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In 2012, Coca-Cola had also brought back Citra for rural areas. However, Limca was retained after Coca-Cola realised that the demand for it was high in the early 2000s. Citra and Goldspot were relinquished from the market by the 2000s as they were competing with the likes of Fanta and Sprite, the global brands owned and prioritised by Coca-Cola. The other Indian beverages acquired by Coca-Cola, however, did not survive the onslaught. And they decided to stabilise the production of these, to go after their major competition Pepsi,” Matthias added. “Initially Coca-Cola’s focus was on their mainstream brands, but soon after a few years, they realised that there was a lot of equity with Thums Up, Limca, and other Indian brands. No truth that we tried to kill Thums Up or any other drink,” Deepak Jolly, a Coca-Cola communication executive, told ThePrint.Ĭoca-Cola had about 60.5 per cent share of the Indian soft-drink market in the 1990s but soon understood that if it removed Thums Up, it would be left with merely 28.7 per cent of the market share. The company realised that by ‘killing’ Thums Up, it had served the market share to Pepsi. But Coca-Cola’s strategy backfired, since people started buying Pepsi instead of Coke. It was also not being advertised or marketed anywhere.
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Chauhan finally sold off the beverage arm of Parle to Coca-Cola for $40 million.Īfter Coca-Cola acquired Thums Up, the drink nearly stopped being available in the market. When Coca-Cola went around buying those units, Parle did not have bottles to actually pack its drink in and sell. Parle had been working on an agreement basis with bottle manufacturers across the country. When Coca-Cola re-entered the Indian market, one of the ways in which it tried to displace Thums Up with Coke was by ‘ poaching the franchise bottlers’ of Parle that owned Thums Up. “Taste the Thunder is India’s longest running national campaign even today,” said Ashok Kurien, whose agency Ambience Advertising had come up with the text. One of the strongest points of this homegrown drink was also its tagline, ‘Taste the Thunder’, and its appeal of being an Indian cola brand. Chauhan, of Parle group, was the mastermind behind Thums Up’s formulation, and he had very strategically placed the drink in markets to fill the void left by Coke and other colas exiting India. The company only returned to India post liberalisation, in 1993.Īt this point in time, Thums Up was the leading product in Indian markets. The Coca-Cola Company had left India in 1977 when the then Indian government asked it to not just transfer 60 per cent of the shares of its Indian firm - according to what was then the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act - but also reveal the formula for its secret recipe to Indian shareholders. Such has been the romance with Thums Up that a hill in Maharashtra has been named after the drink.Īlso read: Farewell, Apple iPod - the music player & trendsetter that revolutionised listening “The feeling among people was that being an international company, Coca-Cola’s focus would be more on its global brands like Fanta, Sprite and of course Coke, and other drinks in the Indian market will phase out gradually,” he told ThePrint.īut Indians didn’t let go of their favourite Thums Up, which continues to be the leader in the country even today, with 42% market share. Lloyd Mathias, business strategist and former executive vice president at PepsiCo India, gave an explanation for this. The successful removal of other carbonated drinks such as Goldspot and Citra (both initially owned by the Parle group) from the market had not helped the company’s case. The threats in the SWOT Analysis of Thums Up are as mentioned:ġ.Threat from other aerated drinks competitorsĢ.While Coca-Cola has repeatedly denied this allegation, marketing gurus of the time believed that the company was indeed up to something suspicious. Some factors like increased competitor activity, changing government policies, alternate products or services etc. The threats for any business can be factors which can negatively impact its business. Following are the opportunities in Thums Up SWOT Analysis: A brand's opportunities can lie in geographic expansion, product improvements, better communication etc. The opportunities for any brand can include areas of improvement to increase its business. Here are the weaknesses in the Thums Up SWOT Analysis:ġ.Aerated drinks not popular with health conscious people
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Certain weaknesses can be defined as attributes which the company is lacking or in which the competitors are better. The weaknesses of a brand are certain aspects of its business which are it can improve to increase its position further.