‘The Great Indian Taste’ is Back: How Campa Cola ruled the country's soft drink market in the 1970s

It is time for some nostalgia as Reliance Consumer Products Limited (RCPL) brings back India’s once-preferred local beverage brand Campa Cola.

The iconic 50-year-old beverage will reintroduce ‘The Great Indian Taste’ this summer, RCPL – the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) arm of Reliance Retail – said in a statement on Thursday (9 March).

Here’s all you should know about the relaunch of Campa and its origins in India.

‘The Great Indian Taste’ comes back

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Group plans to initially roll out three flavours of the soft drink: Campa Cola, Campa Lemon and Campa Orange.

The beverage will be available in a “contemporised” avatar in five packs: 200ml immediate consumption pack, 500ml and 600ml on-the-go sharing packs and 1,000ml and 2,000ml home packs.

The relaunch of Campa “is in line with the company’s strategy to promote homegrown Indian brands that not only have a rich heritage but also boast a deep-rooted connect with Indian consumers due to their unique tastes and flavours”, RCPL said in a statement, reported PTI.

Reliance had purchased the Campa Cola brand from its makers, Pure Drinks, in August 2022 reportedly for Rs 22 crore.

“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. While older family members will have fond memories of the original Campa and cherish the nostalgia associated with the brand, younger consumers will love the crisp refreshing taste,” an RCPL spokesperson said, as per Moneycontrol.

“With a rapidly evolving Indian market throwing up more consumption occasions, we are truly excited to bring back Campa, which is yet another bold step forward for our expanding FMCG business,” the spokesperson added.

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Good news : Reliance Consumer Products launches Beverage Brand ‘Campa’.
Campa Portfolio will initially include Campa Cola, Campa Lemon & Campa Orange In The Beverage category. pic.twitter.com/cu8StVgM0K

— Kamalika Sengupta (@KamalikaSengupt) March 9, 2023

The company is yet to reveal the pricing of the products.

History of Campa Cola

While today’s younger generations might be unaware but Campa was once quite a popular brand in India.

Its rise began in the country as Coca-Cola’s sun set.

As per BBC, Coca-Cola, which was launched in India in the 1950s, remained the most popular soft drink till the 1970s.

However, post-Emergency as Morarji Desai came to power at the Centre in 1977, his government made it mandatory for foreign companies such as Coca-Cola to dilute their equity stake in their Indian firms. Coca-Cola was also asked to share its “secret formula” of its concentrate with its Indian companies.

Rejecting the demand, Coca-Cola left India, creating a huge gap in the country’s beverage industry.

This led to a government-owned company rolling out Double Seven (77), but the soft drink failed to capture the Indian market.

Jumping on the chance, Pure Drinks – the sole distributor of Coca-Cola in India from 1949 to the 1970s – decided to launch its own beverage.

The firm had two bottling plants in Mumbai and Delhi.

And that is how Campa Cola, which used a similar font to that of Coca-Cola, was born in India.

With its marketing and advertisement, the drink soon became famous among the country’s youth. In one of its ads, a young Salman Khan – his first on-camera appearance – can be seen partying with his friends on a yacht while drinking Campa Cola.

One of the brand’s print ads associated the fizzy drink with “Times of fun” and “Times of joy”.

1970s :: Campa Cola Advertisement pic.twitter.com/2clZAsfait

— indianhistorypics (@IndiaHistorypic) September 2, 2022

It soon became a hit among children and teenagers and was a must at birthday parties and outings, says BBC report.

Pure Drinks billed Campa Cola as ‘The Great Indian Taste’.

However, in 1991, the then-finance minister Manmohan Singh ushered in the era of economic liberalisation, marking the re-entry of Coca-Cola into the Indian market.

Soon, Pepsi and Coca-Cola took over Campa Cola’s market through an “aggressive marketing campaign and sprawling distribution network”, BBC reported.

“Campa tasted good - because we didn’t have any other options,” columnist Santosh Desai was quoted as saying by The New York Times in 2009.

In the 2000s, Campa Cola shut its bottling plants in Delhi and eventually, the soft drink vanished from the market.

This is how the journey of Campa Cola ended in India, only to make a comeback 50 years later.

With inputs from agencies

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