small amount of product was still being bottled in the state of Haryana, but the drink was still not commonly found. In 2022, Campa Cola was acquired by Reliance Industries for 22 crores. Reliance Retail Ventures, the retail arm of the Reliance group launched three variants of the drinks (cola, orange and lemon) at some select stores.Campa Cola is a classic Indian brand; it is right to get a new home. Reliance has the reach, and it is a good brand for Campa. The brand has memories attached to it and is expected to draw in on the loyalty factor, Harish Bijoor, brand strategy expert, told Business Line. Reliance Industries is now all set to breathe new life into the brand, banking on the nostalgia of the 70s and 80s generation while also hoping that it will catch the fancy and taste buds of a new generation of consumers. It is going to be difficult for Reliance to do it, said Santosh Desai, CEO, of Future Brands in contrast. Reliance is not an FMCG company and has acquired consumers by pricing, it can acquire many consumers in great deals but not Cola. They also cannot connect with the younger Gen Z. Campa Cola is also not a pan India brand. However, Reliance Consumer is optimistic about its appeal. By presenting Campa in its new avatar, we hope to inspire consumers across generations to embrace this truly iconic brand and trigger a new excitement in the beverage segment, it said. With The Great Indian Taste as the slogan, and a snappy teaser ad, the drink is priced competitively at 10 for a 200 ml bottle and 20 for a 500 ml bottle (prices one notch below competition). It also comes in on-the-go sharing packs of 1 and 2 litre for home consumption.
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Copyright © 2025 Aditya Kumar. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
