In the late 1970s, BJP insisted Coca-Cola accept the foreign exchange act or stop selling their products in India. This also made Coca-Cola reveal its secret formula for making cola drinks due to which Coca-Cola decided to leave India. Pepsi took it as a chance to capture Indian market and agreed to the act and started a new company called “Lehar Pepsi” in partnership with some Indian brands.
Initial days
Ramesh Chauhan of Parle was quick to see the hole which Coca-Cola created in Indian cola drinks market. He started Thums up keeping the mindset of Indians in mind. While Pepsi was spending huge money on advertisements, Thums up took small and smart steps. The unique selling proposition (USP) of Thums was its strong and fizzy taste. In a very short period of time Thums up gained the trust of Indian customers.
As it happens in every interesting story, the path to success was not easy in the next few years as the cola war in India was at the peak when Coca-Cola came back with very aggressive strategies.
Coca-Cola Buying Thums up
Coca-Cola started poaching Thums up employees with irresistible benefits and this increased the problems of Chauhan as parle didn’t have that much capital in those days. After some time he gave up and Coca-Cola won the Indian market as after Thums up no other company was near to Coca-Cola in its segment.
Come Back of Pepsi
Pepsi came back strongly with featuring cricketers and Bollywood stars in its ad which helped the company to regain its market presence. Thums up was losing the cola game and Coca-Cola came with a new strategy of showing it as a manly drink which resembled its taste qualities. Thums up was seen as an adventurous brand and Coca-Cola continued this by introducing “I want my Thunder” tagline.
Advertising strategy of Thums up
Thums Up has been changing its brand ambassadors from years. Salaman Khan, Akshay Kumar, and Ranveer Singh are some names that have contributed in making Thums up unique from other brands. The youth of India connects with Thums up’s image. It gave a new feeling to the customers with the aaj kuch toofani karte hain and taste the thunder ads.
Future plans
Coca-Cola is now planning to extend the market of Thums in other countries too. This is a great step as increasing the network will definitely help Thums up in knowing the demands of customers across the globe plus there is huge support from Coca-Cola as it is already an established international brand.
