Interestingly, Thums Up had just begun to bask in its glory of success when in 1988, PepsiCo re-entered the Indian market through a joint venture with Punjab Agro Industrial Corporation and Voltas India Ltd. Pepsi, right from its heydays in the Indian market, was gung-ho over celebrity (read: film stars) endorsements. In 1993, Pepsi roped in Aamir Khan, Aishwarya Rai & Mahima Chaudhury to endorse Pepsi (remember the famous Sanjana ad?!) with the tagline: Yehi hai right choice baby. Being proactive, Thums Up, by 1991, had already positioned itself as a strong masculine drink and had decided to only cast macho alpha male as its ambassadors in future, which included Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar along with Mahesh Babu and Chiranjeevi for the southern markets.
While Thums Up was vehemently defending its position as India’s top selling cola drink, it got a big blow when Coca Cola too re-entered India in 1993. And why not? The fight now had become a three-way battle. And that’s exactly when Ramesh Chauhan baffled many, by selling off Thums Up to Coca Cola. “Parle sold Thums Up to Coca Cola as we wanted to concentrate on the packaged drinking water segment, which was beginning to gain momentum as an industry,” reminisces Chauhan. And then began the bitter battle between Pepsi and Coke of which Thums Up was now an integral part!
Industry veterans proclaim that Coca Cola, soon after acquiring Thums Up, did not give due attention to the brand (in fact, it even tried to kill it) as its main focus was to promote Coke in the Indian market – an allegation that Ricardo Fort, VP-Marketing, Coca Cola India vehemently denies. However, all this while, PepsiCo was strongly promoting Pepsi as a drink for the young. Sensing the growing competition from Pepsi, Coca Cola launched the Grow up to Thums Up campaign. “It was a tactical campaign launched vis-à-vis Pepsi. An entire generation had grown up on Thums Up and the ad was to appeal to that set of audience,” says Sridhar of Leo Burnett. Tables turned when, much to the astonishment of Pepsi, Thums Up launched the blind taste test (an old Pepsi tactic used against Coca Cola in US) against Pepsi itself, where the latter lost to the former. And then in 2003, Thums Up became the undisputed market leader as the largest selling cola brand with a market share of 23.7% (as per ACNielesen/ORG) with Pepsi trailing with a market share of 21.6%. Ever since, despite cola controversies and activist actions against cola majors, Thums Up has continued to rein the charts of the Indian beverage market.
While Thums Up was vehemently defending its position as India’s top selling cola drink, it got a big blow when Coca Cola too re-entered India in 1993. And why not? The fight now had become a three-way battle. And that’s exactly when Ramesh Chauhan baffled many, by selling off Thums Up to Coca Cola. “Parle sold Thums Up to Coca Cola as we wanted to concentrate on the packaged drinking water segment, which was beginning to gain momentum as an industry,” reminisces Chauhan. And then began the bitter battle between Pepsi and Coke of which Thums Up was now an integral part!
Industry veterans proclaim that Coca Cola, soon after acquiring Thums Up, did not give due attention to the brand (in fact, it even tried to kill it) as its main focus was to promote Coke in the Indian market – an allegation that Ricardo Fort, VP-Marketing, Coca Cola India vehemently denies. However, all this while, PepsiCo was strongly promoting Pepsi as a drink for the young. Sensing the growing competition from Pepsi, Coca Cola launched the Grow up to Thums Up campaign. “It was a tactical campaign launched vis-à-vis Pepsi. An entire generation had grown up on Thums Up and the ad was to appeal to that set of audience,” says Sridhar of Leo Burnett. Tables turned when, much to the astonishment of Pepsi, Thums Up launched the blind taste test (an old Pepsi tactic used against Coca Cola in US) against Pepsi itself, where the latter lost to the former. And then in 2003, Thums Up became the undisputed market leader as the largest selling cola brand with a market share of 23.7% (as per ACNielesen/ORG) with Pepsi trailing with a market share of 21.6%. Ever since, despite cola controversies and activist actions against cola majors, Thums Up has continued to rein the charts of the Indian beverage market.
For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
“We will change your outlook” - The Sunday Indian on B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED! A must read...
The Sunday Indian:-
B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here
Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Business Standard Exposes the Outlook Magazine Money Editor
Don't trust the Indian Media!
IIPM enters into media education
IIPM makes record 10,000 placements in five years
TSI exposes b school ranking scamsters Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Premchand Palety of C fore. - For Complete Sting Operation Video Click Here
Pioneer Exposes the fraud called Mahesh Sharma and Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Barbel Schwertfeger of mba-channel.com
IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy
Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN
